History & local legend
Confederate sharpshooters occupied the attic of the Shriver family’s Gettysburg home during the July 1863 battle. Accounts of the fighting described deaths in the attic, where the soldiers had opened firing holes in the walls. Nearly a century and a half later, Niagara Falls detective Nicholas Paonessa investigated whether traces of blood might remain in the floorboards.
Paonessa described his work in a March 2008 forensic publication. He first tested plain wood away from the firing positions, then applied a chemical reagent below one of the openings. The reagent produces light when it reacts with material consistent with blood. A faint pattern appeared that resembled a floor being wiped.
The reaction stopped at a distinct boundary. Museum staff explained that the unreactive boards beyond it had been installed during restoration. Paonessa interpreted the result as possible surviving blood residue from the battle; the test did not identify an individual victim.
