History & local legend
The Battlefield Bed and Breakfast occupies the Gettysburg farm associated with Anna and Cornelius Houghtelin, abolitionists who lived there during the Civil War. Its old barn became the setting for a recording that one visitor believed captured a reply from Anna.
The visitor used a phone to record questions directed to the Houghtelins. No response was audible in the room, but afterward, listening through headphones, he interpreted a whisperlike sound as “This is Anna’s house.” The recording reached investigator Kenny Biddle in 2019, accompanied by photographs that identified the barn.
Biddle examined the original stereo file before being told which words the visitor heard. By separating its left and right channels, he traced the metallic sounds to microphone distortion and ordinary movement near the recorder. He did not hear the proposed sentence.
Sources
- Kenny Biddle, Skeptical Inquirer, October 16, 2019, independent examination of the guest’s account, phone recording and identifying photographs
- Battlefield Bed and Breakfast, the Houghtelin farmhouse, barn and wartime occupants
- Destination Gettysburg, site identity, access and 2264 Emmitsburg Road address
- Pennsylvania Association of Bed and Breakfast Inns, lodging and historic barn at the same property
