Ghost Stories of Gettysburg

The Inn at Cashtown Seeking A Childhood

The Inn At Cashtown

by Mark Nesbit

retold by Jessie

 

On Chambersburg Road there is an old inn called Cashtown Inn. Many Confederate soldiers stayed near or in the inn. The Inn was called Cashtown because the owner would only take cash, no credit. The day of the Gettysburg battle all the soldiers set out. They had received permission from the General to go and buy shoes. They didn't even know they were going to a fight. The General who gave them permission knew that there were no shoes in Gettysburg, only Union soldiers who were ready to kill the Confederates. The Confederate General just wanted to fight. But, when the mostly barefoot soldiers ran into the Unions they were forced to fight. Most of them died. This event occurred in late June and early July.

Ghosts have been seen at Cashtown for many years. Several years ago a man, a guest at the inn, asked a nine year old boy who lived at the inn, "Who that man?" The man was standing in the hallway wearing an out of date uniform. "Oh he's all right." said the boy who had seen the ghost many times before. The visitor was very surprised. Since that time there have been many more ghosts "sightings."

Charles "Bud" Buckley and his wife Carolyn, the current owners of the inn, have often heard footsteps and the sound of things moving around in the attic. When they go up to see what's happening, nothing has been moved and there is no evidence that any one has been there.

Room 4 seems to be the main room for the ghost. Many people including a well known writer who was staying at the inn, have heard people knocking on the door of room 4. When they went to see who was at the door no one was there. Many guests have seen men dressed in soldiers uniform around the hotel.

One guest complained that someone riding on horses had awakened them during the night. They had heard horses snorting and pawing the ground. When they went to see who would be riding so late at night no one was there. But the horse noises continued. The next morning when the guest came back from complaining to Bud, their suitcases were all packed and ready to go. The guest asked Bud if it was usual for his hotel to pack the guests' suitcases. "No," he assured the guest, "no one under my employment packed your bags."

Another time when the Dairy Farmers' Association stayed at the inn two of the farmers complained that someone had unplugged their air conditioner in the middle of the night.

One of the Buckleys' possessions gives a large hint that ghosts live in the area. They own a photograph that has a picture of two men. One of the men is standing still and focused perfectly. The other man's image is blurred. The man whose image is blurred is wearing, well its pretty hard to tell, but it looks like a slouch. A slouch is a floppy hat that was popular with the Southern soldiers. He is also wearing a shell jacket of the Southern Infantry, they think. The strange thing is the camera that the photo is taken with could focus in on moving things. Other things in the picture which are moving, like a tree branch which is moving because of the wind, is focused fine. The man in the picture who is focused is dead now so we don't know if anyone was supposed to be in the picture, if he didn't even notice, or if he saw the man and was very surprised.

Bud says now that after the reconstruction of the inn ghosts weren't seen very often. But every late June, early July, the university of the soldiers' deaths, Bud says things seem to liven up in an unexplainable way around the inn.

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Seeking a Childhood

by Mark Nesbit

retold by Jessie

A long time ago in Gettysburg during the Civil War it was said that the population was about 2,400. There were about 400 structures. It was a quiet peace full town. Now imagine that quiet peaceful town with nearly 250,000 soldiers ready to fight. Now imagine the town after the fight. Any where from 44,000 to 51,000 injured people were left behind to be cared for by the people living in Gettysburg. I'll bet you can just imagine the sight that met the citizens of Gettysburg when they returned after the fight.

Today you can visit Gettysburg and you can imagine all the horrors that occurred there, since many of the structures from the Civil War still stand there. Down in Gettsyburg near where many of the wounded soldiers of the Civil War had died, lived a girl who was a student. She was studying law as assistant state's attorney on Baltimore Street. One night, she was attending a party at an old building that had been standing during the Civil War. But parts of the building had been added on. She saw a young man standing and watching the goings on. He was standing in the old part of the building. He was very young and he looked sad. She asked the host, "Who is that man?" she motioned for him to come join the party. He looked even sadder. "Is someone's brother or cousin visiting the campus?" She added

The host said, "Oh you've seen him too."

"What do you mean?" asked the girl.

The host said, "Our ghost. Somebody always sees him when we are having a party. He's a young guy and he always seems to want to join in. It's almost as if he is stuck in the old part of the house and can't come into the new part." The host then shrugged and wandered off.

 

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