Wednesday night the other members of the Granite Hill Campground staff and I went on a Ghost Tour. It started out at the parking lot across the street from the National Soldiers Museum at 777 Baltimore Street in Gettysburg. Gettysburg is called the most haunted city in the United States, because so many people lost their lives here during the Battle of Gettysburg. The tour we took focused on two places, The Gettysburg Orphanage and the Jenny Wade House. The photo above is of Bob, our tour guide.
Back in the days of the civil war, if your father died, you became an orphan. The story goes that Amos Humiston, a Union soldier from upstate New York, died of his wounds on York Street, clutching a photograph of his three children. Because he had no identification on his body, and his unit had already moved on before he died, no one knew his name. A reporter for a Philadelphia newpaper latched onto this story and turned it into a public interest story. He published the account, which was passed on to many newspapers, until it reached Humiston’s wife. She came forward to claim the photograph. The reporter then started a campaign to open an orphanage in Gettysburg to care for the children left behind by the many soldiers killed in the war. Shown above is a photo of Amos Humiston’s three children.
Philinda Humiston was named the first Matron of the orphanage, and moved with her children to Gettysburg. She was kind and took good care of the children who lived there. When she remarried, she left Gettysburg.
The new Matron, Rosa Carmichael, was an evil woman.There is evidence that Rosa shackled children with chains to the walls of the cellar. She would also chain them to a rail fence in the hot sun, leaving them all day long to suffer sunburns, with no food or water. Children were locked in outhouses and sheds on the property in the winter, forced to stay out all night in the freezing cold. The two pictures above and below show chains used to shackle the children in the dark, damp cellar of the orphanage.
Many people have claimed to have seen the ghosts of children in the cellar and yards of the orphanage house. Others have felt something tug at their hair or at their clothing while they were walking through the cellar. There are many photographs showing orbs, ectoplasma, or ghostly outlines of children that were taken at this location. Although I did not see any ghosts while there, I did feel the sadness of the place. The chains and shackles are still there.
A short walk down the street brought us to the Jenny Wade House. Jenny was a twenty year old woman, who was the only civilian casualty of the Battle of Gettysburg. She was staying with her sister, helping out because her sister had just had a baby. Jenny was in the kitchen of her sister’s house, making biscuits, when a stray bullet went the wall of the house and struck her in the back. She was found dead in the kitchen.
Because of the battle raging around them, the family laid Jenny’s body out on a slab in the cellar of the house for two days. There are many stories of Jenny’s ghost haunting this house. There was also a story told about her father, who was getting forgetful, and did not believe his daughter was dead. He would often walk into the cellar looking for her, thinking Jenny was just hiding from him. Years later, people say he still comes into the cellar looking for her.
There are also spirits of children from the orphanage across the street, who come to play in the house, because the occupants of the house during the time they were alive, were kind to them and often allowed them to come in and play there. Photographs on the walls in the Jenny Wade house show the ghostly images of children in the background and in mirrors in the house.
These last two photos were taken at the Jenny Wade House. The first one is of a depiction of Jenny’s body laid out in the cellar. The second one is part of a painting showing Jenny’s sister and other family members at her wake, while they waited for the battle to cease so they could bury her body.
I don’t know if these ghosts exist or not. I know I didn’t see any on this tour. If you are ever in Gettysburg, take the tour and decide for yourself.
Anonymous says
i was in the wade house at 12am on the dot.. we turned the lights out and sat in the cellar for 3 minutes.. i didnt hear, see, or feel anything anywhere in the house
Anonymous says
Just got back from visiting Gettysburg and took the tour with my three boys. While in the cellar of the orphanage, someone took a picture of her daughter who was sitting beside my teenage son. The picture clearly showed what looked like a face between them, yet there was no one there. Bob was pretty amazed at the picture and said he would post it with some other “interesting” ones. Ick. Hated the tour. Skip it.
Chris says
My husband and I were on the orphanage tour on Sat, March 29, 2008. (same tour guide pictured above). Not only did I take several pictures of orbs, so did several other people in the group. I took a picture of an orb by the chain in the cellar (that you described above). I also took one of an orb outside near a building (and there was no full moon or light in sight). Another man got a picture of a huge orb outside that same building. In the cellar, when they turn the lights off, I was next to a man that had a night vision video camera and he was filming (as I was watching it live), a ton of orbs flying around by the dungeon in the cellar where the orphans were kept. I wouldn’t be surprised if you see this video on some tv program. It was a very fascinating night and the spirits were definately out !! Very exciting. Recommend.
Amelia says
I took both tours and experienced stuff on both. in the jenny wade house when i had long hair i got my hair tugged on when no one was around. in the orphange after i cut my hair i had my neck blown on twice, both times when no one was behind me. my family and i both get eerie feelings on the back side (parlour) of the jenny wade house. and in the national soldier’s museum where the orphanage was, my mom and i both had a paranormal experience.
Amelia says
I love both the Jennie Wade House and the Orphanage, both places I’ve had experiences at. The Jennie Wade house I’ve had my hair tugged on but that’s about it there, u do however get very creepy vibes on the other side of the house where the parlour room is. At the orphanage I’ve gotten my neck blown on twice during the tour, once in back near the crawl space (no one was behind me)and the second time was in the main section where u sit (once again no one was behind me). also in the museum section of the orphanage (the soldiers national museum) my mom and i both got like anxiety attacks in the same place. i mentioned it to my ma and she’s like i wasn’t gonna tell u but i felt the same thing. i think to experience something from my experience, you hafta open up ALL of ur senses and plus not be like “oh am i gonna see something, i hope i see something”, that last part’s hard for me lol.
Anonymous says
I went on the orphanage tour and it was one of the most interesting things i experienced in Gettysburg. i took a sound recording on my phone and later when i listened to it (after leaving the tour) i hear a very near by whisper that said “get out”. I believe that if a place is haunted…it’s going to be that orphanage. for sure make this tour something you do while visting Gettysburg.
Anonymous says
My two daughters and I were in Gettysburg in April, 2008. We took both the Jennie Wade House tour and Orphanage tour. My daughte got some VERY clear EVPs on the voice recorder on her camera. As she sat near the opening to the dungeon when Bob, our tour guide turned off the lights, she got two vey distinctive recordings. One said in a girl’s voice, “Don’tcha go in that corner” and the other one said “We’re here! We’re here! just let us know”.
After we uploaded the pics we took in the cellar of the orphanage, we also could see an orb with a very sad looking facial expression on it right near my head. I have often wondered if that is why I was so overcome with sadness that I actually shed some tears during the lights out part. Very interesting experience. Highly recommend if you are into this sort of thing.
Anonymous says
I took a picture of that shackled thing on the wall and below it in the picture was a pink orb!
Patty says
We took this tour last week and the chain in the cellar kept swinging. Although I did not get any photos of anything interesting several people in my group did, and one lady got very upset when she heard a little child say Help Me. Jennie Wade house was fantastic, I had a private tour and caputured a “ghost” in one of the mirrors sitting on a bed.
Patty says
I know you posted this a couple of years ago, but I just read it. I have almost this exact post on my blog. We took a tour with BOB. I love the orpahange and the Jenny Wade house is probably my favorite place in Gettysburg. (Have you seen the photo on my blog that I took of the ghost on the bed?
Anonymous says
me and my 8th grade class went to philly on our class trip. we went to the orphanage and the jenny wade house. also, rosa would lock the children in a dark damp room in the basement. we got to go in the room. u have to go down a narrow "hallway" and then crawl through a hole in the wall to get into the room. its pitch black, u cant see anything. when we were in the main part of the basement, the chains on the walls moved, the pictures moved and the safety chain would moved all by it self. in the jenny wade house, there were cold spots, orbs. the tour guide used the rods and they pointed right behind me, and when i turned i was instantly cold, i could feel jenny there. ppl may say this stuff is fake, ppl make it up. but its all real.