Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Haunted Road, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim
and Mild from Aaron Minky. Listener discretion is advised. Years ago,
I found myself investigating what was once a Civil War
battlefield in the middle of the night, and it was
(00:23):
freezing to be clear. Outdoor investigations of wide open spaces
are difficult to do, especially at night. If you're using
cameras with infrared light. There's nothing for the light to
bounce off of, so your cameras just see inky blackness
all around. Also, sounds, Sounds are hard to pinpoint. Sure,
you may hear voices in the distance, but with no
(00:44):
way to determine where it's coming from, how do you
know they're not you know, living people talking. So I
wasn't expecting much, but we had to give it the
old college try. But I was definitely jealous of my
teammates who were investigating inside the cozy inn that was
also located on the property. But my shivers and frustration
(01:05):
were about to be rewarded in my world anyway, because
as I swooped my flashlight behind me after hearing a
small noise, I was met with a face, just a face,
the face of someone who was clearly a Civil War
era soldier. He had his cap on, his scruffy beard
was a tangle against his face, and his brown eyes
(01:27):
were staring straight at me. Did I mention it was
just a face as in nobody, just a floating face
in the darkness that disappeared right before my eyes. And that,
my friends, was just one of the many experiences I've
had over the years in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Let's visit one
(01:48):
of my favorite haunts in the area, the cash Town Inn.
I'm Amy Bruney, and welcome to Haunted Road. If you
were to visit the cash Town Inn today, you might
be surprised by the decor. It doesn't look like a
(02:09):
stereotypical haunted hotel. The cheerful red exterior looks a lot
like it did when the two story inn was first
constructed in the late eighteenth century. A bright white sign
displays the hotel's name in blue lettering. The front porch
is lined with leafy bushes and trees and rocking chairs
welcome weary travelers. In the summer's American flags in red,
(02:31):
white and blue bunting hang from the balustrades. In the autumn,
pumpkins and gourds line the walkway, giving it a cozy feel.
The interior is equally comfortable. The lobby boasts blue and
white armchairs, and the restaurant's seating area is sandwiched between
the bar and a brick wall with a fireplace. If
you drop by for their Sunday morning brunch, you can
(02:54):
order coffee muffins and French toasts sprinkled with powdered sugar.
You might feel like you've disc covered a heartwarming historical gem,
but if you were to stay in the inn overnight,
the experience could become unsettling. There's an uneasiness here with
ties to the boarding house's history. It was first built
(03:16):
in seventeen ninety seven. At the time it was a
modest wooden structure where stagecoach drivers could stop to take
a break and get something to eat. There were no
overnight accommodations. Within a decade or two, proprietor Peter Mark
rebuilt the stop as a sturdier brick building, and in
eighteen fifteen he secured a tavern license so he could
(03:37):
run it as a hotel. It had four rooms in
a cellar with two ovens, so they'd always have freshly
baked bread. When the lodge first opened its doors, it
didn't have a name. It was just an anonymous inn
near a rural Pennsylvania crossroads. As reported on George S.
Scotch's On the Road to Gettysburg, Peter didn't let guests
(03:57):
pay for their rooms, goods, or cover the local tolls
on credit, nor was he opened a barterer. His insistence
on cash alone eventually earned the building the name the
Cashtown in the Moniker stuck. Just as nobody consciously decided
to name the Cashtown in the village that sprang up
(04:18):
around it appeared more or less unintentionally also called Cashtown.
The community slowly grew to accommodate the through traffic the
hotel brought in by the eighteen hundreds Cashtown. Both the
inn and the town had earned reputations as getaway destinations.
Scotch wrote of the hotel's healthy neighborhood, pure mountain air,
(04:39):
and daily bath in fine waters from a natural spring
flowing through the cellar. But it wouldn't remain an idyllic
vacation spot forever. In the summer of eighteen sixty three,
the Civil War was tearing the United States apart, Although
Pennsylvania's Cashtown Inn spent most of the conflict far from
the battlefield, event vitually fighting practically reached its front door.
(05:03):
The Franklin Township's history web page, written by Craig A. Hartley,
says Confederate soldiers were marching through town. On June twenty sixth,
eighteen sixty three. At ten o'clock, a m Union fighters
launched a surprise attack. One of the soldiers, a man
named Henry Han, fired on a mounted trooper, knocking him
from his horse. The gunshot may not have killed the soldier,
(05:26):
but the fall certainly did. After a full day of suffering,
he died that night. It's been speculated that at the
time the soldier was the only wartime casualty in Pennsylvania's
Adams County, but it wouldn't remain that way. Around the
time of the skirmish, the Confederate army was camping in Cashtown.
Generals ap Hill, John d Imboden, and Henry Heath slept
(05:50):
in the inn's rooms, and they occasionally met with Robert E.
Lee in the on site barroom to discuss strategy. Fatefully,
the Cashtown Inn stood on a major road there Confederate
Army used to transport supplies, and they were in dire
need of new provisions. Many soldiers didn't have sturdy shoes.
So one day, when Hill, Heath, and Imbuden gathered in
(06:11):
the bar room, General Hill gave Heath permission to march
into Gettysburg, just eight miles away. There he could search
for provisions, including footwear. Famously, on the road, Heath's men
clashed with Union troops and the Battle of Gettysburg erupted
on July first, less than a week after the scuffle
where Henry Han killed the mounted man. Called the bloodiest
(06:34):
battle of the Civil War, Gettysburg would result in an
estimated fifty thousand casualties. Now, I don't have the time
here to talk about the many hauntings that have been
reported across Gettysburg, which is considered a massive hotspot for
ghostly activity. In ghost Stories of America's National Parks, author
(06:55):
Joe Sills calls it one of the most haunted places
in America. The cashtown in it saw its share of
action during the three day battle. The Confederate Army continued
using it as a base and helped themselves to the
supplies that owners kept there. They reportedly seized chickens, apples, liquor,
a wagon, a horse, and a cow. According to Mike
(07:17):
Kendra on Civil War Talk, they also used the facility's
bread ovens and bathing facilities throughout their stay, and converted
the basement into a hospital where countless amputations were performed
While the soldiers ransacked carshtown, the inn's owner and his
family hid in the attic. They must have breathed a
sigh of relief when the enlistes finally moved on, or
(07:40):
at least the living ones did, following the Battle of Gettysburg.
The Cashtown in cell on hard times. It had a
stint as a library and allegedly as an illegal distillery
During Prohibition. The construction of new highways meant the road
that passed the lodge wasn't the major thoroughfare it had
once been. This diminished the traffic to the inn, which
(08:02):
hurt their bottom line. Around the nineteen fifties, the hotel
was in serious disrepair. Between nineteen eighty seven and twenty
twenty one, the Cashtown Inn changed hands a number of times,
undergoing numerous renovations to restore its two hundred year old features,
all the while it continued to operate as a hotel,
and guests reported strange supernatural sightings at Cashtown. When visitors
(08:26):
took photographs of the inn from the outside, the developed
photos often showed faces peeking out the windows, as reported
on the Cashtown in Gettysburg page on the Occult World
web site. One very famous photo shows the proprietor standing
outside the building near a second person in what looks
like a Confederate uniform. This figure is slightly blurry, as
(08:48):
if the Civil War era subject moved while the picture
was being taken. The proprietor doesn't seem to notice his companion,
and the photographer claims there was no second person to
be seen when he snapped the picture. On other occasions,
people have encountered light anomalies, or as reported by Stephen Coleman,
there have been sightings of what he calls glowing areas.
(09:10):
People walking through the building will encounter cold spots or
see spirits in Civil War era clothing pacing the halls.
Numerous guests have heard footsteps in unoccupied spaces, or they'll
step into an empty room to find the furniture has
been moved around. Visitors hear horses outside or a voice
repeating hello. Multiple people have felt someone touching or grabbing them.
(09:34):
This even happened when they were trying to sleep. Doors
have a way of walking on their own, television sets
and lights turned themselves off and on. The Haunted Room's
website explains that on more than one occasion, visitors have
stepped into their rooms to find their suitcases fully packed,
like the spirits are urging them to move along and
(09:54):
get out. Beyond that, it can be challenging to determine
what the spirit in the inner trying to say with
their disturbances, It seems that the time two forty five
am is important to them. Multiple visitors have reported that
instances happen at that precise hour. For example, one couple
booked a room at the Cashtown Inn sometime in the
(10:16):
nineteen nineties. During the night, they woke up to the
sound of someone pounding on their door, but when they
got up to answer, no one was there. The brave
husband and wife ventured into the hallway, only to see
a shadow pass over the stairs. According to Dave and
Sharon Oaster's Ghosts of Gettysburg, they also heard a whistle
coming from above them, like the sound was coming from
(10:38):
the room they'd just emerged from, except they hadn't seen
anyone else spook. They both ran back to their room,
only to find their watches had stopped at the precise
second they heard the knocking around two forty five am.
In the Robert E. Lee Swede, a woman in an
old fashioned white outfit is often spotted. Her identity is unknown,
but some believe she's the daughter of them man who
(11:00):
owned the inn during the Battle of Gettysburg. This makes sense.
While the room in question is a swee today, it
used to be the attic where the owner's family hid
throughout the battle. When the attic was converted into a residence,
many visitors said they heard furniture being moved around in
it even when it was empty, and Rosemary Ellen Giley's
Ghost Hunting Pennsylvania says people who step into the suite
(11:23):
sometimes hear something scratching at the window or heavy breathing.
A rocking chair in the Robert E. Lee Suite sometimes
moves on its own, so does the swing on the
front porch, even on still nights with no wind. Similarly,
a rocking chair often rocks without being pushed. In the
ap Hill room, where the eponymous General Hills stayed during
(11:44):
the battle. People who have booked this room say they
sometimes feel a present or something unseen touches their legs
while they're trying to sleep. In the basement, which served
as the makeshift's hospital during the Battle of Gettysburg, people
have seen spirits tending to injure comrades. According to Rosemary
Guiley's Ghost Hunting Pennsylvania, it often smells of cigar smoke.
(12:06):
All these reports have drawn ghost hunters and investigators to
the cash Town Inn. On one occasion, a rider was
staying in the room known as the Henry Heathroom, which
is said to be haunted by the spirit of the
man who fell from his horse before the Battle of Gettysburg.
The smallest room in the inn, it holds a bed
and an armchair, and it's where many people have spotted
a spirit in a Civil War era uniform. The writers
(12:29):
said that throughout the night he heard someone knocking on
the door, only for the hallway to be empty when
he answered. Another time, in the same room, paranormal investigators
set up a night vision camera that was pointed at
a teddy bear and some stuffed balls. If they hoped
to capture ghostly footage, they'd end up disappointed. As the
story goes in Mark Nesbit and Patty Wilson's The Big
(12:50):
Book of Pennsylvania Ghost Stories, the investigator fell asleep. When
he woke, he found the camera on the floor. It
wasn't broken, like if it had fallen. Instead, it appeared
that it had been set there. As for the Teddy Bear,
it had been turned around so it was looking out
the window, and the balls were strewn throughout the room.
The Civil War Ghost's website describes another occasion where a
(13:13):
couple at the inn heard knocking and footsteps. Unlike in
the earlier stories, this pair chose to ignore it. While
they laid in bed, they heard the footsteps draw nearer.
Now the sound was coming from inside their room. It
drew closer and closer, continuing right up to the foot
of their bed. The couple was too terrified to move
(13:34):
as their mattress began to shift like an invisible visitor
had climbed onto it. Finally, something unseen clutched the woman's shoulder.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
No thank you.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Given accounts like these, it's unsurprising that so many guests
flee their rooms in the middle of the night. Rather
than spend another minute among the spirits. In an interview
with Washington Post reporter James f. Leek, the Cashtown Ends
owner Jack Palladino noted that some of these terrified visitors
are in such a rush they leave their keys hanging
in the doorknobs. And it's no wonder as some of
(14:09):
these incidents have the potential to be dangerous. Most alarmingly,
one guest reported that when he fell asleep one night,
his heart medicine was sitting on a table. It was
missing when he woke up. This all goes beyond a
simple spirit prank. It seems like the specters are trying
to get rid of unwanted guests. Most seem to be
(14:30):
from the Civil War era, and supernatural activity tends to
spike around July first through the third, the anniversary of
the Battle of Gettysburg. Perhaps some of the animosity of
the war lives on in the spirits that remain here.
I've investigated the Cashtown in and so has my guest
today with me. Actually, that's right, mister Adam Berry is
(14:51):
joining us after the break so we can share all
the experiences we had at the Cash Town Inn. Stay
tuned all right, I am now joined by one of
my favorite guests in the whole wide universe, mister Adam Berry.
(15:13):
Welcome to the program.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Hi, Amy Bruney.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
It's so nice to have you once again. You know,
there's so many of these places that I cover that
we've investigated, and we've had so many great experiences at them.
I'm like, I'm just gonna have Adam on so we
can talk about it.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
You know. I love to talk about ghosts, and I
love to talk about how crazy we are investigating.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
This is our life at this point. Yeah, it's funny.
I wanted to investigate the cash Town in for so long.
I feel like I saw it well, I'd heard about
it for years and I'm pretty sure I saw it
on Ghost Hunters like way back in the day, like
pre either of us, and I was fascinated by it,
and so it was so exciting when we got to
go because we were there for three nights with Kindred
(15:57):
and it was just us, which was amazing. So it's
like a bed and breakfast hotel kind of situation and
we had full access and they cooked for us too,
which was kind of amazing.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Yeah, the food was good. I was like, at first
I was like, are they going to make a silvil
war like you know, Gettysburg grub. Maybe it's going to
be like mutton and like beans. But it was not.
It was actually really good.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
No, they made me like amazing salmon and they had
a really good pasta. Like I was kind of like
any requests and so every day and the chef was great.
And I have a great story about the chef, but
I'll tell at the end of our interview. I mean,
I've seen his wife a few times since, so I
think it's okay if I tell the story. It's just
kind of emotional. But anyway, So we did some pretty
(16:41):
interesting things there. We stayed there, and so we got
some activity at night. I know, we heard a lot
of sounds at night, and that's what it's known for.
There was a lot of bumping and banging and voices,
and so I think people need to be aware of
that if they decide to stay there.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Yeah, for sure. I mean it's I feel like when
we were investigating, it felt like we even though we
were alone, right it was just the two of us,
it felt like there were other guests, right, Like there
were other guests staying with us that we could not
see like literal ghost guests, ghost guests that were kind
(17:18):
of wandering around having their own moment in cash down,
which was so crazy to me.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah, it's never a quiet building. And what I think
is interesting is that so it has sold since we
were there. So the gentleman who owned it when we
were there, he was great, and he was swore up
and down he was never going to sell the place.
He was like, no, I'm dying here. But then he
sold it.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Yes, I know. I was like, you know, I never
say never, I guess, but like I really felt his
passion for that location, you know, I really Obviously I
don't know what happened. You know, obviously maybe there was
a reason why I had to sell it, But I
could feel his passion and his commitment to that location.
Like it was almost like he was drawn there by
(18:02):
some unseen force, you know, very shining esque but like
but like also really into the history and into the preservation.
And yeah, so I hope the new owners are just
as cool.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Apparently they're great. Apparently there were like total non believers,
you know, they bought the property not based on any
ghostly things, like they just were all about the history.
It has really interesting history, which I covered in the
first half. But now I'm hearing that they're actually really
open to the ghost thing. So I'm not sure if
since they've purchased it they've had experiences and they need answers,
(18:38):
Like I haven't gotten the lowdown, but suddenly I've heard
they're like, yeah, we could maybe have some people in here. Yeah,
maybe a bit off more than they could chew for sure.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
And you know, we are going very soon. I don't
know when this is going to drop, but we're going
very soon with as strange escapes, So we go ask.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
We are, well, I think we will already have gone
when it's hers, but people should know that we go
to Getty's for restrained escapes usually at least once a year.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Yeah, maybe we'll ask them.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
I would like to know. So one thing that I
think is so interesting is that basement. You know, most basements,
especially in those old buildings, you go down, it's like
a dirt floor and there's rocks and things, but like
this one, it's a body of water. Like what do
you remember about that?
Speaker 2 (19:21):
First off sketch, very sketchy, like how like one wrong
move in the dark for a ghost huntter and you
are in a pool of water. Okay, first and foremost. Two,
it was wild because that space really hasn't changed since
the Civil War. I mean it is bare walls, it's bricked,
(19:42):
brick and stone. Right, there's like a concrete walkway. There's
water running through it. It's not just stagnant, stale water.
It is literally like an underground river of some kind.
And I just remember being transported back to the Battle
of getty Burg, immediately entering and thinking of the amputations
(20:04):
that were done there, like the horrors basically the horrors
of war and what was actually going on down there
because it is so well preserved, you know, from that
time period.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Yeah, I remember watching our crew thinking, you guys are
going to fall in that amputation water. Yeah, like that,
because they just kept talking about, like the history, they're
very clear that two things that just really really stood
out to me is that A that water ran red
from all of the amputations they did in that basement
(20:38):
or in that area, and that b the limbs stacked
so high that it covered up the basement window, like
it was just a pile of limbs. And I just
could not shake that visual the whole time we were
down there, and then on top of that, there was
just there's a very oppressive feeling in that basement. I
(20:59):
don't know if that's why, but it just felt very odd.
And I know we did like set up a whole
psychomantium using that water as well, which I thought was
really interesting.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Well, we had to use I mean, the water's been there, right,
so the water's flowing in and out like it's always
been something there. And we had done the psychomantium in
Gettysburg once before and it worked for us, and you know,
why not we had a whole body of water. I
think the setup for that was tricky. We had to
like hang things over the water, and our crew helped us.
(21:33):
It was very brave. They helped us because we were like,
I don't want to fall in, and they were like,
we don't care. Here we go because they loved the
idea so much. And you know, I do remember sitting
there in the dark with the psychomantium and like we
could both kind of see the reflection of the water
in the mirror, just waiting for something to happen. And
(21:54):
it wasn't until we started doing the Estes method, the
spearbox experiment that it really jumped off for us, like
it really started getting very active.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
It did. And what was strange is that, you know,
this isn't this happened to us when we investigate the
Farnsworth House too. We weren't necessarily in contact with someone
who died during the Battle of Gettysburg. You know, even
though there are thousands of people who died in that
area in that timeframe. A lot of these places, you know,
other history has happened since then. You know, there's been
hundreds of years of history since then, and if I
(22:25):
remember correctly, we kind of tuned in on someone who
might have actually worked there at some point had died
in like a car accident or something.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
True true. Downstairs in the basement, it was very much
like Grand Central Station for ghosts. It felt like nobody
was really staying sticking around. It was like they were
coming oh right, like they were coming in and going out,
which makes sense because the Cashtown was that kind of place,
like it was used as a stagecoach stop, right, and
so people would stop there and they would stay there
(22:53):
and they would eat there and then they would kind
of move on. And that was the vibe. But it
wasn't until we got upstairs to where the bar was
where we started talking to this spirit, this person who
is non living, and it didn't match the vibe of
like old timey Gettysburg. And we started right right and
we started.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
All coming back to me now.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Yes, Selene, but we like we started getting modern day
speech and almost like a casualness about the conversation. And
you know, you had to dig into the research to
figure out what it was after they gave us their name,
you know.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Yeah, Well it's strange because it's such a it's a
very rural area right there. You know, it's very easy
to think about the troops like marching down that street,
but there's really not a lot around and so other
than that, not a lot had happened. But then I
did find out about this former employee who had died
in a car accident. But yeah, just like back to
the basement really quick. I totally forgot about that. How
(23:53):
there were just all of these spirits kind of coming
in and out, and just your personal opinion, you know,
it is weird that there is a stret like running
through there. Do you think that has something to do
with that?
Speaker 2 (24:04):
So I think there might be something to that whole
running water theory about charging an area, you know, possibly, right,
But I think it's more about a familiarity in my opinion,
because that's always been that way, right, It's always been
a river. It's always flowing in and out like it's
(24:25):
always been that, and so it seems familiar. If a
spirit didn't know what time period it was and they
wandered into that space and they saw it and they
had seen it before, they would immediately be like, oh,
I know what this is, Like it's this cashdown right.
So I think in a way it's a familiarity, and
I think it attracts spirits. Maybe it's comforting, right, Maybe
(24:47):
it's recognizable. Maybe it's something that they can always rely
on because it's always there, it always looks the same.
I don't know, but we just got a lot of
activity for sure down there with that right right.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
And I think about people staying there because they you know,
obviously we experience activity, but you and I tend to
it's funny. I think it's kind of ironic, like what
we stay in haunted locations because we're around so many ghosts,
like nothing wakes us up, weird. It is literally like
waking the dead, like we are. We're so exhausted. We've
been investigating all night and like we I put on
(25:24):
my little fan you use scroll TikTok till the week
hours and then we go to sleep. And so we're
like the worst people to try to observe activity in
like an inn, Like we should actually start outsourcing that
job to someone who's a lot more scared than.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
We are, right, you know what, I feel like we
should put our crew in that position, right because they
don't they're not they're into ghosts in a way, but
they're mostly filming us and when they have activity, they
turn white, yes, and they're like, oh my god, what's
going on. We'll just put them in the space because
then people will be like, oh, that makes sense. You
should definitely be sleeping there because we pass out. Yeah,
(26:03):
like head, we don't care pillow. I mean, there's only
been a couple of times. This is what's weird. So
there's only been a couple of times something has happened
while we've stayed at these locations. For me, and one
was literally the Farnsworth House in Gettysburg, which is you know,
down the road, and I felt the covers being tugged
on my feet, but of course, of course the camera
(26:26):
placement where it was focused on me didn't get that
side of the bed, so you couldn't see anything.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Yeah, that's how that works exactly.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
No.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
I heard footsteps at cash Town for sure. In my
room that kind of like teetering, like yeah, like someone
kind of shifting their weight. Yeah, And I can't remember
if I think I was like, hello, is anyone there,
like hoping I would get some more activity, But it
was kind of this more like oh, they probably were
looking at me and going, she's not scared enough, like
(26:57):
this is no fun.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Or for us, Like we've spoken to them all day, right,
like they've been talking, Yeah, they know, okay long And
so once we get up there and we're trying to sleep,
it's almost like, oh, they're sleeping what we should be sleeping,
you know, or something. It's like, oh, no, give it,
let's give them a break.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
They're just being polite. They're like, oh, they're asleep, let's
all be really quiet.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
We're like, actually, no, quiet, don't really wake them up.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
They're like nice ghoes. Well, apparently people when they stay there,
it happens quite often that they are woken up by
voices pounding on the walls footsteps, and so I think
maybe it was us, But I know that, like I
guess if you go in with an open mind, it
should be okay. I don't think it's enough that like
people are running out in the middle of the night,
(27:40):
but I mean it is very well known to be haunted.
We were talking about the bar area too, like obviously
we got in touch with that more modern spirit, but
people see apparitions of like soldiers in uniform in that
area as well.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Right, I think, well, look, we know where the Cashtown
was before, even though it was used sort of like
as a like a facility, you know, where there was
wounded soldiers, and there was amputations, and there was a
lot of you know, a lot of death. But also
it always has been and still is a bed and breakfast.
(28:14):
So I feel like the activity is in line with
that sort of thing, right, Like, yes, there'll be Civil
War ghosts for sure, but like you said, there could
be anyone someone from the nineteen fifties who stayed there
that wanted to wants to go back there as a ghost,
Like it's a familiar spot. They know where, you know,
and so they show up. It has that vibe I
(28:35):
mean it is. It can be kind of screepy, obviously,
but it's a very lived in and very well traveled environment,
I think.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Absolutely, And it's one of those places where a lot
of memories have been forged.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
You know.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
I'm sure people have gone on their honeymoons there. I'm
sure people have been married there. I think that that
kind of goes for a lot of hotels. We've long
speculated that in death, you're not necessarily tied to one location,
Like maybe you do go back and revisit at places
that made you happy at some point, or that were
nostalgic for you, and maybe that's part of it, you know.
I mean, as you could tell by the owner then
(29:09):
he was so connected to the place, like he talked
about it like it was like family to him, which
is why I'm so surprised he's sold, So there has
to be something else going on. But he really was
like just just completely wrapped up in that place. And
so if that's how the owner is, imagine people visiting
it's special. It's a really special place.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
It is, and you know it's not it's not your
ordinary Gettysburg haunt stop either, because everything else is really
downtown right, right, every like Jenny Wade Orphanage goes tour Barnsworth,
it's all sort of Gettysburg Hotel. It's always it's all
sort of like contained. And then you have the cash Town,
(29:50):
which is almost like the last point a spirit or
a person will see before they go to their travels,
and it's the first place they counter before they get
into Gettysburg. It's like a mile marker, it's a milestone
kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
It's not even technically a Gettysburg. It's cash Town.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
So it's right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Yeah, it's just so associated with what happened in Gettysburg.
But I will say, so I have time to tell
this story. I had a very I had a very
weird and spiritual experience at the Cash Town. In to
this day, people asked me to tell this story, and
I'm going to tell it here so everyone knows. You
know the story, so love it. Okay. So basically, anyone
who follows me on social media knows that I'm kind
(30:32):
of like a vintage car nut and I have a couple.
I'm not like, I'm no Jay Leno by any stretch,
but I have a couple. And so at this point
I was looking for a convertible Volkswagen Beetle like Super
Beetle Buck like a seventies version. They stopped making them
in seventy nine. The super Beetle anyway for car buffs
listening to me. So, I was looking for this particular car,
(30:56):
and I've been looking all over the place and I
just could not find one in the show shape that
I wanted for the price that I wanted. And so
we were sitting there the first day we were shooting
and suddenly this man just flies into the parking lot
and this little red convertible Super Beetle and I look
at it and I'm like, oh my god, that's the
car I want. I looked at it, I could see
(31:18):
it was in great shape. He goes inside. It's the
chef that's cooking for us. He works there, and so
I go up to him and I'm like, is that
bug for sale? And He's like, it could be, and
I said, And so we kind of over the next
few days while we were there, we discussed terms. I
got my mechanic on FaceTime, you know, mister X was there,
(31:38):
Jimmy was there. We went through the whole car. It
was in great condition, runs really well, and so I
made him an offer and he said he's gonna go
he's going to go talk to his wife about it.
So the last day we're there, he texted me that
the offer was good. They were good with it. So
the last day were there, he shows up with the car,
but he's very emotional, like tearing up, and he says,
(32:01):
I need to tell you a story about this car.
And I'm like, in my brain, I'm like, oh, he's
not going to sell it to me. Like I could
tell he was really torn up about selling it. So
we walk across the street away from everybody, and he
tells me how I think it was like twenty years
before he and his soon to be wife or no,
they had just gotten married. They went on their honeymoon
(32:23):
in Salem, Massachusetts. She had been begging him to buy
a red convertible Beetle and he kept saying, no, it's
not in the budget. We can't. You know, he's very frugal.
He's like, we can't afford this, like it's not going
to happen. But they're on their honeymoon and they're driving
down the street and they see this red convertible Beetle
with a for sale sign on it, and she's like, please,
(32:44):
can we call the number please? And he's like fine,
So they call the phone number from a payphone and
the guy shows up and he gives them the keys
and he's like, just take it for the day and
joy have fun. And they're on their honeymoon. So they
take the Beetle and they drive it all over Salem
and they have the best day and they're like, we
have to have this car. So they like, I think
(33:06):
they said they had either train or plane tickets. They
cash those in. They took out advances on their credit
card and they bought this car and it was like
their dream car. And they drove it back, drove it
back to Gettysburg and they'd had it all this time.
And as they were getting older, though they just did
it's a manual transmission, they couldn't drive it as much,
(33:27):
and so they just it was sitting more than they
wanted it to and they really wanted it to go
to a good home, right and so you know, he said,
so I'm going to sell it to you, but I
just need you to know that, like this this vehicle
has like personified our marriage, Like I love this woman
more than anything and this is the hardest thing I've
ever done. But we know how much you want this.
(33:48):
We saw how much your daughter loves the carcas. Charlotte
was there and he's like, we know she's going to
the right owner. And it was like, oh my gosh,
well thank you, and like, so we do the transaction
and everything, and I get Jenny and I called the
bug Jenny because I named her after Jenny Wade because
I got her Getty's verg So fast forward. You and
(34:09):
I are on our next case. We're in New Hampshire, right,
We're investigating a bed and breakfast and as we're sitting there,
Jenny's getting delivered to my house in Newport, Rhode Island,
and Jimmy sends me a video of her coming off
the delivery truck, right, and he's like, look who's here.
And so We're sitting with the owners of the bed
(34:29):
and breakfast and I'm like, oh my gosh, look, and
I'm showing them the video. I'm like, I just got
this car. I found it in Gettysburg. You won't believe
the story. And I tell them the story about the
man and his wife, and the guy looks at me
and he says, hold on a second, you're not going
to believe this, and I'm like, oh. He leaves the
room and he comes back with a cookbook and he
(34:51):
opens it and it says, thanks for a wonderful honeymoon's day.
You were fabulous love Brian and Mary. It was the couple,
the guys that we were investigating. They had owned a
bed and breakfast in Salem, Massachusetts, years before, and the
couple had honeymoon at that bed and breakfast and got
(35:13):
in the car and they remembered the story. So it
was the weirdest thing.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
That ever so wild. I mean, that's the craziest story
because when you talk about like synchronicities and like weird
things that happen in our lives, like, yeah, coincidences or coincidences,
But that is out of all of the people that
we could have met at Cashtown, you met the guy
(35:40):
who's making this wonderful food, who like drives up in
a bug, And of all the places that we could
have gone to investigate right after, it's the couple that
owned the bed and breakfast in Salem that they say
that that is literally mathematically impossible.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
To me, it was insane, and they were like they
kept in touch with them even and so he knew exactly.
He's like, you're not going to leave this. He's like,
they stayed at our bed and breakfast. This happened at
our bed and breakfast. So it was just like, holy crap.
And so since then, I've actually met the wife. I've
done I did a show in Pennsylvania and they came
out and I got to meet her. So it was lovely.
(36:17):
It was just such a lovely story. So now every
time I look back at the cash Town, like I
have that to remember it. Every time I look in
my driveway and I see little Jenny the Bug, I
think of our wonderful time we spent there, and how
you know, the world is just so connected, you never
know how.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
After all these years, the cash Down is still making
memories for people who visit for all, and that is
part of the haunt. I mean, that's part of its legacy.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
I think. So so well, it's been lovely to have you.
I know you've got a lot of things going on.
You have a book that recently came out. Tell us
all about it, please.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
I My book just came out. It's called Goodbye Hello,
Processing Grief and understanding death through the paranormal. It's a
great read spooky stories, but also great conversations on the
afterlife and near death experiences and dream visitations, which I
know you contributed a beautiful story to. So hopefully everybody
can go out in and snag a copy.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Yes, and we're always doing things too, so people want
to catch up with us, sometimes together, sometimes separate. So
I love that. I'm so happy about your book. It's
lovely and it's nice to chat with you. And hopefully, Oh,
I will see you in person very soon.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
Yeah, I'll see you very soon.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
The Battle of Gettysburg was violent and bloody, and the
reverberations persist today. Not only is the famous battlefield said
to be haunted, but so is the surrounding area, including
the cash town in We may not know precisely what
the spirits at the old hotel are trying to tell
us with their visitations, but we can be certain the
(37:51):
haunting will continue until the troubled souls find a way
to rest in peace. I'm Amy Bruney and this was
haunted road. Are you tired of the same old vacation
destinations and cookie cutter experiences? Do you crave a sense
(38:15):
of mystery, wonder and adventure that can't be found in
ordinary travel brochures. Do you listen to this podcast and
think I'd like to visit that spooky place? Well, that's
why I started Strange Escapes, a paranormal based travel company
that takes you to some of the most haunted locations
in the world. Frankly, it's my excuse to combine all
(38:35):
of my favorite things, which is ghosts, beautiful hotels, food
and wine, and other weirdos like me. To be honest,
if that sounds right up your alley and you want
to learn more, then visit Strange Escapes dot travel and
hopefully you can join us sometime. Also. To keep up
on all of my upcoming projects and appearances, head to
(38:55):
amybrune dot com. I have some really great things in
the work and I don't want you to miss it. Thanks.
Haunted Roadies. Haunted Road is hosted and written by me
Amy Bruney, with additional research by Taylor Haggerdorn and Cassandra
(39:16):
de Alba. This show is edited and produced by Rima Alkali,
with supervising producer Josh Thain and executive producers Aaron Menke,
Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. Haunted Road is a production
of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Menke. Learn
more about this show over at Grimanmild dot com, and
(39:38):
for more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.