Is this a photo from a hearse car show? I wish. That would be really really cool, actually. But no, this is a photo from our second day of the Horrorfind festival in Gettysburg!
This is my girlfriend Lara, completely caught off-guard by the photograph. I wish I could say I was dressed as appropriately for this event as she was, but unfortunately I was just wearing some dumb blue shirt.
One of the comments from yesterday pointed out the dreadful carpeting. I had not noticed the carpeting up until that point, because my eyes instinctively avoid things that could blind them, much like looking at the sun. Unfortunately, now I can't look away. What's that stuff in between the eagles? Horror Found.
Here we see a makeup artist giving a seminar on how to make something.
I really don't know what this is. But I'm sure it turned out disgusting!
You know you're at a horror convention when you see life-size cardboard stand-ups of Elvira, something that looks like a very enthusiastic Toxic Avenger, and Charlie Sheen. These people should have been kicked out for that Twilight poster, though. Come on.
A hallway full of a bunch of people having their life force drained by the Carpet of the Damned.
Steam Punk is one of my favorites, and this was one of the more impressive vendors.
I like this. A nice lady who makes ornate reproductions of Jason's masks from every Friday the Thirteenth film. Of course some guy walked up and asked her why she didn't have a reproduction of the mask from Jason X. Sorry guy, she only has reproductions from the 17 other films in the series.
The best part! Evil Teddy Bears!
So this concluded the Horrorfind festival for us. It was on to a midnight tour of ghostly Gettysburg!
We almost didn't go to said midnight tour because a huge angry red wall of storms was moving East. However, we decided to risk it because my whole idea for today's blog post hinged on it! Luckily, the storm didn't wind up affecting the tour too much.
We almost didn't go to said midnight tour because a huge angry red wall of storms was moving East. However, we decided to risk it because my whole idea for today's blog post hinged on it! Luckily, the storm didn't wind up affecting the tour too much.
Having said that, I must admit we were a little dismayed once we realized that this was not to be a tour of the battlefields, but rather a small tour of a former orphanage built shortly after the Civil War. It's just as well, though, because if the tour had taken place outside, it would surely have been cancelled.
The tour began at the Jennie Wade house. She was the one civilian to be killed during the Civil War.
This is our tour guide. We followed him across the street, between buildings and into a small courtyard. Here, he told us the history of the Civil War Orphanage. Allow me to give a brief recap.
This is our tour guide. We followed him across the street, between buildings and into a small courtyard. Here, he told us the history of the Civil War Orphanage. Allow me to give a brief recap.
After the Civil War, many children were left orphans after their fathers were killed in battle. The government subsequently created an orphanage for them in Gettysburg. The location was symbolic in that it was the bloodiest battle of the war, and therefore the place where many of these orphans had lost their fathers.
Frankly, I would not want to be sent to an orphanage located roughly in the same area where my father died in battle, but I guess times have changed.
Anyways, the orphanage was opened by a widow who ran it for a short time before getting remarried. Her successor was by all accounts a very sadistic lady who was a very poor fit for the place. Furthermore, it was surrounded by farmland; she could pretty much do what she pleased.
Eventually, several children actually died, and she was basically run out of town by the citizens of Gettysburg. As you might imagine, this place is now haunted as all get-out.
The building today is the headquarters of the tour group; that part is not very scary. The basement, however, is a different story.
This is where most of the abuse took place. And let's be honest-unfinished basements are pretty creepy even if their walls have seen nothing but hugs and smiles. Sitting in this dank cellar surrounded by dark and depressing history was genuinely unsettling.
There was also this table of toys. They never actually explained why the toys were here. Lara thinks that the toys are gifts from people hoping to pay their respects to the memories of the children who were forced to live here. That makes a lot of sense. Lara is smart.
For the culmination of the tour, all the lights were turned out in the cellar at midnight for five minutes. Beforehand, our guide told us that certain anomalies might appear in photos taken within the cellar. Because I have my mother's Fancy Camera on this trip, I had the great idea of using a very low F-stop, relatively slow shutter speed and extremely high ISO (meaning, I'd let in as much light as possible). I figured I would then brighten the photos on the computer and hopefully see some ghosts or smoke or ectoplasm!
Unfortunately, it didn't work, and most of the photos I took are pitch black. I figured the flash from others' cameras would perhaps help my own photos, but I was mistaken. Nevertheless, some photos did manage to come out, and I've included them below. As previously stated, there were no strange anomalies.
When the original concept fails, I like to justify the unintended results by calling them "Extra Artful".
This would be a really cool photo of an orb if not for the fact that it's a camera flash.
I made sure to keep track of who was in the group before the lights went out so that I could separate the living from any dead that might have appeared. This woman was indeed part of the group.
Finally, with about 30 seconds of darkness left to go, I thought of just taking a series of long exposure photographs. Wish I'd thought of it sooner, but better late than never!
The movements of the woman to the left during the long exposure shot made her look kind of like a tyrannosaur. So that's cool, dinosaur ghost.
A photo of the tour guide, who is also a psychic medium. He said that the ghosts were being quiet. I said, hey, tell the ghosts to speak up, because while they may be here for all eternity, I'm only here for another ten minutes!
The building today is the headquarters of the tour group; that part is not very scary. The basement, however, is a different story.
This is where most of the abuse took place. And let's be honest-unfinished basements are pretty creepy even if their walls have seen nothing but hugs and smiles. Sitting in this dank cellar surrounded by dark and depressing history was genuinely unsettling.
There was also this table of toys. They never actually explained why the toys were here. Lara thinks that the toys are gifts from people hoping to pay their respects to the memories of the children who were forced to live here. That makes a lot of sense. Lara is smart.
For the culmination of the tour, all the lights were turned out in the cellar at midnight for five minutes. Beforehand, our guide told us that certain anomalies might appear in photos taken within the cellar. Because I have my mother's Fancy Camera on this trip, I had the great idea of using a very low F-stop, relatively slow shutter speed and extremely high ISO (meaning, I'd let in as much light as possible). I figured I would then brighten the photos on the computer and hopefully see some ghosts or smoke or ectoplasm!
Unfortunately, it didn't work, and most of the photos I took are pitch black. I figured the flash from others' cameras would perhaps help my own photos, but I was mistaken. Nevertheless, some photos did manage to come out, and I've included them below. As previously stated, there were no strange anomalies.
When the original concept fails, I like to justify the unintended results by calling them "Extra Artful".
This would be a really cool photo of an orb if not for the fact that it's a camera flash.
I made sure to keep track of who was in the group before the lights went out so that I could separate the living from any dead that might have appeared. This woman was indeed part of the group.
Finally, with about 30 seconds of darkness left to go, I thought of just taking a series of long exposure photographs. Wish I'd thought of it sooner, but better late than never!
The movements of the woman to the left during the long exposure shot made her look kind of like a tyrannosaur. So that's cool, dinosaur ghost.
A photo of the tour guide, who is also a psychic medium. He said that the ghosts were being quiet. I said, hey, tell the ghosts to speak up, because while they may be here for all eternity, I'm only here for another ten minutes!
Just kidding, I'm not a jerk.
And so, we made our way back upstairs.
Thank you all for reading. Lara and I will now begin our trek home. Stay tuned for more horror festival posts in the coming couple months. It's Halloween times!
And so, we made our way back upstairs.
Thank you all for reading. Lara and I will now begin our trek home. Stay tuned for more horror festival posts in the coming couple months. It's Halloween times!
-Blogtech
Comments
i am pretty far away...you are closer....but if you REALLY want to get spooked...BACHELOR'S GROVE cemetary in midlothian, illinois. near chicago. suppose to be the Most Haunted Place in America. have you been ? how would you like being at Bachelor's Grove on Halloween night, my friend ????
I guess Your girlfriend is right about those toys, I guess someones that has been there before most probably brought them next time they were there, but I doubt any ghost would apreciate them :-) :-)
Have a great day and thanks for taking us to the horror festival!
Christer.
At every convention, invariably, there will always be That Guy.