13 Hidden, Haunted, Hotspots of Gettysburg #13
July 1, 1863—The first of three day’s battles at Gettysburg was reaching a tipping point. During the morning, Union cavalry under Brigadier General John Buford had fanned out along McPherson’s Ridge to the west of Gettysburg to hold off Confederate Infantry sweeping in toward the town until Union infantry arrived. Fighting expanded from the west to the north of town with the Union line in the shape of a giant “L” lying on its side, its right flank resting on Barlow’s Knoll. By afternoon, more Confederates arrived, occupying the ground east of Barlow’s Knoll, making the Union position untenable. As the Union line began to collapse, Confederates continued their advance, driving the Union troops through the town of Gettysburg.
Hays’s and Hoke’s Confederate Brigades (Hoke’s temporarily being commanded by Isaac Avery) attacked in a wide battle line down the east side of the Old Harrisburg Road virtually unopposed. They crossed Rock Creek and passed on with little resistance—most Union troops were on the west side of the Harrisburg Road—until they ran into Colonel Coster’s men at Kuhn’s Brickyard (fighting which is detailed in my previous blog about the Battle for Kuhn’s Brickyard.) The area they advanced over, once they crossed Rock Creek, would become the Gettysburg North Shopping Center in the mid-20th Century.
The shopping center was the typical strip mall of the era consisting of small shops with outside entrances. One was a Radio Shack, located in the southern end of the complex. I purchased batteries and small electronic items from there in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I remember the years because of something the manager at the time told me.
She had read my Ghosts of Gettysburg books—or at least the first one.
The manager prefaced her story with some information: she was not prone to seeing ghosts or having weird, unexplainable experiences. However, several times, when she opened the store in the early morning, she would hear one of the televisions in the back of the store chattering away. At first she thought the employee from the night before had accidentally left the TV on. But when she went back to turn it off, slowly the voice would fade. At least once, she saw a picture on the screen, which also faded as she approached. Unnervingly, each time she would find that the TV was unplugged.
She insisted that I investigate to see if the store was haunted and by whom. I opined that it most likely was haunted, and that it was probably the Confederate soldiers who had swept through the very space the store occupied, a century and a third earlier.
The next time I stopped in, she told me the same story—it had happened a few more times since she last spoke with me. I made a note to set up an investigation. But time passed. In a few more years the Radio Shack store was closed.
Eventually, the entire North Gettysburg Shopping Center was sold and became the Gettysburg branch of the Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC).
Directions to the Old Radio Shack site: From the center circle in town head north on Carlisle Street. You will pass the Gettysburg College campus on your left. Turn right at the light onto E. Lincoln Ave. Follow signs for Business Route 15. Turn right at the HACC entrance below the Adams County National Bank building. The Radio Shack was located in the last cluster of buildings, which currently houses the Harrisburg Area Community College Head Start facility. There is a parking lot behind the buildings. The area behind the HACC complex is private and overnight parking is prohibited. Be respectful and obey any law enforcement officers or officials from HACC should you encounter them.
[image error] Old Radio Shack Store Location
I always wanted to write about the story of the manager and her Confederate soldiers attempting to communicate using the strange, modern, box-like device that they could talk through and have their image appear in. So, a week before the Gettysburg Battlefield Bash, in preparation for my speech on “The 13 Hidden, Haunted, Hotspots of Gettysburg,” Carol and I drove out to the site of the former Radio Shack.
It was July 21, 2019, around 6:40 p.m. We pulled around behind the building to the parking area. I knew that just beyond the thick woods at the edge of the parking lot was Rock Creek. Running water has been known to enhance the gathering of EVP. I began asking questions with my recorder on “voice activation.” I got immediate, strong results.
There were very loud responses to my questions, almost like they were shouting or roaring at me. Were the spirits of the Confederate soldiers angry? Is that why the recordings are loud and boisterous? I would rather believe that, since they cannot hear themselves, they might be over-modulating—speaking too loudly—like we do when we have headphones on. For example, a communication I recorded years ago in the Gettysburg Railroad engine house was too loud to understand. I asked the female communicator if she could speak a little more softly. The very next response was a whisper: “I’ll be quiet.”
EVP from Radio Shack Site Investigation
A caveat: Nearby is the old Gettysburg radio station. Some might suggest that my recorder picked up a broadcast, but the recordings are obviously not music, not a disc jockey speaking, a weather or news report, or anything else that might be a common broadcast from a radio station. My recorder has no antenna, either inside or outside, and cannot receive radio broadcasts. The recordings sound exactly like other EVP I’ve collected over the last twenty-five years. The radio station was moved years ago to the Fairfield Road, miles away. I’m not sure the radio equipment is even in the building anymore.
