Ghostly Gettysburg Encounters
The history behind the ghosts and where they roam
“Gettysburg is without a shadow of a doubt, the ghost mecca of the world. So what
better place to be for someone who is psychic and someone who has an interest in the
paranormal,” said Johlene “Spooky” Riley, 49.
Spooky is one of the managers at Gettysburg Ghost Tours. They pride themselves
on having the finest tours in Gettysburg because “I have personally hired each and
everyone of our walking tour guides for their enthusiasm and their knowledge,” says
Spooky.
From 1861 to 1865 some of the bloodiest battles during the Civil War were waged
in this quaint Central Pennsylvanian town. As many as 620,000 individuals lost their
lives during this war and many bodies were unclaimed.
This makes for a lot of unfinished business and many know that ghosts are
generally born from unfinished business. These are just a few of the places that has some
paranormal activity presumably soldiers and casualties of the war who have had no rest.
George, George House
Led through a dark alleyway, the George, George house sits on the corner of 65
Steinwehr Ave., we learned the story of that fateful Union general. John Reynolds was
mortally wounded on one of the first days of combat. Naturally, since he was an
important figure soldiers carried him into this house and laid him on the kitchen table.
His fiancée, Julia, wanted to come in and see her beloved one last time before they
took him away. The soldiers did not want to let her see him as he was battered and
bloody from the wounds. They relinquished and let her through the door. Once inside
Julia ran to his side and would not leave until they took his body away to Lancaster for
burial.
To this day, his blood is supposed to stain the floor. There is also the chilling story
from a family of tourists. They visited Gettysburg one evening and while windowshopping they passed this home and peered inside. To their delight there was what looked
to be a display of a woman crying beside the coffin of a Union soldier.
The next day this family returned to see the exhibit in all its glory as they believed
it to be a wax museum. Unfortunately for them, it was actually Gibson’s Photographic
Gallery and there was no trace of a funeral setting to be found.
Dobbin House
The Dobbin House, 89 Steinwehr Ave., was built by Reverend Alexander Dobbin
in 1776, to this date it is the oldest house in Gettysburg. It served as a field hospital for
the Civil War. Dobbin was incredibly attached to the house it seems because people say
they see an outline of a man smoking a cigar even when no one is inside.
Dobbin had 10 children with his first wife and then once she died and he remarried.
He gained nine children from the new marriage. One of his 19 children is also attached to
the house because people swear they can hear a child running back and forth throughout
one of the rooms.
Outside the courtyard served as their crematorium. For health reasons doctors
would burn the amputated limbs and bodies to avoid spreading of infection. One soldier,
who people thought was dead, was actually alive, buried under a sea of rotting corpses.
Eventually, he was found by Union soldiers underneath all of the bodies, screaming
to be let out. It was too late however; he died a few days later from battle wounds. Today,
people say you can smell the stink of burning bodies and hear the screams of patients
wounded from battle.
Valley of Death
The official name of this place is Plum Run; however it earned this infamous
nickname when the stream ran red with the blood of fallen soldiers. The Valley was
littered with many bodies after the battles. Some wounded soldiers lay there for at least a
week before all of the fallen men could be eventually buried.
Some people hear the beating of the drums during a battle or even the soldiers
desperately crying for help as the war waged on. Others find that this dark, grassy area is
a place to capture orbs. To know that there are no streetlights in the area makes it
interesting.
Jennie Wade House
Jennie Wade was staying with her sister, who had just given birth, when the
fighting around the home began. Although they were warned repeatedly about being in
No Man’s Land during the war, the Wade family resolved to stay in the house due to the
frail condition of the sister.
Jennie was baking bread when the battle started; a rebel bullet allegedly from the
Farnsworth House went through two doors and caught her in the shoulder, killing her
instantly. Jennie was the only civilian killed in this battle and her ghost is said to still
roam the property and the house.
Jennie’s father was too ill to attend her funeral and he took this rather harshly upon
himself. His ghost, an unfriendly poltergeist, is said to be in the basement flashing lights
on and off and moving things around.
Orphanage
This place came about in an interesting way. Because, the army at the time did not
issue dog-tags many people did not carry them. One soldier was found only with pictures
of his wife and three children. The people in charge sent copies of the pictures to
different people and one woman identified the soldier as her husband Amos Humiston
from New York.
Philinda came to Gettysburg to get her husband and was offered a job at the local
orphanage by Dr. John Francis Bourns. Philinda was a great mistress; the town and
children loved her. She kept the children well fed, clothed and educated.
Unfortunately Philinda became homesick and she eventually remarried and
relocated back to New York. Rosa Carmichaels, a new teacher became the new mistress
of the orphanage.
Carmichaels slowly began changing the orphanage from a decent home to a
horrifying home. The townspeople noticed that there was a change within the children.
They did not seem to be outside as often and they were always doing chores, ragged and
dirty.
One snowy night two townspeople heard yelling coming from an outhouse. It was a
little boy trapped in the outhouse with no jacket. They immediately rushed him inside
where they found shackles and chains in the basement. Carmichaels had been chaining
these young children in the basement.
Needless to say Carmichaels was charged with endangerment and abuse. She was
convicted and paid a fine of $20. Dr. Bourns let her go back to the orphanage to the
distress of the townspeople.
He was later found to have been embezzling endowment money from the
orphanage and he got out of town. The children, in the meantime, were found to be
mistreated again but when the authorities came to arrest Carmichaels again, she was gone
too.
Children are affected most when touring the orphanage. Many children feel
someone tugging on their clothing and bodies as if someone wants them to get up and
play.
Others have taken pictures of orbs and shadowy outlines of what appears to be the
orphans. People believe that Carmichaels is trapped in her own shackles in the basement.
Gettysburg is a fascinating place to go visit. You never know what you may find or what
could possibly find you.