John Sabol

Battlefield Hauntscape: the Unearthing of Gettysburg, July 1863 John Sabol

Battlefield Hauntscape introduces a new field survey approach to unearth the patterns of ghostly phenomenon on a battlefield. Both residual and interactive presence can be isolated and separately distinguished using this new methodology. This technique is based on the K. O. C. O. A. (key terrain, observation, cover and concealment, obstacles, and avenues of approach), a military strategy of terrain analysis that is still used at West Point. In ghost research, K. O. C. O. A. is used to identify the locations of potential paranormal phenomenon. From the located nodes of discontinuous anomalies, the ghostly drama is unearthed through a performance-based excavation process. The Gettysburg battlefield is used to illustrate the dynamics of this approach. The author suggests that the K. O. C. O. A. survey is a more accurate and scientific method of documenting battlefield ghost phenomena than the more subjective accounts of hauntings, characteristic of most books that recount encounters with the Gettysburg ghosts.