Phantom Armies

Overview

Phantom armies are large-scale collective apparitions of soldiers and battles, in which witnesses report seeing or hearing entire ghostly armies, cavalry charges, or re-enacted engagements at historical battlefields and other sites of mass military death.

Details

Origin:

Phantom-army reports are recorded worldwide but cluster around famous battlefields in Europe, the Mediterranean, and North America.

Regions:

Britain, Crete, Pennsylvania (Gettysburg), Northern France (Western Front), Scottish Highlands

First Reported:

Antiquity

Full Account

Phantom armies (also called spectral armies, ghost armies, or, in the Cretan tradition, Drosoulites - 'dew shadows') are reports of mass apparitions involving multiple soldiers, cavalry, or whole armies, typically associated with historical battlefields and sometimes with sites of large-scale military death. The category is distinct from individual battlefield ghosts in that the apparitions are explicitly collective and often re-enact organised military formations, marches, or combat. Famous cases include the 1642-43 phantom re-enactment of the Battle of Edgehill in Warwickshire, England (the first major battle of the English Civil War), described in the contemporary pamphlet 'A Great Wonder in Heaven' (1643); the Drosoulites of Frangokastello in Crete, an annual late-May/early-June apparition associated with the 1828 Battle of Frangokastello during the Greek War of Independence; and the long-standing tradition of phantom soldiers and ghostly engagements at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, site of the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War (1-3 July 1863). Skeptical scientific framings explain at least some cases as mirages or Fata Morgana - particularly the Drosoulites - as well as misidentification, suggestion, and pareidolia. The category does not include the World-War-II 23rd Headquarters Special Troops ('Ghost Army'), an Allied deception unit and a separate phenomenon.

Also Known As

• Spectral armies (English)
• Ghost armies (battlefield apparitions) (English)
• Drosoulites (Greek, Crete)
• Wild Hunt (related) (Germanic / Norse, Northern Europe)

Etymology

Origin:

English compound from 'phantom' (Greek phantasma, 'apparition') and 'army'.

Meaning:

Apparitional collectives of soldiers - whether marching, fighting, or simply present - reported at battlefields and other military sites.

First Use:

The English compound is recorded in 19th-century paranormal and folkloric writing; underlying traditions of apparitional armies are documented from antiquity (e.g. Plutarch on the apparitions at Marathon).

Timeline

• 1642-10-23 — Battle of Edgehill, the first major battle of the English Civil War, fought between Royalist and Parliamentarian forces (Historical battle that becomes the focus of the most famous English phantom-army tradition)
• 1643-01-23 — Pamphlet A Great Wonder in Heaven describes a phantom re-enactment of the Battle of Edgehill seen by shepherds and locals; King Charles I sends a Royal Commission to investigate, which reportedly observes the apparitions (Foundational early-modern phantom-army documentation)
• 1828-05-17 — Battle of Frangokastello, in which Hatzimichalis Dalianis and roughly 350-400 Greek fighters were killed by Ottoman forces (Historical event underlying the Drosoulites tradition)
• 1863-07-01 — Battle of Gettysburg begins; over the next three days approximately 50,000 men are killed, wounded, or missing - the costliest battle of the American Civil War (Historical battle underlying the long-running Gettysburg battlefield apparition tradition)

Sightings & Evidence

Cultural Significance

Phantom-army apparitions are widely treated in folklore as evidence that violent collective death imprints itself on the landscape; specific anniversaries are observed by residents and visitors at major battlefield sites.

Related Phenomena

• Wild Hunt — Northern European spectral host of huntsmen, often confused with or feeding into phantom-army folklore
• Battlefield ghosts (individual) — Individual battlefield ghosts can be considered a subset; phantom armies are the collective form
• Fata Morgana / superior mirage — Atmospheric optical phenomenon implicated in some phantom-army reports, especially the Drosoulites

Tags

Sources

• Drosoulites — Wikipedia
• A Great Wonder in Heaven — London (anonymous pamphlet)
• Ghostly Battle of Edgehill — Historic UK
• Ghosts of Gettysburg: Spirits, Apparitions and Haunted Places of the Battlefield — Thomas Publications