Ghost Hunting in Gettysburg

A few weeks ago I went on my first ghost hunt – in Gettysburg! I’d been planning to do a tour, but once we got there the hunt sounded like more fun, especially for the kids. As it turns out, my mother and I had a great time, my son too, although his was more due to other kids being along, and my daughter was a little embarrassed by the whole thing. She is, however, a teen so that isn’t a giant shock now is it?

If you go to Gettysburg, there are a ton of companies that do ghost hunts, walks and tours. We chose to go with Gettysburg Ghost Tours. They offer a number of choices, all of them affordable, but since we had the kids with us, we picked a “family friendly” option.

This is where my dowsing rods claimed I was chatting with an Union soldier.

The hunt started at the Gettysburg Ghost Tours’ storefront. Our guide explained a few things, mainly that we weren’t supposed to run and that we were to talk in a normal volume .  No whispers as those could be confused later as ghost voices. We were also divided into pairs so we had confirmation of anything we saw.

Then he handed out the equipment. We were able to choose from the Ghost Meter Pro, dowsing rods, a standard EMF meter, and a voice recorder. We also were told to use our cell phones for photos.

My daughter (my cheerful companion) took the EMF meter and I took the dowsing rods. I chose the rods because my great grandfather was a working water witch. I figured maybe some talent ran in the family.

Equipped and paired up we headed to Culp’s Hill. You can read the link if you want a lot of background information on the battle at Culp’s Hill, but the important things to know is that it is very close to downtown Gettysburg (short walk) and that a lot of men lost their lives there. The majority of those being Confederate soldiers.

Okay, so what did we find? Anything?

Yes, maybe, kind of.

My daughter got no where with her EMF, but my mother and I did. (I took over my daughter’s after a while.) All of the straight EMF readings seemed to be in one area that was actually on the road that led to the hill. Our guide said this was residual energy, but another woman got some really good activity on the Ghost Meter Pro there that coincided with hits her son was getting on his EMF meter.

It could also have been our cell phones or something else sending out electromagnetic waves….

My personal best experience was with the dowsing rods though. To use them you hold them by the beads or wooden part of the handle. They are made so the rods can rotate freely without your interference. Next you ask yes or no questions and ask the spirits to cross the rods if the answer is yes. You can also ask them to use the rods to point.

I started with the standard… If there is a spirit here, please cross the rods. The rods crossed. Are you a male? The rods crossed. Did you fight for the Confederate side? Nothing. Did you fight for the Union side? The rods crossed.

Okay, so cool, but even cooler was ten minutes later when the woman with the Ghost Meter Pro came up, started asking the same questions, and got the same response in the same area. (The Ghost Meter Pro has a function to give the spirit an opportunity to move a dial that indicates yes or no.)

Am I believer now? Maybe. Maybe not. But then that’s where I was on believing before. So the ghost hunt didn’t change my personal views one way or the other.

But it was fun and I would certainly do it again.

How about you? Ever been on a ghost hunt? Are you a believer?