A Stakeout for Civil War Spirits

Over the past five years, the members have captured sounds they claim are cannonballs and musket fire from ages past and misty, half-formed figures they believe are dead soldiers.

"But I put my faith in physics, not psychics," Smith said. "I guess you could say I'm the official naysayer in the group."

His explanation, then, for why he joined the team: "It could be other things out there. There may be things in the world that we don't know about yet, like quantum physics, other dimensions and parallel universes."

Also on the team of nine that night were two trainees, as well as Mark Nesbitt, an author of books on Civil War ghosts, and a park ranger assigned to the group by the National Park Service. Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, which closes at sunset, allows after-hour visitors only with a permit and under supervision.

The park, Ranger Charles Lochart said, has no official position on ghosts. When pressed by the group's psychic on whether he himself believed in ghosts, Lochart was diplomatic: "I personally don't see things, but I don't know that they don't happen."

During the team's previous visit, Lochart even agreed to be its guinea pig. "They wanted to see if the ghosts would respond to an armed person," he said, pointing to his service weapon. "So they had me walk around a bit. They're nice people," he said of the ghost hunters. "They don't bother anything here."

Stopping at a spot they believed had been the Confederates' second line of defense, the hunters took out their digital recorders.

Crosby put her hand on a mossy stone and said she felt a cold spot. Out of earshot, Smith, the skeptic, jokingly pointed out that the words "psychic" and "psycho" have the same Greek root. Nonetheless, he swerved his infrared camera toward her.

With the cameras and voice recorders running, the team started asking questions and pausing for answers. Then with eager anticipation, they played back the audio recordings to listen for odd noises that might qualify as responses.

"Tell us what your name is." No answer.

"Are you Union or Confederate?" There was some noise, like a burst of static or a gust of wind. Everyone leaned in closer.

"Who is your commanding officer?" Suddenly, a cell phone rang, and the group groaned in frustration.