Guests Hear Phantom Cannon Fire!

Monday, April 20, 2009, 11:00 p.m. to 3:35 a.m.

Beginning at 11:00 p.m. and continuing until 3:35 a.m., I heard intermittent, loud, cannon fire sounds.  It varied between every 15 minutes to every 1/2 hour.

Each and every time, the loud booms were followed by vibrations in the floor beneath my feet and rattling of the windows in the building.

At one point, I was standing behind the front desk counter in the lobby facing the front door when I heard a very loud boom.  I watched the front door rattle and then the percussion hit my body.  It was amazing!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009, 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. (The following morning)

At 7:00 a.m., a gentleman and his son approached me at the front desk.  The gentleman asked me if we had any fireworks during the night.  I explained to him that Gettysburg only has fireworks on July 4th, New Year's Eve and Gettysburg College Reunion Weekend, which takes place in May.  I asked him why he was inquiring about fireworks.

He explained to me that he and his son awoke to what sounded like fireworks in the middle of the night.  I asked him if he could recall what the time was and what room they were staying in.  He stated that it happened several times between midnight and 3:00 a.m.  I explained to him that it was phantom cannon fire and that I had heard it as well.  They were both very excited and went into the breakfast room,.

At 7:11 a.m., another gentleman approached me at the front desk.  He stated that he heard small arms fire in the middle of the night, along with some very loud booms.  I asked him if he could recall what time he heard those sounds and what room he was staying in.  He related to me that he heard the small arms fire around 1:00 a.m. and the loud booms started at around 11:30 p.m. and continued throughout the night.

The gentleman explained to me that he was a hunter and he was very familiar with the sounds of small arms fire, but he had never heard anything like those loud booms.  Once again, I explained about the phantom cannon fire and suggested that perhaps he was hearing the sounds of battle as well.

I explained to him that we receive a lot of reports from our guests of battle sounds and that I, too, had heard the cannon fire the previous night.  I also told him that I frequently hear the sounds of battle at the hotel, sometimes right in the lobby and breakfast area,.  The gentleman was very excited and went into breakfast.

A total of six guests came to the front desk that morning.  Each guest had heard the same loud booms from approximately 11:00 p.m. to 3:30 a.m.  When I asked them which rooms they were staying in, I discovered that they were all staying in the same wing of the hotel.

On the afternoon of the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, six artillery pieces from Battery "B" of the 4th U.S. Artillery (cannon), commanded by Lieut. James Stewart, were heavily engaged against Confederate infantry in the defense of their position on Seminary Ridge.  The hotel sits on Seminary Ridge and three of those artillery pieces sat where the west wing of our hotel sits today.  It was in this same wing of the hotel  that all six of the guests who had heard the loud booms were staying. 

Just across the road (Rt. 30)  from the hotel, also sat Lieut. Benjamin W. Wilber's section of Battery L, 1st New York Light Artillery (cannon).   Just south of these guns were the six Napoleons (cannon) of Captain Greenlief T. Stevens' Fifth Maine Battery B, 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery.  Also, interspersed were four other cannon of Battery L, 1st New York Light Artillery, under the command of George Breck.

All in all, there were 21 cannon pieces lined up across the road from the hotel and on the hotel grounds itself.  Is it any wonder the guests and I heard the phantom cannon fire?

This is the first time I can document so many guests hearing the same phantom cannon fire at the very same time I was hearing it.  Also, this is the very first time that so many guests experiencing the same event were also staying in the same proximity of each other - the same wing of the hotel where artillery pieces were placed and firing at the time of the battle.

How cool is that?