"GHOST TOURS AND INVESTIGATING GETTYSBURG REAL GHOSTS AND REAL HAUNTINGS"
"Of all the forlorn,
countless souls awash in time, none
reach out to us more than those of the
dead at Gettysburg . . . Their presence
on earth was silenced forever by death.
Or maybe not." -- Mark Nesbitt.
Terrifying visions
and horrible scenes of the atrocities
of a Civil War. Battlefields, houses,
lonely roads and shallow entrenchments
all still bear the tell-tale marks of
three days of gore and terror that seared
themselves into the collective memory
of America.
Gettysburg. This one
word can conjure up all these images
and more.
But the horrible days
of the Battle of Gettysburg are not
just distant memory in this Pennsylvania
town. It is as if the soldiers who fought
and died here, and the people whose
lives were touched by this great catastrophe,
cannot help but continue to remind us
of what sacrifices were made here, of
what was won and lost on the sprawling
hills of Gettysburg.
It is said that Gettysburg
is very likely the most haunted destination,
"acre for acre," in all of
America. The dead do not rest easy in
Gettysburg, and they are not hesitant
to remind the living that they refuse
to be forgotten.
Although most of the
paranormal activity is centered around
the battlefield, every street of Gettysburg
is filled with ghosts of the unquiet
dead.
Visit the home of
Jenny Wade, the only woman killed during
the Battle of Gettysburg, where ghostly
activity occurs on an almost daily basis.
Visit the apothecary shop in the heart
of Gettysburg where the ghost of a mournful
woman still holds vigil over the casket
of her dead father. Stay at a haunted
bed and breakfast that once served as
a hospital during the war. The odds
are great that you'll be sharing your
room with something "else."
Take an extended night
time walking tour of Haunted Gettysburg,
or opt for the convenience (and guaranteed
chills) of a Haunted Horse and Buggy
Ride. Visit the old Pennsylvania College
Campus where several buildings served
as makeshift morgues during the height
of the bloodshed. Reports are made regularly
of visitors who encounter ghostly apparitions
and hear horrible moanings of long departed
soldiers. The cries of spectral infants
from a long deserted orphanage, another
site used to shelter the Gettysburg
dead and dying, are said to mingle with
the suffering moans of the dying soldiers.
Visit the lonely battlefields
where reports by several eyewitnesses
tell of ghostly regiments still charging
each other in pitched battle, complete
with the sound of musket and cannon
fire. Visit the lonely paths and promontories
where soldiers from both sides held
out as long as fate would allow them,
sometimes dying and being buried where
they fell. Or visit the National Cemetary
where reports tell of the strains of
the Gettysburg Address still being uttered
by Abraham Lincoln 13 decades after
the event.
The gatehouse of the
National Cemetery is occupied by an
invisible sentry still on guard. The
apparition descends the stairs, footsteps
are heard and a chill of spitiual energy
proceeds it, but the apparition never
appears!
Because of the Battle of Gettysburg the main industry of the borough is tourism. Many places of interest include; Little Round Top, Big Round Top, Devil's Den, the Peacelight Memorial, and during the days of July 1 through the 3rd visitors can witness the reenactment of the Battle of Gettysburg.
Featuring The Most Haunted Places In Gettysyburg Pennsylvania
MANY STATE THAT THE THE BEST REAL GETTYSBURG GHOST PHOTOS ARE OFTEN TAKEN WHILE VISITING THE MOST HAUNTED BATLLEFIELD IN AMERICA
Access to the battlefields are free at all times. However, museums carry a small fee. The cost to get into the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center is $10.50 for adults and includes a short film and entry to see the Gettysburg Cyclorama Painting.
This picture below was taken at the Devil's Den in Gettysburg... On 4-3-05. There were not any reenactors there at that time. I made for certain that during my trip, I did not take any pictures of anyone dressed in Civil War era clothing because I was there on a ghost hunting trip. The first photo is the full size picture, the second is a close-up of the soldier.
Gettysburg was founded in 1786 and named after Samuel Gettys, an early settler and tavern owner.
In 1858 the Gettysburg Railroad completed construction of a railroad line from Gettysburg to Hanover. The Gettysburg Railroad Station opened in 1859. Passenger train service to the city ended in 1942. The station was restored in 2006 and currently operates as a museum.
Gettysburg, home to the Battle of Gettysburg (1863) of the American Civil War, draws in large numbers of tourists every year to visit the historical sites around the small community as well as the battlefield itself. Gettysburg has many activities and tours to offer to vacationers and tourists that are interested in the Gettysburg area and the history of the community and the battle. A narrated tour via double-decker bus and tours of the Jenny Wade house are two examples. Ghost tours are also popular with tourists, profiling various locations reported to be haunted. One of the most popular times to visit Gettysburg is in the Summer and early Fall months, about June through October.
A popular attraction in Gettysburg is the reenactment of the Battle of Gettysburg which is held every summer for the three days around the Fourth of July. Events include tours, ghost stories and reenactments.
The Dobbin House Tavern, which is one of the most famous restaurants in Gettysburg, was once home to Reverend Alexander Dobbin in 1776. The restaurant has since been authentically restored and provides an ambiance that was once present during the historic days of Gettysburg. The Dobbin House is lit by candles while the wait staff serves authentic foods from two centuries ago dressed in Civil War attire. Other historical attractions are the hotels and bed and breakfasts around the borough. The Gettysburg Hotel is a popular destination for tourists because of all the history that the hotel holds. The Gettysburg Hotel is located in the heart of downtown Gettysburg, within walking distance to historical sites, restaurants and shopping. The hotel has been in business since 1797 and in 1863 witnessed events that took place during the three day battle.
Though the battles have long ago ended and the sound of cannons and muskets is but a distant memory, there are some souls who are still waiting for the call to “Retreat” – and for them, it may never come!
Gettysburg is said to be home to nine Devil chairs. One is an actual wooden chair that is said to haunt it's owner. this chair will not let anyone sit in it except who owns it.
Yet another bench or Devil chair in a local cemetery is said to make woman who can't get pregnant become fertile and have a child in a year from when they sit upon it.
The third Devil chair is said to be an evil chair that dates back to the great war between the states. It seems a soldier died in it and he haunts it to this day. The old wood chair is kept under lock and key. If you can find this chair which is owned by a local. For the right fee and finding the person who owns it is a risk you need to take if you want to see it. They say to sit upon will grant you a long life, Great wealth and happiness until the day you die, but that's if you swear your soul to Satan.
The Haunted Chair
The real haunted chair sits alone no one dares sit in it no matter how inviting it looks once they have heard it's story...
Cursed? Haunted? Who Knows who dare to find out the answer.
Gail Steelman who now has it in her home is afraid to part with it, she worries that it might hurt those that least expect it.
The fourth Devil chair is thought to be one that Lincoln sat upon at the Gettysburg Address. To sit in this chair means you will die by the hands of another. Many believe it is the actual chair Lincoln was shot in brought here from Washington. The chair is in a private collection in one of the local hotels.
The Fifth chair is Called the Devil's stool. It is a low small child's chair. Stories of this ghost chair seem to be very strange indeed. The chair is said to be able to move or slide across the floor. The owner said she always heard something shifting in her attic and one day found the haunted chair. Believing it a great small chair to put one of her prized antique doll in she cleaned it up. the next day the doll was destroyed. The owner tells that who ever she shows the chair to and they touch it they will be overcome with a great evil that will drive them mad. Because her husband is the one who touched and he is now locked up.
The sixth Devil chair is actually a bench in the park. Many locals say the Devil himself will sit upon it at full moon night planning the next great battle in the Americas with his demon generals.
The Seventh Devil Chair is a unspeakable abomination in the eyes of god. This evil chair is said to be of fine hand carverd black wood with the Devil's face and all his demons carved into it. the seat is said to be made of the flesh of murderer. The chair is said to be able to transfix all that look upon it. The chairs evil history goes back to when it was brought to the America's from Europe in the late 1700's. It has been or traveled to several states. But it ended up in Gettysburg just in the past year when it was bought through an auction in New York. The chair is said to be able to take it's owner straight to hell and back.
The Eighth Gettysburg Devil Chair is said to be some what just a strange tall old high back yellow painted chair. Nothing much too look out but looks are deceiving. This haunted chair is said to be the actual chair that the Devil appeared in when he came to steal the souls of all the good people of Gettysburg. The Chair which still belongs to the original family who owned it once was in a fine Hotel. The local legend goes that the Devil appeared in one night and told the owners that if you walked around the chair 3 times and spat upon the seat he would come to grant who ever does it ... a wish. When the devil comes he appears at your door with three loud raps. you open the door to a strange person you have never seen. He his a normal man in appearance. He will come into your home sit in the chair and make a bargain with you that he can abide by.
The Ninth Devil Chair Of Gettysburg. To talk of this Chair spells evil, death destruction and great, great loss and possibly to even write about it . I will say no more... but it does exist.
An Excerpt From Ghosts of Gettysburg VI
By Mark Nesbitt
THE GHOST HOUSE
Well what is this that I can’t see? Ice cold hands taking hold of me. I am Death none can excel; I open the door to Heaven or Hell....
-O Death, Traditional
Many of the people who enter the Ghosts of Gettysburg Candlelight Walking Tours® Headquarters to purchase tickets for the tour inquire whether they will be allowed to enter a haunted house.
The answer to that question is simple...and ominous: “You’re already standing in one.”
All who take the tours pass, usually without knowing it, through the doors of our own haunted house. Customers are allowed to wander through areas where visions of spirit orbs and spectral children dwell; where long dead residents or perhaps soldiers, true to their duty unto death (and beyond) still practice their defunct lives and manifest themselves by talking, touching and interacting with employees and visitors alike. Other areas in the house, off limits to visitors for very good reasons, have revealed childlike, ghostly, spirit orbs playing games and taunting one another, and unseen hands playing tricks on employees. True, documented events have happened and continue to happen within the walls that once contained the bodies and souls of Confederate soldiers and Gettysburg townsfolk alike.
Even before reports of paranormal happenings began to emerge about the Tour Headquarters, employees began calling it “The Ghost House.” After the last six years inhabiting it, all who work there have realized that the name “The Ghost House” is entirely appropriate...and all too prophetic.1
In 1997 Ghosts of Gettysburg Candlelight Walking Tours®-established in Gettysburg in 1994 as the very first ghost tour company-purchased a building on the corner of Baltimore and Breckenridge Streets from which to conduct tours. Like many of the historic structures in town, it was built in stages. In 1834 a small building used as a carriage trimmer’s shop appears on the tax rolls. According to the Pennsylvania Historical Resource Survey prepared by historian Elwood W. Christ, Jacob Heck was assessed $175, probably for the “one story frame shop” on his property in 1834. By 1837 he was assessed 2.6 times that much for improvements on the property. This would correspond with the building of the two-story brick section that fronts Breckenridge Street. That documentation makes it one of the older structures in the borough of Gettysburg.
On September 24, 1849 Andrew Woods, a carriage trimmer and dealer, and his wife Sarah purchased the property and continued to own it through the maelstrom outside their door known to history as the Battle of Gettysburg. The next increase in tax assessment does not appear until 1888 and corresponds to the construction of the section that faces Baltimore Street.
So to visualize the structure as it appeared during the battle, one must stand on Breckenridge Street and erase in their mind the windowless eastern gabled section to the right.
According to Christ’s report, in July of 1863, the house became part of the Confederate battlelines which stretched through the town. “The second story of the house afforded sharpshooters a vantage point from which to harass Federal troops in the vicinity of the Rupp Tannery and along the Emmitsburg Road towards the Dobbin House.” So, picture rifled-muskets emerging from the windows on the balcony roaring with fire and smoke, then being withdrawn to be reloaded. In fact, to the right of the middle door, there is a chip in the brick, made by a minie ball from the Federal troops near the cemetery.
Christ also reported that the Henry Comfort house, immediately to the north and the James Pierce house, across Breckenridge Street on the corner, both became temporary field hospitals, which would indicate that Andrew Woods may have seen his share of wounded and dead in and around his house as well.
Picture then, as you stand looking at the balconied section, the two story structure with Confederate soldiers wandering in and out, sharpshooters at the second floor windows firing away at Yankees several hundred yards behind you, and wounded rebels making their way into the house or down into the cellar of the structure to rest until their turn on the operating table.
Some would eventually be transported, either by their own army to safety in the South, or by the Union soldiers as prisoners to the Camp Letterman Hospital. Others would never leave the house on the corner-at least as living beings. Some, it appears, left a remnant of themselves to remain within “The Ghost House” to this day.
But to help your imagination, we have an eyewitness account of what it looked like just two days after the battle.
Leonard Marsden Gardner wrote Sunset Memories: A Retrospect of a Life lived during the last Seventy Five Years of the Nineteenth Century 1831-1901. In it he described Gettysburg as it appeared on Sunday, July 5, 1863:
“The wounded had been removed but the dead lay unburied and the ground was strewn with abandoned muskets, knapsacks, canteens and other accoutrements of war. The houses were marked with shot and shell on both sides of the street. Some with ugly gaps in the wall and others with a well defined hole where the cannon ball entered. A frame building particularly attracted my attention. It stood in a position facing the Union front and the weather boarding from top to within a few feet of the ground was literally honey-combed with the minie balls. No boards were torn or displaced but thousands of neat round holes marked the places where the balls entered.”
Gardner continues his narrative, specifically describing the corner upon which “The Ghost House” stands:
“Passing on I came to the point where Breckenridge Street connects with Baltimore. There a barricade was thrown across the street. Through an opening at one end I led my horse and remounting I rode on down the street. A few persons only could be seen on the pavements. A scene of desolation and death was presented all the way. The unburied dead and the mangled remains of human bodies, mingled with debris of broken gun carriages, muskets, bayonets, and swords, which lay around in confusion on that lonely street in the quiet Sabbath morning, was one of those pictures of desolation which will never fade from my mind.”2
On March 26, 1866, Woods sold the house and lot to a cobbler and his wife for $1,000 cash. David Kitzmiller and his wife Mary owned the house for 26 years. When they moved into the house, they brought with them at least one child, Charles B. Kitzmiller. At least two Kitzmiller children-Eva Jane and William Henry-were born in the house. And at least one Kitzmiller offspring associated with the house died: William Henry died on February 1, 1899 at 24 years of age. There were perhaps more deaths in the house.
A mysterious entry in the Kitzmiller genealogical record in the list of the children of David and Mary Ann states, “Babes-number unspecified.” As well, while not giving a specific date of death, first-born George Edward was baptized just 12 days after his birth (when the Kitzmillers usually waited a year or so before baptizing their offspring) indicating that his survival was in question. But there is no death date nor burial site specified for George Edward, nor names, dates of birth or death for the “Babes-number unspecified.” They seem to just disappear from the records of the family and the house.
If a visitor to the Ghosts of Gettysburg Candlelight Walking Tour® Headquarters would like to walk in the footsteps of a near tragedy, they can walk behind the property into the alley behind the Carriage House and trace the near dragging to death, in 1880, of 15-year-old Charles Kitzmiller.
According to a local newspaper, The York Springs Comet, “...Charles Kitzmiller (son of David)...living on South Baltimore Street [in the Ghosts of Gettysburg Candlelight Walking Tour® Headquarters], Gettysburg, met with what might have proved a serious accident. He was herding a cow in the alley, having a strap attached to the chain. He thoughtlessly looped the strap around his waist when off started the cow and dragged the boy from above Comfort’s shop [the house just north of the Headquarters] out to Buckinridge [sic, i.e. Breckenridge] Street and thence to Baltimore Street, passing Pierce’s Corner [Southwest corner of Baltimore and Breckenridge].”3
Someone caught the cow and released the young man before he sustained anything more than just a few bruises
In 1888, David and Mary Ann built the Baltimore Street-facing section and replaced the outbuilding on the alley with a larger structure-now the Carriage House-between 1907 and 1912.
David died in 1914, and upon Mary’s death the house passed on to the surviving children who sold it out of the family.
As with any history, mysteries remain. As with nearly every historic house in Gettysburg, mysterious happenings and unexplainable events abide, perhaps as evidence of an unsettled past and an uneasy present.
As you enter the house, you might be surprised. It certainly doesn’t look like a “Ghost House.” But in that first room a number of dark, unexplainable, paranormal events have occurred.
Corinne, a manager at the Ghosts of Gettysburg Candlelight Walking Tours® was alone in the house one night. She was between tours and the phone had finally stopped ringing for a moment. The place was quiet...until she heard something entirely out of place. Echoing softly from the dark stairwell across the room-and apparently across decades of time as well-came footsteps. She heard them lightly descend, one step at a time, and could actually follow the sounds, as the footfalls came slowly down the stairs and stopped at the bottom. She peered into the darkened hall, but saw no one. She bravely walked around the information desk and cautiously peeked around the corner to the foot of the stairs. No one-at least no one visible-was there.
Two hours later, she was talking to a person at the desk and was listening rather absentmindedly, letting her mind wander a bit, unknowingly putting her mind in a state where it is more receptive to the supernatural. Slowly, from the darkness at the bottom of the stairs, out of nothing, there materialized a small boy, age 6 or 7. “He had dirty blonde hair,” she recalled, and described him wearing a light shirt with dark pants and suspenders. He stood there, looking into the front room, at the oddly out-of-place (at least to him) information desk and strangely dressed (again from his point in time) people. Then, as suddenly as he had entered this strange world, he left it, before Corinne’s eyes could pick up any more detail of what was clearly an impossibility anywhere else but in “The Ghost House.”
Beginning in the spring of 2002, a visible, tangible, moving reminder of someone-or something-has frightened a number of employees as they freshened up in the employee’s restroom, tucked beneath the stairs to the second floor. First it happened to Katie, a manager at the Ghost Tour Company.
She was taking advantage of a lull between customers to freshen up. Another employee remained at the ticket sales counter. As Katie stood next to the closed bathroom door washing her hands, the small brass door handle began making a small clicking and squeaking sound which accompanies its movement. She had dried her hands within a second and reached down and turned the handle herself, expecting to see her co-worker standing in front of the door playing with the doorknob.
She opened the door. No one-at least no one visible in this world-was standing there. She walked the two or three steps into the main room to see her co-worker seated behind the desk. Katie didn’t even have to ask whether she had been playing a trick: there had not been enough time for the co-worker to move from in front of the bathroom door all the way across the room and behind the desk.
In June, 2002, it happened again.
This time Corinne was in the restroom. No sooner had she entered when the handle began to rattle and squeak. As she stood next to it rinsing her hands and watching it, the knob began to slowly, methodically twist. She grabbed the handle and threw open the door to discover the perpetrator-and no one was there. And it happened to yet a third employee: again the familiar squeak and rattle; as she looked to the small handle, it turned; exiting the room revealed...no one.
In October of 1997, psychic Karyol Kirkpatrick toured the house and recorded her psychic impressions which, when compared to the documented history-and recent paranormal events-are remarkable.
One of Karyol’s first impressions was that of a child whom she said had died upstairs. We would upon occasions, she said, hear marbles rolling across a wooden floor (even though it was now carpeted) and witness other evidence of a child trying to regain a childhood that was cut short by ever-ravenous Death.
There is that mysterious entry in the Kitzmiller genealogical record of “Babes-number unspecified.” And their first-born George Edward baptized so soon after his birth as if he was not expected to live the usual year they waited before baptism. Could the child Corinne saw be the same Karyol felt had died here? Could it be some long-dead child playing with the doorknob?
Indeed, there was even more recent evidence of a child spirit’s playfulness in the very room where you stand to get your tickets.
Again, Corinne was working behind the desk along with another employee. She felt a strange touch at her back; then a tug; then she felt the back of her sweater pulled several inches away from her back. She turned to look over her shoulder and wondered how, without moving, she could have hooked her sweater on something. But there was nothing upon which her sweater could have been stuck.
Just then she saw her co-worker, eyes wide with astonishment. She blurted out to Corinne, “I just saw the back of your sweater pull out all by itself!”
Later that evening Corinne was closing up for the night, alone, at about 10:00 p.m. Like all older houses, “The Ghost House” has its share of creaks and groans. Creaks and groans are one thing-but witnessing something supernatural is another thing entirely.
She was turning out the lights. The house, as the lights are slowly being extinguished, does have a certain “feeling” to it: as it grows dark, you get the inkling that you need to hurry, that someone-or something-can’t wait for you to leave so that they may get on with their existence-if that’s what one could call it -in peace.
Moving from behind the desk and into the next room, she casually looked into the darkened stairwell. Her eye was caught by what she described as a small, glowing “cloud,” -ectoplasm-ascending the stairs. It was almost as if, at 10:00 p.m., some ancient voice, not heard on this earth for a century, had called, Time for all good children to come up to bed. And they obeyed, like the good little children they once were.
The upper floors of the Ghosts of Gettysburg Candlelight Walking Tour® Headquarters are closed to our customers, but the most active area up there is too dangerous to visit anyway. The stairway to the attic is narrow and winding and the only light is activated by a string at the top of the stairs. Even when your eyes grow accustomed to the dark, lights dance eerily from the openings under the antique tin shingles. The roof is too low to stand upright anywhere in the attic, and, although hot air rises into the attic, it seems that whenever you ascend the stairs you are met by a cold draft on its way out. One could easily become disoriented and imagine things up there. But Rick Fisher, renowned ghost hunter and paranormal investigator, doesn’t need an imagination to see ghosts in “The Ghost House.” He has caught them on video tape!
Within the last two years, Rick has used his Sony Digital Handicam to videotape strange phenomena in this house.
His technique is to set his Handicam on a tripod in the oldest part of the attic, late at night when all activity-human activity, that is-has ceased in the house, turn the camera on, then leave. He returns when the battery is about to die, then rewinds the tape to examine it for any anomalies.
Rick is a skeptic, and so is careful to analyze in detail what he records. So far he has had three distinct recordings of voices-known to researchers as Electronic Voice Phenomenon, or “EVP”-in an attic where no one was.
One night, after placing his camcorder in the attic over the oldest section of the building, he returned to analyze it. Out of nowhere, recorded on the tape, came the frantic voice of a little girl trying to communicate what may have been the answers to all our fears about dying:
“I’m alive!” came her voice across the Great Chasm.
Then, shortly after that came a man’s breathless voice calling, plaintively: “Emily!”
Listening more carefully, Rick then thought he heard the little girl’s voice say her own name, “Emily.”
In another taping session, there was paranormal evidence that the house-and particularly the attic-was used during the battle. On Rick’s videotape could be heard a distinctly frightened male voice imploring, “Don’t miss!” Then comes a different man’s voice immediately afterward commanding, “Get me my gun!”
And finally, Rick may have captured the only voices that accompany a video of spirits in the attic of “The Ghost House.” In this tape one can see, as well as hear, spirit entities communicate!
It was Halloween night, 2000. Rick’s camera was set up in the attic, recording the last minutes of the tape. In the background can be seen the louvered window in the oldest part of the attic. Suddenly, from the lower right hand part of the screen come two white, glowing orbs-what some believe is spirit energy itself-one following the other, rising toward the upper left corner. Listen closely and you will hear a playful, childlike voice teasingly whispering, “Catch me!”
Could these be the spirits of the children Karyol Kirkpatrick sensed remaining in the house, the mysterious “Babes-number unspecified,” of the genealogical records, still enjoying a game of tag stolen from them by Death?
Yet another incident occurred to verify the existence-or non-existence-of children no longer living on the second floor of “The Ghost House.” Katie would keep her dog, “Chessie” on the second floor while she was working. Chessie loves her tennis ball and Katie was playing “fetch” with Chessie. She’d roll the ball along the floor and Chessie would retrieve it for more fun. Finally Chessie tired of the game. Katie rolled the ball to the other side of the room and Chessie just looked at it and lay down to rest. About thirty seconds later, both Katie and Chessie were surprised to see the ball, which had been stationary across the room, begin to roll towards the dog, finally ending up next to her. Someone in that room, after waiting to play for perhaps a century or more, apparently was not ready to cease playing with the dog.
And, like all children, they-whoever it is that remain in the house when everyone else is gone for the day-sometimes can get over-bearing.
Chessie is not a small dog, and like all dogs, is faithful and protective, confronting and barking at large men who she feels could do her family harm. Yet children can sometimes “not know when to quit.”
On her lunch break, Katie went upstairs to spend some time with Chessie, since she had been too busy to visit her since she got to work. Katie got upstairs, looked all around for the dog and couldn’t find her. She checked the door, and it was secure, so she couldn’t have run out. Calling the dog’s name, she finally saw that Chessie was hiding under the bed, a place she’d never gone before. It was as if, for the two or three hours Katie had left Chessie, the unseen “children” had hounded her, teasing, pulling her tail, playing, until the dog just had to get away. To this day the dog is visibly uncomfortable whenever she is on the second floor of “The Ghost House.”
Walking through the small, arched doorway under the sign marked “To Tours” places you in the Civil War period section of the house. Erase in your mind the bookshelves, fan, and electric lights. Replace them all with gaslights or candles, perhaps some 19th Century furnishings, and antique carpets. But make sure that some of the carpets are bloodstained. Place Confederate soldiers in the corners and leaning up against the walls, exhausted, dirty, perhaps bloody, smelling like sulfur (from the black powder they used), sweat, and fear.
Karyol Kirkpatrick mentioned during her visit that she “saw injured persons and blood” and a couple of men hiding in the basement below your feet. She heard music and instruments. (It was common for fighting men of all eras to amuse themselves-when not fighting for their lives-with song and easily carried instruments like harmonicas.) She got the impression of men from Georgia and Virginia in the house. (Documentation proves that Georgians were the troops occupying this section of Gettysburg. Virginians may have straggled here from their lines on Long Lane just a few hundred yards to the west.) And she never mentioned Northern troops as being present.
She saw a woman in dark clothing who, she stated, “did not have it all together,” but only as a ruse. She had a mission as a secret courier, acted crazy, and no one paid her any attention. She mentioned a woman named “Mary,” who loved cooking-Karyol smelled mince pie-and she “received” the name “James,” and heard a man talking incessantly about God.
Once through the first room of the Civil War section, you enter into the second (of three) rooms. Just to the right of the doorway was seen, what many people refer to as a “Shadow Person,” or dark ghost.
An associate of the Ghosts of Gettysburg Tours® had just finished spending some time in that room. It was late at night and the building was closing for the evening. An unusually large number of customers had passed through that night since there had been a book signing. Researchers have discovered that, in order to increase your chances of photographing spirit entities, you must first fill a room with people, then empty it. It seems as if the entities return, after a large crowd has left, to see what was going on. Such is just what happened that night. The associate was behind the exit door pushing it closed and had turned toward the far wall. He was alone in the room...but not for long.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw the figure of a small woman, seemingly cloaked in a long, dark, flowing dress with a wide-brimmed, black hat, standing in the corner where the counter meets the wall. He stood for a brief moment, seeing her out of his side vision, afraid to look directly at her, since he realized that entities can sometimes only be seen through peripheral vision. Indeed, when he turned to confront the dark lady, she vanished.
Could it have been the mysterious “secret courier” who acted insane as a ruse that Karyol talked about? Or was it “Mary” the cook Karyol mentioned. Remember, in the long history of the house, there was a Mary whose last name was Kitzmiller, who lived in the house for years and years....
Katie also had a frightening experience with one of the Shadow People.
It was Halloween weekend, one of our busiest, when she came into the Carriage House after attempting to close up “The Ghost House.” She was visibly shaken. She still held the day’s paperwork in her hand, which was trembling. She said nothing for a second or two, trying to find the words, then blurted out, “There’s a large dark...” Again she searched for the words. “Scary...man...or something in the book room.”My first thought was that we were going to have to call the police to arrest someone who refused to leave after closing. But something in Katie’s face told me that this was no ordinary visitor.
“Did he leave?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “The lights were all off and I was walking past the book shelves, and there was this huge, dark, form standing there that I had to walk around. Instead of going into the office, I came right over here.”
Reluctantly, Katie accompanied me to check out the intruder. By the time we got there and turned on the lights, whatever it was had vanished. Katie pointed out exactly where it had stood in front of the book shelves.
It is when things are busiest in their dwelling-places that the spirits are most active. Already dispossessed once out of their bodies, they react when they are again dispossessed of their homes...
The current kitchen area is the oldest section of the house, built as the original carriage trimmer’s shop in 1834. It is closed to the public...and for good reason.
Karyol felt what she described as a great deal of strong, negative energy coming from one particular corner of the room nearest the door leading to the outside porch.
Rick Fisher, during one of his late-night investigations, had just set up his Handicam and aimed it at that corner of the room. Before he had an opportunity to turn the device on to record, he saw, through the small viewing screen, what he described as a huge, bright, basketball-sized spirit orb emerge from the door of the kitchen and rush directly at him and his camera before veering off. He said it was the largest orb he had ever seen.
Supernatural events did not begin with the purchase of the house on the corner of Baltimore and Breckenridge Streets in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania by a company committed to the preservation and re-telling of stories of the paranormal. Ghosts may have been “living” in the house all along, throughout the fourteen decades since the Battle of Gettysburg. What we are sure of is the supernatural occurrences we can document from the recent past...and those yet to come in the house dedicated to the Ghosts of Gettysburg.
No part of the contents of this excerpt from Ghost Of Gettysburg Vi may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means without the written consent of Ghosts of Gettysburg.
“MYSTERIOUS JOURNEYS” IN GETTYSBURG BY MARK NESBITT
This article is supposed to be about paranormal investigations we’ve been conducting at some famous places in Gettysburg.
But, first things first. I would be completely remiss if I didn’t first thank the readers of www.hauntedamericatours.com for voting us the #1 Ghost Tour in the World. I was truly honored and humbled by your choice. Our tours started on June 4, 1994. I remember the night as if it were yesterday: ten people were on that first tour which left from the center square in Gettysburg and made its way up to the college campus. Since then, we have expanded to offer three more walking tours and a bus tour. Tens of thousands of you have taken our tours in the fifteen years we’ve been in operation, and we look forward to serving even more in the years to come. I feel that most of the crshould go to our guides who are some of the best and most experienced in the business. Once again, to you the readers of www.hauntedamericatours.com, thanks so much!
Most people visit Gettysburg during the spring, summer and fall. During the “off-season” in Gettysburg, things are pretty slow. But since Ghosts of Gettysburg was featured on the Travel Channel’s “Mysterious Journeys” television series, we decided to make use of our “down time” and offer “Mysterious Journeys Weekends” to the general public. The idea is that those interested in doing something a little beyond your regular ghost tour can spend a weekend in Gettysburg and do paranormal investigations of some of the sites they saw on television with the team they saw on TV. Fortunately, the historic (and haunted!) Cashtown Inn agreed to be a part of the weekends.
The weekend begins with a meet and greet at the Cashtown Inn on Friday afternoon. The Ghosts of Gettysburg Team consists of my wife Carol and me, Investigative Medium Laine Crosby, author and paranormal investigator Patty Wilson, and Scott Crownover (described on the Travel Channel as our “Tech Guru,” although his expertise goes far beyond just the technical aspects of ghost hunting). Occasionally we’re joined by other experts such as Rosemary Ellen Guiley, author of 34 books, including the encyclopedias of various paranormal subjects, and Craig Rupp, protégé of Scott Crownover’s who captured one of the best daylight photos of a ghost at Gettysburg using the Crownover Technique of daylight spirit photography. We introduce ourselves, explain a few things about the weekend and some of the investigative techniques we’ll be using, then sit down to an outstanding meal served by the Cashtown Inn.
(If you’ve never eaten there, it has one of the finest restaurants in Pennsylvania—if not the entire East Coast.) After dinner, the owners, Jack and Maria Paladino, regale the group with ghost stories of the Cashtown Inn, which are numerous and chilling. Then we are allowed to investigate the cellar of the Inn. (I say allowed because, with the exception of our Mysterious Journeys events, virtually no one is allowed into the cellar.) The lights go out, and our guests investigate the five rooms beneath the Inn. In the cellar I have captured a face peering into the window from the outside. The area where any person could have been is inaccessible: under the porch and enclosed with latticework. But more impressive is the EVP (electronic voice phenomena) that I consistently capture in that cellar.
First, a quick history. The Cashtown Inn goes back to the late 18th Century. It has always served the public as a wayside tavern and carriage stop. During the second year of the Civil War, Confederate General Jeb Stuart rode by with his cavalrymen, raiding into Pennsylvania. A year later, the Inn became a focal point for the entire invading Confederate Army under General Robert E. Lee as they marched through Pennsylvania. General A. P. Hill had his headquarters there for a while; Lee stopped there and cut a map of the county from a door in Cashtown (probably the Inn’s door since it was the most prominent building there). It was from Cashtown that Lee heard the sound of the guns at Gettysburg, seven miles to the east, and gave orders for his army to assemble there. One of the first casualties from the battle—a Confederate soldier who was “bushwacked” by some locals—was brought to the Inn and died there. After the battle a large number of wounded were housed, and operated upon, in the cellar, and the Confederate wagon train of wounded, which strung out for 17 miles, ponderously passed the Inn. In the years since the battle, the Inn has continued to serve the public. In the 1950s and 60s it was one of the more infamous biker bars in the area. (In fact, one of the patrons from that period still visits—long after his death!) In the 1980s it was turned into one of the finer B & Bs in the area.
During our “Mysterious Journeys Weekends,” with the help of Laine Crosby or Patty Wilson acting as “spirit liaisons,” I have collected some great EVP in the cellar, including a southern soldier answering the question as to what state he hailed from: “Miss-i-ssi-ppi” in four distinct syllables. Participants have gotten chills, weird unexplainable photos, and “feelings” that they need to leave the cellar immediately. After our cellar investigation, Scott Crownover analyzes EVP obtained and explains the techniques he uses. Everyone retires to their rooms to begin their own investigation of the Inn. Last year, Scott and I placed a Bushnell, infrared “Gamecam” in the bar of the Cashtown Inn. We knew that Jack Paladino locks the bar every night after he closes and it would be secured until morning. The nice thing about the gamecam is that you don’t have to stay up all night to capture any activity. As well, everything is time-stamped. The next morning when we examined the camera, at 35 minutes after midnight, there’s a bright, human-shaped figure moving past the “trip zone.” It’s a great picture of Jack as he is finishing locking the bar. Then, at 44 minutes after midnight, there is another figure that trips the camera. No one was in the locked bar when the photo was taken. There is no explanation—no “normal” explanation—as to what the image is.
During a preliminary investigation last year, Patty, Carol, Scott, Andy and Tonya Keyser (of Exspiro Productions), and I went into the first room on the right at the top of the stairs. We no sooner entered the room when all the women announced that they were smelling strong cigarette smoke. Odd, since the Cashtown Inn is completely smoke-free. Odder still because Scott, Andy and I smelled nothing. The women were amazed because they smelled it so strongly. Patty began to piece together, from what she was receiving, a strong male personality. He had been a veteran of two wars, Korea and Vietnam; he had been a regular at the Cashtown Inn when it was a biker bar; he rode a motorcycle. Patty asked what kind of motorcycle he rode, then commented that she thought he was a Native American. I asked why she thought that and she answered that he had said “Indian.” I told her that in the 1950s and 60s, before the Harley Davidson revolution, the most popular American bike was called an Indian. It seemed that the entity was a bit of a prankster, with a sense of humor. He refused to give us his name. He said he wanted a young, pretty girl to talk to, so the next day we brought our 28 year- old daughter to the Inn. He was apparently pleased, because it was then we found out he went by the name “Sarge.”
On Saturday of “Mysterious Journeys Weekends” we have breakfast at the Cashtown Inn and have our guests summarize what happened during their previous night. We’ve been told stories ranging from lights flashing outside the Inn to strange, unexplainable noises. Jack sits in and tries to explain what the events might have been. More often than not, he is at a loss.
Lunch is on their own and our people discover some of the wonderful places to eat in Gettysburg. Afterward we meet back at the Inn and head out to our second investigation site seen on “Mysterious Journeys”: The Gettysburg and Northern Railroad Engine House, which sits on the Gettysburg Battlefield. Two hour investigations there have yielded numerous EVPs including communication from “Em” who was originally very loud, so loud as to make the EVP unintelligible. Finally, I asked “Em” if she could talk a little more quietly. Upon playback, in front of a number of skeptical railroad executives, a female voice whispered, “I’ll be quiet.” On later investigations, a road cone was forcibly kicked by an unseen foot from a tire upon which it was resting and footsteps on an engine were heard by everyone in the group. The sounds of someone invisible walking lasted for eight minutes. I asked the manager if that engine might be cooling off and contraction of the metal the source of the noises. He replied that the engine had been parked there for a month and was drained of all liquids.
Next to the Daniel Lady Farm. This historic farm was the encampment site for Johnson’s Confederate Division and where General Robert E. Lee visited. After their assault on July 2, the wounded came streaming back and the barn and house were used as bloody field hospitals, witnessing hundreds of amputations, deaths and burials. Investigations of the barn, surrounding fields and house have supplied many EVPs and more than a few strange photos. The operating room’s energy seems to come and go, occasionally being so strong as to force the more sensitive in the group to leave the area. The final investigation is of the “Ghosts of Gettysburg Candlelight Walking Tours” headquarters, a structure which dates back to 1834. There are several “resident” ghosts, including the feisty Mrs. Kitzmiller, who owned the house longer than anyone right after the battle, several soldiers from Georgia who may have been wounded and brought to the house, and “Hank,” a Louisiana soldier who goes on duty after the lights are turned off. At least two children’s spirits remain in the house: in a recent experiment, they moved pendulums on a rack while setting off an EMF meter (all recorded on video tape, of course). Members of our group have been pushed by invisible children, the bathroom door handle has been jiggled by tiny, unseen hands, and three distinct footsteps were heard by me and other group members coming down the wooden steps…and everyone in the group was already downstairs! Mrs. Kitzmiller, a proper Victorian lady, tells our mediums she’s upset that Carol doesn’t put out cookies and tea for our guests, not realizing that in modern times, without a food license, that might be illegal. After Carol put out some tiny wafer cookies as a gesture, I asked Mrs. Kitzmiller, how she liked the cookies. The EVP was adamant: “I hate them,” a voice said.
Sunday morning is spent summing up everyone’s experiences over breakfast. It seems that even diehard skeptics in the group must admit that there is something going on. As one skeptical gentleman put it: “I don’t believe in ghosts…but they scared the hell out of me.
Today the Inn is owned by Jack and Maria Paladino who purchased the Inn in January of 2006 and undertook major structural renovations throughout most of the first floor of the Inn. The Cashtown Inn currently serves as a relaxing Bed & Breakfast and houses a Fine Dining Restaurant with a full service Tavern.
The restaurant offers a New American menu that can be enjoyed in the original Tavern Room (circa 1797) or the newly appointed Victorian Dining Room. Fresh, local and innovative ingredients and flavors are simply and expertly prepared from scratch for the area's best dining experience.
The Bed & Breakfast offers a choice of four guest rooms and three suites. All accommodations are smoke free and include private bath, air conditioning and fresh, fully served breakfast. Suites also have cable T.V. and VCR's.
As George F. Skoch wrote,
“Rediscover Cashtown Inn for yourself. Come stand on the front porch and let your mind wander back to the summer of 1863...”
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where the turning point of the Civil War occurred from July 1 - 3, 1863. Travel to the Gettysburg National Military Park, with over 1,000 monuments and cannon along over 40 miles of scenic roads, a battlefield shrine to the Union and Confederate soldiers who fought here.
Plan to visit the scene of the Gettysburg Address, Picket's Charge, General Robert E. Lee's Headquarters, Little Round Top, and the Devil's Den. You can even meet Abraham Lincoln! In Gettysburg, you can eat authentic Civil War era foods, sleep in a restored historic inn, and discover over 25 museums and resort attractions -- some unlike any in the world.
Over the years since the battle, stories of scores of sightings, stranger than reality, have emerged from the quaint houses and gentle fields in and around the town of Gettysburg: Stories of sightings of these soldiers, moving again in battle lines, across the fields where they once marched. . . and died; tales of visions through a rip in time into the horrible scene of a Civil War hospital; whispers of a look at men long dead held eternally captive by duty. These apparitions -and more- come back to remind us, in one way or another that they are not to be forgotten for what they did here. . .
The Well Known Paranormal Investigator and author of the popular Ghosts of Gettysburg book series , A Ghost Hunter's Field Guide: Gettysburg & Beyond,and several books on the Civil War. He also appeared in the Travel Channel's“Mysterious Journeys.” He founded the Ghosts of Gettysburg Candlelight Walking Tours in Gettysburg and the Ghosts of Fredericksburg Tours in Virginia.
Ghost Talkers is a paranormal talk show with Ghosts of Gettysburg author Mark Nesbitt and Investigative Medium Laine Crosby. The duo interview authors, psychics, historians and paranormal investigators. Series topics include- capturing E.V.P., ghost hunting, psychic encounters, and uncommon adventures investigating the paranormal. Exclusively on www.ghostchannel.tv Ghost Channel.TV voted #1 by Haunted America Tours as 2007-9 Up and Coming in the Paranormal Community.
Whispers Radio 08-06-08 Interview with Mark Nesbitt
Whispers Radio 08-06-08 Interview with Mark Nesbitt
1:17:53 - 1 year ago
This is an archived audio of Whispers which is broadcast live on Wednesday's at 8PM EST on AM 1600 in Wheeling, WV. It is a paranormal themed radio show hosted by Jordan Cline and Nick Queen and tends to be interview-based. Topics range from ghosts to cryptozoology to UFOs, as well as others that fall into the general paranormal realm. Listen live on Wednesday's at 8PM EST by going here: http://www.whispersradio.com This shows information: On this episode, broadcast live on August 6 on 1600 AM, Nick, Jordan and Lola open the show with some silly banter then a short discussion on exorcisms. This is followed by an hour long interview with Mark Nesbitt. Mark runs Ghosts of Gettysburg Tours, ranked number one on the Top Ten Best Ghost Tours in the nation by Haunted America Tours; author of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville: The Ghost HunterΓÇÖs Field Guide to Civil War Battlefields, Haunted Pennsylvania, The Ghost HunterΓÇÖs Field Guide: Gettysburg & Beyond, and a number of books on the ghosts of Gettysburg. Show notes are here: http://www.wheelingparanormal.com/whispers_radio/?p=48This is an archived audio of Whispers which is broadcast live on Wednesday's at 8PM EST on AM 1600 in Wheeling, WV. It is a paranormal themed radio show hosted by Jordan Cline and Nick Queen and tends to be interview-based. Topics range from ghosts to cryptozoology to UFOs, as well as others that fall into the general paranormal realm. Listen live on Wednesday's at 8PM EST by going here: http://www.whispersradio.com This shows information: On this episode, broadcast live on August 6 on 1600 AM, Nick, Jordan and Lola open the show with some silly banter then a short discussion on exorcisms. This is followed by an hour long interview with Mark Nesbitt. Mark runs Ghosts of Gettysburg Tours, ranked number one on the Top Ten Best Ghost Tours in the nation by Haunted America Tours; author of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville: The Ghost HunterΓÇÖs Field Guide to Civil War Battlefields, Haunted Pennsylvania, The Ghost HunterΓÇÖs Field Guide: Gettysburg & Beyond, and a number of books on the ghosts of...all »
On the Travel Channel:
Ghost Talkers co-hosts Mark Nesbitt and Laine Crosby appear on The Travel Channel's new series Mysterious Journeys in the Ghosts of Gettysburg episode.
Ghost Channel.TV Launches
Dead On Productions is proud to announce the launch of the first paranormal channel on the Internet. The Ghost Channel.TV launched September 10, 2007 with video and audio downloads, EVP recordings, pictures, audio blogs and much more.
In 1994, Mark started the first ghost walk in Gettysburg, The Ghosts of Gettysburg Candlelight Walking Tours®. Armed with tales from his ghost books - and with a few that aren't in the books -guides dressed in period attire take visitors on evening tours through sections of town that were bloody battlefields 13 decades ago; through night-darkened streets to houses and buildings where it's not as quiet as it should be; to sites on the old Pennsylvania College campus where the slain once lay in rows, and the wounded suffered horribly, waiting to become corpses themselves; to cemeteries where the dead lie. . . sometimes not so peacefully. Gettysburg may very well be, acre for acre, the most haunted place in America.
Land of Little Horses Farm Park, 125 Glennwood Drive,
American Civil War Museum, 297 Steinwehr Ave. This museum features dozens of exhibits and a diorama show. Museum also features large gift shop.
Gettysburg Wine & Music Festival, 95 Presidential Circle (Intersection of Routes 30 & 15), ☎ 717.334.8151, [4]. 9/12/09 & 9/13/09 - Noon to 6 p.m.. The Gettysburg Adams Chamber of Commerce invites you to indulge yourself in the grape harvest celebration at the fifth annual Gettysburg Wine & Music Festival sponsored by Bobby Rahal Lexus. Escape to the foothills and enjoy a beautiful fall weekend in historic Adams County and savor the flavors of hundreds of Pennsylvania fine wines. The festival will feature; fine wines from over 15 Pennsylvania wineries, great live music (jazz, classic rock and other favorites), vendors/artisans, cooking and wine pairing demonstrations and much more. Save $5 and purchase your tickets in advance! Admission is $20 in advance, $25 onsite and $12 for a designated driver ticket. Kids 12 and under are free! Admission includes souvenir wine glass, unlimited samplings, access to live performances/cooking demonstrations and all applicable taxes. Tickets are available by calling the Gettysburg Adams Chamber of Commerce office at 717.334.8151. See below. Hall of Presidents, 789 Baltimore Street, Gettysburg PA 17325, ☎ 717-334-5717, . 9AM-5PM. Hall of Presidents and First Ladies-Listen to the story of America by our Presidents and enjoy the fashions of different eras through the “authentic” reproductions of our First Ladies’ inaugural gowns. A-7.25 C(6-12)-3.50. Gettysburg Visitors Center, 1195 Baltimore Pike, ☎ 866-889-1243.
National Parks Service. This brand new building houses most of the museum collection and the newly restored Cyclorama, a must-see for any visit. You can also hire a Licensed Battlefield Guide here. You can also purchase tour tickets for the Eisenhower Farm. Victorian Photography, 76 Steinwher Avenue, ☎ 717-318-1515. 10A-8P. As seen on the Real World on MTV! Get a family photograph in period dress! Adams County Winery, 251 Peach Tree Road, Orrtanna, PA 17353 (8 miles west of Gettysburg), ☎ 717-334-4631, . Open 10 am - 6 pm, 7 days a week. Adams County Winery has been making wine for over thirty years. During that time, the business has grown from a mom-and-pop business to a nationally recognized producer of award-winning wines. The Winery offers a fun, inviting, and relaxed atmosphere where anyone – locals and tourists alike – can feel at home. Join us every Saturday in July and August for our FREE summer concert series! Free wine tastings.
Gateway Theaters, 20 Presidential Circle, Gettysburg, PA 17325 (US 15 & US 30 at Gateway Gettysburg), ☎ 717-334-5575, [7]. The state-of-the-art Gateway Theaters is one of the most technologically advanced movie theaters in the region. In addition to your favorite new-release Hollywood film, Gateway Theaters is the exclusve home of "Fields of Freedom". "Fields of Freedom" is a 30-minute Hollywood produced immersive film that is a must see before you tour the battlefields. Gateway Theaters features the two largest digital movie screens in the USA. Hollabaugh Bros., Inc., 545 Carlisle Rd. (Located 9 miles north of the square in Gettysburg on Rt. 34), ☎ 717-677-8412, . Mon-Thurs 9-6, Fri-Sat 9-5, Sun 12-5.
Hollabaugh Brothers is a third generation, family farm with a retail farm market offering fresh fruits, vegetables, gifts, jarred goods, home-style baked goods, fruit gift baskets, and much more! The Hollabaugh family also provides scheduled educational orchard tours. Hollabaugh Brothers is a 500 acre working, family farm. Buses welcome, adequate free parking.Come visit us soon and see what is fresh at the market! (39.95,-77.25) Lord Nelson's Gallery, 27 1/2 Chambersburg Street (one half block off of downtown Lincoln Square), ☎ 717-334-7950, . Mon - Saturday, 9:30 am - 6:00 pm. Sunday 12:00 - 4:00 pm. Established in 1990, the gallery specializes in wildlife, nostalgic, Eastern Frontier/American Indian and Colonial art, sculpture, fine handcrafts and related historical books.
Jennie Wade House, 548 Baltimore Street, ☎ 717-334-4100, [10]. 9AM-5PM. The only Gettysburg citizen killed during the Battle of Gettysburg was 20 year old Jennie Wade, fiancée of Corporal “Jack” Skelly. The old McClellan Home, now the Jennie Wade House and Museum, with but few minor changes and repairs, remains much as Jennie Wade must have known it more than 100 years ago. The walls of the old house, which lived through the Battle of Gettysburg and witnessed the tragic death of Jennie Wade, tell the story of the building and of those in it during the Great Battle. Boyd's Bear Country, 75 Cunningham Road, ☎ 866-367-8338. Take the Emmitsburg Road south out of town for about 3 miles and watch for the signs. This FOUR story barn contains over 70,000 teddy bears, Longeberger baskets and other stuff. If you have a little girl, this is a MUST-DO on your visit.
Restaurants abound throughout the town, from nationally known chains, to local Mom & Pop diners.
Ernie's Texas Lunch - 58 Chambersburg St. - Old-time lunch counter with a few booths. Famous for their "texas wieners" and home made soup.
Dobbin House Tavern - 89 Steinwehr Ave. - Casual and fine dining. Due to its historic ambience (Revolutionary War to Civil War) and reasonable prices, the Dobbin House is well worth visiting.
The Fairfield Inn 1757, West Main Street, Fairfield (8 miles west of Gettysburg on Route 116), ☎ 717 642 5410. Dinner Tuesday - Sunday 4:00 pm on, Lunch Friday & Saturdays starting at 11:00 am and Sunday Brunch 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. Meals recreated from recipes, that was served to the Retreating Confederates on July 4, 1863, or try some of the other delicious dishes such as Roasted Prime Rib of Beef, Confederate Crab Cakes, Rack of Lamb, Fresh Seafood in the mansion like building. Also hosts a pub.
Appalachian Brewing Company, 401 Buford Avenue, ☎ (717)334-2200, [13]. Located on Seminary Ridge, across the road from the Lutheran Seminary and directly next door to General Robert E. Lee's HQ, this is a brew-pub with history. Outstanding Cheeseburgers and personal pizza's accentuate the wonderful selection of micro-brews.
Antrim 1844, 30 Trevanion Rd Taneytown, MD, ☎ 410.756.6812, [14]. checkin: 3:00PM; checkout: 11:00AM. Nestled at the foot of the rolling Catoctin Mountains in Central Maryland. Built in 1844, Antrim was once a thriving plantation and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Owners Dorothy and Richard Mollett have restored the mansion and the estate buildings on this 24-acre site. Located 15 minutes from Historic Gettysburg 160-400.
Best Western Gettysburg Hotel, One Lincoln Square, ☎ 717-337-2000, [15]. checkin: 3PM; checkout: 11AM. This historic hotel offers guests lodging with 19th century ambiance and has been operating since 1797. 119 guest rooms, Roof top seasonal swimming pool, business center, fitness center. Restaurant Centuries on the Square and pub McClellan's Tavern are located on the premises.
Country Inn & Suites By Carlson, 1857 Gettysburg Village Drive (Located at the intersection of Routes 97 and 15 on the site of The Outlet Shoppes at Gettysburg.), ☎ 717-337-9518, [16]. checkin: 3:00PM; checkout: 12:00PM. The Country Inn and Suites Gettysburg Hotel is less than one mile from the New Gettysburg Museum and Visitors center and several other historic Gettysburg attraction
Comfort Inn (Gettysburg), 871 York Road (Route 15 N. to York Road), ☎ 717-337-2400, [17]. The Gettysburg Comfort Inn is on Route 30, just 1 mile from the Historic Downtown area. All rooms include a free continental breakfast, wireless internet, 24 hour business center, indoor pool with jacuzzi, in room irons and ironing boards, in room safes, hair dryers.
Dobbin House Tavern - Includes Gettystown Inn Bed & Breakfast.
Fairfield Inn 1757, West Main Street, Fairfield (8 miles West of Gettysburg on Rt. 116), ☎ 717 642 5410, . The oldest continuously operated inn in the Gettysburg area dating to 1757. Rooms are are decorated with antiques and have full private bathrooms. Free breakfast. The Inn is on The Confederate Retreat from Gettysburg, July 4, 1863, and was used as a Civil War Hospital, Colonial Meeting House, Stagecoach Stop and as a stop on the Underground Railroad.
Hilton Garden Inn Gettysburg, 1061 York St, ☎ 717-334-2040, [20].
James Gettys Hotel, 27 Chambersburg Street (One half block west of downtown Lincoln Square), ☎ 717-337-1334, [21]. checkin: 3:00 pm - 8:00 pm; checkout: 11:00 am. An elegant 12 room suite hotel in historic downtown Gettysburg. Every suite is individually styled and has kitchenette, bedroom and private bath. Home baked continental breakfast served in room, free on-site private parking $140-$250.
Wingate - Wyndham - Mechanicsburg, 385 Cumberland Parkway, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055, ☎ 717-766-2710, . Free breakfast and high-speed Internet service. Located between Hershey and Gettysburg, newly remodeled, on-site restaurant plus indoor pool and hot tub.
Wyndham Gettysburg, 95 Presidential Circle (US 15 & US 30 at Gateway Gettysburg), ☎ 717-339-0020. checkin: 3:00 pm; checkout: 12:00 pm. Upscale hotel with fitness center, business center, 1863 Restaurant, and within walking distance of Gateway Theaters. $99 - $199
RATING THE MANY GHOST TOURS IN GETTYSBURG
The following review represents the sole views of the author only THAT OF RAY MURRAY. The opinions are those of the author alone and do not represent the views of any other party or of this web site.
I judge my ratings by the Ghost Tour guides ability to capture and hold my attention. I also poll the people in attendance and locals in each city before making a final judgment in awarding the rating I give the actual tour in general.
RAY MURRAY'S RATINGS GUIIDE
1 Skull- Don't bother! Don't take this tour unless it's the only one in town.
2 Skulls-Catches your attention but never really keeps it.
3 Skulls- Definitely Worth taking - Check it out. You won't be disappointed
4 Skulls- Great ghost tour - Don't miss it EVER! A perfect blend of history mystery and spooks"Simply The Best Ghost Tour Experience!"
Over the years since the battle, stories of scores of sightings, stranger than reality, have emerged from the quaint houses and gentle fields in and around the town of Gettysburg: Stories of sightings of these soldiers, moving again in battle lines, across the fields where they once marched. . . and died; tales of visions through a rip in time into the horrible scene of a Civil War hospital; whispers of a look at men long dead held eternally captive by duty. These apparitions -and more- come back to remind us, in one way or another that they are not to be forgotten for what they did here. . .
In research for his books, Mark Nesbitt collected hundreds of these tales of the unexplainable sightings, entity activity or those strange echoes from a time long gone that can mean only one thing: Gettysburg may very well be, acre for acre, the most haunted place in America.
Now, armed with tales from these ghost books - and with a few that aren't in the books - knowledgeable guides will take you on your choice of several evening tours through sections of town that were bloody battlefields 13 decades ago; through night-darkened streets to houses and buildings where it's not as quiet as it should be; to sites on the old Pennsylvania College campus where the slain once lay in rows, and the wounded suffered horribly, waiting to become corpses themselves; to cemeteries where the dead lie. . . sometimes not so peacefully.
Former Park Ranger Mark Nesbitt has over the years gathered many ghost stories from other park rangers, visitors and people who live in the area. Nesbitt tries to gather factual data on the stories he receives so he can offer a background as to why these ghost stories may have evolved. His stories are factual and interesting and do not just talk about battlefield soldiers, civilians alike are also involved in famous ghost stories in Gettysburg! Buy all his books, there worth it! Each has many short stories that are easy and fun to read.
Mark Nesbitt, author of the best-selling Ghosts of Gettysburg book series recently won two national awards for his six-volume collection of tales of paranormal happenings on the battlefield of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, site of the 3-day Civil War battle. His popularGhosts of Gettysburg Candlelight Walking Tours®and many books tells more of the whole story.
Ghosts of Gettysburg Weekend Investigation Package with MARK NESBITT and his Investigative Team
As Seen on “MYSTERIOUS JOURNEYS: GHOSTS OF GETTYSBURG” airing on the Travel Channel
1 Weekend in 2009: 11/13 & 11/14
Still Available:
3 Weekends ONLY in 2010: 1/29 & 1/30; 2/26 & 2/27 or 3/26 & 3/27
2. Gettysburg Ghost Tours
www.hauntedgettysburgtours.com
Safety has always been a concern for author Bob Wasel When he and wife Bonnie decided to embark on their own tour company, which he considered 'a natural evolvement' of his interests as a writer, Bob wanted to ensure that the tours were safe, instructive, and family friendly.
The result is Haunted Gettysburg, from which tours leave twice nightly from Gettysburg Souvenirs and Gifts, at 27 Steinwehr Avenue. The tours are scheduled for departure into the unknown nightly through November 19th. Tours last approximately one hour, and are led by period-dressed guides, guiding visitors through the back alleys of Gettysburg by candlelight. Bob has written many books about Gettysburg. His popular 'Haunted Gettysburg' series include six books about strange occurrences in this historic town. His love of the less viewed parts of Gettysburg has also resulted in two books, entitled The Gettysburg You Never Knew, which guide visitors to roads less traveled for some interesting finds - such as the dinosaur prints on the stone bridge on South Confederate Avenue, and the Elephant Rock near Devil's Den are as entertaining as they are informative, Bob's books have been bestsellers for nearly a decade. And if you like his books, you'll enjoy his Haunted Gettysburg Tours.
'We don't cross any streets,' Bob and Bon maintain. The tours are easy to walk, and handicapped accessible. The tours cater to ghost hunters of all ages, and are animal friendly as well. Dogs are welcome to come along, provided they are on a leash. The tours leave rain or shine - and Haunted Gettysburg provides the umbrellas in case of inclement weather.
I have so many stories documented, Bob says of his many years of research. We take visitors right to the location where they happened. New stories occur as the Wasels receive incoming evidence of fresh events. Unusual experiences sometimes happen on the tours.
For an unforgettable hour in Gettysburg after dark, take a step back in time at Haunted Gettysburg Ghost Tours.
As seen on A&E Travel Channel and the History Channel
Owners Bob and Bonnie Wasel proudly present Gettysburg's premier ghost walk ... with stories based on the best selling series Haunted Gettysburg ... the result of years of research and documentation. Join our story tellers in period dress as they guide you through the dark alleyways of Gettysburg by candlelight and learn the haunting lore of this mystical place.
DARE TO WALK WITH US BETWEEN THE WORLDS OF THE LIVING AND THE DEAD.
SPECIAL AUTHORS TOUR NIGHTLY.
Our tours are based exclusively on the best selling Book series Haunted Gettysburg.
Our writers appear nightly to answer questions, share stories and autograph your books.
For information or reservations, call 717-338-1818
Gettysburg Ghost Tours is a premier stop for Candlelit Ghost Walks and ghostly gifts. Gettysburg Ghost Tours is the ideal place to shop and explore the darker side of Gettysburg. The gifts have been enhanced in the shop with more nice Victorian gifts and jewelry.
Our tours are based on eyewitness accounts of everyday people who live, work and visit Gettysburg. Given by period dressed tour guides with candle lanterns, the tours are sure to be a great adventure on your next trip to Gettysburg.
Please feel free to page through website, take a look at our online gift shop, read up on our tour guides and if you are heading our way, you can order your tickets online.
Groups are easily and gladly accommodated at all times with prior appointment.
The original Gettysburg Ghost Tour starts at the tour office at 47 Steinwehr Avenue. Just like a stray black cat, our guides will show you through the first block of Steinwehr Avenue and tell you stories that focus on the first day of the battle.
Gettysburg Author's Tour
Ghostly Tales of Gettysburg Author's Tour with Joe Kerrigan. Tours are on Friday evenings at 8:00 & 9:30 PM. Please be sure to put in your requested date and time when you make your reservations.
Our Patriot Tour departs from 47 Steinwehr Avenue and focuses on the second block down the road towards Emmitsburg, Maryland. It lasts for approximately one hour and tells stories about the National Park Battlefield, as well as some stories from our guides and people who have attended our tours and had experiences themselves!
NOTE: This tour is available for private and group tours only. Please place an inquiry for further information.
Stratton Street Tour
Following Stratton Street in downtown Gettysburg, this tour focuses on the north end of town. In the historic distric, there are many buildings on this tour that are original to the town. The tour lasts for about an hour and twenty minutes.
NOTE: This tour is available for private and group tours only. Please place an inquiry for further information.
4. Sleepy Hollow of Gettysburg Candlelight Ghost Tours
While many tour companies devote their time to writing books to sell to their customers, we at Sleepy Hollow devote our time to our customers. Why just read about ghosts, wouldn't you rather look for them instead? Our quality tours sell themselves.
"While much is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened." - T. Hardy
Sleepy Hollow of Gettysburg Candlelight Ghost Tours is owned and operated by Cindy Codori-Shultz. Cindy is the 6th generation granddaughter of Nicholas Codori, of the Codori Farm, site of Pickett's Charge.
In operation since 1997, ours is the 2nd oldest tour in Gettysburg. Our storytellers have over 50 years of combined storytelling experience. You will walk with us into the realm of the unknown, escorted by a period dressed guide, back in time down the very streets soldiers walked over a century ago.
As our stories are not bound to scripted material, our walks are fresh and entertaining. You will hear many "first hand" experiences some visitors have had while out on our walks. Our tales and legends are blended with bits of human interest and historical fact making them entertaining and educational for all ages.
Our tour is recommended by the paranormal investigation group of PIRA. www.parainvestigator.org.
We have been mentioned in the "Discovery Travel" (Haunted Holidays) book, "Spirits of the Civil War" and seen on The Food Network's "Extreme Cuisine".
While many other tours tease you with the promise of spirits and ghosts supposedly held hostage within the confines of the walls of their company (apparently with nothing else to do but wait for you to stop by)... we say, "let's go out and find them because ghosts know no boundaries!" We strive to take you "off the beaten track" in search of many, many wandering lost souls and spirits, not just one "captive" ghost left behind from yesteryear. Journey with your guide into the realms of the unknown and the unpredictable on a 3-5 block "in and around" the historic district, covering some of the most haunted spots in Gettysburg. You will hear, see and experience local haunts and legends, blended with human interest and historical fact as you walk down some of the very streets soldiers walked nearly a century and a half ago. Many have reported seeing a "visitor" from the "other side" in the areas that we will take you. Why be left behind, sitting indoors waiting around for the spirits to come to you when you can go out and look for them yourself? Join the ghost tour that more people return to!
Departs nightly at 8:30 from the Historic Dobbin House, 89 Steinwehr Ave. Tour lasts about approximately 90 minutes. Seven dollars per person, children seven and under are free ( limit one per paying adult).
Begin your tour directly across the street from Gen. Lee's Headquarters.
Gaze out over the field at McPherson's Barn; stroll along the now quiet canopied path amongst the original Seminary building. Or ARE they now quiet and peaceful? Untimely endings, regrets, and unfinished business leave Seminary Ridge in an unending march of spirits. Join us for our most in-depth tour; walk the very ground where the battle began. Perhaps meet the men of the Iron Brigade, the wandering spirits of Iverson's men mowed down in battle by Union troops they never saw, and maybe even hear the moans of the wounded echoing from the Seminary Hospital. Dare to perhaps, feel, see or hear the unexplained at Gettysburg.
Tours depart Thurs. - Sun. at 8:00, directly across from Gen. Lee's Headquarter's, 401 Buford Ave. Eight dollars per person, children seven and under and are free (limit one per paying adult). No Bathroom Facilities for this tour!
Both Ghostly Images Ghost Tours depart from the
Mystical Marketplace, 777 Baltimore Street,
Gettysburg, PA, 17325, and last 90 minutes.
Haunted
Orphanage Tour
tableWorkaround2_colheader()
tableWorkaround2(140)
tableWorkaround(4)
Experience the haunting tales of Steinwehr Avenue on the Haunted Orphanage Tour, and then journey inside the Soldiers National Museum, which served as an orphanage for children whose fathers passed away in battle. The daring may descend to the cellar, the eternal home to these mistreated orphans.
Jennie Wade Ghost Tour
tableWorkaround2_colheader()
tableWorkaround2(137)
tableWorkaround2(2)
tableWorkaround(4)
Hear tales of ghostly encounters with soldiers and civilians on a five block walk through the south side of town on the Jennie Wade Ghost Tour. For the last half of the tour, Ghostly Images takes you inside one
of the most haunted houses in the country, the Jennie Wade House, where the only civilian casualty
during the battle at Gettysburg caused an ill-fated legacy of hauntings.
6. Farnsworth House Candlelight Ghost Walks
401 Baltimore Street
Gettysburg, PA 17325-2623
717-334-8838
Few buildings that remain in the area resound with more history than does the Farnsworth House. It is dedicated to perpetuating the memory of the brave soldiers who fought on both sides. Our bed & breakfast guests enjoy lovely rooms, comfortable beds and a full country breakfast served each morning. A stay at the Farnsworth House, lunch in the Tavern, dinner in the dining room, ghost stories in our cellar and garret, and a visit to the bookstore completes any Civil War enthusiasts visit to historical
Gettysburg.
Walk by candlelight into the realms of the unknown as you are escorted by a period dressed guide down the very streets the soldiers walked. Their tales and legends blend with bits of human interest and historical fact to make the walks both entertaining and educational for all ages.
Property Information by Discover our Town and Wcities
www.farnsworthhouseinn.com
7. Civil War Hauntings
GHOST WALK, CANDLELIGHT TOURS
Call For Reservations (717) 752-5588
Civil War Hauntings Candlelight Ghost Walks
Hear Spine Chilling Tales of the Civil War. Visit buildings along Steinwehr Avenue that are still haunted today. Free use of electronic ghost finders. Grab your cameras, use our equipment and become a real life ghost hunter. Rated again and again by customers as the best ghost tour in Gettysburg.
8. Gettysburg Tour Center® | Battlefield Bus Tours
A Hollywood cast of actors, technicians, and special effects recreate the Battle of Gettysburg as you tour the Battlefield from the famous Double Decker buses that have become a landmark in Gettysburg.
Travel the historic fields of Gettysburg in the comfort of an Air-Conditioned Coach and witness the history come alive through the eyes of a Gettysburg National Military Park Licensed Guide. The Licensed Guide Bus Tour provides the Gettysburg Visitor with the most informative and Detailed tour Available in Gettysburg.
Your Battlefield Tour Starts With Us!
Tour the Gettysburg Battlefield on an open air, Double Decker bus with a dramatic, stereo sound, audio presentation or enjoy an air conditioned coach with a National Park Service Licensed Guide.
Witness the Gettysburg Battlefield while traveling over the historic fields of Gettysburg on one of our two-hour Bus Tours.
Gettysburg Battlefield Bus Tours offers two types of tours to the Gettysburg visitor.
Dramatized Audio Tour on our Famous Double Decker Bus that has become a landmark in Gettysburg. Cannons roar, rifles crack, drums roll and bugles blow. And you re-live it all under the clear skies of Gettysburg and History’s names become today’s experience: Little Round Top, Devil’s Den, Wheatfield, Peach Orchard, Pickett’s Charge, High Water Mark.
Today the Inn is owned by Jack and Maria Paladino who purchased the Inn in January of 2006 and undertook major structural renovations throughout most of the first floor of the Inn. The Cashtown Inn currently serves as a relaxing Bed & Breakfast and houses a Fine Dining Restaurant with a full service Tavern.
The restaurant offers a New American menu that can be enjoyed in the original Tavern Room (circa 1797) or the newly appointed Victorian Dining Room. Fresh, local and innovative ingredients and flavors are simply and expertly prepared from scratch for the area's best dining experience.
The Bed & Breakfast offers a choice of four guest rooms and three suites. All accommodations are smoke free and include private bath, air conditioning and fresh, fully served breakfast. Suites also have cable T.V. and VCR's.
As George F. Skoch wrote,
“Rediscover Cashtown Inn for yourself. Come stand on the front porch and let your mind wander back to the summer of 1863...”
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where the turning point of the Civil War occurred from July 1 - 3, 1863. Travel to the Gettysburg National Military Park, with over 1,000 monuments and cannon along over 40 miles of scenic roads, a battlefield shrine to the Union and Confederate soldiers who fought here.
Plan to visit the scene of the Gettysburg Address, Picket's Charge, General Robert E. Lee's Headquarters, Little Round Top, and the Devil's Den. You can even meet Abraham Lincoln! In Gettysburg, you can eat authentic Civil War era foods, sleep in a restored historic inn, and discover over 25 museums and resort attractions -- some unlike any in the world.
10. The Pioneer Lines Scenic Railway Engine House: A Study in Paranormal Investigation
By Mark Nesbitt
Author - The Ghosts of Gettysburg Series
Photos by Carol Nesbitt and Jim Jacobs
Every “ghost hunter” has his or her own methods of investigating an alleged haunted site. Although I’ve been involved in some 150-plus investigations since Rick Fisher of the Pennsylvania Paranormal Society invited me on my first in 1995, they all seem to have followed the same general, structured methodology. My experiences with the Pioneer Lines Scenic Railway Engine House, located on the battlefield of Gettysburg, PA, have been typical of the way I conduct investigations into paranormal phenomena.
Jim Jacobs Real Ghost Photo At Gettysburg Engine House
I began hearing whispers of unexplained events in and around the railroad engine house sometime in 2003. Before invading a site with meters and psychics, my first step in beginning any investigation is to interview individuals who have experienced the paranormal phenomena. Some academics call information gathered from eyewitnesses “anecdotal evidence,” and consider it unreliable. (Strangely enough, some of these same critics, called “historians,” praise eyewitness accounts to historical events, calling the evidence “primary source material.”) I like to say that if you gather enough anecdotal evidence, as I have with over 1,000 ghost stories of Gettysburg, it becomes “data,” and information can be gleaned from it. Railroaders, like many
hard-working, no-nonsense individuals, are notoriously reluctant to relate anything out of the ordinary for fear of being ridiculed, so I knew I had my interviewing work cut out for me. But as with any group of individuals, once they got started relating their experiences, the information flowed. It was interesting to hear one railroader talk about his experiences hearing phantom footsteps walking down the aisle in a parked passenger car he was working on, then to hear another pipe up and say, “You heard that too? I thought I was hearing things and didn’t want to tell anyone!” After spending a couple of hours interviewing and touring the engine house, I was convinced that something out of the ordinary was occurring there.
My next step in an investigation is to research the history of the site. The engine house was fairly easy.
The engine house is a huge metal building with a “garage” area large enough to accommodate rail cars and locomotives while they are being repaired. In the south eastern corner of the building are offices. While the building itself is not historic, the land upon which it sits is remarkably so. The building was built on the east slope of Oak Ridge, the eminence upon which the Union Army made its “last stand” on the afternoon of July 1, 1863, before being driven back through the town of Gettysburg. Union soldiers fought desperately to hold the position, then, as they retreated, fought just as desperately to save their lives as Confederates poured rifle fire down upon them. Some were wounded at the future site of the engine house; some were killed there; some may have even been buried there; some may still be buried there. (The most recently discovered human remains were found in the mid-1990s just a few hundred yards from the engine house.) The engine house sits less than a hundred yards from one of the three “railroad cuts,” fought over so savagely by the soldiers. So I knew there was a bloody history associated with where the engine house now sits.
As well, I was interested in the possible existence of a “matrix effect.” Railroad rails represent a steel matrix that connects the entire continental United States: touch a rail in Maine and you are connected electromagnetically to California. The rail system represents a huge, electromagnetic “net” or, perhaps, “antenna” across the land. Though I haven’t had a chance to test out any paranormal theories yet at the engine house, that day may soon come.
Later that year I investigated the engine house with a local “team” who had set up near infrared video cameras and took still photos. I was successful at obtaining several EVPs (electronic voice phenomena) including getting a loud raspy response after asking for Confederates to give us the famous “rebel yell.”
On one notable night, Rob Conover, a psychic from Pekin, Illinois, who has been featured on “A Haunting,” helped “cross-over” numerous souls who had been stuck in the area, including a preacher, unable to leave those who remained. In a remarkable piece of EVP, I recorded Rob telling the preacher, “Go on, Preacher,” and a phantom voice which says, “Heaven!” In the meantime, Laine Crosby and another psychic who was with our group, saw a large number of spirits in a field on the other side of the parked train. One thought it was a group of college students gathering, since Gettysburg College is adjacent to the railroad. “No,” the other said. “Look closer. See, they have no legs.”
Additional reports from the engine house continued to filter in. One of the employees saw a haze appear between two engines, then vanish through the side of the building. A second time he saw it, he was determined to touch it. As he moved toward it, the haze backed off; when the employee backed up, the haze approached him. Again, it disappeared through the metal side of the building. The employee began to carry a camera with him. Sure enough, within a few days, it appeared again, and he got a photo of it.
After we were featured on the Travel Channel’s, Mysterious Journeys series, “Ghosts of Gettysburg,” we began to bring groups into the engine house to accompany us on our investigations. Along with some members of the Ghost Research Foundation, I obtained some excellent EVP, including one where I ask the ghost to speak a little more quietly, since she was too loud on the recorder to be of use. Her recorded answer: “All right. I’ll be quiet.” Other subsequent investigations have yielded additional EVP and some unexplained photos of what appear to be humans in empty locomotives.
Poltergeist activity has also been witnessed. One employee left his coffee cup in the middle of his desk as he left the office area. When he returned in the morning, it had been moved to the side. He asked if any of the other employees had moved his cup and was told no. The next night, he made sure he was the last to leave and placed his cup in the middle of the desk. He was the first one in the next morning, and the cup had been moved, again to the side of the desk. As a final experiment, he left his cup in the middle of the desk with a folded note that said, “move it to the other side.” The next morning, he was the first one in the office. The cup was moved…to the other side of the desk!
While I was attempting to obtain EVP, Patty Wilson, of the Ghost Research Foundation, was adamant: someone else wanted to talk to me. He was male and a burly railroad employee…from many decades past. I ignored her for a while, until a traffic barrel, which had been sitting on a tire at the end of the engine house for weeks, suddenly flew off as if it were kicked. I decided it might be a good idea to talk to the gentleman.
In 2005, I was approached by an officer of the Pioneer Lines Scenic Railway who inquired if I would like to partner with them to produce a “Ghost Train” tour, placing one of our guides on the train to tell stories of great train disasters and the ghosts they spawned. In 2008, I was asked to re-write the ghost train tour to include the stories and EVP from the engine house investigations. The railroad added some track, and now the train actually enters the haunted engine house, and passengers can risk experiencing some of the paranormal phenomena we all know occurs in there.
Since the new Ghost Train has been operating, passengers have had experiences. A grandfather and his grandson, sitting in aisle seats, both reported that someone unseen had touched them on the shoulders, as if steadying themselves from the rolling of the train. A young woman wrote to me and asked, while they were sitting in the car in the engine house, if anyone had exited the train. She had seen a bald man, with just a fringe of hair, walk gingerly past her window. I asked the manager of the railroad if anyone had gotten off the train that night. He said, yes, the assistant manager, who is female, and the conductor, who has a full head of hair. No one else, for safety reasons, is allowed off the train while it is in the engine house.
The above Ghost Photo taken By Jim Jacobs
Additional investigations are scheduled for the engine house, most in association with our Mysterious Journeys weekends, sponsored by Mark Nesbitt’s Ghosts of Gettysburg Tours (www.ghostsofgettysburg.com) and the Cashtown Inn (www.cashtowninn.com), in January, February and March 2009, and spaces are still available as of this writing.
For reservations or information on the Ghost Train, visit www.gettysburgrail.com. For listen to samples of EVP, and check out investigation pictures and videos, visit www.GhostChannel.TV.
You saw it on The Travel Channel's "Mysterious Journeys", now experience the thrills and chills of the Haunted Engine House and the Gettysburg Ghost Train.
Experience a trip that can only be taken by train, into the haunted Gettysburg countryside. As you roll over the very fields bloodied by the fighting in July 1863, past the legendary railroad cut, just below mysterious Oak Ridge, and within a stone's throw of the infamous Iverson's Pits, expert guides from the Ghosts of Gettysburg Tours treat you to eerie tales of hauntings.
Your ghostly adventure continues as your rail car pulls into the haunted Engine House where you will hear the voices of the dead captured on tape in that very building! No other Ghost Tour in Gettysburg takes you so close to the actual battlefield, in the very car where those before you have had ghostly encounters, and into the actual haunted site that you saw on tv! This is the only tour offered that will take you into the Haunted Engine House.
On June 1, 1865, Senator Charles Sumner commented on what is now considered the most famous speech by President Abraham Lincoln. In his eulogy on the slain president, he called it a "monumental act." He said Lincoln was mistaken that "the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here." Rather, the Bostonian remarked, "The world noted at once what he said, and will never cease to remember it. The battle itself was less important than the speech."
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.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Source: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler. The text above is from the so-called "Bliss Copy," one of several versions which Lincoln wrote, and believed to be the final version. For additional versions, you may search The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln through the courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Association.
How can you say ghost exist unless you try to experience it yourself? If you are not willing to try, then you have no factual basis for your conclusion. To put this another way, don't decide it before you try it. All beliefs come from a experience. Many believe people for their word, others not so trusting simply need to be shown. And still more do not believe what they see even if it shoved in their face.
HAUNTED
AMERICA TOURS Official
Web Site
is a ghost tour information
site; our information
is only as reliable
as readers' contributed
ghost and haunted
reports. We assume
no crfor your
adventures, and accept
no liability for your
misadventures. Use
common sense. Read
our ghost hunting
recommendations. Before
visiting any "haunted"
site, verify the location,
accessibility, safety,
and other important
information. Never
trespass on private
and/or posted property
without permission
from the proper authorities.
At HauntedAmericaTours.com
we invite you into
our Ghost Haunted
Paranormal world where
art, News stories,
photography and the
unexplained merge
into a new landscape
that will leave you
truly spellbound.
HauntedAmericaTours.com
is a continuous work
in progress; we will
keep it updated for
you on a regular basis,
so that you can come
back and see a ghost
or two, and meet some
new ones. HAUNTED
AMERICA TOURS is not
responsible for the
content of external
internet sites.
HauntedAmericaTours.com
is a continuous work
in progress; we will
keep it updated for
you on a regular basis,
so that you can come
back and see a ghost
or two, and meet some
new ones. Please browse
here and find what
your looking for.
Check out the other
Categories and featured
new articles about
everything in the
paranormal community
today. And also enjoy
your very haunted
adventures safely.
We want to thank
all the contributors,
visitors and many
regular readers that
make hauntedamericatours.com
so great! We couldn't
have done it without
you! If you haven't
checked us out yet,
what are you waiting
for?
Changing
The Way You See The
Paranormal World One
Day At A Time!
Hear Spine Chilling Tales of the Civil War.
![[BOOM!]](http://www.gettysbg.com/images/animatedcannon.gif)
