Paragenealogy II - Spangler

Last summer I was at Sach's Bridge in Adams County PA. Nearby was the site of a Civil War Hospital and the area where General Lee's Army exited the Gettysburg battlefield. The bridge is one of the most haunted covered bridges in the area. Haunted because of a combination of Civil War deaths and non-battle accidental deaths there.

This particular night a family from Maryland was at the bridge doing their own investigation. They showed me an interesting EVP that they had recorded. EVP stands for Electronic Voice Phenomenon. They are voices you do not hear at the time, but can hear when recorded. You ask a series of questions and play them back to see if you hear anything.  They posed the question to a spirit "What is your name" The answer clear as day "Spangler".

So what is the connection between Sach's Bridge and the name Spangler?  The Adams County page of www.usgenweb.org contains a Spangler Database.  Johann Sachs who lived nearby and for whom the bridge is named had a daughter Anna Margaret Sachs 1827-1908 who married Abraham T. Spangler 1826-1894. They married in Freedom Twp., Adams Co. in 1849. Anna died in Illinois and Abraham in Kansas. Since neither of them died at the bridge, could Abraham's spirit have come back to hang out in the area where he met his wife? Maybe some happy moments at the covered bridge? Who knows.