Episode 67

Gettysburg Ghost Tours: Unveiling the Haunting History of Gettysburg

🎙 Attention: These new shirts may cause history-inspired travel

In this episode, we delve into the fascinating world of guided tours that allow visitors to explore the haunting history of one of the most pivotal battlefields of the American Civil War. Join us as we embark on a journey through time, uncovering the stories and experiences that make Gettysburg's historical ghost tours a must for history buffs and paranormal enthusiasts alike.

Podcasts Mentioned

Reagan Assassination History episode

Lost Colony episode

Videos mentioned

Ghosts and Gettysburg

The Real Hero of Gettysburg

Location of the Gettysburg Address

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Transcript
Jenn:

It was very foggy and they were jogging the battlefield right

Jenn:

by Devil's Den and they saw what they thought were two reenacters.

Jenn:

And they were very dirty, she said, and they were like torn.

Jenn:

The clothes were torn and they looked like they were just.

Jenn:

Haggard and grown out beers and stuff and just was like, wow.

Jenn:

And she even said to her dad, they're really into it.

Jenn:

And they were on the other side of the road as they were jogging, and they didn't

Jenn:

really even look at them or engage them.

Jenn:

And she said her dad waved, but they didn't even really look up.

Jenn:

And they just kept going and they didn't even think anything of it.

Jenn:

Well then that night they're taking a ghost tour bus tour

Jenn:

and the tour guide said, I.

Jenn:

We're about to come onto the where the most seen ghosts are seen here at

Jenn:

Gettysburg, right here by Devil's Den.

Jenn:

It's two older rebels leaving Battle.

Jenn:

People see them on this side of the road walking this way.

Jenn:

They're seen constantly here at Gettysburg, and she said her and her dad.

Jenn:

Just looked at each other and were like, oh my gosh.

/ Scott:

Welcome to Talk With I'm your host Scott here with my wife and historian

Jenn:

Hello

Scott:

On this podcast, we give you insights to our history inspired

Scott:

world travels YouTube channel journey, and examine history the curious, the

Scott:

explorers, and the And Jen, we just got back from an extended break.

Scott:

We've been off almost a month now.

Scott:

So if you're listening to this, To this podcast welcome back to you, welcome back

Scott:

to us, and we've got a whole bunch of stuff that's coming up on the horizon.

Scott:

Bunch of West Western videos, western history, little Bighorn Wild

Scott:

Bill Hickok, all that fun stuff.

Scott:

So make sure that you're following this, this podcast, and

Scott:

your favorite, podcast player.

Scott:

/ We also have a lot of comments and reviews to talk about.

Scott:

So we actually got a review on June 2nd from, can't quite read the username, twa.

Scott:

I don't know, but she left us.

Scott:

I'm assuming it's a she.

Scott:

Five stars.

Scott:

I love history raised by going to most every civil war battlefield.

Scott:

I have something like 70 podcasts in my feed, and this is one of the best.

Scott:

Thank you so much for saying that.

Scott:

That's, I, I need that kind of

Jenn:

feedback.

Scott:

Every, every now and then, Scott and Jen both make history

Scott:

available to the novice in advanced.

Scott:

Also, their production value is excellent.

Scott:

There a top contender on knocking the history channel off their pedestal.

Scott:

So I know that she listens regularly or he.

Scott:

Listens regularly because we talk about that all the time that we're coming

Scott:

for the

Jenn:

the channel.

Scott:

One day we will be there in listeners and subscriber We also

Scott:

got a couple comments on Spotify.

Scott:

So if you're listening on Spotify they've rolled out a new feature

Scott:

where people can, respond to kind of automatically a question And Linda Dens.

Scott:

Had commented on the Ronald Reagan episode where you had mentioned the

Scott:

gentleman claiming to be in charge of the White House as a speaker of

Scott:

the house, and actually was Alexander Hagg, who is Secretary of Defense.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

And I think we had corrected that

Jenn:

that we corrected later on in the conversation.

Jenn:

Yeah.

Scott:

thank you for catching that, Linda.

Scott:

That's, that's great feedback.

Scott:

We, we caught that later.

Scott:

And then also We got another comment from DG Photography on the Lost Colony episode.

Scott:

DG photography said I work a lot with the settlements down there in

Scott:

Virginia and there's new evidence indicating they just packed up and left.

Scott:

And that's in reference to the lost colony at Roanoke, North

Scott:

Basically kind of, nobody really knew.

Scott:

They just kinda just

Jenn:

Yeah.

Jenn:

I remember they had carved coa into

Scott:

English settlers in America, period.

Jenn:

Period.

Jenn:

Mm-hmm.

Jenn:

And no one knew what happened to him.

Jenn:

That's why they called the lost colony, lost colon.

Jenn:

But we surmised that they probably packed up and left.

Jenn:

Yeah.

Jenn:

And we'll, we talked about that on that

Scott:

but we love that, that people were commenting on DG photography.

Scott:

So if you want, if you listen on Spotify, feel free to leave us a review or comment.

Scott:

We'll definitely read that.

Scott:

And if you're listening in Apple Podcast somewhere else, leave and

Scott:

if we can find the review, it out.

Scott:

I also wanna give a shout out when we were on our trip to Little

Scott:

Bighorn that's coming up, the video's coming up this summer.

Scott:

We got approached, kind of your Jen, your first fan, public

Jenn:

Yes.

Jenn:

I was approached by someone at the Battle of Little Bighorn, like the

Jenn:

most farthest out parking lot at the Battle of Little Bighorn national Park.

Jenn:

They asked me, Jen, are you Jen of Walk With History?

Jenn:

So it was pretty awesome.

Jenn:

Took a picture

Scott:

Yeah, and I believe that was, it was Robbie Bryant.

Jenn:

Robbie Bryant.

Jenn:

Mm-hmm.

Scott:

very nice.

Scott:

He said, oh yeah, I saw your stuff when you were working

Scott:

with JD from history under gown.

Scott:

And if you watched any history on YouTube, you've probably seen

Scott:

so that was just really cool.

Scott:

We told him we'd give him a little shout out.

Scott:

And then also while we were driving around the country, we kind of wrote our

Scott:

channel name on the back of our window.

Jenn:

Yes.

Jenn:

We made the history, mobile

Scott:

mobile.

Scott:

And we created a Venmo.

Scott:

And if you wanna use as you can, the Venmo is just at walk with history,

Jenn:

mm-hmm.

Jenn:

spaces.

Scott:

But we, we put it on the back and we got a, a donation from Sydney.

Scott:

And all that Sydney wrote was just spotted an I 90.

Scott:

And if you know the, the Western.

Scott:

Kind of part of the country from Montana down the I 90 is a very

Scott:

long kind of, east, west Highway.

Jenn:

But the most northern

Jenn:

one,

Scott:

I think Sydney donated a couple bucks.

Scott:

And then your friend Lisa, actually donated to our Venmo

Scott:

after we posted the picture on

Scott:

Facebook.

Jenn:

Yeah.

Jenn:

And she's a realtor in the Virginia area a top-notch realtor.

Jenn:

So if you real estate information or advice, she's

Jenn:

the person to go to Lisa Lynch

Jenn:

. Scott: So it was super fun getting that.

Jenn:

So it's just fun.

Jenn:

Again, if you're listening, if you listen for a while, or if you're a new listener.

Jenn:

We love getting feedback.

Jenn:

We love seeing these reviews.

Jenn:

so please feel free to drop us a review or reach out to us to talk with history.com.

Jenn:

We love, we love hearing

Jenn:

listeners.

Jenn:

Yes.

Scott:

Thank you to the reviewers, to the folks saying hello out in public.

Scott:

If you see us, please feel free to say hello on our Venmo, which

Scott:

For the longest time when Jen and I were dating in our early years of marriage,

Scott:

she would drag me along these ghost and I.

Scott:

Not being particularly houses or ghost stories.

Scott:

I, I never really knew why.

Jenn:

mm-hmm.

Scott:

would do it

Jenn:

do.

Scott:

And then about a year ago, maybe 18 months ago, we went to Colonial

Scott:

Williamsburg and did a ghost tour walking near George With's house.

Scott:

Mm-hmm.

Scott:

And I finally realized, Jen, why you like doing Go ghost tours so much is

Scott:

because they're all about history.

Scott:

So Jen, you've done a lot of ghost tours, but tonight we're actually talking about

Jenn:

Yes.

Scott:

So let's talk about Gettysburg and

Jenn:

Sure.

Jenn:

Yeah, you're right.

Jenn:

We have a lot of history of ghost tours every place we live.

Jenn:

San Diego.

Jenn:

San Diego claims to have the most haunted house in America.

Jenn:

We dumped them in Dublin and Colonial Williamsburg, which we

Jenn:

learned all about George with.

Jenn:

We didn't really know about him until that ghost tour,

Scott:

and, and that's, that, that was kind of the light bulb moment for me.

Scott:

Now, it only took what.

Scott:

13, years of marriage for me to finally figure that out, that the

Scott:

reason that you like these Ghost tours so much is so much history.

Scott:

Because really if you've ever been on a ghost tour, and if you're listening, we'd

Scott:

be curious to hear kind of what ghost, what your favorite ghost tours have been.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

But you go on the Ghost tour and they tell you all about what happened,

Scott:

and obviously But it's all history.

Jenn:

It's history.

Jenn:

You gotta make sure, so it's, it's, I would say it's.

Jenn:

Foundational history.

Jenn:

You've gotta make sure the story is true.

Jenn:

So we'll talk about something that even in the Gettysburg Ghost Tour, that's not

Jenn:

exactly true, but it embellishes the story so it makes it even more romanticized.

Jenn:

So you gotta make sure that the history is accurate.

Jenn:

But when you do listen to the ghost story and you go back to research

Jenn:

it on your own, it usually has some facts, some historic fact to it.

Jenn:

And that's what I love most about the

Scott:

Yeah, there, there's, there's some historic fact and then

Scott:

there's obviously like local lore.

Scott:

Yes.

Scott:

What people said, rumors,

Jenn:

And then Gettysburg is known for its ghost tour.

Jenn:

So yeah.

Jenn:

so

Scott:

so talk about Gettysburg, the time that you went out to this one.

Scott:

I actually wasn't

Jenn:

there.

Jenn:

You weren't there with me.

Jenn:

I did a three day well we did a three part series to this.

Jenn:

Do we talk about Strong Vincents.

Jenn:

I think I just do a little overview of Gettysburg, or I do

Jenn:

the Gettysburg address because,

Scott:

went to the location

Jenn:

where he spoke in the Evergreen Cemetery, which is not

Jenn:

actually in the National Cemetery.

Jenn:

He's actually sitting in the Evergreen Cemetery, which is the,

Jenn:

the civilian cemetery of Gettysburg.

Jenn:

And then we did a ghost tour, and I always wanted to do a ghost tour.

Jenn:

So if you remember Gettysburg, it's happening July 1st,

Jenn:

second, and third, 1863.

Jenn:

It will have the most casualties of any battle in the Civil

Jenn:

War, so the most killed.

Jenn:

And because it happens so fast and because, Lee retreats and

Jenn:

the union basically chases him.

Jenn:

There's not a lot of time to bury the dead, so a lot happens

Jenn:

to the dead in this timeframe.

Jenn:

They're left outside for long periods of time.

Jenn:

This is July.

Jenn:

This is Pennsylvania and the humidity bloated body.

Jenn:

So a lot of times, The initial battle.

Jenn:

First couple weeks after, they just buried people where they

Jenn:

lie, like they would go out to the battlefield and just bury graves.

Jenn:

Then later they disinterred those graves and put them in the cemetery,

Jenn:

the national cemetery

Jenn:

there.

Jenn:

Then they disinterred most of those Confederate graves and took those back to

Jenn:

places like Hollywood Cemetery Richmond.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

Closer.

Scott:

Closer to home

Jenn:

So they took the Confederates back.

Jenn:

So people have been moved often in Gettysburg and that doesn't mean

Jenn:

that they don't find the random body here and there cuz they do.

Jenn:

And it doesn't mean they got everybody.

Jenn:

And with all that death comes these ghost plus it.

Jenn:

There's a lot of unknown Yeah.

Jenn:

Soldiers

Scott:

I, I think that's where a lot of it starts to stem the unknown.

Scott:

And there's a couple questions, and then someone and boof.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

All of a sudden you have a

Jenn:

Yeah.

Scott:

ghost

Jenn:

So, so many of these men are unidentified, right?

Jenn:

And so nobody knows for sure how many.

Jenn:

And then who, and one of the stories we start off with is Is

Jenn:

a unidentified soldier who dies holding a photograph, right?

Jenn:

And so this photograph is found by a young girl, and she takes it back to

Jenn:

her tavern, and this journalist sees the photograph and he is I should

Jenn:

run that photograph in the paper.

Scott:

a, it's a photo, was it three kids or like a wife and

Jenn:

No, it's three children.

Jenn:

Three children and two boys and a girl.

Jenn:

And like it, the, it looks like the two older children are on either side

Jenn:

of a younger boy in the middle and the person dies holding this picture.

Jenn:

And so there's no other distinguishing facts about this

Jenn:

body except for that picture.

Jenn:

So they run the picture in the paper.

Jenn:

Now you remember the Gettysburg happens in July.

Jenn:

Picture is run in October and identified in October, and

Jenn:

they identify it as Amos Ton.

Jenn:

And his wife sees the picture and recognizes him.

Jenn:

So she hasn't heard from him from since July.

Jenn:

Oh,

Scott:

Oh

Jenn:

So

Jenn:

so July to October.

Jenn:

This is when she sees the picture.

Jenn:

And I'm not saying that was common, but it's more common than not common.

Jenn:

And at least she knows that's where he died.

Jenn:

Sure.

Jenn:

Because how else would you know where your significant other fell?

Jenn:

You don't know.

Jenn:

And that's where these unknown soldiers would

Scott:

sure what happened a lot back then husband never came home.

Jenn:

Never came home.

Jenn:

And so you didn't really know where, this is the last letter you got and

Jenn:

hopefully someone knew him or saw him, or maybe you got a story, maybe you didn't.

Jenn:

Who knows?

Jenn:

When she actually, she sees this picture of the, these three children

Jenn:

I'm standing kind of outside the cemetery doors, that's where they

Jenn:

believe that he fell in that area there.

Jenn:

There was a lot of fighting right there on that main street, that first day.

Jenn:

That's Baltimore street.

Jenn:

And right where I'm standing is not only where they believe he died, but it's

Jenn:

also what would become the orphanage.

Jenn:

And that orphanage is basically like an orphanage and.

Jenn:

Widow's house for the people of Gettysburg or the Battle of Gettysburg.

Jenn:

And so, Huston's wife actually will be the first mistress

Jenn:

of that house with her three

Scott:

And, and if, and if folks are curious to watch the video, so you can

Scott:

see what, what Jen's talking about, I will link our three part series in the, the

Scott:

video, the description of this podcast.

Scott:

So in your podcast player, you can, you can find that, or you can go to

Scott:

our, our channel But if you're curious to watch the videos after this to, to

Scott:

kind of see what we're talking about

Jenn:

Yes.

Jenn:

So that's basically, and I'm gonna get into this first Ghost story.

Jenn:

So this national Homestead of Gettysburg, also called the Gettysburg Orphanage.

Jenn:

A Widow's Home opens in October of 1866.

Jenn:

So this is three years after the Battle Gettysburg.

Jenn:

The first matron is Huston's widow.

Jenn:

Her three children are there and it's.

Jenn:

People say, they really love her.

Jenn:

She does a great job.

Jenn:

But then it's the second person after she leaves, she's replaced by a

Jenn:

Rosa Carmichael, and that's when the history takes a turn for the worse.

Jenn:

And this is where all the haunting stories come from because

Jenn:

she's a cruel disciplinarian.

Jenn:

She has a dungeon in the bottom of the orphanage.

Jenn:

She abuses children down there.

Jenn:

If they're bad,

Scott:

just kind of reported later because she got in

Jenn:

Yes.

Jenn:

Yes.

Jenn:

And she got in a lot of trouble.

Jenn:

And it's actually, so we, our ghost tour takes you like kind of behind and they

Jenn:

say there's been people witnessing kids' faces in the windows and things like that.

Jenn:

And so it's a popular spot for paranormal investigators.

Jenn:

Ghost hunting, ghost Adventures came, spent the night in the basement trying

Jenn:

to communicate with Carmichael's ghost.

Jenn:

It's also been featured in other

Scott:

That's like one, one of those shows or

Jenn:

of those shows.

Scott:

the shows has actually tried

Jenn:

Yes.

Jenn:

So you can't, right now it's not open for tours inside, but

Jenn:

it's part of the ghost tour.

Jenn:

Outside, walk around.

Jenn:

Mm-hmm.

Jenn:

And you're right in the center of the action there.

Jenn:

So remember if you go to that orphanage, you're right beside the

Jenn:

cemetery, which is right across from Cemetery Hill, cemetery Ridge, where

Jenn:

that first day of battle took place.

Jenn:

You're kind of cattycorner to the Jenny Wade house.

Jenn:

That's the only civilian casualty of Gettysburg.

Jenn:

And so you're right in the center of everything right there, so that most

Jenn:

ghost tours are gonna take you on that.

Jenn:

Property and tell you the story of the orphanage, tell you the story of

Jenn:

the terrible head mistress and some of those graphic stories, and then

Jenn:

the haunting of the children today

Scott:

No, that's, that, that was an interesting one.

Scott:

It sounded, and there's a couple, is, was there a couple kind of ghost

Scott:

tours or was that kind of the, the primary one there in Gettysburg?

Jenn:

So there's a couple, I did two of them.

Jenn:

Yeah, I did a daytime one and I did a nighttime one.

Jenn:

And of course there's a couple different companies and we'll talk

Jenn:

about the company that I used.

Jenn:

But it, you can do many different ones and like I said, we really

Jenn:

didn't venture onto the battlefield.

Jenn:

You aren't allowed to go on the battlefield after.

Jenn:

Sundown.

Jenn:

Oh, really?

Jenn:

Yeah.

Jenn:

So the ghost stories have to kind of stay on the, you stand on the outside

Jenn:

of the battlefield and talk about it, but they claim that Gettysburg is one

Jenn:

of the most haunted places because of all the people that died there.

Jenn:

And so you'll see many ghosts.

Jenn:

Shows where they put microphones at Devil's Den, because it was a,

Jenn:

a strong influence of of rebels who were killed at Devil's Den.

Scott:

we, we had a, we had our friend Courtney.

Scott:

Yes.

Scott:

Do you wanna talk, you, do you want to kind of tell her

Jenn:

Sure.

Jenn:

So I always say, So the microphone at Devil's done, I was just gonna

Jenn:

tell you, they, they catch, they, they claim to catch people yelling

Jenn:

at night or, people whispering to each other, things along that nature.

Jenn:

You can watch any of those on TV and you can decide for yourself.

Jenn:

My friend Courtney.

Jenn:

So I love Gettysburg.

Jenn:

We've talked about this.

Jenn:

I love going at the golden hour.

Jenn:

That's the first hour after sunrise.

Jenn:

That's when the park opens, parks, opens sunrise to sunset.

Jenn:

And so if you can get out there early, if you stay at a place

Jenn:

close enough and you can get out.

Jenn:

To the battlefield, right as the sun rises like I did.

Jenn:

You can jog it and it's a beautiful jog and it's a great place.

Jenn:

It's safe and it's groomed and nobody's there.

Jenn:

It's like you have the place to yourself.

Jenn:

If you see our video from Gettysburg, I'm at Devil's Den by myself.

Jenn:

I mean, that's really unheard of, especially in the summer.

Jenn:

I wasn't there and I was in September, but in the summer, to be anywhere

Jenn:

in Gettysburg by herself is rare.

Jenn:

So my friend Courtney, your friend Courtney, we know her from the

Jenn:

Navy, went to the Naval Academy.

Jenn:

And she would meet her dad sometimes in Gettysburg to jog

Jenn:

the battlefield cuz it was close.

Jenn:

It's close enough to DC and it's a great, like I said, it's a

Jenn:

great jog and one morning dusk.

Jenn:

It was very foggy and they were jogging the battlefield right

Jenn:

by Devil's Den and they saw what they thought were two reenacters.

Jenn:

Again, the park's only open from sunrise to sunset, and they had

Jenn:

just gotten there at sunrise.

Jenn:

So doesn't mean that it's not reenacted out there at sunrise, it's just why.

Jenn:

And they were very dirty, she said, and they were like torn.

Jenn:

The clothes were torn and they looked like they were just.

Jenn:

Haggard and grown out beers and stuff and just was like, wow.

Jenn:

And she even said to her dad, they're really into it.

Jenn:

And they were on the other side of the road as they were jogging, and they didn't

Jenn:

really even look at them or engage them.

Jenn:

And she said her dad waved, but they didn't even really look up.

Jenn:

And they just kept going and they didn't even think anything of it.

Jenn:

Well then that night they're taking a ghost tour bus tour and the bus tour

Jenn:

is, it's before the sun goes down.

Jenn:

They're allowed, they were driving the battlefield and the tour guide said, I.

Jenn:

We're about to come onto the where the most seen ghosts are seen here at

Jenn:

Gettysburg, right here by Devil's Den.

Jenn:

It's two older rebels leaving Battle.

Jenn:

People see them on this side of the road walking this way.

Jenn:

They're seen constantly here at Gettysburg, and she said her and her dad.

Jenn:

Just looked at each other and were like, oh my gosh.

Jenn:

And the way the tour driver described them, it was like the description was

Jenn:

to a t of the two men that they saw.

Jenn:

And she said, she said it makes her hair stand up even when she

Jenn:

thinks about it and talks about it.

Jenn:

And so for me, I always, again, I find that fascinating and interesting.

Jenn:

I've never seen a ghost, so, but I.

Jenn:

I wanna get out there and I wanna, and like I said, I

Jenn:

went to Devil's Den by myself.

Jenn:

I didn't see any ghosts.

Jenn:

And you can watch a video and I, I even say in the video, if

Jenn:

you see anything behind me in the video, I'm here by myself.

Jenn:

But because of those types of stories, it's one of the most

Jenn:

visited paranormal places.

Jenn:

And that's where you'll see all these ghost hunters go to Devil's Den of

Jenn:

all places that will go to Devil's Den more than any other location

Scott:

You and I were talking before we went live here we

Scott:

interviewed history Eddie from

Jenn:

history?

Jenn:

Mm-hmm.

Jenn:

Mm-hmm.

Scott:

And he's a Reenactor.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

So he's, he's pretty big on, in Instagram if you look him up.

Scott:

History Unlimited But he's a reenactor.

Scott:

He's been doing it And he told us a story once where he actually got mistaken at

Scott:

for a ghost in Gettysburg because he was out there one year for a reenactment.

Eddie:

My, my favorite Gettysburg Ghost story real quick is the Ghost

Eddie:

story where I was actually the Ghost and we were, yeah, we were

Eddie:

down there for the filming Okay.

Eddie:

Of the movie Gettysburg.

Eddie:

And, you know, reenacters we're funny people.

Eddie:

We like to dress up on our uniforms, even though we're not reenacting

Eddie:

We go out to dinner and everything, go bars and all that.

Eddie:

I just happened to go out into the national cemetery out there and was

Eddie:

walking around and there was this newlywed couple that was at the hotel we were

Eddie:

staying at, and my parents are outside and I come walking out of the cemetery.

Eddie:

And I'm in my full union uniform, my sword, my ashes, plumed

Eddie:

hat and everything like that.

Eddie:

And cool.

Eddie:

All of a sudden the married couple turns around and freaks out . And they ran

Eddie:

to the manager and said that I, they saw a ghost coming outta the cemetery.

Eddie:

So the manager comes back and I had gone into the, the room thinking that

Eddie:

I didn't know what was going on, right?

Eddie:

So I come out with the.

Eddie:

and they look like they have literally seen the ghosts.

Eddie:

They're all p My parents are like, oh, that's just my son.

Eddie:

Mm-hmm.

Eddie:

, you know?

Eddie:

Oh my God.

Eddie:

We're gonna leave, you know,

Eddie:

.

Eddie:

and just beelined back into the hotel and they were just freaked out.

Eddie:

And apparently they mistook him for a ghost walking out of the cemetery.

Eddie:

In period.

Eddie:

Gar.

Eddie:

And he had been in it all day.

Eddie:

So he was kind of just like sweaty and stuff like that.

Eddie:

And he just laughs about it.

Eddie:

And he found about, he found out about it because like he had walked into the

Eddie:

hotel and he was in the hotel lobby.

Eddie:

of.

Eddie:

Being normal.

Eddie:

Yeah.

Eddie:

And the, I think the hotel

Jenn:

So, speaking of the cemetery, there is a ghost story

Jenn:

associated with the cemetery.

Jenn:

So they said there was a soldier, William Edward Miller.

Jenn:

He was an American soldier who fought with the Union Army in the Civil War,

Jenn:

and he received the highest award for For bravery during combat, the Medal of Honor

Jenn:

for actions at Taken on July 3rd during the Battle of Gettysburg, he was ordered

Jenn:

to keep his company stationed on a hill.

Jenn:

He disobeyed these orders and led a surprise attack against a Confederate

Jenn:

charge, and he said to have saved Gettysburg for his decision to break rank.

Jenn:

And he was claiming to be the first time in military history where soldier was

Jenn:

awarded for disobeying a direct order.

Jenn:

So he later passes away.

Jenn:

He's later buried at the Gettysburg Cemetery, but his marker doesn't identify

Jenn:

him as a Medal of Honor recipient.

Scott:

Which that's not I mean, it's not unheard of.

Jenn:

Yeah.

Jenn:

Cause today we, they do that.

Jenn:

So in, back in the day, that wasn't a norm.

Jenn:

It wasn't, it wasn't a norm if you were awarded the medal of Honor for it to

Jenn:

automatically be put on your tombstone.

Jenn:

Now it is.

Jenn:

Now.

Jenn:

Usually they do 'em in gold writing.

Jenn:

We talked about Dy Murphy didn't want his in gold writing, but his

Jenn:

still says Medal of Honor on it, and so they replaced everybody who

Jenn:

has received the Medal of Honor.

Jenn:

Everyone's tombstone has been replaced.

Jenn:

If it's okay with their family with gold writing Medal of

Jenn:

Honor, and it says, It on there.

Jenn:

And so the story was until his tombstone was replaced and he was identified

Jenn:

as a Medal of Honor recipient.

Jenn:

He wandered the graveyard, his ghost wandered the graveyard.

Jenn:

And so, so that was like we were standing at the cemetery.

Jenn:

We went to his grave.

Jenn:

His grave is, is right when you first walk into the cemetery.

Jenn:

It's to the right.

Jenn:

So it's a very easy one to find.

Jenn:

And you stand there and you look at it and, and the tour guide,

Jenn:

like before this identified him as a Medal of Honor recipient.

Jenn:

His ghost would wander the graveyard waiting to be I, recognized

Jenn:

or his valor at Gettysburg.

Jenn:

So I thought that was pretty interesting

Scott:

I, I mean, I, I a part of me, I alluded to it in the

Scott:

beginning that I would always

Jenn:

Mm-hmm.

Scott:

after a while, the one part I did appreciate is the

Scott:

theatrics of the, of the tour guide.

Scott:

Especially if they were one of the better can kind of really get you into the

Scott:

story like that, they always usually get a chuckle or two, out of the like that.

Scott:

So, so that, that always is

Jenn:

And they really do get into it.

Jenn:

And it is, you feel you're there.

Jenn:

You're being entertained, right?

Jenn:

Because you're paying for this ghost tour and you wanna learn

Jenn:

about the people of that time.

Jenn:

I

Scott:

I can totally see you giving a hundred percent.

Jenn:

I would like to be the people who like sit at the gravestone and dress up as

Jenn:

the person who died and tell their story.

Jenn:

I like

Scott:

a, like more, more reenactor

Jenn:

more reenactor.

Jenn:

That was something I would be interested in doing.

Jenn:

So one of those stories that I learned a lot of that day was General Reynolds.

Jenn:

So when you first walk into the Gettysburg veteran National Cemetery, now the one

Jenn:

where those soldiers are buried, there's a huge statue when you first walk in.

Jenn:

It says General Reynolds on it.

Jenn:

And General Reynolds is the first general.

Jenn:

Killed at Gettysburg.

Jenn:

He's killed that first day and he's killed.

Jenn:

He leads his men on a charge and he's shot pretty much right

Jenn:

away in the back of the head.

Jenn:

And the ghost story they tell around him.

Jenn:

So I learned much more about him because I didn't know a lot about him.

Jenn:

He's not buried there.

Jenn:

He's actually buried in his hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Scott:

He's not as much of a household name when it

Jenn:

burg, no, but the ghost story was significant.

Jenn:

So at 2 37 Steiner, which is like the intersection of the two main roads

Jenn:

there in downtown of Gettysburg with a lot of the first day battle took

Jenn:

place, is an old stone building, and now they do old time photographs in there.

Jenn:

But that building was there.

Jenn:

During the Battle of Gettysburg, and when Reynolds is killed, his

Jenn:

body is brought into that building.

Jenn:

Now the story goes, and this part of the story is true, is he had a fiance

Jenn:

her name was Kate Hewitt, and they had not told their families they were

Jenn:

engaged yet because, One was Catholic, one was Protestant, and they had

Jenn:

been writing letters to each other.

Jenn:

She had his West point ring.

Jenn:

He had a locket of her hair and a, and like a gold charm from her that he wore.

Jenn:

And so the first time the families even learned of her was when they got his body

Jenn:

and they found trinkets of her on him and then contacted her, and then she met them.

Jenn:

On July 3rd, so not two days later, right?

Jenn:

She lived in Maryland, so not far.

Jenn:

And then he's buried on July 4th.

Jenn:

So really when you think about it, it happens really quickly.

Jenn:

Now, the story goes.

Jenn:

She was on her way to Gettysburg to meet him, to have a rendezvous because

Jenn:

nobody quite knew that this battle was gonna take place in Gettysburg.

Jenn:

And she gets there just as he's been killed.

Jenn:

And so she sits with his body in that kitchen of that stone

Jenn:

building there on that street.

Jenn:

And weeps and cries with him.

Jenn:

And the story goes, you can walk by that building at night sometime and see the

Jenn:

light on in the back kitchen and a woman in a period dress crying and weeping.

Jenn:

Well, the truth is she didn't even know he had died.

Jenn:

She didn't find out until her fam, his family had gotten his body,

Jenn:

found the things on him, and was able to get in touch with her.

Jenn:

And that's when they all met.

Jenn:

When she comes to Lancaster.

Jenn:

To meet the family for the funeral is when she sees his body for the first time dead

Jenn:

and the family learns of who she is now.

Jenn:

She never married.

Jenn:

She joins a nunnery.

Jenn:

They vowed it.

Jenn:

If they didn't marry each other, they would never marry, and so she doesn't.

Jenn:

But that's a part of the story that has some fact,

Scott:

but the story kind of grew longer legs

Jenn:

Yes.

Jenn:

Yes.

Jenn:

And then if you're ever walking by that building and you see a light on, you're

Jenn:

like, is this the ghost back there?

Jenn:

Right When, so his body was taken to that building, and that in itself could be a

Jenn:

ghost story, but to embellish it with this tragic love story, which is a true, tragic

Jenn:

love story, but to put her in that place as well, and to put her as part of that

Jenn:

whole story I thought was interesting.

Jenn:

But I learned about that story because of.

Jenn:

The Ghost which again, another reason why I love Ghost

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

And if you're, if you are interested in getting out to Gettysburg, right?

Scott:

You're listening to this and you're driving up there for the summer or

Scott:

something like that, and you, you want to do a a ghost tour, I will

Scott:

link the, the company that you used, I think we linked them in our video.

Scott:

Yeah.

Jenn:

Gettysburg Ghost

Scott:

Getty Gettysburg Goes tour.

Scott:

So I'll, I'll put that link in the, the show notes description.

Scott:

If, if you're curious.

Scott:

So, so definitely

Jenn:

Yeah, they were fantastic.

Jenn:

I definitely would taking, taking it goes tour cause something, it's something to

Jenn:

do at night cuz I'm like, I tell people.

Jenn:

The battlefield is closed right at night, so you could find a talk if you could go

Jenn:

to one of the museums or one of the local pro universities there and find someone

Jenn:

giving a lecture, if not to a ghost tour.

Jenn:

But another great place to go would be Dobbins House, and that's another ghost

Jenn:

story is of centered around this house.

Jenn:

So doin House Tavern, also located on Steiner Avenue, 89 Steiner Avenue is.

Jenn:

The oldest house in Gettysburg, it was an old tavern.

Jenn:

It was built in 1776, and it was for Reverend Alexander Dobbin and

Jenn:

his family, and he had 10 kids.

Jenn:

His wife passes away and then he marries a widow with nine kids.

Jenn:

So this is 19, 19, 19 kids.

Scott:

God

Jenn:

So, They open a school as well.

Jenn:

Why not?

Jenn:

I have 19 kids.

Jenn:

Might as well open a school, right?

Jenn:

So the second floor of Dobbins House becomes a school.

Jenn:

It's also a stop on the Underground Railroad, although

Jenn:

that has not been substantiated.

Jenn:

People do believe because he was a pastor and because it was a very.

Jenn:

Active Tavern.

Jenn:

It was a good stop on the Underground Railroad today.

Jenn:

It's like a five star restaurant.

Jenn:

If you want something to do in the evening, go to Darwin Tavern,

Jenn:

have some great food, have some great alcohol, have a great time

Jenn:

like, and you can sit outside.

Jenn:

And it's just a really great location right in the heart of Gettysburg with

Jenn:

a ton of and ghost stories around it.

Jenn:

So because of the children associated with the family and the school, they

Jenn:

claim that there is children, ghost children who run around the tavern.

Scott:

Is that, is that the one where people say that?

Scott:

building?

Scott:

Yeah, it

Jenn:

like a little finger had been

Scott:

Like little kid fingers have

Jenn:

Yeah.

Jenn:

Icing

Jenn:

cowing the cake or and I, I mean, honestly, if I was a chef there,

Jenn:

I'd be doing that to all the

Jenn:

Because first of all, I'd want to eat the icing and then I'm

Jenn:

gonna keep up this ghost story.

Scott:

Yeah.

Scott:

I don't know how that got there.

Scott:

I swear I just finished this cake.

Jenn:

Yes.

Jenn:

And then there's a African American child that they see who might have

Jenn:

been associated with the Underground Railroad who also, it makes their

Jenn:

presence known, I guess, in Bin's house.

Jenn:

But one of the cool things they do have there, that is actually something

Jenn:

you can see with your own eyes is at night, there's a silhouette on the

Jenn:

second floor from the rocks that looks like a silhouette of Abraham Lincoln.

Jenn:

mm-hmm.

Scott:

and I actually show it.

Scott:

It's, it's, it's pretty clear in the video.

Scott:

So again, if you wanna go check out the video after you listen to the

Scott:

podcast I'll link it in the show notes.

Scott:

But it's, it's very clear and, and you look at it, you're like,

Jenn:

yes.

Jenn:

So, if you're.

Jenn:

Visiting Gettysburg, I would recommend spend your day Battlefield.

Jenn:

Definitely do a tour and definitely try to get there early if you wanna have

Jenn:

some alone time on the battlefield.

Jenn:

But at night you can do one of these ghost tours.

Jenn:

You can go to Dobbins Tavern for dinner and there'll be more stories to tell.

Jenn:

Like I didn't really get into Jenny Wade house.

Jenn:

They did tell the story about Jenny Wade house being haunted by Jenny Wade

Jenn:

herself, who shot through the back while she's making bread in the house.

Jenn:

Because I said the battle took place right on that main street, that first day.

Jenn:

And you'll learn about Jenny Wade, and she's also buried right

Jenn:

there in the Evergreen Cemetery.

Jenn:

So basically right across the But yeah, I definitely recommend

Jenn:

the Gettysburg Ghost tours.

Jenn:

We did a candlelight tour, I did a cry battle tour, and they were pretty awesome.

Scott:

No, it's super fun and it's fun to talk about these.

Scott:

And thank you for joining us as we explore the history and mystery of the

Scott:

Ghost Tours at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Scott:

We hope you enjoyed learning about the, the haunted history

Scott:

of some of this iconic location.

Scott:

And maybe even adding some of these.

Scott:

Tours to your travel bucket list.

Scott:

So don't, and don't forget to check out our website@talkwithhistory.com.

Scott:

And as always, if you know someone who loves history or is interested in

Scott:

Ghost Tours, share this episode with them and help us grow our community.

Scott:

We'll be back more next week with more fascinating stories from the past.

Scott:

And again, we've got a lot of fun history and episodes coming up,

Scott:

so make sure you hit that follower subscribe button and we'll talk to you

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Talk With History
A Historian and Navy Veteran talk about traveling to historic locations

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About your hosts

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Scott B

Host of the Talk With History podcast, Producer over at Walk with History on YouTube, Editor of HistoryNewsletter.com
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Jennifer B

Former Naval Aviator turned Historian and a loyal Penn Stater. (WE ARE!) I earned my Masters in American History and graduate certificate in Museum Studies, from the University of Memphis.

The Talk with History podcast gives Scott and me a chance to go deeper into the details of our Walk with History YouTube videos and gives you a behind-the-scenes look at our history-inspired adventures.

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