Subject: [SupernaturalFlorida] Friday Night's Special Halloween Investigation Report....
Date: 10/9/2005 1:57:04 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
From: LordOfThyNight@aol.com
To: ParanormalBuffalo@yahoogroups.com, Paranormalflorida@yahoogroups.com, ParanormalGhostSociety@googlegroups.com, paranormalghostsociety@yahoogroups.com, ParanormalGhostSocietyConnections@yahoogroups.com, ParanormalGhostSociety@groups.msn.com, TheParanormalGhostSociety@yahoogroups.com, pgsociety@groups.aol.com, SupernaturalFlorida@yahoogroups.com

Dade Battlefield
 
Another place we got lost trying to find. The turn off for this is real easy to miss I mean its in a busy town their was cops out and drunks on the road etc etc. Jason was playing with the spotlight and shined it right on a cop car I am surprised they did not stop us lol.
 
Eventually we found a road which led us out to a fairly secluded area not to many residents out here if their were I would feel sorry for them cause you know their houses are haunted big time lol.
 
But we parked and started our hike on out to the battlefield. The area was real serene a lot of big oak trees along this dark road we walked. Eventually we found a bench made out of stone and a stone bridge. The area was made to have a natural look just as it did in the 1800's during a massacre which led to the second Seminole War.
 
I really was excited cause their really is not that many battlefields in Florida not like PA where you have famous ones like Gettysburg for example. Jason and I found an area with a map to the battlefield it had all the different sites like the reenactment area/mound, lodge, picnic grounds, trails, battlefield, and bandstand.
 
My main focus was the battlefield which we found an area of logs which looked like it was used as a small fort for the men to hide behind and attack.
 
Once we were on the battlefield I could sense a difference in coldness and energy here. You could easily tell that something here was not right. Their was trees on the battlefield and high grass in certain areas. Eventually we found a trail which stated to Ocala or to Tampa. I am almost 100 percent sure that this is the same trail that takes you to Fort Cooper. So anotherwards its a military road or was at the time. Of course the trail ends because towns have built up over the years so now its all broken up in places like Dade Battlefield.
 
We took the trail that led us northward first and along that trail was a few plaques talking about the battle, where the men were attacked at, and some minor history. I did hear a loud branch snap it sounded like something big was out their. I do not know if it was a deer but it was just one single snap nothing more no running, rustling or even walking.
 
Along the trail we came up to a split once again either way was a stone bridge over a small creek which runs right threw part of the battlefield and woods. We crossed on over the stone bridge and examined the monuments. Were every a major or commander fell a monument was put their to honor him. Their were at least 5 monuments here including Dade which seemed to have fallen at the edge of the battlefield which looked to me like maybe he was escaping or injured.
 
This area was kind of gloomy you could sense that death occurred here although quiet it just had a very unsettling feeling so maybe this part of the battlefield is really where most of the death had occurred.
 
We started our way back down the trail and went the other way. Eventually the trail ended their were no plaques or anything it seemed like this trail led to a road near by. Of course in the 1800's if their were no houses or roads this trail would have taken you to Tampa Bay.
 
Eventually we got back to the visitors center and made our way down a dark road which led us to a clearing to one of the largest oak trees on the Gulf Coast. This oak tree was almost so large that its branches almost touched the ground easily a few hundred years old.
 
We then found a nearby trail deep in the foliage and very overgrown which came out near the picnic area. Jason and I found a playground. The playground seemed to be fairly active which I thought was odd but the whole area was really the battlefield so the ghost seemed quite scattered.
 
As I was near the playground I heard a scream near by then moments later I heard some strange creature in the woods. It did not sound like anything I ever heard before and unfortunately being that Jason is deaf he did not hear it so I really needed more investigators so we could draw speculation. The scream sounded human but the other thing I heard a few minutes after sounded much different.
 
Their was some movement out in the woods as well and we found the reenactment mound and a few other buildings on site which we really did not pay much attention to. We were trying to look for one of the pine trails near by and ended up walking onto some wetlands so my sneakers were soaked which is no fun at all felt like I was a soldier at the time.
 
On the closing to our investigation I noticed that I could smell a camp fire the last half hour of us walking around. It was very distinct smelled like ash and burning. Now if I recall the soldiers did camp out here during this battle. I do not think the massacre occurred all at once I think some men were killed then set up camp or base here then the rest were killed so its possible that this was a residual scent.
 
We eventually hiked back to the car it was a real interesting place a lot of little different things that happened here that just make you go hmmm. We took some photos of the stone entrance which of course is not as old as the battlefield but still very nice to look at and we headed on off to Croom Ghost Town.