Pennsylvania Hall

The oldest and most historically significant building at Gettysburg College, completed in 1837. During the Battle of Gettysburg, "Old Dorm" served as a Confederate field hospital where an estimated 700 wounded soldiers were treated. The building is nicknamed one of the most haunted campuses in America.

Pennsylvania Hall at Gettysburg College was constructed in 1838 as one of the college's first buildings, originally called "Old Dorm." When the Battle of Gettysburg erupted around the campus in July 1863, the hall was transformed into a makeshift hospital caring for wounded soldiers from both Union and Confederate armies.

The conditions were horrific. Surgeons operated in hallways, stairwells, and classrooms without anesthetics, dealing with bullet wounds through the preferred treatment of the era—amputation. Blood sprayed the walls and floors as doctors worked frantically. Windows were flung open to vent the overwhelming smell of blood and death. Amputated limbs were simply tossed aside, out the hospital windows, forming pyramids of arms and legs piled outside the building. Surgeons were decades away from antiseptics; infection and death followed many who survived the surgeon's saw.

The most famous haunting involves two college administrators who, while riding the elevator in Pennsylvania Hall, were transported to what appeared to be a Civil War-era hospital scene. When the elevator doors opened in the basement, they witnessed wounded soldiers lying everywhere, blood-covered doctors performing surgery, and frantic nurses rushing about. Amputated limbs and body parts were piled in the corner of the room. The apparitions—dozens of spirits in hospital attire tending to the fallen—simultaneously looked up at the administrators. Terrified, they pounded the elevator buttons to escape. When they returned with a security guard, only a dark, empty room remained.

This experience has reportedly been repeated by others since, though witnesses are reluctant to go on record.

The cupola atop the hall was used as a lookout post during the battle—legend says General Lee himself used it to observe troop movements. Students have reported seeing a shadowy figure in the tower over several nights. One student saw a figure gesturing wildly, as if trapped; when he called out, the figure vanished. Campus security found the building empty.

Legend holds that a Civil War soldier's ghost appears atop the cupola, sometimes seen aiming his rifle at students below.