The vardøger or vardøgr is a spirit predecessor, from Norwegian folklore. Stories typically include instances that are nearly déjà vu in substance, but in reverse, where a spirit with the subject's footsteps, voice, scent, or appearance and overall demeanor precedes them in a location or activity, resulting in witnesses believing they've seen or heard the actual person, before the person physically arrives. This bears a subtle difference from a doppelgänger, with a less sinister connotation. It has been likened to being a phantom double, or form of bilocation.

The word vardøger is a Norwegian term defined as "a premonitory sound or sight of a person before he arrives"In Finnish Lapland the concept is known as etiäinen.

SCREAMS OF BATTLE

Possibly the most unnerving experience one can have at Gettysburg is actually hearing – by ear or by EVP recording – the echoes of that horrific battle and its ghostly cries of pain and death. Such was the memorable experience of Mary Adelsberger as told to authors Jack Bochar and Bob Wasel in their book, More Haunted Gettysburg: Eyewitness Accounts of the Supernatural.
Mary had gone to Gettysburg with her two grown daughters on a cold February evening. There was plenty of snow in the ground, but the three women were determined to brave the weather and visit the battlefield monuments. On Wadsworth Avenue, they found a marker that said “95th New York Infantry, July 1, 1863.” Almost immediately, they began to hear men’s voices in idle conversation, as though they were sitting around a campfire. Reluctantly, they chose to explore the woods to see if they could find the source of the voices. Suddenly, they heard a voice shout, “Get up! Get up! Go! Go!” followed by the command, “Charge!”
The women were terrified, to say the least, and ran out of the woods as quickly as their legs could carry them. Yet behind them they could hear the agonized cries of men, screaming and moaning.
Mary and her daughters retreated to their hotel but, astonishingly, decided to go back to the woods, even though it was 12:30 in the morning. “I agreed to go with them,” Mary said, “but with a couple of stipulations: we would drive, not walk; I would not get out of the car; and one of them had to promise to stay in the car with me at all times!”
With those conditions agreed to, Mary and her daughters drove back to Wadsworth Avenue. “Jen opened the car door,” Mary said, “stepped out, and before she even had a chance to close the door, I heard it – the most horrible, blood-curdling screams and moans that anyone could possibly imagine!”
That was all the women needed to speed away in their car, their faces wet with tears.

THE PHANTOM ON HORSEBACK
Did you know that George Washington is credited by some as helping the Union Army in one of its most decisive engagements at Gettysburg? Wait a minute... George Washington? He was a general during the Revolutionary War and died in 1799, well before the Civil War. Yet Washington – or rather his ghost – is said to have appeared to the 20th Maine Division as they approached Gettysburg.
En route to the battlefield, these soldiers reached a fork in the road and were unsure as to which direction to take. Suddenly, an imposing figure wearing a tri-cornered hat appeared on horseback to lead them. At first they thought he was a Union general, but noticed that both the man and his horse seemed to emit an eerie glow. Furthermore, some recognized the man as strongly resembling George Washington, whom they knew from his famous portraits. Hundreds of the soldiers verified that they had seen this phantom.
The ghost led the division of soldiers to a strategic position at Little Round Top, where they were able to repel a flank of Confederates.
So well-known became this report of Washington’s ghost that Secretary of War Stanton later conducted a formal investigation of the matter. In his testimony, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, who was in charge of the troops in question, said, “We know not what mystic power may be possessed by those who are now bivouacking with the dead. I only know the effect, but I dare not explain or deny the cause. Who shall say that Washington was not among the number of those who aided the country that he founded?”

THE PHANTOM OF DEVIL’S DEN

There is a large, distinctive outcropping of rock in one section of the Gettysburg battlefield known as Devil’s Den. Dozens of ghost sightings have been reported here by tourists over the years. One of the most well-known is that of a barefoot man dressed in a butternut-colored shirt and floppy hat, which fits the description of a rag-tag unit from Texas who participated in the battle. Those who have met this spirit report that he always says the same thing: “What you’re looking for is over there” as he points toward the Plum Run. He then vanishes into thin air.

THE PHANTOM SURGERY

Mark Nesbitt, one of the foremost authorities and authors on the ghosts of Gettysburg, relates one of the area’s most gruesome experiences. Pennsylvania Hall at Gettysburg College has been the site of many Civil War era ghost encounters, but perhaps none can compare to what two college administrators saw one night.

One hundred years previous, the building had been used as a field hospital for many of the fierce battle’s wounded. But on this night, as the two administrators were taking the elevator from the fourth floor down to the first, the long-ago nightmare wasn’t even on their minds.

Inexplicably, the elevator passed the first floor and continued on to the basement. When the doors opened, the administrators could scarcely believe their eyes. What they knew to be storage space was replaced by a scene from the hospital: dead and dying men were lying about on the floor; blood-covered doctors and orderlies were rushing about chaotically, trying desperately to save their lives. No sound emanated from the ghastly sight, but both administrators saw it clearly.

Horrified, they frantically pushed the elevator button to close the doors. As the doors closed, they said, one of the orderlies looked up and directly at them, seeming to see them, and with a pleading expression on his face.

GHOSTS AS SACHS BRIDGE

Constructed in 1854 and originally known as Sauck’s Bridge, this 100-foot expanse over a creek not far from the battlefield also has its share of ghost encounters. One I’m very familiar with is told by Stacey Jones, founder and director of the Central New York Ghost Hunters. As I am affiliated with that group, I have heard Stacey recount this story many times, but she tells it best, perhaps, to our friend Jeff Belanger in his book, Ghosts of War.

Members of Stacey’s group were visiting Gettysburg in May, 2004 (this was before I joined the group). It was a warm Saturday night when they decided to venture out to Sachs Bridge to see if they could get some interesting photos or EVP. After they were there for awhile, a strange fog rolled in, seemingly out of nowhere. “And then we started seeing lights,” Stacey told Jeff. “They were coming from the field across from Sachs Bridge. These orange lights were coming from the ground and going up in an arch about 12 feet in the air and then coming back down again.”

The group then began to hear the sounds of neighing horses and what sounded like the distant rumble of cannon fire. “That lasted about 20 minutes,” Stacey said, “and then the fog disappeared and everything stopped.”

The group left the bridge, but seven returned later that night, thinking there might be more to experience. They weren’t wrong.

It began with people-sized shadows that seemed to be darting about in the field of tall grass across from the bridge. This was followed by a return of the arching orange lights that shot up from the grass, and then the unexplained smell of flowers and a penetrating cold. For a while, all was quiet. “There were no more shadow people,” Stacey recalls, “and no more lights, but we heard men’s voices out in the field. We couldn’t make out what they were saying. And we could hear movement in the tree line. The voices came right up beside us on the tree line... and then we started hearing the horses again.”

Finally, when members of the group heard the sound of a man growling quite close by, they hightailed it out of there.

GETTYSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA IS well established as one of the most haunted areas in the United States. During its three days of intense battle ending on July 3, 1863, more than 7,800 brave Union and Confederate soldiers lost their lives, and tens of thousands more were wounded and crippled. American against American. It’s no wonder that hundreds upon hundreds of ghosts have been sighted and haunting activity experienced at this National Military Park. Tourists and ghost hunters have snapped photos with enigmatic images; dozens of fascinating EVP (electronic voice phenomena) recordings have been made; and one of the most interesting and compelling ghost videos was shot there.

Following is but a small sampling of ghost encounters people have had at Gettysburg:

JEREMY’S GHOST AT THE FARNSWORTH HOUSE INN

It’s been called one of the most haunted inns in America. Built in 1810, this brick structure is said to be the dwelling place of several Civil War era ghosts, and many people – both staff and guests alike – can attest to strange goings-on there.

My friend Jerry visits Gettysburg often and has stayed at the Farnsworth a few times, with interesting results. A few years ago, he stayed in the Sara Black room, located in an added-on section of the inn. “I was lying on the bed when all of a sudden it shook,” he says. “It was a pretty good jolt and that bed is pretty heavy.”

In March, 2009, Jerry returned to Farnsworth with his girlfriend, Deb, but this time booked the McFarlane room, which is in the original part of the house and where the ghost of a little boy named Jeremy allegedly visits on occasion. “It was Sunday morning and we were supposed to check out by 11 a.m.,” Jerry says. “We had not experienced anything paranormal in the room, so as I was getting out of the shower I asked Jeremy if he could give Deb an experience before we left – and I added a ‘please’ at the end of my sentence. When I opened the door and walked out of the bathroom, Deb asked if that was the first time I walked out of the bathroom. I said yes and asked why. She said that before I came out, she heard someone walk from the bathroom to the closet. She wasn't dreaming and she said it was inside the room. I then told her what I asked Jeremy. Is it a coincidence? I don't think so. I think Jeremy or someone was hanging around and heard me.”

THE GHOST OF LITTLE ROUND TOP

Civil War battles have been the subject of many motion pictures, but one of the best and most moving was 1993’s Gettysburg. During the filming of that movie, much of which was done right on location at the actual battlefields, some of the participants had an unexplained encounter. Because the film required so many extras to serve as soldiers, the production hired re-enactors who regularly portray the Union and Confederate armies.

During a break in filming one day, several of the extras were resting at Little Round Top and admiring the setting sun. They were approached by grizzled old man, who they described as wearing a ragged and scorched Union uniform and smelling of sulfur gunpowder. He talked to them about how furious the battle was as he passed around spare rounds of ammunition, then went on his way.

At first, the extras assumed he was part of the production company, but their minds changed when they looked closely at the ammunition he gave them. They took the rounds to the man in charge of giving out such props for the movie, and he said they did not come from him. It turns out the ammunition from the strange old man were genuine musket rounds from that period