Gettysburg, Pennsylvania suffered war and trauma during the battle between the north and south during the Civil War. Gettysburg has a reputation as the most haunted city in the world. There are many haunted sites in this historic city. In 2007 the Paranormal World had a large ghost conference in Gettysburg.
Rachel is the ghost of a Civil War Nurse who has been encountered by guests of the hotel.. Rachel is a friendly ghost who details her frustration with caring for wounded soldiers and their wounded limbs.
Moonlit ghost tours stroll through streets of Gettysburg. Rachel and other spirits can be seen wandering the streets. Rachel has visited the same room twice. The guests said that the dresser drawers were opened, clothes were removed and the was a cold draft in the room.
Soldiers of both the Confederate and Union Armies lost their lifes during the bloody battle of Gettysburg. Soldiers were killed in the fields of battle. The wounded were cared for and died in houses around the town. According to the Gettysburg Ghost Tours website, the spirit energies run high in Gettysburg, causing strange and unexplainable events which are attributed to the paranormal.
History of The Gettysburg Hotel
The Gettysburg Hotel was built in the 1890s, replacing a tavern that was built in 1797. James Scott built Scott’s Tavern on Lincoln Square in 1797. The tavern was acquired in 1809 by a former New York Sheriff, named William McClellan. McClellan named the tavern the Indian Queen. After 1846 the tavern was renamed the McClellan House, for its owners, the McClellan brothers.
The summer of 1863 in Gettysburg was a tumultuous one. One of America’s central events was the three day battle at Gettysburg, with Union and Confederate soldiers swarming over the town. President Abraham Lincoln delivered the famous Gettysburg address at the Wills House, which was across the street from the McClellan House.
Over its two century history the hotel has played host to prominent figures, including General Ulysses S. Grant, Henry Ford, Carl Sandburg and President and Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The new structure replaced the McClellan House in 1890. The new owner named the new building Hotel Gettysburg. By the early 1900’s the hotel had been improved with modern conveniences, including steam heat, hot and cold baths and a restaurant.
In 1955 the Gettysburg Hotel was part of a temporary White House, when President Eisenhower suffered a heart attack in Gettysburg in 1955 and spent time recovering at his Gettysburg home.
In 1964 President Eisenhower and wife Mamie Eisenhower were the final guests of the hotel before the owner closed the doors, a victim of changed post World War II travel habits. The building stood empty until it was ravaged by fire in 1983.
The hotel was carefully restored through the initiative of the Gettysburg College. In 1991 the hotel was opened as the Best Western Gettysburg Hotel. The carefully restored historic hotel has amenities that please the modern traveler.
Restaurants at the Gettysburg Hotel include Centuries on the Square Restaurant and McClellan’s Tavern. The Best Western Gettysburg Hotel was reconstructed in cooperation with the Historic Architectural Review Board, preserving the historic character of this landmark hotel. The hotel is listed as a Historic Hotel of America.
