Jennie Wade House – Investigation

Jennie Wade House

November 2, 2019

Gettysburg, PA

 

Investigation

 In the heart of Gettysburg, PA rests a small, quaint brick home now surrounded by hotels and parking lots. This was the location of (miraculously) the only civilian casualty of the three-day Battle of Gettysburg. Jennie Wade was simply trying to help feed her family, complete with a brand new, day’s old niece, and nearby injured soldiers. As she was removing bread dough from the oven in the split duplex, a stray bullet crashed through the side door and slammed into her back. As she laid dying in the Kitchen floor, she was taken down into the basement to keep her and her family from any further injury. Unfortunately, she died in that very basement surrounded by her family, all except her soon-to-be fiancé who tragically also laid dying on a nearby battlefield where the two used to frolic and play as children.

Even though the home was actually owned and lived in by her sister, Georgia, this home would become historically saved and known as the Jennie Wade House. It acted as a tribute to the fallen Jennie Wade and her heroic acts of valor as she only tried to help her family in those dire times. The house took a beating during the battle and the bullet holes and cannonade can still be seen today as a grisly reminder of the American conflict that lost so many innocent lives.

 

 

Today, the house acts as a living museum to show visitors how civilians would have lived during the Civil War times and even set up the home as it was during that tragic summer day in 1863. The house was labeled a historical building, as well as the majority of the town, and has regular upkeep to keep the home in pristine condition. Tours are given regularly throughout the day and is a regular stop on ghost tours in the evenings.

After our long drive (it probably seemed longer after a full day of work beforehand), we arrived at the Jennie Wade House and met our guest investigators Cindy and Shelby operating with Spirit Talk with Cindy. We had to await a nighttime tour wrapping up before we could begin our set up in the Jennie Wade House.

While we waited, we captured a few pictures of the exterior portion of the house and got a feel for the location, seeing the true size of the house and the limited space they lived in during the days of the Civil War.

 

 

After a quick rundown of the rules and some story telling by our guide, we began to unload the car. As we explored the house to get acclimated to the rooms, entrances, and exits, we made our way up the stairs to the bedrooms. As we turned the corner in the McLean duplex bedroom, we felt as though we were being watched and Cindy felt a child sitting in the corner and scurry off as we entered the room.

With that, we began our investigation, roughly around 12:15 AM. We had a two hour opening to investigate, which did seem to rush things a little bit but we had the house until approximately 2:15 AM. We used most of our equipment, however, the SLS camera was not in operation and our camera died pretty much instantly as we began. Our equipment did include a K2 meter, a SB7 spirit box, a laser grid pen, two handheld cameras, a Rempod, a recorder, an Ovilus, the FLIR camera, and a temperature gauge. We did not use the light up balloons, the plasma ball, or the SLS camera.

The upstairs room on the Wade side of the duplex seemed to be one of the more active locations as the Rempod gave us a huge amount of responses as well as some recorded communication utilizing the spirit box. The first floor of the Kitchen and Parlor on the Wade side provided us with a few moments captured using the FLIR camera, but also made a few of the investigators nauseous and had them smelling alcohol and cold spots around those rooms. In the basement, there were a few odd noises which sounded like knocking and footsteps as well as a few photos captured on the FLIR which appeared to be someone sitting on a nearby bench and some light anomalies moving around the room.

Below are the recordings, videos, and photos that we captured during the short-term investigation. We marked locations where we believe we received communication like voices or noises.  Give us your thoughts after you listen and watch some of the footage.

 

 

As always, you have been warned, some of this is not for the faint of heart and can be slightly explicit:

 

Bedroom – 2^nd Floor, Wade Side

There are tales of children running around and playing upstairs. The chain that hangs on one of the walls has been recorded swaying side to side and the rocking chair in that same room will move back and forth on occasion. These children are said to have returned here as they experienced some of the most tragic times of their lives as they were young, but they also are said to have returned to the place that they had the most fun and innocent times of their lives.

 

 

After we experienced what seemed to be a child playing during our walk through, we set up shop on the Wade’s side first. We received plenty of Rempod activity and voices through the spirit box as well as physical touches and cold spots during our time here.

 

Photos:

• We didn’t capture any anomalies in still photos, however, we did add a few screen captures from the videos where we spotted light oddities cross the camera screen.

 

 

 

Recorder 1:

• At :14 our fully charged battery is completely drained.
• The Rempod is alerted at :25 after we ask if there is anyone with us?
• At 2:12, the Rempod goes off following us asking if they can touch the light.
• We asked if that noise was them and if they are here and at 5:12, the Rempod was again alerted.
• At 5:46, the Rempod goes off after we asked if that is the spirit standing next to us.

 

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/709479760″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”300″ iframe=”true” /]

 

Recorder 2:

 After we asked if they can step into the light, at :08 the Rempod goes off.

• At :20 the Rempod is alerted, following us asking if they can speak their name?
• The Rempod went off at :33, :39, and :32 after we asked to give us a second.
• At 1:40 the Rempod is alerted after we asked if the other child who is here, was injured.
• After we tell the spirit to not go anywhere, the Rempod goes off at 2:14.

 

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Recorder 3 – Spirit Box:

• At :30 we captured the word “Interesting” after we explained that we can hear the spirit if they come close.
• We heard “Yes” at 1:16 after we said that there’s a lot of toys for them to play with.
• After we say you can come out, at 1:59 we captured “Maybe.”

 

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Recorder 4 – Spirit Box:

• At :10, the word “Covered” appeared on the Ovilus.
• Following that, at :16, “Covered” was spoken as if in response to “Covered” appearing on the Ovilus.
• We heard “I’m sorry” at :53.

 

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Recorder 5 – Spirit Box:

• At :04, the Rempod was alerted as if in response to us asking if they could come forward?
• We asked if the spirit with us could make the light turn on and we captured “No” at :51.
• At 1:11 we captured some phrase come through the spirit box after we asked if they could tell us their name, but it was too indecipherable to make out.
• The Rempod went off at 1:26 after we mentioned that the spirits are over there (by the Rempod).
• At 1:49 and 1:55, the Rempod goes off after we ask if they can tell us their name.
• We explained that the Rempod is like a toy and at 2:00 we heard “Uhuh.”
• The word “Lovely” appeared on the Ovilus at 2:25.

 

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/709479706″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”300″ iframe=”true” /]

 

Recorder 6 – Spirit Box:

• At about :05, there was an odd sound of bells chiming.
• After we discussed the bell noise, we heard “how” at :35.
• We heard “I don’t know” at :51 in response to us asking if that is what you’re trying to tell us.
• The Ovilus produced the words “For me” at 1:01.
• The Rempod went off at 1:37 and 1:46 after we asked if that’s you.
• The word “Father” was captured at 2:16 as if in response us asking if that was your room.
• At 2:24, we heard “It was him” after we said it felt like a breeze going across the room.
• The Rempod was again alerted at 2:55 after we asked if that was their room and continued until we asked if they could step back when it stopped at 3:06.
• There was an indecipherable phrase uttered at 3:11.
• “Play with me” was heard at 3:48.
• At 5:33, the Rempod was alerted one last time after we say thank you.

 

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Handheld Video 1:

• It appears as though there is a light anomaly moving left to right across the screen at :18 and again from the bottom to top at :26.
• At :58, the Rempod can be seen being activated after we asked if the other child here the one who was injured.
• The Rempod lit up at 1:31 in response to us telling the spirit not to go anywhere.
• At 1:42, the Rempod was alerted in response to us saying that there’s something going on here.

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRm_ZACasNg&w=560&h=315]

 

Handheld Video 2:

• There was nothing abnormal or odd here, but the camera’s battery did get drained quickly at the tail end.

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWK6iEKJ7q4&w=560&h=315]

 

Parlor – 1^st Floor, Wade Side

While the house was in operation, the Parlor was typically used by the man of the house and any guests who visited. Even though this was Georgia’s home, her and Jennie’s father spent ample time here and took ownership of the Parlor. Their father was a known drunk and, rumor has it, that when he was drinking, he would be very violent and even abusive. He was even said to miss the birth of his grandchild as he was at the bar instead of with his daughter. Because of this, he spent some time with his daughter’s right as the battle began. After the loss of Jennie, he grew into a rage and followed up with drinking binges. Eventually, his wife would have him committed into an insane asylum where he would eventually pass away.

While spending time in the Parlor, guests have reported the scent of tobacco pipe and alcohol, typically relating directly to the patriarch of the Wade family. A feeling of being unwanted has been related to the Wade’s father wanting his room to himself, especially when women are present. Footsteps, as if someone is pacing, has been heard in the room as well as the chairs around the table being pulled out and pushed in when no one is present in the room.

 

 

Aside from physically feeling of nausea and smells of alcohol, there wasn’t much interaction or recorded data in the Parlor. We did, however, record a FLIR photo against the wall that we cannot fully discredit as there does appear to be an outline of a figure of some sort. We did try to debunk this but were unable to 100%. We did experience a few cold spots and Cindy was physically pinched in the Parlor.

 

Photos:

• The still photos utilizing a simple flash and multiple pictures back to back did not pick up anything odd, however, we did catch a glimpse of something unidentifiable in the Parlor using the FLIR camera thermal imaging.
• It appears as though there is a body of a man against the wall. The head, eyes, shoulders, and faint outline of a body appear toward the exit of the room.

 

 

 

Recording 1:

• Feelings of nausea, taste of alcohol, and cold spots were felt throughout the room during our time here but not one instance in particular correlates to any type of communication.
• At 3:00, Cindy was pinched by an unknown entity.

 

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Video 1 – Handheld Camera:

• To get a feel for the size of the house, this video shows us walking up the stairs, across the bedrooms, and back down toward the session in progress in the Parlor.

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn1zfFOWfgY&w=560&h=315]

 

Video 2 – Handheld Camera:

• Nothing odd was captured during this session, however, there were feelings of nausea, smells of alcohol, and cold spots that were called out during the video.

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yskzeEhNTM&w=560&h=315]

 

Kitchen – 1^st Floor, Wade Side

Where Jennie Wade was shot is said to be a very sad and heavy location. Aside from her perfume being smelled, a loud noise as if something (or someone) is falling to the ground has been reported occasionally, typically while guests are in the basement.

 

 

As we ventured out of the Parlor, feeling unwanted, we set up in the cramped space only to feel the same sensations of nausea and cold spots. We had felt the presence of a child on the steps and snapped a FLIR photo of someone reaching around the corner of the stairway. As we heard some distant or muffled voices coming from upstairs, we followed the disturbance only to feel a significantly cold location that dissipated quickly. Before we wrapped up, a red streaking light passed from the Kitchen toward the Parlor, unfortunately, this was not recorded on any device.

 

Photos:

• Again, the thermal imaging of the FLIR came in handy in the Kitchen as we captured what appears to be a hand and arm reaching around the staircase in toward the Kitchen around Cindy.

 

 

Recording 1:

 The feelings of nausea continued from the Parlor and seemed to follow us into the Kitchen.

• At :20, Cindy felt someone on stairs behind her and the infrared photo on the FLIR confirmed that something was in fact there.
• As Dan heard a voice coming from upstairs around the :50 mark, Derrick went up to check it out and felt a cold spot at the top of the steps.
• Around 5:50, Cindy saw a red streaking light in the Parlor but we were unable to capture this.

 

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Video 1 – Handheld:

• Throughout the video, we reference those feelings of nausea again which seemed to follow us from the Parlor.
• At 3:01, Cindy felt someone on stairs behind her and the infrared photo on the FLIR confirmed that something was in fact there.

• Derrick can be seen going upstairs after Dan heard a voice around 4:20.

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeGyboFij04&w=560&h=315]

 

Video 2 – Handheld:

• Simply a secondary perspective, this video also shows us explain those feelings of nausea.
• At the 2:18 mark, Cindy felt someone on stairs behind her and the infrared photo on the FLIR confirmed that something was in fact there.

• Derrick can be seen going upstairs after Dan heard a voice around 3:31.
• At 7:38, Cindy mentions seeing a red light in the Parlor across the room but we were not able to capture this.

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N64EVOKr_RY&w=560&h=315]

 

Basement

As if the complete darkness of the basement was not creepy enough, a replica of Jennie Wade’s body was laid out precisely where she would have been carried down and finally passed away. There are plenty of ghost tours that begin in this basement and guests have reported odd noises and shadows moving about the dimly lit room. These noises are not uncommon, nor are seeing shadows downstairs, possibly replaying the death of the innocent and kindhearted Jennie Wade.

 

 

We didn’t receive much in regards to communication, but we did capture a knocking sound and physical interactions like pinches and being pushed as well as added chest pressure. We did capture a few more FLIR pictures as it appears as though there is someone sitting on a nearby bench even though none of us were there and an odd light anomaly moving in the stairwell leading down to the basement as Dan feels something touch his neck.

 

 

Photos:

• The thermal imaging FLIR captured two separate anomalies in the basement.
• The first occurred when we felt as though someone was sitting on the bench in front of us. We snapped a FLIR photo and noticed what appeared to be the imprint of legs of someone or something. We took a few of these pictures and it eventually disappeared.
• The other thermal picture is that of a white spot moving above Dan right as he felt something on his neck in front of the stairwell.

 

 

 

 

 

Recording 1:

 At :10 we captured an odd knocking noise.

• Dan felt pinched at about :20.
• Around 1:40, Dan and Cindy both felt dizzy.
• Dan felt a heavy pressure on his chest at 2:05.

 

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Recording 2:

• At the 1:05 mark, Cindy felt something on the bench, when we snapped a thermal photograph using the FLIR, the picture confirmed a spot where it appears as though something was just sitting there.
• At 9:00, Dan again felt pressure on his chest.
• Dan felt touched on his neck around 11:50, and another thermal FLIR photograph confirmed that there was an odd light anomaly above him at that moment.

 

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Video 1 – Handheld Camera:

• The odd knocking noise can be heard at 4:45.
• Around 4:05 Dan felt pinched.
• Dan and Cindy dizzy at about the 6:15 mark.
• At 6:40, Dan felt pressure on his chest.

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHrRdHs1CYw&w=560&h=315]

 

Video 2 – Handheld Camera:

 At about 5:15, Dan feels something on his neck, a photo with thermal imaging taken on the FLIR captures an odd light moving above him at this point.

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXT5kZLL7oA&w=560&h=315]

 

After we analyzed all of the data captured and did some research through communication with the tour guides on site, we have concluded that paranormal activity was truly experienced at the Jennie Wade House. Even though the only communication we clearly had in the form of voices was captured at the very beginning and only upstairs in the bedrooms, we felt that we also experienced residual hauntings and physical paranormal experiences elsewhere though the house.

 

 

The bedrooms on the Wade side was very much active utilizing the Rempod for communication with, we believe, the children. We concluded that they used the Rempod both to communicate and as a toy. There were a few moments of clear communication while using the spirit box as well as we heard some “Yes’s” and “Maybe’s.” We even captured a vague apology and the word “Covered” was spoken aloud after it came through on the Ovilus. As we asked who’s bedroom we were in, it seemed as though we were told it was “His room” and “Father’s.”

 

 

In both the Parlor and Kitchen we managed to capture some FLIR pictures gauging the temperature changes on certain anomalies like a child reaching around the stairwell and a man pacing in the Parlor. The majority of the experiences in both rooms was more of physically altercations such as nausea feelings shared by multiple investigators and the scent of alcohol. The overall consensus of these areas was that we were unwanted, especially the women.

 

 

The Basement was full of odd and overwhelming feelings. It affected pretty much everyone as a very heavy and thick air encapsulated the room. Some odd noises were heard but were unclear what they were in reference to and where they came from. More physical experiences occurred here than the rest of the house like feelings of being pushed, pinched, dizziness, chest pressure, and the feelings of hands reaching out and grabbing at us. Some more infrared photos were captured using the FLIR such as the moment that it sounded like someone stood up off the bench and it appears as though someone was recently sitting there as the outline of legs could be seen. Right as Dan feels something touch his neck, a small light anomaly appears above him which, again, could not be debunked.

 

 

With the evidence gathered on the recorder, video camera, and in photographs combined with our personal experiences during our investigation, we confidently conclude that the old Wade/McLean duplex known as the Jennie Wade House is home to different spirits throughout the house. These spirits vary from being friendly and playful to wanting to be left alone and uninviting. Unfortunately, we were unable to capture any names, particularly the children upstairs or the man in the Parlor. Most of these spirits were able to communicate with us one way or another whether it was through words captured on the spirit box, utilizing the Rempod, or simply making noises. Regardless, the Jennie Wade House has both an extensive history as well as former residents who are unwilling to move on and still call the old brick house their permanent home.