The Battlefield Bed And Breakfast
Posted: 10.10.2024 | Updated: 10.10.2024
Tucked neatly in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania’s lush and stretching greenery stands an early 19th-century fieldstone farmhouse, faithfully standing guard over the surrounding acreage. The location hints at historical significance. Through its passing years, the trials and tribulations this perfectly preserved Pennsylvania property has witnessed are as countless as the autumn leaves that blow across its well-kept grounds.
If stone could talk, what a tale this masonry would tell. The Battlefield Bed and Breakfast is as dramatic and storied as the name suggests. Bearing witness to the bloodiest conflict of the American Civil War and serving as a home to slavery abolitionists during a time of bitter strife merely scratches the surface. This contemporary home away from home for weary travelers needing retreat has seen an abundance of life and death. It would surely surprise no one that the Battlefield Bed and Breakfast might be home to weary souls of the more ghostly kind.
WHY IS THE BATTLEFIELD BED AND BREAKFAST HAUNTED?
The Battlefield B&B has stood tall through desperate and deadly times. The Battle Of Gettysburg is considered the pivotal moment of the American Civil War as the Union and Confederate states battled for the heart and soul of America. If ever a place stood at a crossroads of history and loss of life, the Battlefield B&B is firmly there. It’s said that for many proud fighting men, the cannons never fell silent and still haunt the grounds today. Dive into history and more ghostly goings-on by booking a ghost tour with Civil War Ghosts.
BATTLEFIELD: HOMESTEAD THROUGH HISTORY
Built in 1809, the fieldstone structure and aged timber barn were the home of Anna and Cornelius Houghtelin. Furthering the property's innate role as a lightning rod to the issues of the age, Cornelius was the Vice President of Gettysburg’s Anti-Slavery Society in 1935. The issue of slavery in the United States would bring war to their very doorstep. When Abraham Lincoln, a candidate of the Republican Party, was elected President in 1860, the succession of Southern States that followed plunged the nation into a four-year civil war. As the war and its ensuing conflicts raged, towns, fields, and places such as Gettysburg would be burned into a lexicon of infamy as battlefield casualties rose. The Battle Of Gettysburg, which would cost 50,000 lives from July 1- July 3, 1863, would mark the pivotal turning point in this bitter conflict and etch the Houghtelin property into history.
On July 3, 1863, the now bed and breakfast was the site of a famed cavalry charge known as ‘Pickets Charge.’ It then served as General Wesley Merrit’s Headquarters and cavalry camp the following day. The barn, an addition to the estate in the 1820s, witnessed the battle’s most gruesome scenes, serving as a field hospital. The property's apparent knack for always being in the frame in snapshots of history continued into the 20th century. The farmhouse stands in President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s old neighborhood, a stone’s throw from the home of Eisenhower’s lifelong friend, George Allen.
THE GHOSTS OF GETTYSBURG
The 50,000 soldiers who lost their lives at Gettysburg have long since passed, but the eerie tales and unnerving experiences on the property would suggest that many never passed over at all. Strange floating orbs in the cold, dark Pennsylvania night, lantern light where not a soul can be found, and vaporous shadowy figures caught on camera are just some of the chilling moments visitors to this historic scene of conflict have experienced. So many people lost their lives during the battle and were originally buried at the site that paranormal investigators and ghost hunters regularly flock to search into the unknown.
The barn, a field hospital that was a theater of pain and carnage, attracts the most scrutiny. Perhaps for obvious reasons. The heat of battle saw wounded soldiers in critical condition moved from the reach of bullets, cannons, and swords to the confines of this unassuming structure. Many men would take their final breath within its walls. In a particularly chilling photo taken by a paranormal investigator, the misty figure of what appears to be a soldier seated on the ground can be seen in the flash of the camera’s light. The same investigation witnessed a chilling mist gathered between the barn’s aged timbers on an otherwise clear night. There is every possibility that in a place of such suffering, the souls of the dead still linger in search of triage.
A PUSH FROM THE OTHER SIDE
Battlefield B&B keeper Debbie March has described one chilling encounter where she experienced the shocking feeling of a pair of disembodied hands pushing her from behind. Startled, Debbie swung around to see an empty room. March points out, however, that she has felt nothing threatening from these spirits; “There’s no sense of uneasiness or fear, this is usually a very calm peaceful atmosphere”.
Despite this, Debbie regularly receives photographs taken on the property by curious guests in which floating orbs can be seen; somehow, their spectral presence is clear as day through the lens. One guest was compelled to send Debbie March a photograph she took of an antique dresser within the bed and breakfast. The guest was shocked as she inspected the image. The clear figure of a woman dressed in white Civil War clothing could be seen in the mirror. Whether a widow of a fallen soldier, a nurse who had witnessed horrors, or a former resident of the property, her identity remains a mystery. The serenity of the Battlefield B&B is a far cry from the days of turmoil and struggle that the property witnessed in the mid-19th century.
BATTLEFIELD OF HISTORY AND HAUNTINGS
Today's Battlefield Bed and Breakfast offers stunning views, access to local skiing in the winter, and a host of trails for the more mobile of visitors. The property's beauty is striking and belies the area’s troubled past. The Innkeepers have conjured a place of peace and rest. But for those curious enough to venture in search of the unknown or delve deeper into history, you would be hard-pressed to find a venue that can offer such comfort at a crossroads of history and the intangible. Whether you intend to rest up or ghost hunt in the barn on a misty night, remember to bring a camera! Book a ghost tour with Civil War Ghosts to learn more about Gettysburg’s haunted history. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, and keep reading our blog for more real Pennsylvania hauntings.
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Book A Civil War Ghosts Tour And See For Yourself
Join Civil War Ghosts tonight to hear the gripping stories of the ghosts and hauntings of Gettysburg. See where the civilians and soldiers fell, and where their eerie presence persists to this day. They want to be heard – will you listen?
Visit the many haunted downtown inns and buildings where the wounded took their last breaths in agony. Touch the traces of their sacrifice that remain and reach out from beyond in this small, haunted town that shaped the future of the United States.
