Civil War Ghosts

4. Jennie Wade House

Gettysburg, PA

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The Battle of Gettysburg claimed the lives of nearly 50,000 soldiers during the three days of battle. And only one civilian casualty. During the battle, Confederate sharpshooters took position in the attics of many homes in the town of Gettysburg and methodically picked off Union soldiers with extreme precision. One morning, a Confederate sniper was measuring distances and testing his accuracy by attempting to shot a doorknob of a home on Baltimore Street. He pulled the trigger and the ill-fated bullet glanced off the doorknob, crashed through the window, and struck Young Jennie Wade in the back of the head. Jennie was caring for her ailing sister and baking a loaf of bread for hungry troops, when she suddenly collapsed in her kitchen. Union soldiers carried her to the basement of the house. Her shocked family placed her lifeless body on a bier and held a solemn vigil for her. The Jennie Wade House has a reputation of being haunted. Many visitors to the house claim to see strange apparitions and the sound of a crying woman. One day, a noted author of the paranormal joined a celebrated psychic as she took a reading of the house. The psychic immediately picked up on an eerie vibe within the house. As they continued their exploration of the house, the vibes increased. When they reached the basement, the site of Jennie's makeshift mausoleum, the strange feeling came to a climax. In the corner of the room they noticed a chain marking the area where Jennie's body rested. The chain began to shake, slowly back and forth. They were alone in a closed basement; there was no reasonable explanation for the chain to move. The chain swayed slowly and steadily for a full minute and then stopped. The motion of the chain was strange as well; it was as if it was made of a single solid piece not made of links. Later the author tried to shake the chain but the movement was not the same, it exhibited a wave-like motion, as one would expect from a swinging chain. The spirit of Jennie Wade may live on inside that house, mourning for her life that was cut short.