While my job as a
museum curator involves helping to tell the stories of the artifacts in my
care, sometimes it seems as if the artifacts try to tell their own
stories! Last year at Halloween I
recounted some of the ghost stories from the National Museum of Civil War
Medicine, where I work. Our satellite
location, the Pry House Field Hospital Museum has some pretty spooky stories as
well. This seems an appropriate time to
tell some of these stories!
This photo of the Pry farm was taken in 1880. Though the fences and some of the trees are now gone, the house and barn appear nearly the same as they did then. |
Most of the Pry
House’s ghost stories center on Brigadier General Israel B. Richardson. He was wounded during the Battle of Antietam
and brought to the Pry House to be treated.
Though his wound was serious enough to take him out of the battle, he
was expected to recover. He was settled
into a room on the second floor of the Pry House to recuperate. His wife, Fannie, traveled from Michigan to care
for him, and stayed with him at the house.
In October, he was even visited there by President Abraham Lincoln! Unfortunately, General Richardson developed pneumonia
and died in that room in November of 1862.
Portrait of Brigadier General Israel B. Richardson, officer of the Federal Army. Library of Congress photo. |
After the war the
Pry farm passed to a couple of other owners before the National Park Service
acquired it in 1974. In 1976 there was a
fire in the house, which is the source of one of the ghost stories. While battling the blaze, several of the
firefighters reported seeing a woman in 19th century clothing standing at one
of the second-floor windows to the room where General Richardson died. After the fire had been extinguished, it was
discovered that the floor around those windows had collapsed. No one could have been standing there. No bodies were found in the house.
The local legend
is that the house is still “visited” by the spirit of the General’s wife, Mrs.
Richardson. Over the years many people
have reported seeing a woman in Civil War period clothing in the house. Sometimes she is seen walking down the stairs,
sometimes she is standing at a window, and other times she is reported to walk
across a room and through a wall!
After the fire
the NPS hired contractors to begin the process of restoring the house. Some of the workers recounted a similar story
to the firefighters. When they arrived
at the house, they spotted a woman standing in a second floor window. Once again it was a window to the room where
General Richardson had died, and once again when they went inside to
investigate they discovered that there was no floor beneath those windows!
This is the staircase at the Pry House, which leads to the “Richardson Room”. People have reported hearing footsteps here and seeing a woman in “old fashioned” clothing. |
In 2005, the
NMCWM partnered with the NPS to open a museum at the Pry House. That’s when our museum staff started
experiencing some strange sights and sounds. Our
Executive Director, George reports that on his first day there he needed to
clear out some items from the interior of the house to make room for the
exhibits. It was a nice day, so he
opened all the doors to make it easier to carry things outside. Starting at the front door, each door slammed
shut in succession until they were all closed again. While the wind could have swung the front
door shut, it wouldn’t have then caused all the interior doors to slam
shut. He opened them all again, and this
time the back door slammed shut first followed by the rest of the doors, in
order, to the front.
Our Director of
the Letterman Institute, April, had an issue with one of the doors as
well. In her words, “While running an overnight program at the Pry house, during a bad
thunderstorm my small group bedded down for the night in the Pry House. After making my rounds and locking up for the
night, I fell asleep, downstairs in what is now the store only to be awakened
around 1:30 am to the sound of pacing on the front porch and a strange metallic
scratching noise. When I opened my eyes,
I realized that the key was turning in the lock. It was an old skeleton key that was difficult
for me to turn as I had locked up hours before.
I’m not sure whether the key was turning to let whoever was outside in,
or to keep them out; but either way, I didn’t want to know then.”
Guest Services
staff member, Garrett, recently spent a night in the house and heard some
strange noises as well. He reports, “I was up rather late after work…in the
office above the bookstore. I was on my
computer. All doors were locked, and had
been since around 5 pm. Suddenly, there
was a loud banging noise from the front of the house, sounding like it was
coming from the front upstairs hallway between the Richardson room and the
green room. Initially, I thought it was
just one of the random noises that the house makes, but several more loud
thumps and bangs followed the first one. I thought it sounded like someone was
pacing back and forth along the hallway. This back-and-forth continued off and
on for about an hour. I never went to go
check it out.
Starting a little bit after the thumping,
banging, and stomping, I began to hear what sounded like a couple of indistinct
voices having a conversation in the house.
Most of the voices sounded like they were coming from the formal parlor.
I could definitely identify a male voice and at least two separate
female voices, but could not discern anything they were saying…. I barricaded
myself in the bedroom for the night. I
had a lot of trouble sleeping, and was glad to see the morning when it finally
came.”
Other museum
staff members have reported hearing footsteps in the house and out on the porch,
having doors slam and lock behind them, hearing voices, finding the house
lights turned back on after the house has been locked and alarmed, and seeing
lights moving through the house after dark.
The Pry Barn is included as well!
People have seen lights in there too, and have heard voices talking and
singing in the barn.
It certainly
makes for some interesting work experiences at times!
The Pry House as it probably looked at the time of the Civil War. The people in the photo bear an eerie resemblance to some museum staff members! |
To see photos of a “ghost
tour” of the Pry House, click here.
Photos
courtesy of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, except where otherwise
noted.
Speaking as the person who had that recent experience in the Pry House Field Hospital Museum, it really freaked me out. And I'm back there again this weekend! I'm hoping for an uneventful stay!
ReplyDeleteOur Troop 279 from Point of Rocks cleaned out the barn back in 2005 and was allowed to stay overnight in the house. George Wunderlich came by on Saturday, played on his banjo, and told us the stories mentioned above. All the Scouts were of course sleeping in the Richardson bedroom. Nothing was heard that night nor on a following camp out, but I always get an eerie feeling going into the basement. We have stayed in the barn several times and haven't seen or heard anything yet.
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