Old Orphanage Investigation

This building was constructed in 1869 as a dormitory for “The National Homestead at Gettysburg.” A school for orphans was created by Dr. John F. Bourns on November 20, 1866 and ran until its closure in December of 1877. Among its first students were Alice, Frank and Frederick Humiston, the children of Sgt. Amos Humiston of the 154^th New York volunteers who was killed in fighting on the first day of the battle. The sergeant’s body was unknown when the body was discovered with a photograph of his children clutched in his hands. The wide distribution of this photo led to Humiston’s identification by his widow Philinda, and a national outpouring of sympathy and donations for the “Children of the Battlefield.” She became the first matron who took care of the kids with compassion. She managed this location for the first three years but then married and moved away. Some 200 students attended before the school closed.

In 1869, Rosa J. Carmichael took over the building. She apparently hated the children so much that she beat and starved them. Some children were shackled to the basement walls where, even today, those chains and shackles are still visible. A small room called The Pit measured 12’ long, 4’ high and 4’wide and was used as a solitary confinement, allegedly for unruly children.

The orphans used to place flowers on the soldier’s grave until one year when the townsfolks came to the Homestead but instead of the orphans leading the way to the cemetery, the townsfolk’s children’s did that. That apparently was the last straw as some children were locked away in an outhouse.

Carmichael was eventually arrested on June 11, 1876 for cruelty to orphans and held on $300. Indicted on three counts of aggravated assault, she was only found guilty on one and fined $20 and court costs and told to leave Gettysburg where she was never heard from again.

Eventually the place was turned into the Soldier’s National Museum. Cliff Arquette (Charlie Weaver) bought the building in 1957.

On July 1, 1993, a memorial to the Humiston’s was dedicated on the grounds of the Gettysburg Fire Department on North Stratton Street.

Address: 777 Baltimore St, Gettysburg, PA 17325

Phone: 717-334-1156

Website: www.gettysburgbattlefieldtours.com

Hauntings: Rosa has been encountered mostly in the basement where she spent most of her time. Clanging of chains have been heard, a ghost of a small boy who seems to appear from the shadows of the basement’s corners – only to vanish! Strange mists appear to linger in the basement from time to time and many psychic photographs have been taken here.

The GRS investigated the Old Orphanage in Gettysburg on August 8, 2020 and the team included: Mike Rosario, Barbara Meagher, Charles Williams and Dale Kaczmarek with help from Jason Snider, Jason Dickerson, Courtney Mendenhall, Allyson Turner and Amanda Johnson from Crawford County Illinois Ghost Hunter’s Society and Dean Thompson, Melissa Johnson, Tim Schmuldt and Amanda Pilgreen from Ghost Head Soup and author Sylvia Shults.

Equipment set up: Several Nightshot and full spectrum cameras and camcorders were deployed in the Basement and upstairs Dining Room after the lights had been extinguished. Laser grids and a REM Epod were used as were Melmeters and the Tri-Field Natural EM Meter.

Experiments performed: EVP, Phasma Box, Sangean Ghost Box, Echovox and ParaTek sessions were conducted in the Basement and the upstairs Dining Room. Our team was only allowed one hour in the building so we split the hour up between the Basement and the Dining Room. We tried a bit of quiet time in the Basement to see if we could hear and record any disembodied noises or voices. There were none.

Personal experiences:

Barb Meagher: Both the Jennie Wade house and the Orphanage down the street were toured and investigated. Several EVP sessions were conducted but no EVPs were heard on review of the recordings.

Several photos were taken of the site including FLIR photos, but nothing paranormal was caught.

Mike Rosario: Right across the ways from Jennie Wade’s House was the Old Children’s Orphanage, allegedly haunted by the spirits of children who were held and imprisoned in the building’s basement area by a malicious female headmistress. I believe we started our initial investigation around 2:05am, August 8^th, 2020. As one whole group (GRS and CCIGHS), we were given a wonderful tour by one of the guides who addressed to all of us the history and the paranormal happenings inside the old orphanage. We all began investigating the first floor. There were Ghost Box and Phasma Box sessions on this floor. From there, we moved to the basement where the torturing of the children took place. There were also Ghost Box and Phasma Box sessions as well. Other equipment used: my K-II Meter, a Sony Night Shot Handy-Cam DCR-TRV13 NTSC 560 Digital-8 20X Optical Zoom Video Camcorder, an Amzdeal Tri-pod, a Green Laser Grid (nighttime investigating), a Philips Voice Recorder, iPhone8 Cellular Phone (for pictures and video), and a Police Security Elite Blackout 615 Lumen Hands-free Heavy-Duty Head Strap Flashlight. Our investigation wrapped up around 3:30am. After reviewing the video footage and audio, I found no visual evidence, but did find an abundance of audio evidence at the house through the course of the investigation.

This evidence was collected during a Phasma Box session:

The Old Haunted Children’s Orphanage (Gettysburg):

~ “How do?” (Female voice).

~ “From Sweden.” (Female voice).

~ “Aus zu Kennen.” (Young female voice). (Aus zu kennen: German for “To know from.”) (Personally, at the time, I thought it said something in Swedish confirming that the entity knew how to speak Swedish, but a closer review with my headphones on, it does sound a bit like the German language, or at least some Germanic language).

~ “You Learning How?” (Same young female voice). (Probably asking me if I was trying to learn the language or so).

~ “There’s A Machine Here.” (Again, the same young female voice).

~ “Abraham.” (When asked who is the current POTUS).

Conclusion/Overall: These were truly extraordinary places to visit, and I am so glad I had the opportunity to take this trip across the country to see these pieces of history that are part of our great nation. If we had another opportunity to take another trip to Pennsylvania, I would do it again in a heartbeat. Since these paranormal findings are tentative at the moment, it definitely does warrant another trip to investigate them further. There are so many [haunted] places to visit in this state, as it is truly a one-of-a-kind gem of not only haunted activity, but the beauty and majesty of the land itself that is absolutely breathtaking.

Sylvia Shults: This is a small building in Gettysburg in which orphans of fallen soldiers were cared for. I spent most of my time there in the "Pit". Having battled a fear of the dark since childhood, I always try to put myself in situations that other people might find intolerably terrifying, for my podcast. (I like to tell people, I sit in dark spooky places so you don't have to.) And having had more than my share of difficult times as a kid, I wanted to try to communicate my empathy with any young spirits trapped down there.

Dean Thompson (Ghost Head Soup): Having just come from Pennhurst Asylum, our Ovilus III was spitting out some interesting words, what surprised me most was that every word had a high energy bar, a black bar underneath the word that represents a change in energy. I mention this because the energy bar was still at 100% later in the evening as we headed over to the Old Children’s Orphanage in Gettysburg.

While most of the group were investigating the basement (the pit area), I made my way into the dining room. I proceeded to use the Ovilus III, when Melissa (GHS) & Amanda (Crawford County Illinois Ghost Hunter’s Society) joined me. I asked the spirits in the room if they could tell me what they had been caught taken to receive a severe punishment. The Ovilus III stated “Leaven” (see picture) which would relate to bread, and that was what the boy was said to have “stolen.”

The Ovilus III energy bar finally started to react “normally” but seemed to focus on two of the ladies who were there with us. I had asked the spirits to tap either Amanda or Tim (GHS) on the shoulder, which as you now know there were two Amanda’s there that night. The Ovilus III provided me with Alley, which is the name of Ally from Crawford Co. Ghost Hunters. It also gave me Indian, which Melissa had reacted too. The Amanda who was with us in the dining room was wearing an Indiana t-shirt (see pictures). When Tim & Amanda returned they were not tapped on their shoulders, however Amanda felt something on her hand.

Here is a list of words from the short Ovilus session: Syllables, Leaven, Puncture, Crescent, Sub, Blog, Medicine, Take, Sam, Person, Bath, Alley, Indian, Mitten, Decimal, Almost, Last, Between, Self, Verb, Six, Projection, Kept, Feet, React, Century, Direct, How, Killed, Information.

It was a short tour, including a limited session – you really couldn’t gauge what your equipment could do. I was also dealing with respiratory issues so I was keeping away from the rest of the group, wheezing make for excellent voice captures. Also, I did not investigate the Pit or stay in the basement for similar reasons.

Charles Williams:

Dale Kaczmarek: The Phasma Box was fairly quiet but we did receive some interesting responses and words from the Ghost Box and the ParaTek app.

Besides having to wear our masks due to being indoors and in close proximity to one another, I did not feel, hear or see anything out of the ordinary. You would think because of the atrocities perpetrated on the children that there would be some residual energy around. At least during this visit, there was none.

Evidence collected:

Getty orphanage.MP4 – while conducting an Echovox session in the Basement, a question was asked, “What town are we in?” The device replies with, “Getty…”

Hi orphanage.MP4 – while our guide was talking in the Basement, a faint voice was picked up in the background that sounds like it says, “Hi.”

How do orphanage.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Basement, the device blurted out, “How do.”

I’m afraid orphanage.MP4 – while conducting a Sangean Ghost Box session in the Dining Room, the device said, “I’m afraid.”

Investigate orphanage.MP4 – while conducting a Sangean Ghost Box session in the Dining Room, the device said, “Investigate.”

Little boy orphanage.MP4 – while conducting a Sangean Ghost Box session in the Dining Room, a question was asked, "Are you a girl or boy?" The device said, “Little boy”

Moan orphanage.MP4 – while conducting a Sangean Ghost Box session in the Dining Room, a question was asked, “Why are you still here?” A moaning sound was picked up after the question as asked.

Oh yeah orphanage.MP4 – while moving from floor to floor, a strange voice was picked up in the background that sounds like it says, “Oh yeah.”

There’s a machine orphanage.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session, the device said, “There’s a machine.”

Two knocks orphanage.MP4 – while conducting a quiet time session in the Basement, two muffled knocks were recorded.

Words spoken by the Sangean Ghost Box; Dining Room – stop the pain??, and Edward.

Words spoken by the ParaTek app: Dining Room – piece, pattern, wench, sale, Edward, before, region, magic, kid, mustard, yoga, team, please, nation, horses, quake and trigger.

Words spoken by the Echovox: shadows, prison, our future, Matthew, hope and basement.

Conclusions: I believe that a lot of the real-time devices that were used in various sessions seemed to complement one another like “Edward” in both the Sangean Ghost Box and ParaTek app. There were some very interesting words that made a lot of sense where we were investigating and the types of things that went on within the building, especially to the orphans.

“Stop the pain,” wench (that could signify a bad person), kid, prison, our future, basement and even shadows. These could all easily apply to the orphanage. I’m sure that there were Edwards and Matthews that went to this school. It would be interesting to see if there was only one of each of those names. That could point to some actual intelligent connections between us and the dead.