A Personal Experience By Tracey

My name is Tracey, and last year, I conducted tours through the Gettysburg Orphanage which is now located in the cellar of the museum, as you enter town. I also had “down” tours for the same company at the Jennie Wade House for a greater part of the summer.

I have had the ability to channel spirits (good or bad ones) for years now and can handle them for the most part; however, the orphanage was a different matter. It was started during the civil war. I could go into its full history but that would simply take up too much space, so I'll skip right to Rosa, the second care taker. She was an "evil", mean-spirited person in life and has - over time - taken more of the form of an elemental. When she "took care" of the children, she would beat them, chain them to fences, whip them with chains, and starve them. She would do any and all nasty acts possible, as she thought that she would teach them how to behave.

When it was my turn to conduct a tour, I would always ask her to come into me. I'm told that my face would change from its round shape to a long, drawn shape instead. The skin under my eyes would go blue-black, and my voice would lower by two octaves. The guests would ask Rosa questions such as "Why did you treat the children the way you did?" or "Why are you still here?" During these sessions, I would feel as though I was sitting back watching a movie but couldn't remember anything afterward. Her replies were generally along the lines of "Because the little bastards deserved what they got" or "Because I (Rosa) could see Satan in them, and it was the only way to flush him out.” She stays so she can, even in death, hold a high level of control over the children.

After the channeling I would ask for two men to stand on either side of me, and I would ask Rosa to do to me what she had done to the children. I would end up with shackle marks on my ankles, finger prints on my back, whip marks, etc. During my last tour, I again asked her to "punish me" the same way she had punished them. The next thing I knew, I tasted what could only be described as a moldy sponge in my mouth. I almost threw up. Then I was lifted from a vertical position and pulled backwards into a completely horizontal position. The two men I had on either side of me had a hard time holding on to me and later told me that they were now firm believers -- especially when the long summer dress I had on was being pulled in a different direction than my body. It was one of the few times I've ever been scared.

When I drove home that night I had to pull over, because when I looked in my rear view mirror, all I could see was her twisted face! I looked down and felt something wet on my legs. They were covered in blood from nail scratches. All the while, she was laughing in the back seat. I had Holy water and Kosher salt with me and went into a Wiccan prayer of protection. It took a few minutes, but when I was done, the blood was gone as well as Rosa. Sounds like a made-up story, I know, but Gettysburg has held a lot of adventures for me. I believe the tours are done for the season, but if you are looking for a local "nasty" spirit, I would highly recommend Spanglers Spring!