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 credit should 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
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