Ghost Hunting at the 1863 Inn, Part Two: Testing Ouija Boards, Dowsing Rods, and Night Vision

by Roxanne Crouse October 4, 2025

If you missed part one of our investigation at the 1863 Inn in Gettysburg , we tested out Ghost Tube and Spirit Talker while asking 20 yes-or-no questions—and even caught some EVPs on our static GoPro. But for part two, I pushed our boundaries and brought out some tools we almost never use.

intro 00:00 investigation 01:59 does an ouija board work 02:05 strange sound 10:59 do dowsing rods work 11:21 ghost EVP captured 11:49 strange sound 20:33 thermal camera 23:10 explanation for cold spots 24:00 night vision 29:07 ghost moves balloon 32:49 ghost knocks 4 times 34:00 ghost looks at me 35:40 EVP ghost woman whisper 36:10 creepy ghost breath 36:51 ghost moves the static detector 40:13 strange ghost breath 44:47 ghost whisper captured 48:04

Instead of sticking to our usual gear, we went off script and tested out a Ouija board, dowsing rods, a thermal camera, night vision, and even a sound analysis app called Red Box. Some of this equipment I’m skeptical about—okay, let’s be honest, I’m skeptical about all of it—but I wanted to run a proper test here at one of the most haunted hotels in Gettysburg.

And when we took the night vision up to the fifth floor, the area most guests say is the heart of the hotel’s paranormal activity, things got a little strange.

Haunted History of the 1863 Inn

The 1863 Inn sits right next to the battlefield where over 50,000 soldiers were killed, wounded, or went missing. With such a grim history, it’s no surprise people claim the hotel is haunted.

Over the years, guests have reported:

Shadow figures in the halls
Phantom footsteps and voices
Elevator doors that open on their own
Sudden cold spots that can’t be explained
And of course, a mischievous ghost named George, who is said to wander the building

But the fifth floor has the darkest reputation—cold winds, full-bodied apparitions, and strange noises when no one else is around. That’s exactly where we set up to see if something would finally reveal itself.

Testing the Ouija Board

This was the first time we’ve ever used a Ouija board on the channel. Personally, I don’t believe in it. From what I’ve seen, it works because of tiny micro-muscle movements people make without realizing it—or sometimes, let’s be real, because someone is just pushing it.

Still, I wanted to test it. We set up a small board with a tiny planchette and asked George to communicate. Nothing happened when we left it alone. When my husband and I put our fingers on it, it wiggled and slid—but honestly, it was so small that just keeping a finger on it made it move. The experiment proved more about human error than ghosts, but it was still fun. I’d like to try again with a full-sized board in the future.

Dowsing Rods

Next, we tried dowsing rods—another tool I rarely use because, like the Ouija board, they rely on subtle hand movements. At the Apollo Theater in Martinsburg, we saw another group get strong results with rods, so I wanted to give them another chance.

This time? Nothing. Mine barely moved, and when they did, I’m convinced it was just gravity and muscle twitches—not George. My rods are pure copper, which some people say is the “correct” material, but honestly, I don’t think ghosts care about metal composition. I’d like to try an experiment where I mount the rods so no one touches them—if they move on their own then, that would be impressive.

Strange Sounds and EVPs

Even though the tools didn’t impress me, we did capture some strange audio clips while filming:

A weird sound we couldn’t explain when we were talking about the dowsing rods.
What might be a woman whispering caught on camera while we were in night vision.
A sound like breathing that didn’t match either of us.

I’ll leave it up to you, spooky cats, to decide if these were EVPs or just background noise. Let me know what you think in the comments of the video.

Thermal and Night Vision

The thermal camera was useful but explained away a lot of “cold spot” mysteries. Drafty windows and doors caused cold air pockets, which probably explains why so many people report feeling sudden chills in certain corners of the hotel. Still, it was fascinating to see how the environment matched people’s ghost stories.

When we switched to night vision on the fifth floor, things got eerie. In complete darkness, your other senses sharpen—and that’s when we started hearing knocks, scraping sounds, and even saw a balloon move when no one was near it. Was it just airflow? Maybe. But in a building with this much history, it’s easy to let your imagination run wild.

Final Thoughts

So, is the 1863 Inn haunted?

From my skeptical standpoint, the Ouija board and dowsing rods didn’t prove much. But the strange sounds, possible EVPs, and unexplained knocks were harder to ignore. Maybe George was just teasing us.

One thing’s for sure: between its haunted reputation, battlefield location, and fifth-floor legends, the 1863 Inn is the perfect place to spend a night if you’re chasing ghosts.

We’ll definitely be back in Gettysburg for more investigations—and maybe next time, George will be a little braver.

👻 Spooky cats, what do you think? Was it George making contact, or just coincidence? Drop your thoughts in the comments!