River Town Paranormal Society

Researching The Illinois and Missouri Mississippi River Valley
 
 
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Union Officer
Col. Brigadier General        
David Moore
 
Occupied Athens, MO on July 24, 1861 with 500 soldiers.
 
*Photo courtesy of Athens State Historic Site.
 
 
 

Battle of Athens
Athens Missouri was the site furthest north of the Civil War that held conflict for brothers, cousins, a father and his two sons.
 
The picture above was taken from the far NE side of the battle field, facing SW.
 
 
 
 
*Three of our team member were fortunate to be the first to view the pictures and displays at the Athens Historical Park Site. The photos of the officers were taken with a digital camera from their display. Sepia was added to them for a vintage feel.

Confederate Officer
Col. Martin E. Green
 
 
Green had brought together a force of 3000 men, two were Moore's sons                    .
 
 
*Photo courtesy of Athens State Historic Site.









  The years 1861-1864 were a dark time to this young, developing country. The country was at war, one which divided its people, to the point of several states succeeding from the union and forming a new government under the leadership of Jefferson Davis, called the Confederate States of America. From the first shot fired at Fort Sumter to the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Courthouse, this war cost hundreds of thousands of lives. And not only did this war divide the country, it divided friends and family. Father against son. Brother against brother. And many never made it home, dying on battlefields, many far from home.
     August 5, 1861 found the war on the grounds of Athens Missouri. Confederate forces led by Col. Martin E. Green came up against the Union forces, led by Col. David Moore. Though sources differ, each side had approximately 500 men. The Confederate forces had three cannons, a 6 pounder, a 9 pounder, and one made from a hollow log (which splintered on the first shot). Although the Union forces had no cannons, they did have guns, and were able to repel the Confederate forces. The death totals vary, but Union deaths were 2, and Confederate casualties were 5. (1)
         This battle, which is listed as a skirmish, was only the beginning for many. But this battle would become known as the furthest north a battle would happen west of the Mississippi, and stopped the advancement of the Confederate troops into the state of Iowa.







 

RTPS investigates Athens
 
 It was a cool, crisp fall evening when River Town Paranormal Society arrived in Athens, Missouri. The kind of night that has delightful daytime temps and evening temps that are so cool that it brings the crisp on the apples still hanging on the trees. One of our team, Teri, had been to Athens before and told us about the activity that others had experienced there.  One of our dreams as a paranormal group would be to investigate The Gettysburg Battlefield, it is quite well known to have spirits roaming its fields. To find out that there is a battlefield just an hour from home that also played an important role in the Civil War was intriguing for us and we looked forward to that investigation on September 26, 2009.  Arriving right before dusk we walked the homes in the state park to get an idea of what base readings they would have and to leave digital audio recorders at each home, while we walked the battlefield and important landmarks. As we arrived at the Townsend-Gray house to leave our recorder we heard a gunshot, what a way to begin our investigation. This was not a paranormal gunshot, someone in the neighborhood was sounding off we supposed. We walked to the battlefield just as darkness fell. It's not easy to record vast amounts of area outside with night shot video cameras, but we had two on just in case. At the battlefield we tried to get a response by singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic, a song written during the Civil War.  The night sky was beautiful with all it's stars and you could feel that crispness of fall in the air, but spirits appeared. We called out to some of the men associated with the war, 
Colonel David Moore for the North and Colonel Martin Green for the south. With no response we decided to walk on to the old hospital building then further on to the Cannon Ball House. Part of the legends of Athens is that you could hear the cannon balls still being shot off, teams of horses galloping down a road and the light of a lantern shining on the field. It's pretty amazing that the original buildings still stand from this battle, the sign of just how important it was to the surrounding community. The buildings were closed at night so we could not get in to investigate but we still walked around each one. The "Cannon Ball House" so called because it still has the original holes in it's clapboard siding from where the cannon ball entered and exited.  The Bennings were the family that resided there during the war and it is said the house withstood the blast and the war. By the time we got to this house the mists had started setting in here and there setting the tone for the night.  On our way to this house you have to walk through a wooded area and we were quite startled by the sound of something hitting the ground hard. When you are in unfamiliar territory at night you have no idea what surrounds you or what is watching you, so even a walnut falling from a tree can give you a start.  At one point during our walk to the house one of our members made the comment on not being sure what they would do if they met the hounds of hell in a place like this and with darkness surrounding you that thought could dance in your head for a while. After walking the area we came back to our cars, unscathed and in one piece to change out batteries and take a break. The Townsend-Gray house has more history to it than just the battle. There was a couple who lived there at one time who had a grisly past and we wondered if this still hung around the property. "Grandpa" as we would call him, knowing one of his grandchildren from which the account was told, tried killing Grandma by shooting her in the face with a shotgun. After he shot Grandma he then walked across the road into the woods and shot himself. Grandma survived, he did not, could we get Grandpa to speak to us from the wooded area? Standing at our cars and looking down the road at the house a mist began to form. Okay, it's autumn, there is a heavy dew forming so it's not unusual for mist and fog to roll the Missouri hills. Yet this one was only forming on the road between Grandpa's house and the woods as if calling to us to come on down and we did. It was a quick walk, only taking a few minutes but when we arrived to the spot where the mist should have been it was gone. Just gone, disappeared.  Again not unusual for mist right? From this spot in the road we experienced something quite unusual after trying to provoke Grandpa into talking to us.  After being called a whine baby by one our male members the coyotes, owls, dogs and cows all began howling and hooting. We felt like we were surrounded by the sounds and it was a little hair raising but didn't stop us. We threatened to go talk to Grandma and find out what happened if Grandpa didn't come talk to us. As one of our members turned around to go to the house two large black dogs came from the corner of Grandpa's house and were sneaking up on us from behind us.  Two black dogs in perfect form, side by side, slowly approaching us, not making one sound, not wagging one tail, just slowly sneaking up on us. One member told them to git and they didn't at first but finally crouched, turned around and floated off. We say floated because in this setting this is the way they left. We couldn't hear one sound from the paws, no panting, nothing, they just seemed to float away quickly in perfect formation.  After being startled by this we walked around the houses to see if we could see them. We never saw them again. We decided to go back into the battle field after this and do another evp session. At this point our video camera's and digital recorders batteries died, which we felt could be due to the cold setting in and the heavy dew. It wasn't 10 minutes after this that we heard the horses. They sounded as if they were coming from the Cannon Ball House, a whole team of them and we could hear the men saying "getyup, yehaw!". Every member in our team heard this, but with no recording equipment working we did not capture any recordings of this. Always the way in paranormal investigating. We wound up our investigation around midnight without another experience but we had already had more than our fair share. One neighbor did stop by and tell us about the re-enactments they hold there. When they go on the battlefield in the evening mists, there are always more men who come off the battlefield then go on.  And yes, there were dogs that roamed the neighborhood, is this what we saw? Many questions arose from that experience, could the spirit of a negative entity have produced that setting that night? Did we really hear the disembodied sound of horses being driven down a road at 11pm at night or were there neighbors out that time of the night? Please go to page two of this investigation and view the videos and listen to the recordings. They are the actual footage and recordings, we did not enhance them in any way. RTPS would also like to extend our thanks to Travis Hoffman and Emily Lane for going with us that night.  It was great to have an outside opinion of what happened that night and two extra pair of hands to help record.  We will be going back soon to continue our investigation. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                              
                                                                     http://www.mostateparks.com/athens.htm
 



 
 
 
 
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