As a kid, my dad ensured we were well traveled, saw all of the U.S., Canada and Mexico and were exposed to other cultures. When I was about ten years old, he took us to Gettysburg.

My dream was to become an Olympic swimmer so I was far more interested in spending my time in the hotel pool than tramping through fields full of rocks, where some guys I'd never known had died a gazillion years ago. 
 

Maybe if I'd known what Gettysburg held in store for me that day I would've been far more interested in it.

​

It was cool and drizzling the morning we visited Gettysburg, which didn't enhance the experience any. I was bored out of my skull and tired from spending the previous night in the hotel pool.
By the time we got to Devil's Den, I told my dad to go ahead, I wanted to rest for a minute and I'd catch up to them.

​

I sat down at the base of a boulder in Devil's Den and closed my eyes. Suddenly I sensed I wasn't alone. I opened my eyes and looked around - then straight at the ghost of a Civil War soldier fully manifested to the right of me.

"Morning Ma'am," he said, tipping his hat to me. I'm scanning this soldier from head to toe. It looked like he hadn't bathed recently, his boots were muddy and scuffed, his clothes were filthy and a large crimson patch adorned the front of his jacket.

"I'm not a Ma'am, I'm a kid," I replied.
 

He threw his head back and laughed, saying "That's what I love about y,all, Patty. Y'all always tell it just like it is." He talked funny, like my cousins from "Missoura'.
'How do you know my name?" I asked, my eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"I just do," he replied.
"Well aren't ya gonna tell me your name?" I countered.
"Name's Adam," he replied, as I continued to study him intensely.
"You look like shit," I informed him. 'I think you're dead. Like a ghost or somethin'."

He threw back his head again and laughed, slapping his knee as he did.
"Best be careful or your mama will wash your mouth out with soap again for cussing," he warned.

 

How did he know my stepmother washed my mouth out with soap when I cussed? I wondered.

 

I decided rather quickly that I really like Adam and we settled into an easy conversation about his life on his farm, the wife he'd left behind and how much he missed his mama's peach pie. (Peach pie is my favorite too)

 

Then his face grew solemn and he said softly "Y'all have a secret, Patty. A secret y'all hide from everyone."

 

HOW DID HE KNOW ABOUT MY SECRET AND THAT I NEVER TOLD ANYONE I WAS VERY PSYCHIC?!! This wasn't something I was comfortable talking about so I fiddled with my shoelaces, saying nothing.

​

"Never be ashamed of what y'all are, Patty" he continued.
"The kids all make fun of me," I explained. "They call me witch and devil and stuff."
"Y'all nevermind what the kids say," he instructed. "What ya'll have is a gift and y'all will use that gift to help many people in the years to come - including those kids who make fun of you."

​

With that, Adam said it was time for him to leave and I watched as he disappeared into thin air. I'd already decided I'd keep his visit to myself. Who would believe me anyway if I did tell about it?

​

I ran to catch up with my family. Dad was now taking us to some Civil War museum. I wasn't interested in going to the museum, I was still deep in thought about Adam's visit.

But once we got inside the museum I found myself being drawn to a glass display case of Civil War photographs and to one in particular.

It was a photo of a Civil War soldier, who'd been shot in the chest and been found dead in Devil's Den. The caption below the photo read "Anonymous soldier found dead in Devil's Den". I stared at the face, thinking somewhat angrily He wasn't anonymous! His name was Adam!

​​

Years later I'd come to discover that ghost was Jmmanuel and that I had a rather unique connection to the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln in particular.

​

Mere coincidence he'd told me his name was "Adam"? Nope.

​

In Judaism re: Adam Kadmon
 

The first to use the expression "original man," or "heavenly man," was Philo, in whose view the γενικός, or οὐράνιος ἄνθρωπος, "as being born in the image of God, has no participation in any corruptible or earthlike essence; whereas the earthly man is made of loose material, called a "lump of clay." The heavenly man, as the perfect image of the Logos, is neither man nor woman, but an incorporeal intelligence purely an idea; while the earthly man, who was created by God later, is perceptible to the senses and partakes of earthly qualities. Philo is evidently combining philosophy and Midrash, Plato and the rabbis." Source​​