The three day “spectral sympsium” will be held from August 3 – 5th, 2012 at the Eisenhower Conference Center which sits just one mile from Gettysburg National Park, and as usual will be attended by many respected names in the paranormal community such as Christopher Moon, creator of the Haunted Times magazine, who will talk about his work with the spirit phone, and Alexandra Holzer, (daughter of the famous Hans Holzer), to talk about her late fathers work.

The schedule of events (you can see it here) offers a wide range of topics of interest to people seeking in depth knowledge about the business of investigating haunted places. Over the course of the three days guests will be able to participate in over 25 hours of paranormal discussion, and ghost hunting opportunities.

If you come, be sure to bring along any compelling ghost evidence you may have collected from past investigations as this is often the place where many obscure photos or voice recordings are brought to light.

After the battle of Gettysburg the task of cleaning up the battlefield fell mostly to two groups, black farm hands and farmers.. These were the two groups most negatively affected by the confederate army during the invasion.. so karma, poetic justice, or whatever you want to call it was at work. Many diaries and old newspaper articles from the time period talked about the fleecing of the Confederate dead at Gettysburg. This was mostly done by farmers seeking retribution for damages to their property (damages that were inflicted during the battle).. Some Confederate bodies were even held for ransom, so that the soldiers family would be forced to pay damages before his body could be taken home. Furthermore in the interest of stopping the spread of disease many confederates were put on fire along with animals. Those that weren’t burned were stacked together like sardines in shallow gravs that were often uprooted and scavenging by wild hogs. A public outrage over these things eventually was the impetus for the creation of the Soldierns National Cemetery, however it was NOT to include the Confederates who were clearly seen as traitors and criminals.

Even today the battlefield still contain the remains of countless unidentified southerners, which are often still found scattered on or near the surface of the ground. Believe it or not the last civil war soldier found dead at Gettysburg was as recent as 1996, When the century old hand of a Mississippi man was seen protruding from the soil of a railroad embankment northwest of town. Considering the religious and superstitious beliefs of people in the victorian era, is it any wonder that these souls did not find peace in the afterlife??

While there is no way to know what causes strange phenomena like malfunctioning of cameras, strange shadows, orbs, mists or apparitions to appear, one thing is for certain… strange and unexplained phenomena is the rule in Gettysburg and it cannot all be attributed to the wild imaginations of visitors seeking to learn more about their Confederate ancestors.

Such ghost sightings on the battlefield have continued to the current day of course, along with more modern paranormal phenomena such as camera batteries becoming drained and electronic equipment malfunctioning for no apparent reason.

Ghost hunters interested in visiting this spot should park at the observation tower on Doubleday Avenue near Mummasburg Road, and walk down Doubleday to the 88th Pennsylvania Monument, making a right turn into the woods, and continuing until you come upon a secluded clearing. There you will find a small marker where the massacre took place.

The dead there were treated just as bad after the battle. In addition to being robbed of jewelry and gold tooth filllings, many of the Confederate corpses at the Devils Den were dragged from one spot to another and posed in front of the huge bouldrs so that photos could be taken, like the one above. Not surprisngly it seems from the reports of paranormal activity in this area that many of these souls were not able to find peace in the afterlife.

If you should go there you will want to keep a lookout for a ghost known as the hippie. He is often seen walking barefoot threw the area, wearing buckskin and a big floppy hat. (A style of clothing that was at one time common in parts of Texas) The ghost is presumed to have belonged to the first texas infantry which launched repeated attacks on the Devils Den on July 2, although he is often mistaken for a homeless person who lives in the park. Awareness of the ghost came about because some visitors had asked to take photos with him, thinking he was a reeenactor, but his image failed to materialize in the photo. This then prompted them to report the strange encounter to the park service.

Another strange phenoma in the Devils Den is the malfunctioning of cameras and other electronic equipment, which happens there so often it is almost accepted as a natural occurence. Paranormal researchers beleive that ghosts suck the electrical charge out of cameras so that they can use the energy to manifest themselves, but local ghostlore says that the ghosts of the Devils Den intentionally stop pictures from being taken there as a direct result of the ghoulish death photos that were taken of their corspes. What do you think?

Photo taken of the Trostle Farm in 1863

As the field hospitals at Gettysburg began filling up with injured soldiers stories of this “second enemy” began to surface. Men talked about the haunting screams they heard coming from the feild, as helpless victims tried in vain to fight off these feroscious beasts with their bayonetts.  Worse yet they knew hogs instinctively rooted their food out of the ground, so no soldier was safe, even in his grave. While over 145 years has passed many people walking near the Trostle farm at night claim that they are  still able to hear the ghostly screams of these men.

I have found there are three basic criteria you should look for when choosing a ghost tour in Gettysburg. For starters, always ask weather the tour company pays their guides. Beleive it or not some don’t. And on top of the regular fee which the tour company keeps all for themselves the guide will ask for a tip afterward. This in itself might not bother you all that much but chances are good if the guide is forced to beg for tip money he or she will feel resentful and be less motivated to give a good presentation. These types of jobs are also more likley to be filled by college students, not retired park rangers, historians or the like.

The other thing to take into consideration is the environment threw which the tour will take you. It is best to avoid ghost tours on streets with lots of noisy traffic, unless you go late at night of course. There are plenty of negative reviews of ghost tours that walk along Baltimore street where people complain that they can’t hear the guide (because of the traffic). If you do want to take a tour of Baltimore Street, go well after dark when traffic is at a minimum and make sure the guide will take you INSIDE the haunted buildings, not just stop in font of them.

I’ve been on all of the Ghosts of Gettysburg tours and I really liked the Seminary Tour. (This one includes a visit to an old barn where a rebel soldier was accidentally buried alive in a heap of dead bodies.) and the Carlisle Street Tour which includes the Gettysburg College campus.

I also enjoyed the ghostly images tour of the haunted soldiers orphanage, and the Farnsworth House Mourning Theatre. While the mourning theatre is not exactly a ghost tour it is quite interesting with all kinds of information about the funeral customs and superstitions of the Victorian era.

One thing I especially liked about the ghostly images tour of the Soldiers Orphanage is that at the end they shut out the lights in the cellar for a few minutes so that everyone can try to collect some e.v.p’s. This is great fun (and really scary) So if you go be sure to bring an audio recorder!

Sachs bridge is a good place to hunt for ghosts because it is off the beaten path and there are no tours that stop there. It also has a really ghastly history. The bridge was used as a feild hospital by the rebels as they retreated from Gettysburg. They also used it’s rafters to hang three of their own soldiers who they beleived were northern spies.

During the battle Burns took three bullets and was nearly captured by rebel soldiers, but he survived. Then some years after the battle while walking in the woods where he had fought, near McPhersons farm, Burns claimed to have met with the ghost of a menacing looking rebel soldier. By his own admission he was terrified by the paranormal encounter. Burns, who was brave enough to stand and face death on the battlefield, turned back and swiftly walked out of the woods, promising never to return to that part of the battlefield ever again.

The article explained, A Union soldier was found in a secluded spot on the battle- field, where, wounded, he had laid himself down to die. In his hands, tighly clasped, was an ambrotype containing the portraits of his three small children… and as he silently gazed upon them his soul died. How touching! How solemn!… It is earnestly desired that all papers in the country will draw attention to the discovery of this picture and its attendant circumstance so that, if possible, the family of the dead hero may come into possession of it. Of what inestimable value will it be to these poor children, proving, as it does, that the last thought of their dying father was for them, and them only.

Soon the mans wife, Phelinda Humiston, saw the photo and came forward. The story generated such an outpouring of sympathy for her family that the proceeds allowed her to open an orphanage for the children of soldiers here in Gettysburg.

As a teacher and a caretaker, Phelinda helped to raise over sixty children from eleven different states, but eventually, though she loved her work, circumstances forced her to move away from the orphanage and leave the children in the care of a younger woman named Rosa Carmichaels. This was a big mistake, although there was no way Phelinda could have known it at the time. But Rosa was a merciless sadist who beat the children and tortured them, tying them up in the basement for days and even killing some of them.

The crimes were discovered after a runaway was caught and told of her experiences at the orphanage, which included being beaten by teenage boys who Rosa armed with sticks, and being tied to a fence in the hot sun until she suffered serious burns. Everything the little girl said was later found to be true as the house was investigated and found to be full of torture devices. The basement had even been converted into a dundgeon where children were shackled to the walls and left to die.

Soon the orphanage was closed and the building was left vacant until 1950 when it became a Civil War museum as well as a popular destination for after hours ghost tours. Today the shackles can still be seen in the basement and many of the other artifacts are on display from that time period. Not surprisingly visitors often claim to hear children crying or feel invisible hands tugging on their clothes. Many e.v.ps (elctronic voice phenomena) have been collected there as well.

Mrs. Shriver and her two young daughters, Sadie and Mollie, and their teenage neighbor, Tillie Pierce, witnessed the entire battle from Mrs. Shriver’s parents farm next to Little Round Top. Ironically, they had gone there to escape the fighting in town, thinking it would be safer, and having no idea they were about to be caught in the crossfire of some of the worst fighting yet!

For many days the battle literally raged around their heads, and they had to scream to hear each other over the noise of cannons and musket fire. The group spent most of their time trying to help the wounded as best they could, baking bread for them and cleaning their wounds.

Upon returning home afterwards Mrs. Shriver and the three girls found a totally different town than the one they had left. Broken fences, destroyed crops, and the dead and wounded lay everywhere. The Shrivers’ home had been damaged too. In their absence a Confederate snipers nest had been set up in their attic and holes were knocked into the home’s back wall so that the rebels could shoot Union soldiers on Cemetery Hill.

The Shriver House is open to the public every day from April threw Remembrance Day and on weekends in December and March. Visitors can tour all four levels of the home, from the attic where the two Confederate snipers died (and still occassionally make their presence felt), to the homes basement where George Shriver (who ultimately died in Andersonville Prison) once operated a saloon.