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IN 2013, AMERICANS MARKED THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF PRESIDENT ABE LINCOLN'S GETTYSBURG ADDRESS.
THE LEGENDARY SPEECH WAS DELIVERED AFTER THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG, THE BLOODIEST BATTLE
EVER ON U.S. SOIL.
TODAY THE TOWN OF GETTYSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA IS A MAGNET NOT ONLY FOR THOSE INTERESTED
IN THE CIVIL WAR, BUT FOR PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE IN GHOSTS.
AS VOA'S JEROME SOCOLOVSKY REPORTS, GHOST HUNTING HAS BECOME A BUSINESS IN GETTYSBURG.
ON ASSIGNMENT'S REBECCA WARD CAUGHT UP WITH JEROME TO GET THE WHOLE GHOST STORY.
IF GHOSTS EXIST ANYWHERE IN THE U.S. GETTYSBURG IS PERHAPS THE RIGHT PLACE TO LOOK FOR THEM.
LOCALS SAY THIS HOUSE IS HAUNTED AND RECENTLY A GROUP OF PEOPLE ON A GHOST HUNTERS TOUR
VENTURED INSIDE WITH RATHER SOPHISTICATED GADGETS.
I DID NOT SEE A GHOST OR THE PRESENCE OF A GHOST. I TRIED AND WENT AROUND WITH ONE OF
THESE LASOR POINTER MATRIX FLASHLIGHTS AND DIDN'T SEE ANYWHERE.
BUT DID ANYBODY ELSE ON THE TOUR OR ON THE -- ANY OF THE OTHER VISITORS OR EVEN THE GUIDE
SAY HERE'S SOMETHING.
RIGHT. SO, THERE WERE ABOUT A DOZEN PEOPLE ON THE TOUR A AND QUITE A FEW OF THEM SAID
THEY FELT THE PRESENCE.
CHARLIE SAUTERS THINKS HE HEARD A GHOST.
"CAN YOU TELL US WHAT YEAR IT IS?"
A STUDY BY BAYLOR UNIVERSITY IN TEXAS ESTIMATES THAT 68 PERCENT OF AMERICANS BELIEVE IN THE
PARANORMAL.
NOBODY ACTUALLY, AS FAR AS I COULD TELL, SAW A GHOST, AN APPARITION, BUT IN ONE ROOM AND
I WAS THERE THEY SAW A CHANDELIER SWAYING. ME BEING THE RATIONAL PERSON -- I WOULD EXPLAIN
THAT FROM HAVING A DOZEN PEOPLE WALKING ON A ONE OF THE UPPER FLOORS OF AN OLD HOUSE.
OR JUST OPENING THE DOOR.
NOW ONE WOMAN SAID SHE HAD NEVER SEEN THAT CHANDELIER SWAY.
I HAVE BEEN HERE MAYBE ABOUT A DOZEN TIMES AND IT'S NEVER EVER MOVED.
WELL, WHY DON'T YOU DESCRIBE TO US WHERE YOU WERE AND KIND OF TAKES US ON THE TOUR, HOW
IT BEGAN, HOW IT ENDED.
SURE. THE TOUR BEGINS DOWNTOWN. I WOULD CALL IT A GHOST TOUR ROW WHERE THEY HAVE SEVERAL
BUSINESSES THAT OFFER THESE TOURS. THIS ONE WAS CALLED AN EXTREME GHOST HUNT WHERE THEY
GO WITH ALL OF THE, THEY HAVE THEIR PARAPHERNALIA, THEIR EQUIPMENT, AND THEY GO LATE AT NIGHT
UP TO MIDNIGHT TO SEVERAL LOCATIONS AROUND GETTYSBURG. OBVIOUSLY IT WAS A BIG BATTLE,
SEVEN THOUSAND PEOPLE DIED, 11 THOUSAND MISSING AND TENS OF THOUSANDS WOUNDED SO THERE ARE
A LOT OF HAUNTED PLACES IN THE AREA. WE WENT TO A PLACE CALLED THE HOFFMAN MANSION WHICH
WE WERE TOLD WAS A CASUALTY COLLECTION CENTER, A PLACE WHERE THEY BROUGHT THE WOUNDED. THEY
COULDN'T DO MUCH WITH THEM SO A 80 PERCENT OF THEM DIED AND THEREFORE THAT WOULD BE A
PLACE TO LOOK FOR GHOSTS.
AND, OF COURSE BEFORE THEY DIED SOME PRETTY HORRIFIC MEDICINE BACK IN THE CIVIL WAR ERA.
SAWING OFF LEGS WITHOUT ANY ANESTHESIA AND YEA, I COULD IMAGINE. IF THERE ARE GHOSTS
THEY COULD BE THERE.
AND FOR AMERICA AS A COUNTRY THAT BATTLE WAS THE BLOODIEST BATTLE ON AMERICAN SOIL. A LOT
OF THE BODIES WERE LYING OUT ON THE FIELD FOR A LONG TIME. THERE WERE QUICK BURIALS
SO PEOPLE WEREN'T VERY DEEP IN THE GROUND AND BONES WOULD SURFACE AFTERWARD, FOR YEARS
AFTERWARD APPARENTLY.
SO YOU MUST HAVE MET SOME INTERESTING PEOPLE ON THIS TOUR.
SO WE MET A PSYCHIC MEDIUM WHO TOOK US OUT TO A FIELD AND WAS HAVING ELABORATE CONVERSATIONS
WITH PEOPLE SHE SAID SHE SAW VIVIDLY OUT THERE.
"JAMES AND BARTHOLOMEW AND BILL AND ALL THE REST OF YOU I UNDERSTAND THERE ARE ABOUT 14
OF YOU, GIVE OR TAKE A FEW...
AUTHOR AND PSYCHIC LAINE CROSBY CLAIMS SHE'S TALKING WITH DEAD SOLDIERS AND SAYS SHE DOESN'T
NEED SOPHISTICATED EQUIPMENT TO DO SO.
"THEY'RE JUST LIKE US. THEY JUST DON'T HAVE BODIES ANYMORE. (INAUDIBLE) DO YOU HEAR THAT?"
"SO PEOPLE ARE IN A QUEST FOR A KIND OF CERTAINTY AND THE MORE SCIENTIFIC OR TECHNOLOGICAL IT
SEEMS, THE BETTER."
WHAT DID THE THEOLOGIAN TELL YOU ABOUT THE TYPE OF PERSONALITIES. I KNOW YOU KIND OF
TOUCHED ON IT BUT THERE'S SO MANY PEOPLE THAT BELIEVE IN GHOSTS OR THE POSSIBILITY OF GHOSTS.
SHE DESCRIBED IT AS A, AS A KIND OF SUBCULTURE WITH ITS OWN GADGETS THAT WITH THE MORE SCIENTIFIC
THE BETTER. WITH ITS OWN DRESS. PEOPLE SEEMED TO DRESS DARK AND HATS PULLED DOWN...
GHOSTBUSTERS.
"HEY, ANYONE SEEN GHOSTS?"
"THIS IS FOR CAPTURING SHOTS FIGURES, IF SOMETHING CROSSES IN FRONT YOU SEE THE SHADOW FIGURE.
YOU SEE WHAT'S CREATING THE FIGURE. IT'S AN INTERESTING LITTLE TOOL AS WELL."
THEY EVEN HAVE A CODE OF ETHICS WHICH I FOUND TO BE INTERESTING THAT WHEN THEY PREPARED
PEOPLE TO GO INTO THESE HOUSES THEY SAID IT WAS VERY IMPORTANT TO BEHAVE IN A WAY SO AS
NOT TO DISTURB THE SPIRITS, NOT TO BE SHOUTING OR, AND NOT TO DISTURB THE LOCATIONS. SO,
THEY EVEN HAVE THEIR OWN COSMOLOGY AND THIS IDEA OF THE AFTERLIFE, WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN
THEN.
JEROME SOCOLOVSKY IS VOA'S RELIGION REPORTER, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR REPORTING JEROME.