A skeptic spent the night hunting for Civil War ghosts. ‘Did you hear that?’

Vicksburg, Mississippi (CNN) – Near closing time on a recent Fourth of July, Grace Bailey noticed a man approaching along the brick pathway, headed toward the front door of McRaven House in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Through the foliage lining the walk, she could see he was dressed more formally than the usual tourists at the antebellum home, whose first quarters were built in 1797. As one of two tour guides on duty, Bailey marched back inside to her post at the front door to greet the late-arriving guest. But when she opened the door, nobody was coming up the walk.

While she stood waiting for the man to reappear, though, she realized something eerily familiar about his attire and distinctive hair style, both of which seemed out of place and time. Then, she remembered the other significance of the date: In Vicksburg, July 4th is also remembered as the day in 1863 when Confederate forces surrendered to the Union army, ending a grisly 43-day siege.

And it was exactly one year after the siege ended that then-owner John H. Bobb was murdered by Union occupiers.

“I was on the verge of freaking out, because the hair that I saw had the same swoosh as Mr. Bobb’s portrait,” Bailey says. “It was a moment of, ‘Okay, well, I just saw a ghost for officially the first time.’”

Starvation, dismemberment and death are all part of the gruesome Civil War history in the Mississippi River city that President Lincoln called “the key” to defeating the Confederacy, and McRaven claims its own role in the narrative. During the campaign, this was one of the private residences used as a makeshift hospital for wounded Confederates, hundreds of whom are believed to be buried in a mass grave a scant 50 feet from the house.

But as guides and guests alike insist, paranormal activity is a year-round occurrence at McRaven, and not solely tied to the war — so much that it hosts monthly late-night ghost hunts in addition to its historical tours. On an evening in September, I joined 13 other guests, including some repeat visitors, to attempt to connect with its spirits.

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Before we go any further, I must admit: I’m a skeptic about the supernatural. I’ve never seen, felt or heard a ghost, and I’ve never witnessed an inanimate object move of its own accord. To me, ghost stories seem too fantastical and detached from the reality I know. But I’ve also hedged against those beliefs; once, when I had to overnight in another alleged haunted house, I self-medicated enough to ensure nothing except the blast of my 7 a.m. alarm could rouse me.

Bailey says she held a similar opinion when she started working at McRaven. “I was a skeptical believer. I was like, ‘maybe there’s ghosts.’ I wasn’t going to say anyone is weird for believing in ghosts, but I wasn’t quite convinced yet.”

The fleeting glimpse she believes she caught of McRaven’s murdered owner convinced her.

If McRaven House made a quick convert of Bailey, it wasted no time in its attempt to convince me, too. Not long after she and her colleague, Brian Riley, explained the ins and outs of the electronic gizmos that would supposedly help us locate spirits, a series of muted but definite thumps sounded from the unoccupied second floor.

“Did you hear that?” I asked Jon Williams, a guest whom I had just met. “Yeah. That sounded like footsteps.” We shared a look of bemusement. It was barely 9 p.m., but the hunt was officially on.

Williams, who traveled four hours from Booneville, Mississippi, was visiting for the second time with his wife, Cassie. Although he said he grew up in a house where he experienced ongoing paranormal activity, he didn’t expect much the first time he and his wife toured McRaven.

“I was thinking it was just a tourist trap-type thing,” he says. “I mean, you walk up on an old house like that, set in the woods, it’s gonna feel creepy whether there’s anything there or not.”

He soon changed his mind. In the upstairs bedroom of Mary Elizabeth Howard, a teenage bride who died during childbirth in 1836, he said he witnessed an armoire repeatedly open and close on its own.

Across a hallway in the original section of the home, where Civil War relics like a bone saw and a blood-stained cloth stretcher are displayed, his wife, Cassie, said she had an encounter in the bedroom of Andrew Glass, the notorious highwayman and thief who built the first phase of McRaven.

As she stood in the small quarters, where an antique four-poster bed draped with sheer white curtains casts a cadaverous pall, she said she felt something touching her hair. She assumed it was her three-year-old son, whom she was holding, until she saw his hands were nowhere near her head.

Staffers say the ghost of Glass gravitates toward women, and Bailey, the guide, believes he is responsible for her own first paranormal experience at McRaven. She said that incident, which wasn’t an actual sighting, consisted of a gentle grabbing of her ankle and something brushing against her cheek.

A few minutes past 11 p.m., the Williamses and I stood in the Glass bedroom with Bailey and a few other guests when something began to register on a K2 EMF meter and REM-pod, two gadgets purported to measure changes in temperature and electromagnetic fields consistent with paranormal visits. Bailey, with headphones on, listened as the spirit box raced through radio frequencies for answers to questions the guests asked.

Among the “responses” was a string of obscenities. The scene was tense as we watched for more signs of life. Then, the activity abruptly stopped. “For sure, there was something there,” Bailey says.

Across the hall, Mary Elizabeth’s room was quiet, with only a few discernible words coming across the spirit box. It’s typically one of the most active rooms, and during one memorable hunt, Riley says he observed a baton owned by her husband, who served as sheriff, move on its own.

Riley, a veteran of paranormal research who led a separate group that night, says he has witnessed shadowy figures darting through the azaleas around the same time of year Bailey saw the man come up the walk. By his account, he’s been knocked down and scratched, and once during a tour, he says he locked eyes with a strange woman on the second-floor balcony outside Mary Elizabeth’s bedroom — a particularly chilling moment, since she wasn’t on the tour and was never seen again.

“I think she noticed me, and I definitely noticed her,” Riley says. “I remember she had brown eyes, brown hair pulled back in a bun, and a brown dress with blue flowers. I was later told that particular style was an 1830s dress.”

In his telling, activity increased, he says, after one of the owners accidentally unearthed a human femur while digging a shallow trench to bury electrical wires. Riley had just arrived at the house to prepare for a tour when he says he saw a shadowy figure step off the front porch and walk toward the back of the house. Again, the figure was never seen again.

“I think there could be a correlation with that,” he says, “because I remember for a couple of days, the house kind of seemed unsettled.”

Around 12:45 a.m., we moved downstairs to the parlor, a gathering space adorned with ornate fixtures, a baby grand piano, and elaborate crown molding original to the 1849 addition. With headphones on, Bailey listened to the spirit box and repeated the words “party” and “mask” as she deciphered them through the static.

A REM-pod placed in the center of the room began flashing while a small LED cat toy placed on the mantle flickered to life after Cassie Williams asked if the spirits were having a party. Another guest asked if it was a masquerade ball; again, the gadgets responded, whether by coincidence or something else.

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Later in the same area, a spirit box app on her husband Jon’s phone flashed the name “Ida” — coincidentally (or not), the name of a woman who died in the house in 1946.

“I’ve never seen Mary’s room that quiet on a ghost hunt before, especially that early in the night,” Bailey says, “but the parlor made up for that in a way, because there was very much an increase of activity that specific night. They were probably having a party and we interrupted them.”

“When we were in Miss Mary Elizabeth’s room,” Cassie Williams says, the spirit box “kept saying that she was saying, ‘Late,’ and, ‘Get out.’ And I was like, I wonder if she was late to the party because we were disturbing her, and she told us to get out so she could go.”

At nearly 1:30 in the morning, that all seemed plausible. Were we interlopers bumming out their good time? As my exhaustion broke the spell of curiosity, the narrative appealed to me. It was time to leave these ghosts to their revelry, if that’s what it was, and retire from the hunt. In groups of two and three, the other guests began to drop out and head to their cars, and I soon followed — careful, I must admit, to make sure nothing followed me on the way out.

As I walked along the brick pathway, reversing the mysterious walk that made a believer out of Bailey, I tried to shake the thought I was being watched.

I emerged into the hazy light beaming down from a pair of utility poles, crossed the pavement of Harrison Street, which dead-ends at McRaven, and made a brisk retreat to my vehicle, now sitting by itself at the far end of the gravel parking lot. Then, in one fluid motion, I locked the doors, cranked the engine, and threw the transmission into drive.

密西西比州维克斯堡（CNN）——在最近一个七月四日临近关门的时候，格蕾丝·贝利注意到一名男子沿着砖砌小路走来，朝着密西西比州维克斯堡麦克雷文之家的前门走去。

透过林荫小道，她看到他比这座建于1797年的战前老宅里的其他游客穿着更正式。作为两名值班导游之一，贝利走回屋内，回到前门迎接这位迟到的客人。但当她打开门时，却没有人沿着小路走来。

她站在那里等待那人再次出现，却突然意识到他的衣着和独特的发型都似曾相识，但又显得与周围的环境和时代格格不入。这时，她想起了这个日期还有另一个重要意义：在维克斯堡，7月4日也是1863年南方邦联军队向北方联邦军队投降的日子，结束了长达43天的残酷围城战。

围城结束整整一年后，当时的业主约翰·H·博布被联邦占领者谋杀。

“我当时差点吓疯了，因为我看到的头发和鲍勃先生画像上的头发有着一模一样的弧度，”贝利说。“那一刻我心想，‘好吧，我刚刚正式第一次看到了鬼魂。’”

饥饿、肢解和死亡，这些都是密西西比河畔这座城市惨绝人寰的内战历史的一部分。林肯总统称这座城市是击败南方邦联的“关键”，而麦克雷文庄园也声称自己在这段历史中扮演了重要角色。战役期间，这里曾是为南方邦联伤兵临时搭建的医院之一，据信数百名伤员被埋葬在距离房屋仅50英尺的乱葬坑中。

但正如导游和游客们一致认为的那样，麦克雷文庄园的超自然现象全年都会发生，并非仅仅与战争有关——以至于除了历史之旅外，庄园每月还会举办深夜捉鬼活动。九月的一个晚上，我和其他13位游客（其中一些是回头客）一起，试图与庄园的亡灵沟通。

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在我们继续之前，我必须承认：我对超自然现象持怀疑态度。我从未见过、感觉到过或听到过鬼魂，也从未亲眼目睹过任何无生命物体自行移动。对我来说，鬼故事太过奇幻，与我所知的现实脱节。但我也有过一些防范这些信仰的方法；有一次，我不得不在另一栋据称闹鬼的房子里过夜，我服用了足够的药物，以确保除了早上7点的闹钟声之外，没有任何东西能把我吵醒。

贝利说，她刚开始在麦克雷文公司工作时也持有类似的观点。“我当时是个半信半疑的信徒。我想，‘也许真的有鬼。’我并不是说相信鬼魂的人很奇怪，但我当时确实不太相信。”

她瞥见了麦克雷文被谋杀的主人的身影，那一瞬间让她确信无疑。

如果说麦克雷文之家迅速说服了贝利，那么它也毫不费力地试图说服我。贝利和她的同事布莱恩·莱利向我们详细解释了那些据说能帮助我们定位鬼魂的电子设备的来龙去脉后不久，从空无一人的二楼就传来了一连串低沉但清晰的砰砰声。

“你听到了吗？”我问刚认识的客人乔恩·威廉姆斯。“听到了，听起来像脚步声。”我们交换了一个困惑的眼神。当时才晚上九点，但搜寻工作已经正式开始了。

威廉姆斯从密西西比州布恩维尔驱车四小时前来，这是他和妻子凯西第二次来此参观。虽然他说自己从小就生活在一个经常发生超自然现象的房子里，但他和妻子第一次参观麦克雷文庄园时并没有抱太大期望。

“我当时就觉得那只是个专门坑游客的景点，”他说。“我的意思是，你走到那样一栋坐落在树林里的老房子前，不管里面有没有什么，都会感觉有点阴森恐怖。”

他很快改变了主意。他说，在1836年难产去世的少女新娘玛丽·伊丽莎白·霍华德的楼上卧室里，他亲眼目睹了一个衣橱反复自行打开和关闭。

在房屋原始部分的走廊对面，陈列着内战时期的遗物，例如骨锯和沾满血迹的布担架。他的妻子卡西说，她曾在安德鲁·格拉斯的卧室里遇到过他，安德鲁·格拉斯是臭名昭著的公路强盗和窃贼，他建造了麦克雷文的第一期工程。

她站在狭小的房间里，一张古老的四柱床垂着薄薄的白色帷幔，笼罩着一层死寂般的阴冷气氛。她说，她感觉有什么东西在碰她的头发。她以为是抱着的三岁儿子，直到她发现儿子的手根本不在她的头边。

工作人员说，格拉斯的鬼魂似乎特别喜欢和女性待在一起。导游贝利认为，她在麦克雷文的第一次超自然经历就与格拉斯有关。她说，那次经历并非真正意义上的目击，只是感觉有人轻轻地抓住了她的脚踝，还有什么东西擦过她的脸颊。

晚上11点刚过几分钟，我和威廉姆斯夫妇、贝利以及其他几位客人站在格拉斯家的卧室里。这时，一台K2电磁场测量仪和一台REM-pod探测器——据说可以测量与超自然现象相关的温度和电磁场变化——开始出现读数。贝利戴着耳机，听着灵盒快速扫描无线电频率，试图回答客人们提出的问题。

这些“回应”中夹杂着一连串的脏话。气氛紧张，我们屏息凝神地等待着更多生命迹象。突然，一切活动戛然而止。“那里肯定有什么东西，”贝利说道。

走廊对面，玛丽·伊丽莎白的房间静悄悄的，只有灵盒里传来几个清晰可辨的词语。这间房间通常是灵异活动最频繁的房间之一。莱利说，在一次令人难忘的探灵过程中，他亲眼看到她丈夫（曾任警长）的一根警棍自己动了起来。

当晚带领另一组人马的莱利是一位资深的超自然现象研究者。他说，在贝利看到那名男子沿着小路走上来的时候，他也曾目睹过一些黑影在杜鹃花丛中穿梭。据他描述，他曾被撞倒并被抓伤，还有一次在参观过程中，他说他曾在玛丽·伊丽莎白卧室外的二楼阳台上与一位陌生女子四目相对——那是一个令人毛骨悚然的时刻，因为她当时并不在参观队伍中，而且之后也再也没有出现过。

“我觉得她注意到我了，我也肯定注意到她了，”莱利说。“我记得她有一双棕色的眼睛，棕色的头发挽成一个发髻，穿着一件棕色连衣裙，上面点缀着蓝色的花朵。后来我才知道，那种款式的裙子是19世纪30年代的。”

据他所述，其中一位房主在挖浅沟埋设电线时，意外挖出了一根人股骨，之后灵异活动便愈发频繁。莱利刚到房子准备带人参观时，就看到一个黑影从前廊走下来，朝房子后面走去。此后，那个人影再也没有出现过。

“我认为这可能与此有关，”他说，“因为我记得有那么几天，房子里似乎有点不安。”

凌晨12点45分左右，我们下楼来到客厅。客厅是一个聚会场所，装饰华丽，摆放着一架小型三角钢琴，还有精美的冠饰线条，这些都是1849年扩建部分原有的。贝利戴上耳机，听着灵盒的声音，一边重复着“派对”和“面具”这两个词，一边试图从嘈杂的静电声中辨认出来。

房间中央放置的REM睡眠监测舱开始闪烁，壁炉架上的小型LED猫玩具也在卡西·威廉姆斯询问“鬼魂们是不是在开派对”后亮了起来。另一位客人问是不是在举办化装舞会；这些小玩意儿再次做出了回应，至于这是否只是巧合，还是另有隐情，就不得而知了。

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后来在同一地区，她丈夫乔恩手机上的一个通灵盒应用程序闪现出“艾达”这个名字——巧合的是（或者并非巧合），这是 1946 年在这所房子里去世的一位女性的名字。

“我以前从未在探灵过程中见过玛丽的房间如此安静，尤其是在夜深人静的时候，”贝利说，“但客厅在某种程度上弥补了这一点，因为那天晚上那里的活动明显增多。他们可能正在举行派对，而我们打扰了他们。”

“当我们在玛丽·伊丽莎白小姐的房间里时，”卡西·威廉姆斯说，“灵盒一直说着‘迟到了’和‘出去’。我就想，她是不是因为我们打扰了她才迟到，所以才让我们出去，好让她自己去参加派对。”

将近凌晨一点半，这一切似乎都说得通。难道我们是闯入者，打扰了他们的好时光？随着疲惫感逐渐消退，好奇心也随之消散，但这个故事却深深吸引了我。如果那真是一场闹剧，是时候让这些鬼魂继续狂欢，我也该结束这场“狩猎”了。其他客人三三两两地开始离开，走向他们的车，我也很快跟了上去——说实话，我小心翼翼地确保没有什么东西跟着我离开。

我沿着砖砌小路走着，逆着贝利所经历的神秘步伐走着，努力摆脱被人注视的想法。

我走进了从两根电线杆上倾泻而下的朦胧灯光中，穿过哈里森街的人行道——这条街的尽头是麦克雷文街——然后迅速回到我的车旁，它现在孤零零地停在砾石停车场的尽头。接着，我动作流畅地锁上车门，发动引擎，挂入前进挡。