Phenomenology 103 Gettysburg PA March 2011

We returned to Gettysburg in 2011 excited to attend another round of lectures and meet with other groups from across the country. This time we participated in investigations of both the Civil War Orphanage and the Jennie Wade House. If you have an interest in Civil War history and / or the paranormal & not been to Gettysburg, I would highly recommend making the trip. You will not be disappointed.

Civil War Orphanage
The story of the Civil War Orphanage started with a Union soldier who was found in a secluded spot on the battle- field, where, wounded, he had laid himself down to die. In his hands, tightly clasped, was an ambrotype containing the portraits of his three young children. Eventually, the mans wife saw the photo and came forward. The story generated such an outpouring of sympathy for her family that the proceeds allowed her to open an orphanage for the children of soldiers here in Gettysburg.

The soldiers wife; Phelinda went on to help raise over sixty children. Unfortunately, circumstances forced her to move away from the orphanage and leave the children in the care of a younger woman named Rosa Carmichaels. Rosa sadly turned out to be a merciless sadist who beat the children and tortured them, tying them up in the basement for days and even killing some of them. The crimes were discovered only after a runaway was caught and told of her experiences at the orphanage.Everything the child said was later found to be true as the house was investigated and found to be full of torture devices. The basement had even been converted into a dungeon where children were shackled to the walls and left to die.


Jennie Wade House
Jennie Wade was the only civilian killed during the Battle of Gettysburg. She was killed in the kitchen on July 3, 1863, while making bread for the soldiers at her sister's Baltimore Street house. Ironically, Jennie moved to this location from her own home in town, as it was thought to offer a safer refuge from the battle.

Jennie and her family (sister and mother) began handing out water and food to the defeated Union soldiers passed by. As the next two days passed, the home was riddled with over 150 bullet holes, but this did not dissuade Jennie from doing her part to help the Union army.

While intent on making biscuits and bread, Jennie continued undaunted until about 8:30 a.m, when a Confederate ball penetrated the kitchen door. It pierced the open front room door leading to the kitchen, before striking Jennie below the left shoulder blade, fatally damaging her heart. The home is said to be haunted by both Jennie Wade & her father, who never recovered from her untimely death.

Civil War Orphanage
We were able to investigate the entire museum, which is basically comprised of the main entry area / gift shop, the basement and the museum area itself. Shortly after we arrived, we descended the steps to the basement. It was difficult knowing that many children were supposedly tortured and possibly even killed in what was once referred to as "the dungeon". The room is currently set up with benches to facilitate tour groups, and toys have been placed around the room as trigger objects, or possible offerings for these poor little souls. While we ran video & took numerous still photos, we were unable to catch any visuals in this area. We did pick up an evp in the pit, but unfortunately many other possible evps and spirit box interactions had to be thrown out do to contamination. We camped out in the back section of the museum for much of the evening as we were having a bit of success with the PSB-7 which included a greeting to one of our investigators. The most interesting piece of evidence we were able to capture was during an evp session that was being lead by the Klinge brothers in the main area. This very touching evp is followed by a light anomaly.



Jennie Wade House

We investigated the basement, main floor, and upper floor of this historic home. We managed to capture a couple of evps and odd light anomalies on each floor, as well as some interesting hits on our Mel meter. We really don't know what to make of these light anomalies or "orbs", as we could not trace them back to contamination of any sort, they did not appear to be dust and it was far too cold to have been bugs (the temperature that evening hit a low of 27 degrees).

The highlight of the evening was being able to participate in a real time EVP session with Mark and Debby Constantino which you will catch a glimpse of on our video. Being able to work with and learn from other groups and pioneers in the field is what makes this event so amazing every year!