Civil War Ghosts

6. The Farnsworth House

Gettysburg, PA

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Confederate snipers occupied the Farnsworth house during the battle of Gettysburg. It is also one of the most haunted houses in the town of Gettysburg. It has been featured on television shows about the paranormal, like 'Sightings' and 'The Unexplained'. Frequent ghost sightings occur here, mostly of soldiers and a lone woman. Shortly after the O'Day family moved into the house, the wife began to feel that they were not alone. She would wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of chains being drug across the floor, footsteps in the hall, or sometimes the low murmur of men's voices. She could not find the cause of the sounds and there was no one else in the house. One night, she thought that she heard a man pacing about on the upper level of the house and decided to have a look for herself. When she went upstairs, she found no one there. But, when she looked at the floor, she saw a strange red substance on it and what appeared to be brown crayon scribbled a few inches above the floor on the wall. Another time, she thought that she heard someone coming down from the attic, which was unlikely since it was sealed shut for years. Patty decided to call in a "psychic." When the psychic arrived, she immediately felt a strange, sad and lonely presence in the house. The psychic told Patty that she felt the spirits of three men occupying the house. They had been Confederate soldiers during the Battle of Gettysburg; the psychic was able to identify one of the soldiers as George Sutton III, and another simply as Walter. When the psychic left, Patty researched the soldiers who fought in the Battle of Gettysburg. Peering through a list of soldiers in a regiment from the state of Georgia, she came across a familiar name: George Sutton III. George was a native of Savannah, Georgia, a city known for its red clay in the dirt. Patty immediately recalled the red substance on the floor and knew that the red clay of Georgia must've been left over on George's boots as he slowly patrolled the halls in the upper floors of her home. Patty says that she has encountered the spirits many times in her home. She claims that Walter exudes a cruel presence, especially toward women, but is harmless. The third spirit, identified as Mary, seems to offer a calming and caring presence in the house. Patty soon decided to offer ghost tours of her home, so that tourists and locals alike could come and feel and understand the aura of the ghosts. Many visitors claim to have felt unseen hands tapping them on the shoulder, or a flash of strange hazy light in a darkened corner of the room. Once, as she stood in the basement, Patty saw three Confederate soldiers loading heavy boxes, and carrying them up the stairs, one of them wore a mustache and stared at her and even seemed to smile. She knew that it was George Sutton III.