Woods House

Andrew Woods House
The Woods house at 271 Baltimore Street in Gettysburg was built in the early-to-late 1830s, and was the home and workshop of carriage builder/repairman Andrew Woods.

In 1997, Mark Nesbitt's Ghosts of Gettysburg Tour gang bought it to use as its HQ. So it must have some spooks, right?

Yep, it does, though oddly there are no overt Civil War manifestations, other than a voice or two in the attic and some residual energy in the cellar. It's thought that it served, as did most of the town's buildings, as a field hospital and snipers nest. There are the customary orbs, shapeless blobs, and doors that open or shut for no good reason.

Namesake Andrew Woods is still around, and is said to have helped workmen who were renovating the building by opening doors for them when their hands were full. (Must be part of the union contract.)

Psychic Karyol Kirkpatrick found some other former residents' spirits in the house, too. Research seems to point to James Dobbins as one of the spooks. The son of a preacher, he still talks a good religious game from the afterlife and likes to slam doors.

Another pair are thought to be Mary Kitzmiller and her son William, who died at an early age in the house. It's said that Mary calls out for her surviving son, Charles, and that young William can be heard shooting marbles upstairs.

There's a woman spook in dark clothing who seems loco, but was actually as crazy as a fox. She had a mission as a secret courier, and acted loony so that no one paid her any mind, allowing her to pull off her double-agent act.

The wraiths of two little girls, Emily and her friend, play tag in the attic, and you can hear their voices. There's enough going on that the staff has taken to calling it the "Ghost House." The Ghost gang has closed off the upper floors, but claim there's enough active spookiness on the ground level to keep the customers happy.

Mark Nesbitt gave away the building's secrets in his book Ghosts of Gettysburg IV, and the Woods house is a stop on a couple of the local Gettysburg ghost tours.

One Less Witness

The Witness Tree from Gettysburg Battlefield

Gettysburg 'witness tree' falls during storm
Saturday, August 09, 2008
The Associated Press

One of the few remaining "witness trees" to the Battle of Gettysburg cracked in a storm and fell, National Park Service officials said.

Standing on Cemetery Hill, 150 feet from the platform on which President Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, the massive honey locust tree fell Thursday evening.

The tree, which stood on the right side of the Union lines, "was there as a silent witness -- to the battle, to the aftermath, to the burials, to the dedication of the cemetery," park historian John Heiser said.

"I have no doubt that Union soldiers sat under it for all three days of the battle," he said.

On the second day of the bloody Civil War battle, "if it was high enough at the time, it would have been able to see the battle of Culp's Hill," Mr. Heiser said.

On July 3, 1863, as Gen. George E. Pickett sent his Virginia division across an open field toward the Union line, the tree "would have been able to see the Union guns there on the crest of Cemetery Hill firing at Pickett's men," Mr. Heiser said.

"And, looking to the south, it could have seen the entire Union line, stretching from Cemetery Hill to the Round Tops."

Park maintenance officials will assess what to do with what remains of the tree.

"When it's something this bad, it's highly doubtful that a tree like that can survive," Mr. Heiser said.

Mr. Heiser said he knows of only three other witness trees that still stand in the heart of the battlefield.

"It's a shame when you lose the last living entities on this battlefield," he said. "Nothing lives forever, unfortunately."

There are only four certain witnesses to the haunts and history of Gettysburg of July 1-3, 1863. And now there may be one less.

Devil's Den

Devil's Den after Gettysburg from Sons of the South
(photo by Alexander Gardner, 1863)

The Devil's Den, located between Big and Little Round Tops on the Gettysburg battlefield, was a spook hot spot long before the Civil War. The rock strewn locale allegedly got its' name from an elusive monster snake that was said to inhabit the boulders, called "The Devil" by the locals. It was supposed to also be a Native American ceremonial site, and the early settlers reported Indian ghosts and the sound of "war whoops" among the rocks.

Another story concerns Pauline Noel, a young woman that literally lost her her head in a wagon crash there. Her headless ghost has been reported seen, and some say if you run across her, she'll try to take yours, too (actually, the legend is she'll try to eat it, but without a head of her own...) Its' also said that her name, P. Noel, was carved into the rocks by her spook so that she's never forgotten. It's thought that if you trace the engraved name with your finger, her ghost is likely to appear.

It's also a place where cameras quite often malfunction as a sort of curse brought about because of the ghoulish moving and posing of bodies by Civil War photographers. There have also been alleged sightings of battle reenactments by the spook soldiers, and the sight of ghostly snipers, gangs of roaming graycoats, and the sounds of gunfire have been commonly reported.

The most famous spook is that of the Texan reb who's been seen by many, serving as a sort of a tourist guide and happily posing for pictures (although when developed, his figure is missing.) Once he was described to a park ranger as a barefoot hippie because of his floppy hat and loose shirt - the uniform of the Texas Confederate regiment.

The areas between Devil's Den and the Round Tops were known as The Valley of Death and Slaughter Pen, and some troops seem to be stuck in an endless loop of reliving the battle - and their deaths, in America's most senseless and brutal war.

The Farnsworth House

The Farnsworth House

The Farnsworth House was built in 1810 as a farmhouse and got its' name from General Elon Farnsworth, who died during the Battle of Gettysburg. It was also the site of a rebel sniper's nest, and is thought to be the place that the musket ball that killed Jennie Wade was fired from. The B&B is allegedly loaded with spooks from the battle.

The sharpshooters in the attic are still there and supposedly are very active. It's said that you can hear one of them play a Jew's Harp to while away the time. You can hear the footsteps of another carrying a dying comrade down the stairs to the basement, where he softly sings to comfort him. Shadows have been spotted flitting throughout the house, mostly at night and often in the dining room. Footsteps have been heard pacing up and down the main hall.

But quite a few of the wraiths came as part and parcel of the house's history. A youngster named Jeremy was trampled to death outside the Farnsworth by a buggy while playing tag with his friends, and allegedly you can see him being cradled in a blanket by his sobbing father carrying him into the Inn. It's said that the boy roams the hotel, stealing things and exchanging them for toys. Jeremy's also supposed to haunt two other nearby houses, one a shop and the other a home.

A former resident called Mary died in the Sarah Black Room. She's appeared to guests there, dressed in a blue gown. She sits on the end of the bed and likes to toy with visitor's personal belongings and sometimes their hair. It's thought that she's been spotted in the next door Catherine Sweeney room, too. The guest that saw her had a cold, and Mary was a midwife in real life who tended to the House's ill. Mary's also been spotted accompanying the Farnsworth Ghost Walk Tour.

Another spirit was reported as a black mist that slowly morphed into the form of an old woman. A lady dressed in 19th century garb has been seen checking out the kitchen supplies. She vanishes when you approach her. It's thought she's an old employee of the Inn keeping an eye on the shop. There's also been quite a bit of poltergeist activity involving the help - touchings, tugs on their aprons, overturned trays, the works.

One great Halloween story comes from there. A local radio station was setting up to broadcast from the Farnsworth on All Hallow's Eve. They were dressed in blue jeans and blue company tops. When they called into the station to check on their feeds, they talked to a person who was nicknamed Captain.

Apparently all the people in blue reporting to their "Captain" put the rebel spirits into an uproar. A psychic that was along for the show said the spirits were afraid of being discovered by the Union troops - the people dressed in blue - and told her that there was a spy in their midst. She tried to tell one of the spooks that the war was over and he could move on. He didn't believe her.

The Inn has been featured on A&E's The Unexplained, Sci Fi Channel's Sightings and the History Channel. It's in a virtual library of both history and spook books. The Farnsworth House is famous for more than its' hospitality.

Chamberlain's Charge

George Washington from Freedom Heroes
It was the second day of fighting at Gettysburg, and the situation was looking grim for Colonel Joshua Chamberlain's 20th Maine troops at the Little Round Top. Out of ammunition and picked apart by the 15th Alabama regiment, it looked like the end of line for the Yankees.

Chamberlain was determined to go down fighting, and he had his troops fix their bayonets and prepare for one last charge. Just before he led his battle weary men down the hill, a figure appeared through the smoke. He was a tall man on horseback dressed in a Revolutionary War uniform.

George Washington raised his sword and along with Col. Chamberlain led the charge into the Confederate ranks. The rebs scattered, and the Little Round Top and perhaps the day was saved. It's said that you can yet sometimes spot a man in a tri-cornered hat on a glowing white steed galloping along the battlefield. He disappears as you approach him, but from a distance he looks very much like the Father of Our Country.

This tale gathered steam right after the battle, and allegedly prompted Secretary of War Edward Stanton to launch an official investigation into its' validity, although we couldn't find any mention of his probe anywhere except on other spook sites. Chamberlain was later awarded the Medal of Honor for his action, so the War Department certainly thought he had something to do with it, Washington or not.

When Joshua Chamberlain was an old man, an interviewer asked him, “Is there any truth to the story that your men saw the figure of George Washington leading them at Gettysburg?” He gazed thoughtfully out of the window of his home across the Maine fields, and there was a long pause.

Then he nodded. “Yes, that report was circulated through our lines, and I have no doubt that it had a tremendous psychological effect in inspiring the men. Doubtless it was a superstition, but who among us can say that such a thing was impossible? We know not what mystic power may be possessed by those who are now bivouacking with the dead. I only know the effect, but I dare not explain or deny the cause. I do believe that we were enveloped by the powers of the other world that day and who shall say that Washington was not among the number of those who aided the country that he founded?”

This tale was told in Nancy Robert's book Civil War Ghost Stories and Legends.

Jennie Wade House

Image from the Jennie Wade House
There's a whole lotta lore connected with this Baltimore Street home. Jennie - her given name was Mary Virginia Wade - and her sister lived in half of the Gettsyburg duplex while the pivotal Civil War conflict raged around them.

Jennie was baking bread for the Union soldiers on July 3rd, 1863 when a rebel bullet, allegedly fired from a nearby sniper's nest set up in the Farnsworth House, went through two doors and caught her under the shoulder in the back, killing her within minutes. Jennie's body was laid out in the cellar, the only safe place in the house. She has the dubious distinction of being the only civilian killed during the battle (although others died from injuries after the fact.)

There are a covey of ghosties hanging around the house, now a museum. Jennie's still there, and you can sometimes smell the aroma of baking bread and her rose scented perfume in the home.

Some people say she's there still awaiting word on her beau, Sgt. Jack Skelly. A soldier friend was supposed to check on him for her, but was killed at Culp's Hill before he could find her. (Skelly, by the way, died as a Confederate POW from battle wounds. Not a very good day for Jennie.)

Her dad's spook is supposed to be in the house, too. He was said to have lost his mind and ended his days in the poor house because he wasn't at the house protecting his daughter when she died, and held himself responsible for her death.

Other stories say he's bitter because he wasn't allowed to attend Jennie's funeral, or that his mental state was such that he didn't realize Jennie was dead and would wander into the cellar looking for her.

Needless to say, he's not considered a very congenial spirit to bump into and causes a bit of poltergeist activity in the basement, mainly consisting of the aroma of cigar smoke, twirling the guide post chain, and leaving a feeling of deep sadness that blankets the room.

But there are some very friendly spirits scattered around the Wade house. An orphanage a few doors down the street was said to be run by a sadistic director, and Jennie and her sister would let the children play in their house. They're still there.

The kid's ghosts are a very touchy-feely bunch of rugrats. They've been known to say "Hi" to tour guests and follow them around the museum. They like to hold hands, and tug at your ankles, coats and jewelry, still craving attention. They play with the beds upstairs. That may be the greatest compliment to Jennie and her sister - the everlasting affection of the neighborhood orphans. But she does have one more honor.

Her grave, marked by the Mary Virginia Wade monument in Evergreen Cemetery, flies the flag 24 hours a day by Presidential decree. She's the only American woman besides Betsy Ross to be given that honor.