Ep. 41: Gettysburg Ghosts (w/ Paul Ferrante)

FARNSWORTH HOUSE

The Farnsworth House was built around 1810, on land originally owned by Reverend Alexander Dobbins, then sold to John F. McFarlane, who owned the land until his death in 1851. At this point, the Bank of Gettysburg took ownership of the home, changing hands several times until being sold in 1972 to the Schultz family, today existing as a restaurant and inn. Because of its location, it’s also supposed to be incredibly haunted. You can even see bullet holes on the side of the building from the battle itself, still there today as a testament to the carnage that occurred in July 1863.

During the Battle of Gettysburg, Farnsworth House was taken over by Confederate forces to use the home as a makeshift hospital and headquarters. During the 3rd day of the battle, Union soldiers overtook the Farnsworth House and killed many of the Confederate snipers posted within. The Schultz family, who still owns the property, claims that 16 or more spirits are still stuck to the home, including a young boy, several soldiers, and a midwife. 

The soldiers make sense. Many Confederates died within the house, either in the hospital section or during the storming of the Union soldiers. Apparently the spirits of these dead soldiers still roam the house, seemingly stuck in a sort of loop from what they had been doing back during the battle. Perhaps this is residual energy, or some sort of time slip, like what we explored during episode 12. 

Usually attributed to the ghostly midwife, guests sometimes will report being tucked into bed one under the covers by a presence that isn’t visibly there. There are also many photographs that have been captured of an entity in a window within the “Sara Black Room”. This room is considered to be the most haunted in the building. 

Over the years guests and employees have reported things like the sound of heavy, disembodied breathing; the strong scent of cigars; the sound of a “Jew’s Harp” being played in the empty attic throughout the night - possibly being played by the ghost of a young soldier; disembodied footsteps up and down the halls; and the sensation of being followed around while working...but when they turn around, no one is there.

Apparitions have been seen all over, including in rooms, where some will sit on the edge of a guest’s bed, even indenting the sheets with their spectral weight. One apparition is of an older woman dressed in 19th century clothing and seen roaming between the halls, tavern, and kitchen, looking at the shelves and maybe even pondering what she’d like to serve that evening. She even frequents the restaurant area, where she sometimes acts rudely to the wait staff, like grabbing the apron strings of one of the employees so hard she almost fell backwards. Perhaps this particular entity doesn’t like other people cooking and serving food that wasn’t made by them…

GETTYSBURG COLLEGE

Gettysburg College, which was founded in 1832, constantly shows up on lists of the most haunted universities in the world, and it’s obvious why. Campus Explorer, a college planning and search guide, rated Gettysburg as the 3rd most haunted college in America. 

Brua Hall was originally constructed as the College Chapel, which gives it its bell tower, turrets, and a high wooden interior ceiling with all the flying buttresses you could ever want. Eventually it was transformed into the college theater, the Kline, with an additional smaller theater, Stevens. Below the Kline stage is an area called the Catacombs, which isn’t creepy whatsoever. The most famous ghost at Brua Hall is of “The General” - or, at least, that’s what he’s called. This spirit is so well known that his legend was confirmed by a friend of mine, who attended Gettysburg several years ago and was a part of the theater department. 

The General, an elderly gentleman wearing the uniform of a general officer of the Civil War, is often seen seated amongst the audience during rehearsals and performances, and apparently even has preferences for particular young actresses, making it a point to show up for all of their performances. 

Of course, Gettysburg College has its own Woman in White. The original story goes that this woman committed suicide over a broken lover’s pact, or perhaps her lover was killed in the Battle of Gettysburg, and thrown herself off the top of Gettysburg College. The Woman has apparently been seen floating above the ground near the Pennsylvania Monument - especially by fraternities conducting midnight initiation rituals. 

The last major story at the college is of the Blue Boy, who is said to haunt Stevens Hall. The legend here is that this used to be a girls’ school named Pennsylvania College Prep School, and one winter night in a dormitory at the prep, a young boy fled from his abusive home to find kind students willing to give him some shelter. When the Head Mistress of the school knocked on the door to talk to the girls, they hid him outside their window, as they were absolutely not allowed to have any males in their rooms. An hour went by before the girls were able to bring him back inside...but he was gone. They may or may not have found footprints in the snow below, but either way, the girls never saw the boy again. But apparently nowadays, young women studying at Gettysburg College see the spirit of a blue-faced boy outside of the windows of Stevens Hall. Sometimes, it seems, the words “Help Me” are even written backwards on frosted windowpanes in the winter. This ghost is now called the Blue Boy. 

NEWS

We’re back to Weird Science...with an update on a story from 2 weeks ago?

Remember Gosiame Thamara Sithole, who was supposed to have given birth to decuplets - or 10 babies in one go - in South Africa this month? Well apparently, there may be a decuplet conspiracy. 

Though the father, Teboho Tsotetsi, told reporters his wife had given birth to 10 children, he just days ago released a public statement urging donations to the family be halted until evidence of the babies’ existence is produced. Apparently, he hasn’t seen Sithole or the babies since the birth as he supposedly wasn’t allowed to see the birth due to COVID regulations, and has told police he is concerned about Sithole’s whereabouts. 

“I appreciate the financial support that we have been getting from members of the public, but I also would like to appeal to the public to stop making money deposits into our accounts until members of the community have seen the babies.” Currently, Tsotetsi is at his mother’s home with their twins, waiting to see his supposed 10 new children. Sithole apparently told her husband that she was in the care of a private hospital operated by the company Mediclinic, but Chief Clinical Officer of Mediclinic Souther Africal Dr. Gerrit de Villiers told Snopes in a statement that “We can confirm that none of our facilities were involved in the obstetric care of this patient or her decuplets.”

Something’s rotten in the state of South Africa...and we’ll be following the ongoing Snopes research to get to the bottom of this ten tot tale!

END

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