Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Ghost Hunting in Gettysburg, PA

To celebrate our birthdays (mine was Sep 18th and Gavin's was Oct 13th) we went to Gettysburg, PA.

Gavin and I went on what is billed as an "Extreme Ghost Hunt" in Gettysburg, PA. We got our tickets and met with a team of Paranormal investigators from Gettysburg Paranormal Association to be divided into groups and find out who our lead investigator will be.

There were what felt like 200 people there, seriously! We all gathered up in the back gravel parking-lot and were given instructions by a guy called Bald Rob. He gave us the lowdown on how to operate the equipment we would be using. The equipment list was impressive. There was the normal equipment that you usually see on the ghost hunting tv shows. There were voice recorders, K2 meter, Mel-meters, one other meter that I can't recall the name of, diving or dowsing rods, thermometers, spirit boxes, and laser grids. Gavin was pumped to be able to use a spirit box as we have seen them used extensively on Ghost Adventures.

We got divided up into smaller groups, thankfully! I was concerned at first because there were so many people. We were divided into a group that consisted of us and two other parties for a total of 10 people. Our lead investigator was Ginger.

The way these hunts work is that you drive yourself to the locations. We all got into our cars, put on our flashers, and followed Ginger to the first location. We went to a farm on the edge of the official battlefield area. We parked at a barn and walked out into the field. We were across the street from a known field hospital. I believe it was a Confederate hospital, but I'm not completely sure.

We were given our bag of equipment and we set out into the dark field. The moon was full and bright. It wasn't spooky at all, it was very nice out. Gavin and I walked along, we had our voice recorder out, the K2 meter and the Spirit Box. It was interesting as we began to get hits on the K2 meter. It would go all the way up to red. We asked, "Are you Union or Confederate?" and through the Spirit box we heard, "Union" very quickly. It was weird. Then Gavin asked, "What is your name?" and we believe we heard "John or Ron". It was so quick, it's hard to know for sure what, if anything we actually heard. I tried out the diving rods first. I wasn't asking any questions or anything, just holding them like the told us to and my right hand started to feel tingly, kind of electric and the rod started to move outward. It was a strange sensation.

We walked further into the field and Gavin would get multiple hits on the K2, which should be going off since it's the middle of the field with no electricity around. It was neat. There was once point that there was a noticeable cold spot. Of course we didn't have a thermometer in our bag to document the temperature change, but it was very evident. We did a bunch of evp work (they will analyze the evidence and get back to us later). It was nice that the other parties in our group were not near us, as later on I find out they are nuts! We were in the field about an hour. I would have liked to have stayed longer, but we had a second location to check out.




Gavin with the K2 meter and the Spirit box
Gavin investigating

We all headed back to our cars and made our way over to the next location. We went into the home where General Reynolds's lifeless body was taken. It is now Servant's Olde Tyme Photo. General Reynolds was the first Union causality of the battle.
Here is where I realize that the people we are investigating with are nuts. First off there are three rooms to investigate in. There are 10 people. Too many for there to be any real investigating to be done. Second there is electricity so every hit on the K2 is NOT paranormal. It just isn't. The story here makes little sense to me. If the General was shot on the battlefield, in the head, why would he necessarily haunt this building? Wouldn't it make more sense for him to haunt where he fell and his soul left his body and not where they brought his body? I don't know. He is not even buried in Gettysburg. Then the story was that Kate his fiance was there. WHY? She didn't die there. She died later in New York. This is the part that makes some paranormal investigators look like nut jobs, right? I feel like you should go with the evidence that you actually find, not just the story that you think it might be.
Gavin using the diving rods


So one of the parties we were with started asking ridiculous questions, like; "Do you think I'm attractive?". This was a male asking the supposed fiance Kate. Please! I found that to be just about disrespectful. There was no real investigating going on in this location. These people were nuts! There was so much chatter and talking, it was impossible to do any serious investigations. I was not impressed.

Gavin investigating inside
However, Gavin and I did sit down on a bench and try to be quiet to see what would happen. When I first sat down there was no reading on the EMF or Mel-meter, but it suddenly spiked up to 14.0! WHAT?! It stayed steady for a long while, then it went back down. I could feel the energy. But I'm almost certain in was something electrical in the building. It would spike and then go back down, and I could feel that spike of energy, but I'm not convinced it really was anything. We finished up around midnight and we left. As part of the package we got a certificate, a photo, and will receive all evidence collected on a DVD. The photo and DVD will be mailed later and it might take 2 months, because they actually analyze it and they are super busy during October.

Overall, it was a lot of fun. I had a great time bonding with Gavin over our enjoyment of all things paranormal, however I was left wanting more. I've investigated with Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson from the tv show Ghost Hunters at a convention back in 2006 and it was a much better experience. I would say that if you do this ghost hunt in Gettysburg and you can do it in the off-season with a small group of people you know, you would be able to catch some phenomenal evidence as I'm certain there is paranormal activity in Gettysburg.