Appendix B:
Gettysburg’s Quantum Quirks
For some, experiencing Gettysburg can be likened to peering down the proverbial rabbit hole. Energy vortices captured on film and video, strange wave-like ripples in the atmosphere seen with the naked eye, high electro- and geomagnetic readings garnered from high-tech equipment, and other strange anomalies experienced on almost every portion of the battlefield. But what do these highly unfamiliar events represent?
Extensive volumes have been written regarding the relationship between paranormal phenomena and the nontraditional scientific possibilities that might validate them as part of the natural and known universe. Quantum physics explores the realities of life at the subatomic levels, and this has had consequences in terms of our own consciousness and experience, as well as our relationship to the universe around us. Quantum theory suggests there are interconnections and influences between subject and object, which, according to traditional scientific theory, cannot exist. This opens the door to alternative explanations of consciousness and challenges us to explore them with an open-mindedness that goes against a societal belief system still entrenched in superstition, fear, and skepticism.
As it relates to Gettysburg, how might quantum physics explain the paranormal phenomena encountered there on a regular basis? How can a man see the “imprint” of a Union regiment marching near the Wheatfield more than a century earlier? How can a video camera capture a ghost soldier jumping over a fence at the Triangular Field? How can we hear the sounds of battles already fought? Can we experience history firsthand, as a result of some universal law of physics scientists haven’t discovered yet?
For more than a century, the greatest minds on this planet have studied paranormal phenomena and their implications on our understanding of the universe and human consciousness. Theories associated with time slips or time warps can be traced to Albert Einstein, who proposed the theory that time and space form a continuum that bends, folds, or warps from the observer’s point of view, relative to such factors as movement or gravitation. A time slip, therefore, might be a perceived discontinuity in time, either one that allows something to travel backward or forward in time, or an area of space that appears to travel through time at a different rate from the rest of the universe. If we assume these discontinuities are possible, it might explain how a couple who visited the Gettysburg battlefield in 1989 reportedly had a conversation with a barefoot, emaciated, sweat-soaked man dressed in a filthy, ripped, gray uniform who politely asked for a drink of water, then slowly disappeared before their eyes!
Mathematical developments associated with the superstring theory, considered by some scientists to be the most outrageous theory ever proposed, may help theoretical physicists explain encounters with the past as well. Research suggests that disruptions and warps can occur naturally in space, resulting infrequently in theoretically possible random time events. These warps or disruptions might allow for any action or event to transcend time and space—and be seen, heard, or felt at any point in time. Superstring theory attempts to explain all of the particles and fundamental forces of nature in one theory, or a Theory of Everything. The implications of superstring physics are radically changing our ideas about the nature of space, opening up the possibility that extra dimensions, rips in the fabric of space, and parallel universes actually exist.
Theoretical physicists also are excited about the existence of the zero-point field (ZPF), which may explain how everything that exists in the universe is connected to everything else. The ZPF is made up of zero-point energy (ZPE), virtual particles whose electromagnetic fluctuations fill every corner of space and are never at a state of absolute zero momentum, but instead vibrate at the most minute rate of oscillation allowable by the laws of quantum physics. Marie Jones, in her book titled PSIence: How New Discoveries in Quantum Physics and New Science May Explain the Existence of Paranormal Phenomena, describes this vibration as “a tiny, residual jiggle.” Jones explains that by virtue of the ZPF, reality is one big spider web with an infinite number of fine strands crisscrossing, intersecting, and creating a wholeness that extends throughout time and space.
What implications do the existence of the ZPF and ZPE have on the validity of residual hauntings? According to Jones, the supposed recording of the energy of an event could take place in the ZPF, which can be compared to the Akashic Records of Edgar Cayce, upon which every memory, action, thought, and thing was written. These imprints, or recordings, could have found a way to exist intact upon the ZPF, and those who see replays of past events could have found a way to tap into them. As a result, psychically inclined individuals may smell gunpowder, hear cannon fire, and see flashes of gunfire while walking around Little Round Top, Culp’s Hill, or Devil’s Den.
Theoretical physicists remain very busy in laboratories seeking answers to these quantum enigmas, and paranormal field investigators continue to attempt to document tangible evidence at places like Gettysburg that can help validate these theories as they relate to hauntings. For field researchers, it’s figuring out exactly what they need to be looking for and what tools they should be using that remains the challenge.
Paranormal investigators such as Joshua Warren, author and president of LEMUR (League of Energy Materialization and Unexplained Phenomena Research), approach paranormal field research in such a way as to best contribute to scientific inquiry. Warren’s goal is to accumulate well-documented cases and create a database of hard evidence. “If ghosts are non-physical entities that aren’t restricted to the known laws of physical matter,” he supposes, “then by using the scientific method and creating a collective database, we may one day have enough data to isolate the patterns and correlations that will finally realize the essential conditions for spectral interactions to occur.”
Obtaining this type of hard evidence requires taking as many environmental readings as possible when conducting field research. In fact, a basic arsenal of field equipment might include geomagnetic field meters, electromagnetic field meters, temperature gauges, ion detectors, and more. Given the strange atmospheric conditions that seem to manifest when witnesses experience imprint hauntings and time slips, it seems only prudent to follow the advice of Warren and other serious investigators—go to great lengths to measure environmental conditions in an attempt to isolate the patterns and correlations associated with these phenomena.
When conducting paranormal investigations, however, the best opp-ortunities often occur when you least expect them, which is why being prepared at all times remains critical to the success of field research. For example, about five years ago while doing a field investigation at Gettysburg, a team psychic appeared very excited as she approached us in the Wheatfield. She said a portal had opened up in the Rose Woods (adjacent to the Wheatfield), but that she couldn’t find me in time before it closed. Apparently, her psychic abilities enable her to see these portals appear, and she describes them as a disruption or ripple in the atmosphere. It’s during these brief moments that she feels it would be most advantageous to take environmental readings and photographs because this is when paranormal activity “peeks through our dimensional veil.”
We immediately thought it would be a great idea to walk around the battlefield with her—for hours or even days if necessary—until this phenomenon occurred again. It seems well worth the effort to be able to measure the particular vibrations, frequencies, or electromagnetic fluctuations associated with these anomalies. We consider her experience a profound one and are still deeply disappointed we weren’t in her general vicinity when this supposed portal opened.
These portals may very well represent the “rip in the fabric of space,” the discontinuity in time, the warps or disruptions associated with superstring theory, or the manifestation of the zero-point field. And if one or more of these theories do apply to the phenomena reported at Gettysburg, what came first, the rabbit or the hole? Gettysburg may be located on or around an energy vortex or other cosmic quirk, thus exacerbating the frequency of hauntings in the area, and the battle itself may have created the strong emotional imprints that somehow allow these quantum doors and windows to open up more frequently.
We can’t know for sure at this point, but our combined intuition tells us that whatever this psychic detected was very important, and somehow these ripples in the atmosphere are the key to explaining at least some of the paranormal phenomena documented at Gettysburg and other battlefields across the globe. The answer is there, in front of us; we just need to know how to tap into its source, or essence.