The Spirit of the Gettysburg Train Station

For years we have been looking for any reports of paranormal activity for the Gettysburg Train Station so that we could add the location to our database. This story will explain how we came across that information.

To put it more succinctly, we received the information while attending a paranormal conference.

Occasionally, we set up a booth at paranormal conferences to help promote PANICd.com and Our Haunted Travels. We typically display selected pieces from our collection at our booths that relate to the locations we have visited in the past. We have a vast collection, and most of our items stay packaged up, but on one particular day, we brought out a piece of the Gettysburg Train Station that we own.

During the conference, a woman came over to me and asked if we knew of any ghost stories about the building. This was a giant surprise to us since we have been looking for this information since 2013. I replied back with, "No, actually, we wish we could find some," and explained why.

The lady went on to explain that she had just returned from Gettysburg, and she mentioned that she has a photo she took, which shows a woman looking out the window on the top floor. I told her I would be interested in seeing the photo, and she told me she would go and look for it in her phone and come back and show me.

A little while later, she came back and showed me the photograph. Sure enough, there was a woman dressed in what looked like a Victorian-era dress standing at one of the windows on the top floor, looking out toward the northwest.

I gave her my card and contact information, and I asked her if she would send me the photo so that I could add it to the database. I was excited that we were finally able to add the building to the database. Unfortunately, she never sent me the photograph, but I did see it for myself.

As I was adding the location to the database and conducting some research on the building, I came across a story on Wikipedia that was actually backed by an article from the Washington Daily Observer dated December 16, 1890, some almost 30 years after the battle. The article's goal was to identify the girl known as the train station's heroine.

The story goes that the adopted young daughter of a Mr. (Brown) Lee was the telegraph operator of the train station. On the first day of the battle, she witnessed the Confederate soldiers approaching town, so she took it upon herself to disconnect the telegraph and take it with her down south to the Union stronghold on cemetery hill.

Once she arrived, she instructed the young soldiers on how to connect the telegraph key to the telegraph lines, and from that point, she relayed orders over the telegraph system for the Union Army for the entire three days of the battle.

Although she was in the midst of the battle with soldiers being shot and killed right next to her, she continued on with her tasks of communication. With her sitting on the ground and the key being propped up on a stump, the young woman was relaying crucial and strategic messages over her device.

When the battle was over, she collected her equipment and went back to the train station to continue on with her duties.

Now, you might be saying, "You found this on Wikipedia; how do you know it is true?" Well, if you take a look at the article, a Captain O. R. McNary stated that he knew the girl well, as he was positioned close to her temporary operating location. After 30 years, he could just not remember her name.

If you are young and reading this, let’s put it into perspective.

Almost everyone now carries with them a communication device in their pockets; however, the Battle of Gettysburg took place July 1-3, 1863. Back then, there were no cell phone towers, and the first telephone landlines and switchboards were not even installed until 1870. So, all communications in and out of town would flow through the train station's telegraph service, eliminating the need for dispatch riders or post. This is how the White House and President Lincoln would receive information from the battles of the Civil War.

This young woman, whose name is unknown to us, should be awarded a medal of honor for having the foresight to remove the communications from the train station in the first place. It is well known and historically documented that the Confederate soldiers were in and around the train station.

So, is it possible that the woman who has been photographed looking out of the window of the train station is the telegraph operator reliving those traumatic moments when she saw the Confederates approaching the town? Could you please imagine the thoughts that were running through her mind when she originally saw them approaching—her being a young woman and knowing what she knew about the telegraph services?

She had no choice; she needed to act quickly. Is it possible that this is a residual haunting that replays over and over that traumatic event? With all of the paranormal activity that takes place throughout the town of Gettysburg, of course it could be that very thing.

This story gets even better.

During our visit to Gettysburg in 2018, we conducted a rather lengthy paranormal investigation at the edge of Cemetery Hill. During the investigation, we kept getting the name "Rebecca". We thought that may have been related to the stories of a woman who has been seen roaming that area looking for someone. What if Rebecca was the name of the telegraph operator? The telegraph operator would have been here during the battle, and we would have been in a secure area near the telegraph lines.

We did a quick census search for 1860 and found a Rebecca Lee in Washington County, Pennsylvania, born in 1839. This would mean she was approximately 24 years old at the time of the battle. This is a longshot, but what if we have pieced together and solved this mystery?

We definitely have to go back and investigate again... and ask. UPDATE: We have on multiple occasions!