Orphans of the Civil War needed a place to grow and survive after their family was torn apart. The Soldiers National Orphanage opened in 1866. The first headmistress of this location was a woman named Philinda Humiston. Now this name may sound familiar because of the fact that her husband has a story from Gettysburg too. He was a soldier within the Union army and came to Gettysburg, and passed away near Coster Ave. He is buried within the Soldier’s National Cemetery. The story comes around to the family behind the soldier. His wife and children were the first people that were in the Orphanage. His wife, no other than, Philinda Humiston took care of her own children and others.
There were only two headmistresses of the Orphanage that resembles the Wizard of Oz. One was the good witch named Philinda, and the other was the bad witch named Rosa. No surprise that this location is very haunted by multiple spirits. We have already talked about Philinda Humiston and Rosa Carmichael. Now we get to talk about the paranormal spirits that still reside here.
This location is one of of the most haunted places in Gettysburg. You have children that loved their headmistress that enjoyed playing games and playing with toys. You have children that were bullied, beaten, chained to the walls, and some may have even passed away. Let’s explore the Orphanage room by room.
The front of the Orphanage used to be the gift shop, and then you’d walk into the dining room. Behind the dining room is another room prior to 2023. Since then, the gift shop has been removed and renovated to what it used to look like in the beginning of the Orphanage in the late 1860s. As they did renovations in this area of the house, they found some original things. During the painting and maintenance of the building, a wall in the original dining room needed repair. Behind a wall they had to repair, they found the original brick and a window frame. After multiple days of removing the wall, found three original windows that were covered up.
This “pit” area in the basement is called the dungeon. Rosa would put children here in what would look like confinement.
Now the orphanage shows a room with the uncovered windows, the original dining room, and another room in the rear. The rear room in 1866 was the outside play area of the orphanage. There’s an upstairs area that is an apartment that was used for the mistresses room. Downstairs is the cellar, which has wooden stairs with chains on the wall.
Below is what has been heard or seen in the basement during investigations or on my visits to the Orphanage:
- Footsteps
- Shadows
- Goosebumps
- Floor creaking
- Screams
- Dragging of furniture
- Balls roll across the floor
- Room temperature changes
- Taps or Knocking on the wall
- Chains clanking
- Moving obs or lights
- Rattling
- Voices calling out:
- Pain, Help, Please
- Murdered
- Watch Out
- Want to go home
- She’s (Rosa) here
- Can you see us?
Within the original basement, there were chains that were every six feet along the walls. If children had smaller wrists that could fit into the chains, they were tied up and placed in barrels that would be filled with cold water. Other children would be placed outside in the snow with barely any clothing on with the very good chance of getting hypothermia. Only the Orphanage has this “dark” history around it that deals with children. What will you experience? Go out and find out!