HGB Ep. 450 - Haunted Gettysburg

Moment in Oddity - Snailfish

It may seem like we've gone down an oddity rabbit hole of things that glow, but let me tell you about the snailfish. In Greenland's cold waters, there is a fish that has the ability to glow green and red. The snailfish lives in Greenland's deepest depths inside the crevices of icebergs. The ability to glow in Arctic fish is somewhat rare and in the snailfish's case, it is atributed to an antifreeze protein that keeps the snailfish from dying. This fish's specialized adaptations prevent its internal organs from producing ice crystals allowing it to live in temperatures that would normally cause fish blood to freeze. According to one article a juvenile snailfish was found to have the highest level of antifreeze proteins ever recorded. Glowing deep sea creatures are always interesting, but the fact that the snailfish can produce quote unquote antifreeze qualities, certainly is odd.

This Month in History - Julian Calendar Changes to Gregorian Calendar in Britain

In the month of September, on the 2nd, in 1752, The British ended their use of the Julian calendar and switched to the Gregorian calendar. The move did not go well and it still makes it hard for historians to navigate whether historical records were entered according to the Julian calendar or Gregorian calendar. The Julian calendar was started by Julius Caesar in 45 BC. It follows much of how our calendar is today, but the way that leap years were figured, ended up leaving extra dates in some months and pushing seasonal equinoxes to fall too early by nearly a week and a half. It messed up Christian holidays too, so Pope Gregory XIII authorized a New Style calendar that was eventually named for him. In order to facilitate this change, the method of calculating leap years was changed, the beginning of the legal new year was changed from March 25th to January 1st so the year 1751 was a short year with only 282 days and 11 days were dropped from Septmeber in 1752. This meant that people went to bed on September 2nd and woke up on September 14th. People felt like they had been cheated because eleven days just disappeared and riots ensued as people demanded the missing days back. At least according to urban myth.

Haunted Gettysburg

The town of Gettysburg is centrally located in Southern Pennsylvania and its claim to fame is the three day battle that took place here in July of 1863 that became the major turning point of the war. Many of the homes, inns and businesses in town still bear the battle scars of this bloody battle and nearly every location has some kind of spirit hanging around. We got to spend a couple days in this historic and quaint town and we are going to share the haunted locations outside of the battlefield on this episode. Join us for the history and haunts of Gettysburg!

The town of Gettysburg was founded in 1786 and named after Samuel Gettys who was an earlier settler here and owned a tavern that the local militia used for meetings. Samuel had a lot of land after the Revolutionary War and he eventually sold his land to his son James, who sold it off in parcels. This was the official start of Gettysburg and James is recognized as the founder. Gettysburg officially became a Borough in 1806. James would serve as sheriff for three years and was the first town clerk and treasurer and in 1815 became Burgess. Samuel's brother-in-law, Reynolds Ramsey, was the first Burgess or mayor. We actually got to see James' burial plot in the Evergreen Cemetery. He died from typhus as did many members of his family, leaving his two young sons orphans. 

Gettysburg was a trading hub with all roads and railroads leading to it and for this very reason, it was the perfect spot for a battle during the Civil War. The Battle of Gettysburg would be fought here from July 1st to 3rd in 1863 with 165,620 troops facing off against each other headed by Union General George G. Meade and Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Lee had the upperhand at the beginning of the battle, but blunders on the third day led the Confederates into retreat and this became a Union victory. There were more than 50,000 casualties that day and most buildings in the area were quickly turned into field hospitals. The battlefield still serves as a reminder today of a dark moment in America's history. The battle would give the small town a spot in infamy. Today, tourists visit from all over the world to experience the deep history here. Many of the locations that stood during the battle, still stand today. And many of them are said to be haunted!

Baladerry Inn

The site where the Baladerry Inn stands at 40 Hospital Road had been the George Bushman Farm. The inn was built in 1812 to serve as the home for a tenant farmer. In 1830, the rest of the main house was added. George Bushman's son eventually moved into the home and during the Battle of Gettysburg, it was used as a field hospital with amputations taking place in the great Room. In 1992, the house was converted into a bed & breakfast. In 2010, Judy & Kenny Caudill bought the property and they have updated the place and continue to run it as a B&B. The main house and carriage house both have rooms for rent, ten in total. The Great Room has a great fireplace and opens up onto a large terrace with a hot tub. A traditional country breakfast is offered in the mornings.

The inn is said to be haunted not only because it was a field hospital, but because seven Confederate soldiers remain buried beneath some nearby tennis courts. The inn embraces their haunts and even keep a binder full of stories. A guest taking pictures around the inn captured Confederate soldiers in a picture with two of them being seated near some French-style double doors and two standing outside. One of them has what looks like a black armband, perhaps in honor of General Stonewall Jackson.

The Marigold Room plays host to a female ghost that usually appears at the foot of the bed. She is fond of jewelry as well and one female guest reported that she was participating in some re-enactments and had brough vintage jewelry with her to wear. She kept the jewelry in a bag and when she returned to her room, she found it laid out neatly on top of the bag. The Primrose Room has an amorous male ghost named Geoffrey. He rubs the feet of women and sings in their ears. Sometimes he gets into bed with guests as well.

Izzatyu wrote on TripAdvisor in 2013, "I chose the Marigold room, as it attracts ghost hunters often. (All though the whole property has that potential). I thought I would try it out and wow, a phantom voice on my recorder, a loud popping sound like a champagne cork (which I didn't hear, but was recorded), two knocks that I asked for that I heard, plus recorded, washroom door closed while I was out and couldn't make it do that myself. There could be more, as I haven't listen to all of the recordings (EVP's) as yet. I recommend the Baladerry Inn and hope to return one day. It is far enough away from the main part of town, so it is nice and quiet. This place has everything going for it. Couldn't be better! If you are afraid of ghosts, don't worry, just tell them to stop and they usually do."

George Weikert House

The George Weikert House, north of Little Round Top, is one of the houses along the edge of the battlefield that is now owned by the National Park Service. The Weikert family owned four farms in the area, but this one was owned by the patriarch George. He was born in 1801 and moved to Gettysburg from Maryland in 1838. He purchased the land with the house in 1852. The house started as a one-story, two-bay stone house built on a granite foundation that was built in 1798. The gabled roof is covered with wood shingles and has vertical board and batten on the gable ends and the rest of the house is built from stone. The house was altered in 1880, expanding it into a two-story, two-bay house. When the battle began near the farm, the family left and the house was strong enough to provide good shelter that the Union quickly commandeered it. When the Weikert's returned, they found their house had been turned into a field hospital with amputated limbs piled up outside and bodies buried nearby. Eventually the bodies where dug up and relocated and the parlor rug was found in the mass grave. At least six men lost their lives in the parlor of the house. Survivors from the New Jersey Brigade bought the farm because they had been successful holding the area and they put up a monument nearby. The park service bought the property and park rangers use the farm for housing. They are the ones who claim that the house is haunted. A door on the second floor refuses to stay shut and they've never found an explainable reason why. A frustrated ranger tried nailing the door shut and he still found it opened later. Disembodied footsteps are heard in the house, especially the attic. 

Tillie Pierce House Inn

The Tillie Pierce House Inn was built in 1829 and purchased by James and Margaret Pierce in 1847. The Pierce Family would hold onto the home for 64 years. The inn is named for Matilda "Tillie" Pierce, who was the daughter of James and Margaret. She was fifteen when the battle started and her parents sent her to the Jacob Weikert Farm believing she would be safer there. This was at the base of little Round Top and Tillie soon found herself providing aid to wounded soldiers. She wrote of her experiences twenty-five years later in a book titled "At Gettysburg, Or What A Girl Saw And Heard Of The Battle." She wrote, "The whole landscape had been changed and I felt as though we were in a strange and blighted land." The inn features six rooms, a parlor, sitting room and Victorian garden. People claim to hear disembodied footsteps walking upstairs, the sound of a soldier pacing up and down the stairs and beds appear to have something unseen sit upon them.

Farnsworth House Inn  

The Farnsworth House Inn sits on land that had been owned by Reverend Alexander Dobbins and he sold part of the land to John F. McFarlane. The house has a murky background with McFarland being credited as the first recorded owner of the house, but its not clear he built it, nor is it clear when it was built. Most historians believe that the house was built in 1810. McFarland owned it until his death in 1851 and then the Bank of Gettysburg took ownership of the property. During the Civil War, this was another one of those field hospitals and some Confederates were buried on the property. This was also a stop on the Gettysburg Address campaign. There were other owners through the years with one of the families being the Black Family who opened up the Sleepy Hollow Inn here. In 1972, Loring and Jean Shultz bought the inn and offered tours of the house in which they shared stories about paranormal activity.

The rooms of this bed and breakfast are filled with antiques. There are ten rooms to choose from and then there is also the Lee and Meade Dining Rooms, Sweney's Tavern and a Beer Garden with outside dining. We didn't get a chance to try the food here as the main dining rooms were closed the days we visited, but Sweney's Tavern is available more often. They offer a variety of tours through their Sleepy Hollow Ghost Tours. These include a Civil War Era Magic Show or a Haunted Cellar Presentation or Yankee Spirits Walking Tour or Creekside Tales or Confederate Hospital Walking Ghost Tour or ghost hunts of the place. Clearly, embracing the paranormal started with the Schultz in the 1970s and continues to today. And there is a lot of activity here. 

There are several spirits reputed to be here, including a ghost cat. The Schultz family claim that there are at least sixteen ghosts. There are claims that there is one room that has been closed off and padlocked because the activity in there had gotten so aggressive. The lock on that door is said to rattle on its own. A bathroom up in the garret, which is the attic, sometimes plays the scene of a bloody mess. There had been three Confederate sharpshooters up in the attic during the battle that were picking off Union soldiers on Cemetery Hill and one of them was either seriously wounded or died up in the attic. There are stories that the home was stormed by Union soldiers, so they could take out the sharpshooters. The disembodied sobbing of a man is heard sometimes and if this apparition is seen, he is usually carrying the body of a child wrapped in a quilt. 

A soldiers spirit is seen in the cellar helping a wounded comrade and disembodied singing is heard down here as well. The temperature plummets in the cellar unexpectedly. A midwife tucks in guests staying in the Schultz Room and strange sounds are heard in the McFarland Room. The spirit of a young boy plays in the house. His name is said to be Jeremy and he was supposedly struck by a carriage in front of the house. And there is a nose picture here: the scent of cigar smoke. The most haunted room in the inn is the Sara Black Room. Entities have been photographed many times in the window of this room and shadow figures are seen in here. Occasionally the mattress will be depressed by something unseen. A Jews Harp can be heard playing in the attic in the dead of night. 

The most memorable evening was on a Halloween one year when a local radio station hosted a special from the house. Everybody was dressed in blue and they kept calling the host "Captain" and before long, many apparitions of soldiers were seen in the house and heard banging around. The only malevolent entity at the inn is thought to belong to a female cook who lets her displeasure be known in the kitchen and dining room. Lorraine Saintz of Johnstown, Pennsylvania said, “I spent a few days in Gettysburg last year and stayed at the Farnsworth House overnight, and upon awakening during the night, I saw a form of a woman standing near the doorway. Oh how exciting it is to know that you had a ghostly encounter.” Ghost Hunters also visited the inn in 2014 and two of the teams saw a black mass down in the basement.

Cashtown Inn

Lorraine Saintz had at experience at this next location as well. She said, "Returning to the inn around 10 p.m. and while in the parking lot I heard music and people having a good time in the bar. When I unlocked the door to get into the inn, I saw no one in the bar room and no music was playing. The bar was locked up for the night and no one was in sight." The Cashtown Inn was built in 1797 as the first stagecoach stop west of Gettysburg. The Cashtown Inn was named for the crossroads village that was founded here. The name Cashtown was derived from the fact that the first innkeeper, Peter Marck, would take only cash for goods he sold and tolls he charged for using the road. Lt. General A.P. Hill used the inn as a headquarters and his troops camped around the place. Hill would launch from this site and when the Confederates retreated, Brig. General John Imboden made the inn his headquarters and his troops ascended the mountain in the direction of Chambersburg. The cellar was used as a field hospital and amputated limbs covered over the basement windows. By the 1940s, the inn had fallen into disrepair and an owner was considering turning it into low-income apartments. Bud and Carolyn Buckley bought the property and restored it, so that it would serve as an inn once again. Jack and Maria Paladino owned it for over two decades after that. The inn has just come under new ownership in 2021 and offers three rooms and three suites for rent. The inn was used during the filming of the movie "Gettysburg."

There are a variety of experiences that take place here. The main haunt here belongs to a Confederate soldier who is seen staring from the upstairs windows. Some guests return to their rooms after a day of sightseeing to find their luggage packed for them and it isn't the innkeepers providing this unwanted service. One couple had a terrifying evening. It started with knocking at their door that wouldn't stop. When it finally stopped, they heard disembodied footsteps walking towards their bed and they stopped at the foot of the bed. Then their mattress started to shake and ripple. They described it rippling like a rock thrown into water. Something unseen grabbed the woman's shoulder. Activity increases at the inn on the anniversary dates of the battle. Many guests claim to have their doors banged on during the night and lights turn on and off by themselves. Ghost Hunters investigated here during Season 4 in 2008. A TV in a room turned itself on when the crew was setting up cameras in there. Jason felt something sit down next to him on a couch and the area felt much cooler than the rest of the area. Kris Williams became nauseous while standing in a place where amputations occurred and she actually ran upstairs and puked. 

Lightner Farmhouse Bed & Breakfast

The Lightner Farmhouse B & B at 2350 Baltimore Pike is a Federal-style two-story red brick building with blue shutters. This house was built in 1862 by Isaac and Barbara Lightner on 140 acres of farmland. They had bought the land in 1841 and originally built a much smaller home. The new bigger home reflected the families moving on up the financial standing of the community. Isaac had served as Sheriff for the county from 1858 to 1861 and lived in the courthouse in downtown Gettysburg during that time. The house was just about done when the battle came to town and by the evening of July 1st, the Lightner home and barn had become hospitals. The wounded and dying would be here for three weeks. The house has been restored, preserving the random plank floors, doors, fireplaces and leaded glass windows and outside by the old summer kitchen, guests can still see the squirrel-tail oven that the Lightner's owned and in which bread was baked for Union soldiers. There are six rooms to choose from for accommodations.

jerzee2maytoe on TripAdvisor, "While they don't really play up that the house is haunted we really believe it is! We were both awakened at about the same time each night we were there by strange sounds in the hallway. It sounded like someone dragging something heavy across the floor (a body maybe?). Then even more nerve-wracking was the sound of someone trying to get in the room (turning and shaking of the knob, etc.)."

User Attack on Both Sides posted a picture to Pinterest with the following comment, "We recently stayed at the Lightner Farmhouse Bed and Breakfast. I snapped shots of the breezeway connecting the main house with the private Walnut Cottage, which is where we stayed. Later, I noticed something in the foreground, standing in front of the window. After enlarging this portion of the picture, I saw what appeared to be a soldier, looking into the french doors, kepi on his head, and a small horse or donkey beside him. I can even see the bridle across its muzzle." Here is the picture:

 

Hummelbaugh House

The Hummelbaugh Farm is today owned by the National Park Service. It is named for Jacob Hummelbaugh who was born in 1818. Dates of when he owned the property are unknown, but the house was built in the 1840s and consists of a log structure beneath the shiplap siding. There is a gable roof and an extended part to the back of the house that was added after the war. Jacob was a widower and his son John was off fighting in the Civil War near Harpers Ferry when his home became a field hospital for the 2nd Corps. Confederate General William Barksdale was treated at the house and it is there that he died. This also served as headquarters for Union Cavalry commander General Alfred Pleasanton from July 4th through July 6th. The farm was very close to some of the heaviest fighting and perhaps that is why it is haunted today. People definitely believe that General Barksdale haunts the property, along with his dog. The story goes that the General died in front of the house as he called out for water over and over, despite being given water, He was buried quickly on the property, but his wife and dog came to retrieve the body. The dog jumped on top of the grave and had to be dragged away so Barksdale could be disinterred. The dog jumped back on the grave after the body was removed and he refused to leave, so Barksdale's wife left the dog behind. He refused food and water from anyone and eventually passed away. The General is still heard calling out for water and the dog is heard howling.

Daniel Lady Farm

The 146-acre farm on the Old Hanover Street was first graced by a log barn. This was replaced in 1842 by a German bank-style barn. A fieldstone farmhouse was constructed in 1820. During the Civil War, the farm served as General Edward Johnson's staging area before the Confederate attack on Culp's Hill and then a Confederate field hospital. The Lady family stayed in their house even when it was occupied by the Confederates. Daniel and his wife Rebecca sold the farm in 1867 and they left for another town with their seven children. The Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association bought the Daniel Lady Farm in 1999 and restored the property. Tours and camping for re-enactors are offered. Bloodstains can still be seen on the woodwork throughout the house and there are even carvings and graffiti that can still be seen in the barn on the beams. Cadaver dogs have identified graves on the property. The Niagara Falls Police did some tests at the farm and they found an area in the parlor where a pile of blood-soaked rags were thrown, evidence of the upper torso of a body upstairs and marks from fingers of men who propped up against a wall. There was more death and blood here than any other location in Gettysburg. The upstairs of the house is the most active. Soldiers are seen still patrolling the land around the farm. General Isaac Ewell was here for a time with his troops and people believe he has returned in the afterlife.  

Gettysburg Hotel

The Gettysburg Hotel started as a tavern that was built in 1797. This was a much smaller building than the one that is seen today in the heart of the historic downtown area. We ate dinner in a restaurant across from the hotel and it is gorgeous with a Beaux-Arts architectural style. The tavern was built by James Scott and was named Scott's Tavern. A York County sheriff named William McClellan bought the tavern in 1809 and renamed it Indian Queen. By the late 1840s, the tavern was known as McClellan House. The larger structure was completed in 1890 and took on the name Gettysburg Hotel at that time. A few years later it added luxuries like modern plumbing and electric lights. President Dwight Eisenhower used this location as a temporary White House when he was recovering from a heart attack he had in 1955. By the 1960s, the hotel was closed and transformed into apartments until it was gutted by a fire in 1983. Gettysburg College worked with a historic architectural review board to reopen the hotel. In 2013 it underwent a massive renovation. There are 119 rooms and suites and this is one of the nicest places to stay in Gettysburg. The hotel offers meeting space and a ballroom in the former Gettysburg National Bank building dated to 1814 that they acquired under the ownership of Gettysburg College. Baskervill, an international full-service architectural and interior design firm, redesigned the restaurant leaving the interior with a tavern feel featuring a large communal table sitting before a grand fireplace. The lounge, named One Lincoln Food & Spirits, pays tribute to Lincoln being on the penny with a pressed-tin copper ceiling and an art piece made up of 100 copper pots of different sizes and styles. The menu has some of Lincoln's favorite foods, such as apples, cheese and chicken fricassee.

The hotel is home to several spirits because it too served as a hospital and these ghosts include a Civil War nurse named Rachel, a lady who dances in the center of the ballroom and a wounded soldier named James Culbertson who did succumb to his injuries. Rachel has been sited running down the stairs and also likes to rummage through people's belongings in the drawers of furniture in their rooms.

The Dobbin House Tavern

The Reverend Alexander Dobbin built the Dobbin House in 1776 and this is the oldest house still standing in Gettysburg. This served not only as his family's home, but he also ran a school from the property. The house became the first stop on the Underground Railroad above the Mason-Dixon Line and like most of the homes in the town, it became a field hospital. Today, the Dobbin House is an inn and restaurant. 

Blue orbs of light are seen, fires start themselves in the fireplaces and disembodied footsteps are heard. One of the most common spirits seen here belongs to a little girl. Patrons of the restaurant, Springhill Tavern, claim to see the apparition of this girl in one of the upper windows. Staff and patrons claim to see other spirits as well, including slaves and soldiers and maybe even Rev. Alexander Dobbin.

Heather wrote, "I used to work there. One day while a co worker and I were setting up for a banquet, Tabbi said she was going outside to smoke, I said okay and kept getting stuff ready. I heard someone clear as day say my name, 'Heather.' Didn't think anything of it, responded with, 'yeah?' Looked around and no one was there. Went through the dining room and up to the bedroom and still didn't see anyone. Went outside and Tabbi Roth was still there. Asked her about it and she said it wasn't her." Tabbi had her own experiences and said, "I remember going up to the bedroom and seeing a little girl out of the corner of my eye hated going up there by myself."

Trey wrote, "I talked to a long time employee there last year who does janitorial work. He said it was very common to hear footsteps where there were no people or catch a glimpse of people in period wear who disappeared as soon as you adjusted your eyes again." Audrey wrote, "About the year 2007, my family ate here for lunch. We sat on a long bench that was back up near a fireplace downstairs. They saw me jump when I felt something touch my back. I thought maybe a big bug but there was nothing around. To this day, I still wonder if it was a ghost or something like that."

Is this a picture of a ghost? Looks like a woman in a black Victorian mourning dress. A man named Clint wrote of this picture, "That is me and my buddy at the bar, it was a slow day in there. Not many people at all. My buddy kept saying he was feeling cold drafts of air to his left. Little while later, two ladies from out of town said they got that in one of the pics...no one was ever in that area while we were there...it's def a ghost...never into the ghost stuff or believed it until that day...def real..."

 

National Homestead at Gettysburg

The National Homestead at Gettysburg opened in 1866 to serve as a place for both widows and orphans. The location was chosen at the north foot of Cemetery Hill. The facility was under the direction of Dr. John F. Bourns and appeared in a famous photo with Ulysses S. Grant in 1867 with the future President posing with boys and girls from the orphanage. The initial head mistress helped the orphanage to prosper, but things changed drastically when Rosa J. Carmichael took over as head mistress. She was cruel and designed the basement to become a dungeon of torture. There are still chains connected to the walls that were used to lock up the children. There was even a place down there called The Pit where kids were left for days. This is barely big enough for an adult and has no light. Carmichael allowed older kids to discipline the younger ones. There are some who believe that Carmichael killed some of the children.  The location is said to be haunted by both some of the children and Carmichael herself. The disembodied voices of children are heard and people have been touched. Ghost Adventures investigate this location in 2010. The crew heard bangs and disembodied footsteps and captured the following EVPs: "you're wonderful... thank you" after Zak offered some candy, "Watch your back with them" after a rock was thrown at Nick, "Pass all the Morgans" referring to silver dollars from the 1880s, "Betcha won't untie me", "Kill the girl", "I never killed again", "I want the bowl of money." Ghost Hunters investigated this location in 2014. A woman named Alexis told them she heard an audible male voice tell her to "get out now" when she looked into The Pit.

Sachs Covered Bridge

Sachs Covered Bridge was originally spelled as Sauches during the Civil War and is a truss covered bridge spanning 100 feet. The style features wooden beams cris-crossed like a lattice. This was built in 1854 and in 1863 would provide a route for the Union Army to come into Gettysburg. After the battle was concluded, General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia retreated across the bridge. Legend claims that three deserters were hanged at the bridge, but we've found no proof of that. Vehicles used the bridge until 1968, when it was closed to vehicular traffic. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 25, 1980. A flash flood in 1996 knocked the bridge from one of its abutments and the bridge was restored and rededicated in 1997.

People believe the Sachs Covered Bridge is guarded by the spirits of the soldiers who died here while being pursued by the Union. Visitors to the bridge feel uneasy and some people claim to have seen full-bodied apparitions of soldiers pacing around the bridge. On a summer evening in 2004, a group of investigators saw a strange mist followed by several orange light orbs that appeared to be dancing near the bridge. They heard the sounds of cannons firing and horses as well.  This activity continued for nearly twenty minutes and then disappeared. Later they saw disembodied spirits that freaked them out a bit, but it took the disembodied growling of a male voice to finally chase them off. Virgil commented on the Astonishing Legends blog, "I went ghost hunting there a few years ago. I captured sometime after 3 in the morning an apparition of a woman with a long dress from the period and a union soldier in uniform standing along behind her by her side. It’s too bad I can’t post picture here." And Zach commented, "Anyway, my friend walked across it at night and had a terrifying experience. As he entered the bridge and slowly walked through it, making it to the other end, he heard boards creaking that wasn't his own steps. He turned around to see a dark figure standing where he entered the bridge."

Jennie Wade House

Mary Virginia Wade was known as Jennie to her family. She was born in 1843 and lived in a home on Breckenridge Street with her mother and two younger brothers and she worked as a seamstress. Her father had been locked up at Eastern State Penitentiary. Jennie had an older sister, Georgia Anna Wade McClellan, who lived at a home at 548 Baltimore Street and she was pregnant before the battle came to Gettysburg. She gave birth four days before the battle started and Jennie, along with her mother and brothers, moved to her sister's house to help. This is the house now referred to as the Jennie Wade House. Jennie was kneading dough in the kitchen around 8am when a Minie ball came through an outer door of the house and through the door of the parlor, which was open to provide extra protection, and hit just below her left shoulder blade, piercing her heart and killing her instantly. No one knows who fired the shot, but there are many bullet holes on the outside of the house, so it was definitely in the path of fire. Jennie was only 20 years old and she was the only civilian to die during the battle.

A shell came through the roof of the house and blew out part of a wall upstairs. Union soldiers came to rescue the rest of the family and they wanted to get them to the cellar, but they couldn't risk going outside on the side of the house that Georgia lived in, so the soldiers knocked out the rest of the wall upstairs to get the family to the other side of the house. They took Jennie's body with them and they all hid in the cellar together. The story of Jennie only got more tragic. She was engaged to marry Corporal Johnston “Jack” Skelly and he was wounded and captured in Winchester shortly before Jennie died. She had no idea. He died in captivity, probably never knowing that she had passed as well. Jennie was quickly buried right outside the house, but in January 1864, her body was relocated to the cemetery of the German Reformed Church on Stratton Street. She was moved a third time to her final resting place at Evergreen Cemetery in Gettysburg and we visited the plot. It is memorialized with an eternal American flag. She is only one of two women given this honor. Betsy Ross is the other. Jack is buried near Jennie.

The Jennie Wade House is now a museum that preserves the house as it was during the battle. The bullet holes are still here as is the part of the wall knocked out upstairs. The cellar has a recreation of the events with a mannequin under a quilt serving as a stand-in for Jennie. There are ghost hunts offered here and the haunted reputation is embraced. Ghost Adventures investigated in 2010 and they captured an EVP that very much sounds like a young woman whispering "I'm pregnant" when asked what she wanted to tell her boyfriend. A legend claims that if a woman places her ring finger in the bullet hole of the outer door, she will soon be proposed to and people have written letters to the museum claiming that this has indeed happened. Visitors and investigators claim to be scratched, pushed and pinched by something unseen and Zak even had his butt grabbed. Ghost Hunters also visited the house in 2014. A FLIR camera caught a figure walking on the property. They were told by a tour guide that he had seen a male child spirit in the house and they think he may have come over from the orphanage, which is across the street.

Gettysburg is a wonderful historic town that every one really needs to visit at least once in their life. The museum does a great job of covering the history before the Civil War started, the various battles highlighting Gettysburg and the aftermath for both the town and country. Gettysburg is similar to St. Augustine in that one can just feel the spiritual energy all around. Driving through the battlefield at night and seeing the silhouettes of the monuments on the hills is chilling. Driving the battlefield and heading out to Sachs Bridge reveals just how much area was covered by the battle and all the intricacies of everything that happened over those fated three days. It is not surprising that lots of spiritual residue has lead to paranormal activity in this town. Are these locations in Gettysburg haunted? That is for you to decide!

HGB Podcast, Ep. 74 - Gettysburg

 
Moment in Oddity - The Nagyrev Poisonings

It all started in 1911, during World War I. Lonely soldiers' wives in the Hungarian town of Nagyrev decided to comfort their loneliness in the arms of the enemy. Allied POWs were being kept in the town and many of these women took them as lovers and some were impregnated. A midwife by the name of Julia Fazekas came to town that year. Her own husband had mysteriously disappeared. The women of Nagyrev came to her with their problems. Fazekas performed abortions on many of the women who were pregnant. And for the girls who came to her complaining that they had been forced to marry the men that were now off to war and that they wanted out to be with their foreign lovers, she helped teach them how to make arsenic by boiling flypaper and skimming the poison off the top of the water. When the men returned from war, they would eat food made with the arsenic and die. Now you might think that suspicions would grow when the village clerk started recording all these deaths as murder. But the village clerk did not record the deaths as murder because she just happened to be the cousin of Fazekas. The poisonings soon spread from the returning soldiers to other family members. These young women would off their parents as well since they considered them a burden. Every little problem was solved with arsenic. By the time a neighboring town caught wind of what was going on in Nagyrev, 300 people had been murdered by 50 different women. The idea that arsenic poisoning could become a fad certainly is odd!

This Day in History - First Railway in Ireland Opens

On this day, October 9th, in 1834, the Dublin and Kingston Railway opens in Ireland. It was the first railway system for the country and it was not completed without jumping through some hoops. Not everyone was keen on having the railway, particularly if it affected them personally. The line was going to run for six miles between Westland Row in Dublin and Kingstown Harbor in County Dublin. This meant having to cross through the property of two landowners, one of whom was Lord Cloncurry. Cloncurry was an Irish politician famously known for his adultery lawsuit against Sir John Piers. Cloncurry decided that he was going to make some elaborate requests of the railway company before he would agree to let them use his land. He demanded that they build him a foot bridge over the line so that he could cross to his bathing area. He wanted the bridge to have a Romanesque temple built on it as well, complete with a tunnel for him to go through and a cutting to maintain his privacy. The other landowner made a simpler request of a large sum of money. The Dublin and Kingston Railway ran on that October 9th with eight carriage cars pulled by a locomotive named Hibernia. The line remains today as a part of the DART line, which is the Dublin Area Rapid Transit.

Gettysburg  (Research Assistants: Steven Pappas and Amy Connor)

The Battle of Gettysburg is perhaps the most famous battle of the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln even gave one of his most enduring speeches from Gettysburg and named it the Gettysburg Address. Nearly every American knows the first line, which reads, "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." Many men died during that battle and it was truly the turning point of the war and the beginning of the defeat of the Confederacy. Perhaps this is why the Battle of Gettysburg continues to this day. Not just as a part of re-enactments, but as ghostly battles continuing on the field. Countless witnesses have reported seeing the battle, hearing the sounds of the battle and bumping into ghostly soldiers. Today, we explore the history and hauntings of Gettysburg.

The town of Gettysburg is a borough and the Adams county seat in Pennsylvania. In 1736, the land that now makes up the center of Adams County was purchased by William Penn's family from the Iroquois Indian tribe. At the time, the land was called Marsh Creek. The majority of the first settlers were of Scots-Irish descent that had fled Northern Ireland to escape English persecution. The French-Indian War led the residents of Adams County to become victim to several raids. One such event took place on April 5, 1758. The Jameson family was attacked at dawn. There were several children in the family, including a daughter, Mary who was around 16 at the time. Mary was captured and two sons escaped. Several other family members were captured and taken West. Only the fate of Mary's parents is known, they were murdered on the trip West. Two Seneca women later adopted Mary. She had multiple opportunities to return to the "white" world, but chose to remain with the Native Americans. Later in life she married two Indian chiefs and bore several children. Mary died in 1833 in her 90's. There is a life-sized monument dedicated to her memory at St. Ignatius Loyola Catholic church in Pennsylvania.

The Bard family fell victim to a similar attack on April 13, 1758. Their home was raided and their infant was murdered. Catherine Bard was kidnapped, but her husband escaped and was able to bargain for her release. It's important to note that raids only occurred during the French-Indian war. At the close of the war, residents were able to again exist peacefully.

In 1761, Samuel Gettys, an early settler of the area, opened a tavern. A short 25 years later, his son, James, had added 210 lots to the town which included a town square. Back then Gettysburg was part of York County. But in 1790 the residents decided to separate from York County. In 1800 the state legislature approved a new county. And so, Adams county was born, named after then president John Adams. The residents chose Gettysburg as the county seat and named the city for the Gettys family.

In 1860, Gettysburg had a population of 2,400 people. As many as ten roads led in and out of town making a small, but successful economy possible. There were approximately 450 buildings that held merchants, banks and taverns. Also included were carriage builders, shoemakers and tanneries. Gettysburg was also home to several schools and other educational facilities. The burgeoning industries and road system led two armies to Gettysburg in the summer of 1863.

When the summer of 1863 rolled around, the Confederate Army, led by General Robert E Lee, had achieved many victories. This convinced Lee that his army was ready to invade the north. This decision moved both armies from war-ravaged Northern Virginia toward Pennsylvania. Lee thought that once he invaded the North , and if by chance he was victorious, the tired and haggard North would pressure the Lincoln administration to end the war.

The 75,000 man Confederate Army was marching toward central Pennsylvania when on June 30 they learned that the 95,000 man Union Army led by George C Meade was pursuing them. Both armies arrived in Gettysburg on July 1st and thus began the Battle of Gettysburg. A battle that would last three days, but live on in infamy. General Robert E. Lee commanded the Confederate forces and General George Meade commanded the Union Army. Two small factions of Confederates headed to Gettysburg, led by Hill and Ewell, to gather supplies. Unbeknownst to them, a Union cavalry was already there, but they were few in number and the Confederates drove them back to Cemetery Hill. Lee saw the advantage his men had and he ordered Ewell, who had taken over for the mortally wounded Stonewall Jackson, to attack Cemetery Hill. Ewell was worried that there were too many Union forces and he delayed. Because of this delay, Union reinforcements were allowed to arrive that evening and fortify Cemetery Ridge all the way to Little Round Top.

The following morning, July 2nd, Lee decided to attack the Union where it stood. He directed two of his leaders to attack from each side while he drove through the center. Lee had wanted to strike early, but one group of Confederates were not in position until 4pm. Daniel Sickles led his Union troops into holding the line. They stretched from the Devil's Den through a peach orchard and onto Little Round Top. The Confederates hit hard and Sickles was wounded. The Union lost ground. They retreated from the orchard and Devil's Den, but a Minnesota Regiment helped to hold Little Round Top. The battle was bloody and by evening, both sides had lost 9,000 men each. 35,000 in total had died over the two days, but there was more fighting to come.

On July 3rd, General Lee made a critical decision that would be a bad one. He thought that the Confederates were close to victory based on the previous two days of fighting. He ordered a division of 15,000, led by George Pickett, to march three quarters of a mile in open field to hit the center of the Union forces. This plan would come to be known as Pickett's Charge. It began at 3pm, led by an infantry bombardment of artillery. The Confederates were hit from all sides and Pickett's division lost two thirds of their numbers. The survivors retreated and Lee regrouped for a Union counterattack. He expected it to come the next day, but it never did. Lee knew his army was decimated and on the evening of July 4th, he led his men back to Virginia. This battle signaled the end was near for the Confederacy.

Several months later, the citizens of Gettysburg were still working through the aftermath of the battle. A prominent attorney, David Wills  was tasked with the establishment and construction of the Soldiers National Cemetery. It was meant to honor and be the final resting place of  the fallen Union soldiers. Wills was also responsible for the dedication ceremony and he invited president Abraham Lincoln to attend. The ceremony took place on November 18, 1863. And this is when Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg address.

The city of Gettysburg and in particular, the battlefield where the Battle of Gettysburg was staged are thought to be some of the most haunted places in America. Tales of hauntings reach into the thousands. Bodies littered the streets of Gettysburg and many were dumped into mass graves. Those that were wounded and dying were taken to buildings throughout the town that were turned into makeshift field hospitals. Meaning that people died all over the town. Could this be why there are so many accounts of haunting experiences?

Denise and I have a paranormal investigator friend, Linda Zimmermann, who was driving through the area with her husband. A mist was laying over the battlefield and she and her husband saw a man approaching them who they thought was a re-enactor. Until he disappeared. She couldn't believe she had witnessed this full bodied apparition.

When Filming the 1993 film Gettysburg, several of the extras who were playing soldiers were sitting on the hill known as little round top. They were approached by another gentleman wearing a tattered and burned Union army uniform and who smelled of sulfur. He commented on how intense the battle had been, passed out extra rounds of ammunition, and walked down the hill. The extras assumed this was just another actor who had wandered up the hill, but when they brought back the ammo to the props department, the props folks said it had not come from them and identified the rounds as authentic and dating back to the mid 1800s. Could have just been an extra who happened to be a collector, but its still pretty odd.

The Pennsylvania Hall building at Gettysburg college was used as a hospital during the battles and as a lookout. General Lee himself watched from the Old Dorm's cupola. One resident and his roomamte claim to have seen a shadowy figure in the cupola. This happened over several nights. Surely many men saw their end in the building. Two of the faculty were coming down on the elevator from the fourth floor to the first level. The elevator kept on going past the first floor and on to the basement. When the elevators opened, what the men described was a silent horror. They said they saw ghastly figures of bodies laying around and a nurse and doctor tending to them. Blood was splattered across the walls.There was no sound from the scene that laid before them, but they said the nurse looked at them with a pleading look on his face. They hit the buttons for the doors to close and made it back up to the first floor. Both men still claim to have seen this.

There have been countless accounts of people hearing screams on the battlefields and cries of soldiers urging their men to "Charge!" from within the woods surrounding the battlefield. Orbs and Mists have been captured on film in many locations on the battlefield, especially at the Sachs Covered Bridge. This is where many have claimed to see a few different apparitions of soldiers. The battle poured into the town and skirmishes took place everywhere. The dead bodies laid in the street to the point that the smell of decay was overwhelming. Women would press handkerchiefs soaked in pepperment or vanilla to their faces to protect themselves from the smell. Those scents are still detected today as ghostly aromas.

Many homes that were built on the edge of the battlefield are now owned by the National Park Service and there are claims of hauntings in these homes. The George Weikert House is one such haunted residence used by park rangers. There are tales of a door on the second floor that refuses to stay shut. One ranger nailed the door shut and still found it opened later. The attic plays host to disembodied footsteps.

Another of these homes is the Hummelbaugh House, which is haunted by a Brigadier General and his dog. Brigadier General Barksdale was wounded on Seminary Ridge. He was brought to the front of Hummelbaugh House where he called out for water over and over. This was even after he had been given water. The General died and was buried on the property, but his wife soon arrived and had the body exhumed, so she could bring it home to bury her husband properly. She brought the General's loyal dog with her and he leapt onto the grave before the body was exhumed. They managed to pull him away, so they could unbury the General. The dog jumped back on the grave after the exhumation and refused to leave. The wife finally left the heartbroken dog who became a fixture at the farm. He remained there until he died from dehydration since he refused food and water. The General's cries are heard to this day and people report seeing not only the General, but also his dog. And an unearthly howl is heard sometimes on the anniversary of the General's death.

In the town of Gettysburg, a childrens orphanage opened in 1860.The original owner had to move out of the area and left Rosa Charmichaels in charge. She was a sadistic woman and the orphanage was closed in the 1880s after it came out that she beat the children, tied many of them in the basement for days on end, and also was rumored to have killed some of them. They later found that the basement had been converted to a dungeon with torture devices and shackles on the walls for children to be chained up and, many times, left to die. There have been numerous accounts of people hearing disembodied children's voices and even feeling as though they are being physically touched.

Fun Fact: Some people have claimed to not only see ghost soldiers, but full on ghost battles. As a matter of fact, Diane once heard the popular conservative talk show host Michael Medved share his story about camping out on the battlefield with a bunch of friends and in the middle of the night they were awakened by the sounds of battle. They found themselves in the middle of what seemed like a real life battle only they could see through the men. It was this experience that convinced this total skeptic that ghosts were very real.

The Farnsworth House Inn is home to many disturbing hauntings as well as some less terrifying ones. One of the rooms is even closed and padlocked because of all the aggressive activity that has been reported there. Here is a quote about the inn from weird US:

 "The lock on that door sometimes rattles of its own accord, and meanwhile, up in the garret’s ensuite bathroom, a bloody mess that’s almost impossible to clean sometimes appears. The room was apparently a post for three Confederate sharpshooters during the conflict, and presumably at least one of them was seriously injured or killed there. In another upstairs room, a bereaved man is heard sobbing inconsolably, and seen carrying a child wrapped in a quilt. The door to the cellar often opens to an apparition carrying a wounded comrade down to the catacombs, where a voice is heard singing quietly. And in true Sixth Sense mode, the temperature suddenly plummets inexplicably.Other rooms feature less frightening occurrences. The McFarland Room often contains strange sounds, including unusually heavy breathing (and close-up, not from neighboring rooms). The Schultz Room is supposedly often visited by a solicitous midwife who tucks you in, and a little boy. Both are considered very benign presences, but apparently one of them smokes cigars."

The battle that took place at Gettysburg seems to continue to rage on. The eyewitness accounts are too many to ignore. It is difficult to claim that people are just imagining these experiences. But as we always like to do, we leave it to the listeners. Is Gettysburg haunted? That is for you to decide!