We know evil spirits can be exorcised.

That’s been proven for centuries.

But what about potentially harmful spirits of the deceased (humans) that allegedly linger here on earth—”revenants,” in theological lingo? So-called “ghosts”? Can exorcistic prayer rid them?

Now we’re in uncharted waters.

The battlefields of Gettysburg may offer clues.

There, on an open field near what’s known as Little Round Top (where the first massive casualties in the war were inflicted) sits a home built on the foundation of what had been the McPherson Barn (named for the promontory that runs alongside).

Fighting swirled around the McPherson Barn on July 1, 1863, as heavy combat spread north and south along this ridgeline.

By the end of a three-day battle, more than fifty thousand had died there and on the other battlefields of Gettysburg, at least five thousand there near the barn.

Decaying quickly in the summer sun, many corpses were brought inside  and stacked like cordwood by Confederate soldiers who had no time for proper burial.

And ghastly enough, one unnamed and unconscious Confederate soldier piled inside with the corpses was actually still alive.

Accounts have it that he struggled to remain alive for five days, going insane before he succumbed shortly after discovery by conquering Union forces.

His final moments of life were so disturbing, it seems, that even death failed to remove his torment. One can only imagine lying there, with hundreds of pounds of dead human bodies on top of him, his cries unheard as the battle raged.

“Even in death, one can imagine that he was very very upset and very angry, and perhaps even raging after death,” speculates historian Mark Nesbitt. “Maybe he’s caught in that netherland between life and death because of anger, this unresolved rage.”

Maybe.

At any rate, just days after his burial, the old barn inexplicably and ominously burned down.

In its place, on its foundation, a beautiful farmhouse was later erected.

Every resident, going through generations, it seems, claimed an angry, restless spirit haunted the basement at the spot where the soldier had agonized and died.

Residents fled. One couple reported a huge sound coming from the basement, like a furnace exploding.

“Residents began complaining of seeing a ghostly Confederate soldier aimlessly walking around the farmhouse,” says the Clermont Sun. “Supposedly, the Confederate soldier who was once buried alive underneath the farmhouse had returned as a ghost.”

So plagued were the residents that they called in a priest, who confirmed that there was an angry spirit there and—after several hair-raising, failed attempts–succeeded in “freeing” or “removing” the lingering, tormented, and tormenting spirit after thirteen decades. “Cede this place to Christ!” the priest reportedly demanded.

This is interesting because many disagree not only on whether ghosts exist (as opposed to demons masquerading as them), and if they do, whether a human spirit can be exorcised, since humans have free will (while demons must obey commands in the Name of Jesus).

The priest made a last gesture, putting the sign of an exorcism on the door there, a circle with a Cross inside of it, which is still there to this day. (Another “haunted” spot”—perhaps all too tellingly–is called “Devil’s Den.”)

Remember that if you ever encounter things that go bump in the night.

“Cede this place to Christ.”

[resources: The Spirits Around Us]