What is your favorite memory as a child? For me it’s a lot of different ones. There’s a reason I asked that question today, and it’s because we’re going to be going to a haunted orphanage. Hello and welcome back to the Sanctum of Strange podcast. My name is Nikki and I’m your host, and today we’re going to be continuing part two of Gettysburg. This one, I realize, is going to be a little bit longer, so I’ll break it up into another part. Don’t worry, it’ll still be as exciting. So let’s continue on with our story.
Saturday we did some window shopping in town. We went to a few shops because we had some time. Before we had to go to Philly to see Mr Ballin, which, by the way, was absolutely amazing. He was funny, he was kind, he was everything you see on his videos or his podcast. I highly recommend him. So we go into one of these shops and start walking around.
I pick up one of the shirts because it looks like something my father would wear. I like buying gifts when I’m out for people my mom, my dad, my brother, his girlfriend, I think. I bought them shot glasses and I bought my mom these cute little doilies that we’ll get into a little later as I go to put it back on the rack, I felt this tug on my jacket on my right-hand side. It was like a small child pulling on a parent’s shirt to get their attention. I look over to my right side, half expecting a kid to be looking up at me, but nothing was there. From what I could see, I thought maybe it could have been Jane or Emily, but they were talking to the shop owner. So I put the shirt back on the rack and I make my way over to where Jane and Emily were. I didn’t say anything about what just happened because some people still get freaked out about that stuff and I respect those situations. We bought a few things and continued on.
Our next store was a half chocolate shop, half Christmas shop. It was a very unique store. We started on the chocolate side first. Obviously we tried some chocolate samples and they had some ice cream as well. So we tried a few samples of that so we could decide on what kind of ice cream we wanted for later. If there’s one thing you need to know about me and my friends, we love ice cream A lot. I loved the coconut vanilla and so did Jane. Emily liked a fruitier flavor. We finished our samples and headed into the Christmas side and I’m so excited for this ice cream later on in the story.
It was such a beautiful store. It had so many Christmas things I didn’t even know existed at the time Ornaments, trees, tree toppers, Halloween Christmas ornaments, gnomes, glass ornaments, calendars, Christmas decorations of every variety that you can think of. It was awesome. We wandered around the store smiling and talking about Christmas time with our families, bringing up those happy memories and sometimes those sad memories.
I made my way to the opposite side of the Christmas store. There was a bunch of Christmas stuff that blocked the sight between Jane, Emily and myself. I kept looking around and I knelt down to take a photo of this Christmas ornament. I love taking photos. It was a pink ornament with one side open and appearing in the middle was a little pink flower. The edges had silver glitter and the outside of the ornament there was silver glitter and swirls. It was so pretty. I kind of wanted it.
I was thinking about buying it and all of a sudden I heard where’s Nikki? I popped up and I said I’m here. Both Jane and Emily looked at me confused from across the store. Jane said how did you know what I was going to say. I said, because you asked where I was, I said in a questioning tone. She said no, I didn’t. And I was like very confused because I clearly heard her. But Emily backed up what Jane had said. She said that she didn’t say a word about where I was. I asked them both if they were sure. They both nodded.
I asked again because my brain didn’t want to comprehend anything. Sometimes brains don’t be braining. Yes, jane said. I wanted to ask again, but I really believed them. But then how did I hear Jane’s voice? It didn’t make any sense.
I think about this moment every now and then. The only solution I come up with for this issue or problem, whatever you call it. It was a strange scenario, man. I know it sounds crazy, but the only solution I keep coming back to is maybe somehow I read Jane’s mind. But stranger things have happened in my life and I can’t disregard it. So we kind of went back to shopping, bought some stuff and I bought a little star doily for my mom. It was very cute, it’s like a three-tier doily and it was just phenomenal. I have to say she loved it when I got home and I got myself a cat doily, because my life would not be complete without anything, cat.
It was time to get ready to see Mr Ballen. After we’ve checked out and everything, of course, we didn’t just run away from the store. We paid for our stuff, we stopped by the cabin, packed some snacks and we headed out the door. It was going to be a very long trip, but it was going to be worth it. We talked and laughed in the car ride. We grabbed lunch in the city before the show. It was actually a very good spot. I had a burger and fries.
If I remember correctly, our friend Emily had never been to a bigger city before and she saw the subway. And she goes is that a subway? And Jane and I look at her. And then we look at each other and we start laughing. We’re like what do you mean? Is that a subway? And she’s like well, I grew up in a really, really small town, so we didn’t have one of those. And we’re like you have a valid point. I just, we, we just weren’t expecting someone to have that reaction to a subway before.
Side note, in December we took her to New York City. We rode the subway, we saw the tree, the big, ginormous decorative tree and we saw a play. The play was kind of like Cirque du Soleil and Emily had the best time of her life, at least I would imagine so. She just kept smiling from ear to ear and it was absolutely phenomenal, although it was very cold. It was super, super cold in the city. If you ever go in the city in the wintertime I suggest doubling up, bringing hats, gloves, your parka, whatever you need. But also I get cold very easily, so I wouldn’t go off of what I said, but it was super cold.
Emily bought one of those viral Dubai chocolates. It was good. I’ve had one of those before. I suggest it to people just to give it a try. They are a little on the expensive side. I try maybe waiting or making your own and seeing how it tastes. It was a good time, anyway, back to Gettysburg. So after the live performance it was time for us to go back to Gettysburg. So we were all tired. We got home. It took us like three or four hours to get back to the cabin and we passed out. Oh, we were so exhausted.
The next day was Sunday. Our plans were to check out the other side of town, lunch and or dinner, and then we’d go on a tour to the orphanage. We woke up a little later, went to this cute place for lunch and dinner. The food was awesome. Okay, the food was great.
I had saw this lemon ginger dessert on the menu and I was like, oh, that sounds really interesting. I kind of want to try that. Mind you, I was waiting for this lemon gingerbread dessert thing for like 45 minutes because I was so excited for this thing, like so, so excited. If you’ve ever been excited for anything, just imagine me with a huge smile on my face waiting for this dessert. And, of course, waiting for that dessert led to very high expectations on my part. I don’t know if it was the high expectations or if the thing just wasn’t really my cup of tea, because it was just not for me. The lemon part was great. The ginger part was also. Okay, just don’t try and put lemon and ginger together, because it is definitely not my cup of tea. Jane and Emily also didn’t really enjoy it.
So then we went back to the cabin and Jane and Emily fell asleep. Because you know all that food, I decided to enjoy the beautiful day outside. There was a little picnic bench over outside our cabin and the squirrels were running around and people were walking and talking. So I decided I was just gonna sit down, read a book, play some video games and just enjoy the day. It was my birthday and I definitely would not have spent it any other way. It was very peaceful and, like I, I read a little bit of my book, which was Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It’s one of my favorite series by Rick Riordan.
So once Jane and Emily woke up, we decided it was time to go to the orphanage tour. The drive took maybe a half an hour. Once we got to the headquarters of our tour, we had to check in and, before we knew it, it was time for the tour. Jane had told us that she’d been wanting to do this for a very, very long time. She told us that this orphanage has a backstory tied to the wars. I was expecting, well, an orphanage that possibly haunted by soldiers. You know like, yeah, I’ll go with that. That’s not what I got. What I got, uh. So I got that plus way more. We had to walk a little to the orphanage.
Once our tour guide unlocked the gates, we had all shuffled into the courtyard. Our tour guide unlocked the gates, we had all shuffled into the courtyard. The gates were like a regular steel gates with a padlock and stuff. So I assume they didn’t want people going back there on times that were unacceptable. And, you know, they obviously have to make a little bit of money because, you know, ghosts need to pay their bills too.
So the first thing I noticed were these houses. I wasn’t expecting that. I just was expecting, like you know, an orphanage. I did not expect houses or well, apartments, I should say, which. They are someone’s houses. Anyway, I was not expecting apartments to be there, and those apartments can get haunted too, which is actually kind of awesome. Those apartments can get haunted too, which is actually kind of awesome.
The tour guide opened the door and told us to go in and have a seat. We all walked in and sat down on what felt like a church pew. It was very weird. Half of the room we were sitting on did look like a church, but we were supposed to be in an orphanage and I was a little confused. The other half of the room had a white door and some stairs in front and on the side, and on the side there was a blue door. It felt I felt a little uneasy. I didn’t know why. It was just like a guided ghost tour like any other night. It was like something was putting pressure on my chest. I couldn’t I still can’t put words to it. The whole place felt super weird.
Remember we were going on this ghost tour because we thought that hey, ghosts, awesome, cool. We weren’t expecting the sad, sad backstory of this orphanage. So our tour guide told us about some of the history of the orphanage. It was not a good place and I know that this tour was going to be heartbreaking. Along the history of the orphanage, it was not a good place and I know that this tour was going to be heartbreaking. Along the walls of the church-like area were old photos of how orphanage looked many, many years ago. We were all encouraged to look at them.
Once our tour guide was done talking, she pointed to the blue door that had a window and told us that recently a new ghost was appearing in the doorway. She then pointed to a child’s cradle. It was an old and wooden. She said that sometimes it would move back and forth on its own and sometimes people would have heard crying sounds from it. Next to that was this purple porcelain doll. The history behind that was that it was in the dungeon down in the orphanage and something had crushed it and broke it. Still don’t know what it could be To this day. A chill went down my spine and I looked over at Emily and Jane and I could feel that Jane wasn’t taking this well. She is a teacher and she loves children. So, like I said, we weren’t expecting this trip to be as emotional as it was.
Our tour guide had finished her tour in this church-like room and told us to look around. Finished her tour in this church-like room and told us to look around. Jane, Emily and I looked at the older photos of the orphanage because there were people already going up the stairs to check on this new ghost. They were old black and white photos. We waited for our turn to climb the stairs and make our way to the next location.
We stopped by the blue door with the window. It looked like a storage room. I bought out my EMF detector and turned it on. It slowly started to go up. I had bought a little red truck from the gift shop on the tour headquarters. I figured, since we were going to an orphanage, I would buy a toy and leave it there for the ghosts to play with. Jane, Emily and myself started talking to the door ghost. Let’s call him Lyle for fun. Lyle made my EMF and Emily’s EMF go up. I showed the toy and turned the wheels on it. Then I pushed down on the bottom of the toy and it made a firetruck sound. I put it up to the window.
Side note by this time most of the people on our tour were already in the room past the white door. We’re a little slow, but we also really want to check everything out. I put the firetruck on the ground and rolled it a few times. I told Lyle that this was now for him and I hope he has fun with it. We asked him a few other questions, but I think Lyle got a little bit shy and quiet and so we figured it was time to go to the next room.
The next room looked like an old-time lunchroom. It had a few wooden tables and benches and a fireplace in the corner. The air in here felt really heavy, much worse than the church that we were just in. It had a fireplace in the corner as well. While the tour guide was telling us about this room, we heard footsteps in the room behind us. I looked to Emily and doubled back to see what it was. I poked my head into the old church, looking around the room that we just left. I didn’t see anything, but it did take a few photos and checked on Lyle on the fire truck. It didn’t move and I didn’t see Lyle, unfortunately. I popped my head back in to the room that we were in and started to listen to the tour.
The tour guide explained that the headmistress was a rather cruel person. She would dress little girls up in men’s clothing. Nowadays that’s not a big deal, but back then it was very humiliating for them. That’s not a big deal, but back then it was very humiliating for them, although I still love men’s pockets as a side note. Our tour guide said that the first headmistress was really great and everything was fine, but the second headmistress she when she took over, it was like hell on earth for these poor children. She explained that the dungeon was the worst place in the orphanage. In the old-timey room the door that everyone used to come through would sometimes slam shut or open with a crack, which is very interesting. They wanted to have control over this door, so if you closed it it would sometimes go open. Or if you opened it sometimes, it would sometimes go open. Or if you opened it sometimes it would go closed. Don’t mess with the ghost’s door, is what I realized. The second headmistress’ name was Rosa T Carmichael.
The tour for the lunchroom concluded and it was time to go into the dungeon. Well, before the dungeon, the dungeon is the creepiest part. But before we got there in the room, we opened the door and there were paths to the left which led down the stairs to the dungeon. On our right-hand side, before going down the stairs, there was this hole in the ground and there were chains attached to the. I don’t know why I’m getting so emotional, I’m so sorry. Um, there were chains attached to the walls and there was a doll. Thank goodness the doll represented the little child in from the old times, and so that child was put there to be tortured if they misbehaved. She was not a very nice person at all. Zero percent nice person. I have been in creepy places before, but this one is, hands down, the creepiest.
It was a single file stairwell and the stairs were added later on. I believe they were wooden stairs but over time they probably got moldy and they were old and they needed to be replaced, so they were concrete stairs. Each person from our tour group went down one at a time and I was one of the last to go down the stairs. Each person from our tour group went down one at a time and I was one of the last to go down the stairs. These stairs were very, very thin. The whole narrowing like going down into the dungeon, was probably the freakiest thing. It was so narrow that if you were not paying attention you might accidentally hit something. Thank God it was only just concrete on your left and on your right and just a narrow path Like the alleyway that we went to in our last episode. That was actually bigger than this stairwell. Like when I say it was skinny, it was so skinny and so narrow that it just it was not. For the claustrophobic friends in this, you know, who are listening to this.
I got to the bottom of the stairs and it definitely looked like something out of a horror movie. My chest felt really heavy and I put my hands on my knees and tried to take some deep breaths. After a few seconds I looked around the dungeon. Behind me were the stairs that we’d just come down from. To my right was a big room. It was kind of more like a big room that we were in anyway, with a dirt floor and benches along the outside so we could sit. On the left-hand side was a white door it was very old and there was a chair next to the door.
Our tour guide told us that the children were beaten, starved and had very severe punishments for the smallest issues. In the center of that room was a small wooden table with all different types of kids toys. There had been gifts that other groups had left them, all different kinds. I saw some marbles and so I made my way over. The tour guide told me to call out to a little boy named Tommy. As I was picking up the bag of marbles. It was never opened. So I obviously decided to open them because why not, figured? You know, if ghosts are there and they might want to play, they might want some friends and I was friendly enough. I, you know Casper the friendly ghost, who knew? Tommy the friendly ghost, maybe, who knew? So I took the marbles, I opened the bag and knelt down on the ground and started to play with the marbles. Bless you. Sorry, that was my cat.
After a few moments nothing had happened and our tour guide offered to turn off the lights. Here’s the issue with the lights. If one person in that room said that they didn’t want the lights turned off, she would not have turned it off. No one said a word and I don’t know if it was because they were too scared to say please don’t turn off the lights, or if they just didn’t want to fall to peer pressure. They just didn’t want to fall to peer pressure, so no one said anything and she turned off the lights. It was pitch black. Now imagine you have nighttime curtains in your room. I don’t know how to explain that. It’s darker than that, but it is darker than that. It was so dark, so creepy.
Emily used her phone flashlight and shined it on the marbles that we were playing with on the ground. Tommy, I called out and started rolling one of the marbles over and over again. I just wanted to play with Tommy. If I’m being honest with you, I didn’t realize at the time, but everyone who was in the room was watching me, Emily and the marbles. I still felt uneasy, but I didn’t say anything to anyone. I know I’ve had more experience than a lot of people I know, and some of them do still freak out, and that’s well within their rights. I sometimes freak out as well. It’s regardless of how prepared you are. In these scenarios, in these situations, sometimes you just can’t be as prepared as you want to be. After a few minutes the tour guide turned the lights back on. We all squinted until our eyes adjusted to the light.
Our guide said that if anyone wanted to go into the dungeon room or the hole then we could do so. That was the room with the white door. It was an old wood door and it was on the left stairs. Once you got into the basement, door creaked. It was a small concrete tunnel appeared behind the door. It was like something out of a horror movie. Again, this whole place is a horror movie where you would tell the main character not to go down, but for the plot they would do it anyway, because the plot matters. The floor was dirt, like the rest of the dungeon. On the right were pipes along the walls and a few paces forward was a hole in the wall on the left. Our tour guide said we could go in if we were wanted and if we were brave enough. I definitely didn’t go in. So in this hole in the wall was a very small, was very, very small, height-wise, width-wise it was about half the size of a standard room, maybe less. There were toys on both the left and the right-hand side of this hole in the wall. Basketballs were on, like the right side, and Barbies and other things like trucks were on the other side the other side.
Our guide, when we were in the church, like area in the starting area told us about the purple doll and how someone had dismantled it and crushed it and broke it and the caretakers put the doll upstairs in the hole. So well, the next day the doll was broken and crushed, like I said before, but something lived down there and they don’t know what it was, if you can call it that. I’d rather not tempt fate and go into a hole, uh, where something might you know, uh, break me or abuse me or accidentally come with me to my house back in New Jersey. I did take a photo of the hole and it’s very cool. I’ll post it up on the sanctumofstrange.com website.
Everyone wrapped up looking around the dungeon and we all headed up the stairs. The last room in the orphanage before heading outside wasn’t as entertaining as the dungeon, but it also had some apparition and ghost stories From there. We went outside, which was the starting area of our tour. There was a wooden outhouse and some apartments, like we saw in the beginning. The outhouse was said to be haunted. I feel bad for that ghost, but the tour guide was talking about it being haunted. Emily went over and took a sneak peek inside and jumped back. She thought she saw a ghost. Unfortunately, it was a stuffed human-sized doll that tour guides use as a joke in the hall for like laughing and for Halloween and stuff like that. Emily used her evp on the outhouse and she started talking to the I’m going to call him the bathroom ghost. The tour guide told us a few stories about the gift shop right next to the orphanage and how the third floor uh, there was paranormal encounters up there. With that our tour ended and some people stayed to ask some questions. Jay and Emily and I did as well. I asked the tour guide if the little fire truck I had bought could stay so the little ghost kids can play with it, and she happily obliged. We talked for a few more minutes and our guide told us to go to the famous bridge and the battlefield.
Next time will be part three of our Gettysburg trip. I’ll be telling you of our adventures, about this bridge and the battlefield, and we’ll talk about more in depth about some of the other paranormal things that have happened at this orphanage, as well as finishing up the last leg of our trip. Thank you very much for listening and I hope you have a very fantastic and spooky day. This is Sanctum of Strange Podcast. I’m your host, Nicki, and if you ever have a funny or spooky story you would like me to know or tell on the podcast, you can always go to sanctumofstrange.com or you can visit this page’s feed and DM me as well. Have a fantastic, fantastic and spooky night.
Leave a Reply