History & local legend
Baltimore Street in Gettysburg has a ghost story experienced through scent rather than sight. Writer Troy Taylor recalled noticing an unexplained, lingering smell of peppermint while researching the town’s hauntings. Local stories connected that sweetness to the aftermath of the July 1863 battle.
In the tradition Taylor heard, residents trying to move through streets surrounded by dead men and horses held scented handkerchiefs over their noses. Peppermint and vanilla helped mask the smell.
Ghost-tour guide Ed Kenney told a version involving peppermint and lilac. A researcher recording his tour in August 2007 noted that Kenney pointed to his nose and encouraged listeners to notice smells as well as shapes and sounds.
Sources
- Troy Taylor, American Hauntings, his own experience of peppermint on Baltimore Street and the scented-handkerchief legend
- Robert C. Thompson, Entertaining Ghosts, University of Maryland, 2008, Appendix C, transcription of Ed Kenney’s August 2007 tour
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, Isaac and Charles Tyson’s Baltimore Street procession photograph, November 19, 1863
