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The exterior of the Cashtown Inn in Cashtown.
Reminders of its long history adorn one of the rooms at the Cashtown Inn in Adams County. The TAPS team from the SciFi Channel's show 'Ghost Hunters' investigated the inn in December, including alleged paranormal activity in this room. The team's findings will be presented during an hourlong episode titled 'Fear Cage' that will air at 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. March 26. (Daily Record/Sunday News - Kate Penn)

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story originally appeared in the York Daily Record in March 2008.

During the Civil War, Cashtown was invaded twice in one year by Confederate forces.

In December, it was invaded once again -- this time by a group of ghost hunters from the SciFi Channel show "Ghost Hunters."

Armed with night-vision goggles and infrared equipment, cameras, electromagnetic-field detectors, tape recorders and much more, members of TAPS, The Atlantic Paranormal Society, spent nearly four days scouring the Adams County inn for spirits from its past.

On March 26, an hourlong episode featuring the crew's research and findings at the Cashtown Inn will air at 9 and 11 p.m. on the SciFi Channel. The

This rocking chair in the Gen. Ambrose P. Hill Room has reportedly rocked by itself and been mysteriously moved across the room in the middle of the night. Grant Wilson, one of the ghost hunters from the show, stayed in this room, which seems to have the most paranormal activity, Paladino said. (Daily Record/Sunday News - Kate Penn)
episode is titled "Fear Cage."

Many of the members actually stayed overnight, said Jack Paladino, inn co-owner.

"They were all very, very polite and professional," Paladino said.

Grant Wilson, one of the show's ghost hunters and a founder of TAPS, stayed in the room Paladino said probably has the most paranormal activity: the Gen. Ambrose P. Hill room. The room is named after a Confederate general who used the inn as his headquarters during the Battle of Gettysburg.

People who have stayed in the room tell stories of a rocking chair that mysteriously gets moved in the night, of sounds of rushing air and of a feeling that someone has sat down on the bed in the middle of the night, Paladino said.

"We've had so many stories that can be corroborated with others," he said.

But that's definitely not all of the stories of ghostly happenings at the Cashtown Inn.

Paladino said a female employee said she has had her ponytail yanked a few times while standing in the doorway between the bar and the kitchen. When she turns around, there's no one there.

As he told the story, Paladino produced a picture of what looks like a young girl, clothed in an early 1900s dress, floating in that same doorway.

Another employee once

Cashtown Inn visitors have reported and photographically recorded a face in this window in Room 3. (Daily Record/Sunday News - Kate Penn)
went to the storeroom in the basement and, as he climbed the stairs back to the main floor, he tried to push the cellar door open. But he could open it only a few inches, as if someone, or something, was pushing against the other side.

The basement itself was once the site of one of the most gruesome places during all of the Civil War: a surgery room.

"They say the water in the stream flowed red," Paladino said, referring to a stream across the road from the inn.

The Confederate army used the inn as a hospital during the battle and as an evacuation point after their defeat at Gettysburg.

Wounded soldiers lay everywhere, according to legend. Supposedly, so many amputations were performed here that the limbs piled outside a cellar

Co-owner Jack Paladino says a guest was sitting on this bed in Room 3 when 'someone sat next to' him. Paladino says all the Cashtown Inn's rooms are haunted. (Daily Record/Sunday News - Kate Penn)
window were so high they blocked the sunlight.

Despite the inn's chilling history, Paladino said, he doesn't mind having permanent guests from the past in the inn that he and his wife, Maria, bought in 2006.

"There is an energy here," he said. "I look over my shoulder all the time."

VIEWING PARTY


Watch the hunt with the ghosts themselves.

What: A viewing party at the Cashtown Inn

When: March 26. The party starts at 8 p.m. with a cash bar; the episode, "Fear Cage," airs at 9 p.m.

Cost: Admission is $25. Proceeds benefit the Adams County SPCA. Raffles and giveaways will be held throughout the evening.

Reserve your spot: Call 334-9722

Learn more: For more information or directions, go to www.cashtowninn.com.