Gettysburg, PA

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If you are looking for a weekend filled with a variety of scary fun, Scuttles and Sciffy heartily recommend the Farnsworth House.

It did not start off promisingly, however. The day we left, we got a later start than we intended, and the forecast snowstorm turned out to be a bigger problem than anticipated. The 2.5 hour drive turned into a six and a half hour ordeal. We finally arrived at the Farnsworth House around 9:15 in the evening. We missed the signage pointing us to the tavern, and instead, stumbled around the building in the wrong direction, trying darkened doors and scaring ourselves silly with an encounter with a wooden, carved Union Solider standing in a darkened patio

Eventually we made our way to the Tavern, where the attractive barmaid had our key waiting. We were somewhat put off by the refusal of a cup of coffee, since we were rather cold and weary from the drive, but she said the tavern was about to closing early due to a lack of customers. I declined to point out that we were customers...

In any case, we made the best of it and proceeded to locate our room. I had booked a Haunted room, and the Jennie Wade room was recommended to me as one of the more "active" rooms. (I later found that the "Sara Black" room was the most active, but it was booked already.) Sciffy and I unpacked a bit and admired the decor. It was heavily Victorian, complete with a velveteen rabbit sitting on the settee, an ornate iron bed, and a magnificent claw-foot tub. Here is the description from their site:

JENNIE WADE: Haunted room, located in the Old House. Named for the only civilian killed in the Battle of Gettysburg. Pink and white floral wallpaper, Queen-sized iron bed, and Victorian love seat, Eastlake marble top table and antique lamp, Air conditioned. Private bathroom, antique clawfoot tub/ shower combination, and Tiled Floor.

Sciffy and I are pretty skeptical when it comes to ghost hunting, and when a place actually promotes itself as a Haunted Inn, we are very careful to take everything with a grain of salt more than usual. However, it did not take long for us to experience our first unexplained event.

As soon as I unpacked the video camera, I powered up and focused on the large, somewhat unnerving black and white photo portrait of a woman on the wall of the room. I never got a confirmation, but the assumption is that this portrait is of Jennie Wade. (I intend to get that confirmed later.) However, as soon as I panned to her image, the video camera got streaks in the image, the battery light came on, and it promptly died. A dead battery is not odd, but what is odd is that it happened so suddenly and without warning to a battery that was at full charge before we set out on this trip.

Somewhat bemused, because I had heard that some people have problems with video equipment in haunted areas, I slipped in the second, fully charged reserve battery and resumed my filming. However, three seconds later, the exact same thing happened. As soon as I filmed that image, the image got streaky, the battery light came on and it died. Sciffy and I decided that we really did need a drink, so I set up the battery charger and we left the room in search of a tavern not intimidated by the weather.

We ended up at a small, local joint filled with colorful characters, with the most friendly being Tim, the bartender. We sensed that these were not the sort of folks who cared to discuss ghost hunting much, so we played the tourist, enjoyed our drinks and chatted amiably for an hour or so before making our way back to the Farnsworth.

Once back in the room, I reloaded the battery, powered up and tried for a third time to film the room and it's namesake. This time there was no problem. Sciffy and I were open to experiencing any odd events, but for the most part we were disappointed. We did have a moment of excitement when I noticed a strong floral odor in a specific part of the room. The smell of lilacs or roses is often reported during a ghostly encounter. However, further investigation revealed that the source of the scent was a Glade plug-in air freshener. Oh well...

We climbed into bed and I read Sciffy ghost stories from one of our many books, in order to heighten the experience. When I eventually turned out the light just before midnight, I kept the video camera and film camera at hand... just in case. As we lay there in the dark, listening to the slow chiming of the large grandfather clock in the hall, we felt that there was almost an unnatural stillness about the place, rather than activity. It almost felt as it the walls were lined with soundproofing and our ears were stuffed with cotton. Even the radiator was silent. We heard no noises from any other guests, and indeed we were not even sure if there were any other guests, having seen no one when we checked in.

I eventually drifted off after 1am, having found the silence too conducive to sleep, and we both slept fitfully through the night. We had both programmed ourselves to sleep lightly, in order not to miss anything. However, only Sciffy seemed to have any fun at all... She had a wonderfully realistic dream, that was so convincing that when she woke, she thought it had really happened.

Sciffy dreamed that as she laid down, rolling over to face the wall with the radiator, she heard voices. At first, just a few, then it grew until there was a whole crowd of murmuring voices coming from the direction of the radiator. She said that she roused me and I heard them too. Then a cold, damp hand stroked her face, chilling her to the bone, and there was movement in the room. She said this was beginning to become overwhelming and began to regret that she had wished to experience a ghostly encounter. Just then there was another sound in the hallway and we both got up to investigate. Finding nothing amiss, we returned to the room, only to find that the "ghosts" had made the bed in few minutes of our absence. At this point, Sciffy woke herself with laughter, and it took a few moments for her to realize that I was asleep and that what she just experienced was a very, very realistic dream.

Guests in the Haunted Rooms at the Farnsworth have reported a variety of paranormal activity, including the sounds of footsteps in the halls when no one was there, the impression of someone sitting or lying on a bed, the feeling of someone laying down next to you on a bed, whispered voices, a crying child, an blood on the 2nd floor bathroom walls. Although I awoke several times in the night to film segments in the hopes of capturing some EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena), we did not have any other ghostly experiences in that room. (Upon reviewing the video tape later, we found three possible EVP sounds, but nothing conclusive. I will pass the tape onto the EVP experts Al Rauber and Garrett Husveth for further analysis.)

The next day after a somewhat disappointing breakfast (unremarkable pancakes and bacon), we relocated to one of the most beautiful rooms at the Farnsworth, which made up for the tavern experience and the rather pedestrian morning meal. The room is called the Lincoln Room, and although it is not haunted, it is by far one of my favorite places. Here is the description from their site:

LINCOLN: New room, located off the Garden. Named for the 16th President of the United States. Adults only! Dark Victorian Cabbage Rose Wallpaper, Black Marbled Fireplace, Four-poster, queen-sized bed, Antique Prism Chandelier, Wardrobe, original newspapers of Lincoln Funeral Procession, Reproduction of the rocking chair in which Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre, Skylight, and Cable TV. Private bathroom, large Black & White tile, mirrored 2-person Jacuzzi, high tank, pull-chain toilet, with separate shower.

As you can see, this is quite a nice place to stay. We rested up from our previous evenings ordeal by relaxing in the Jacuzzi and anticipating this evening Dinner Theater, which was to include a trip to the basement to experience the Mourning Theater.

Our dinner selection included a tasty Civil War dish called Game Pie, which we were told included pheasant, duck and turkey. They elected to leave out the muskrat, squirrel and possum that would have made it truly authentic. While we dined we were treated to in-your-face magic tricks performed by Professor Kerrigan, Civil War Magician. Sciffy ended up being one of his "victims" and we all ended up being quite impressed with his sleight-of-hand and card tricks. He even pulled a rabbit out of his hat.

After dinner, the "Grave Digger" led us outside and around to the basement entrance to the Mourning Theater. Once inside its gloomy and macabre confines, we were treated to a series of spooky tales about the house and the surrounding area. After that, Professor Kerrigan again returned, this time in the guise of a Victorian Spiritualist. He first described, then performed a typical "seance" of the era. It is at this point that sometimes extra events occur... events not orchestrated by the good Professor or one of his minions.

Twice, while sitting and listening to the Professor speak, the empty chair two steps away from me moved, with an audible scrape on the floor. The fellow in front of me heard it too and we both sat gazing at the frisky seat, waiting to see if it happened again. After we returned our attention to the Professor, the chair again moved. I have to admit that I was a bit spooked. I have quite an extensive background in special effects, and I could not find any way for that chair to be manipulated remotely, even after examining it closely after the show. Later, over a couple of beers, the Professor and I swapped special effect secrets and he confessed that he often witnesses odd events occurring during his performance. Moving chairs are actually quite common, according to Professor Kerrigan. There have also been apparitions, sounds, voices and cold winds from nowhere. By comparison, we had a tame night.

After chatting with the good Professor for a while, Sciffy and I retired to our room for the night. It was too cold for a candlelight ghost tour, or we would have gone. But we did attend another a couple years ago and enjoyed it quite a bit. As I recall, they did manage to throw in a few real chills.

The next morning we elected to skip the 8am call for breakfast and chose instead to sleep in and then go into town for a more interesting morning fare. Afterwards, we decided to drive around the Battlefield a bit. Neither of us is what you would call a "Civil War Buff", so it was with some surprise that we both suggested we get one of the tour tapes they sell and follow the Auto Tour route and listen to it. It turned out to be surprisingly enlightening. The horror and tragedy of it all was made quite real by being led around and told about the events as they unfolded.

The highlight was a visit to Devil's Den, a forbidding valley of boulders where thousands of soldiers died. Many people assume the name Devil's Den comes from the gruesome battle that took place there, but actually, this piece of ground was named long before the Civil War occurred. It looks the part, and if you come back in the dark, just as dusk falls, you can't help but feel a presence there... a presence that perhaps delighted in the slaughter.

Near the end of our tour, Sciffy and I were treated to the dubious spectacle of a father and his two gawky teenage sons, all dressed in Union solider garb, discussing the finer points of the battle and being very insulting towards the memorials of the Confederate dead. The father was literally bursting out of his uniform, and his pants would not button as a result. The two sons were an easier fit to their uniforms, but it was their discussion more than their appearance that disturbed me. This trio seemed to revel in recalling the butchery that took place, and they displayed a sensitivity equal to that of Beavis and Butthead with regard to the sacrifices made on both sides. I do not clam to have a clear understanding of the fascination that most recreationists have for dressing up and reliving battles, but I am hopeful that the three we encountered were not representative of them as a whole. If they are, then that is truly scary.

All in all, it was a fine, spooky weekend, and if you are in the area, I recommend the Farnsworth House B&B and their various spooky entertainment options.

Visit their site at http://www.farnsworthhousedining.com/index.html. Tell'em Scuttles at ScaryPlace.com sent ya!