Guests Report Strange Happenings In Their Suite!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009, Early Afternoon

I was in the breakfast room restocking for the next morning when a young couple approached me.  They told me they had been directed to me by the other hotel staff.

The young couple then related to me the following, which occurred in the early morning hours of Tuesday, August 18, and Wednesday, August 19, in the Oakridge Suite: 

"We were lying in bed and started to see a bright red light coming from the bathroom.  At times it appeared to be blinking, at other times it pulsated, and at other times it remained a solid, bright red.

"We went into the bathroom, turned on all the lights, and saw there was nothing in there to create the light effect.  As soon as we turned off the lights and went back to bed, the bright red light started once again, blinking and pulsating."

Both the young man and woman witnessed this.  The young man added that he also saw green and purple lights blinking and pulsating; however, the young woman only saw the red light.

Both said the lights were very bright.  Eventually, the young man fell asleep, but the young woman was mesmerized and stayed awake most of the night watching the lights.

They told me that this happened on both nights of their two-night stay in the suite at approximately the same time and for the same duration of time.  Neither of them were afraid, just unnerved.

I explained to the young couple that we have heard many accounts of paranormal activity from that particular suite, as well as on the entire property.  I told them that this was the first account of this nature that I had ever heard about in that suite. 

To allay their fears, I also told them that no one has ever been harmed in any manner by anything that has occurred on the property.

The left very excited and happy to have had the paranormal experience in the suite.

On the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, one of the brigades advancing with Union Major John Reynolds' First Corps. was the infamous Iron Brigade, consisting of the 2nd, 6th and 7th Wisconsin Infantry, the 19th Indiana Infantry and the 24th Michigan Infantry.  The 2nd and 7th Wisconsin, along with the 19th Indiana and the 24th Michigan regiments were immediately ordered into battle on McPherson's Ridge, with the 6th Wisconsin held in reserve.

Two of the regiments on the north side of the cut, the 56th PA and the 76th NY had been flanked and forced back to Seminary Ridge. The other regiment, the 147th NY had not heard the order to retreat and was even now fighting an entire brigade of Confederates, led by Brigadier General Joseph Davis, nephew of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

When it appeared that the Confederates were about to move against the Iron Brigade on their right flank and to completely overrun the 147th NY, the 6th Wisconsin, let by Colonel Rufus Dawes, was ordered to charge across the Chambersburg Pike (now Rt. 30) and into an open field to stop the Confederates.  Sheltered in the unfinished railroad cut about 175 yards at the end of that field was the 2nd and 42nd Mississippi Infantry and the 55th North Carolina Infantry.  After a desperate and bloody battle, the 6th Wisconsin, with support from the 95th NY, captured the 2nd Mississippi battle flag, losing 168 of their men in the process. This field where the 6th Wisconsin charged into an unrelenting hail of musket fire and where so many brave young men lost their lives sits within feet of The Fireside Suite and The Oakridge Suite, along with the western-most wing of the hotel.  

Is it any wonder why we have accounts of paranormal activity in those two suites?