Playing For Creeps

I had just visited Gettysburg and was telling my in-law Dan about it. I described visiting the home of Jennie Wade, the battle's only civilian casualty, and he was curious to know the circumstances of her death. I explained the scenario - young woman, busy in the kitchen, stray bullet. "Oh, so she was a true victim." He had thought she might have been one of those crabby ladies who'd come storming out of her house to tell people to keep off her grass - but with fatal results.

The Jennie Wade House is now treated with historical dignity, but the first time I visited it as a child it was not. They were totally leaning into the creepy, chilling, skin-crawling, make-you-jump tone so prevalent at Gettysburg. The tour-guide didn't stay with you - just led you in and locked the door and left you there. The theme of the tour was "if walls could talk," and you listened to a recording of "the walls" recollecting the events of that tragic tragic day. It advertised itself as history, but it was run as a spook-house.