Haunted Delaware

The Woodburn Mansion is located in Dover, Delaware on King St. Since it is the residence of the Governors of Delaware, tours are given to the public by appointment.

Charles Hillyard built this Georgian mansion in 1790. The mansion has a drawing room, music and dining rooms, wide hallways, seven bedrooms and a cellar. The mansion is furnished in the middle period Georgian style.

The mansion sits on an estate with many old pines, Crepe Myrtles, Poplar Trees and English Boxwood. There is a formal garden to the east of the mansion and a large gnarled poplar tree stands in the front. The tree has strange looking holes in its hollow trunk.

The Woodburn Mansion is the home of Delaware governors. There are also spirits that reside there and one in particular which scares the living. In 1824 when Dr. M. W. Bates and his wife lived there a guest Lorenzo Dow was staying with them. On his way down to have breakfast with the Bates Lorenzo went by a man coming up the stairs. He was dressed in the fashion of another time and was wearing a ruffled blouse and knee-breeches. Since the ghostly entity was solid Lorenzo thought that another guest was staying there as well but later at the breakfast table discussing this he learned that the gentleman was Mrs. Bates long-dead father.

The spirits of the mansion love good wine. One owner filled an antique decanter with wine every night but he always found in empty in the morning. Governor Charles Terry Jr. told of an apparition of a man in a white wig being spotted helping himself to the wine decanter in the dining room and supposedly was also the one who helped himself to the vintage wines in the cellar.

A ghost in a Revolutionary war costume glides around. Another apparition is an unpleasant Southern slave raider. During the pre-Civil War period, the Woodburn Mansion was part of the underground railroad. Here slaves would be hidden in the cellar and then they were able to escape in boats on the nearby river. One night Southern raiders came to the mansion looking for runaway slaves. At the time the mansion was owned by a Quaker Daniel Cowgill. He drove the raiders off but one, unfortunately, chose to hide in the huge poplar in front of the mansion. The raider had a mishap and slipped. His head got caught in a hole in the poplar and he wound up hanging there until he died. Having experienced such a tragic death people can still see him hanging from the tree.

Finally, the apparition of a little girl in a red-checked gingham dress has also been seen playing by the garden pool during the 1940s.

At an inauguration party, in the reception room, a guest spotted the entity of a little girl standing in the corner. Governor Castle allowed a teacher and three students spend the night in the mansion. The students reported seeing a portrait of a lady hanging in one of the rooms and the picture kept smiling at them. People can still occasionally see the raider hanging from the tree and the rattling of chains along with horrible moans are heard coming from the outside.

Fort Delaware is located on 178 acre Pea Patch Island, 15 miles south of Wilmington, near Delaware City. It is a pentagonal military fortress, complete with a dungeon.

During the Civil War confederate prisoners were housed here and during the First and Second World War, it was used as part of the coastal defense network becoming a state park in 1951.

Many prisoners were held here, including pirates and confederate soldiers. Most of the ghosts encountered here come from this period. In the dungeon, people have heard moaning sounds, clanging chains coming from the time when prisoners were held here in terrible conditions.

Confederate soldiers have been seen under the ramparts and the parade ground as if trying to flee from their imprisonment. In 1985 a visitor managed to get a picture of a Confederate Officer standing in an archway.

Long before the Civil War pirates were held here and a park ranger saw a pirate dressed in a beautiful green silk shirt and white silk pants. He was looking out of a fort window.

Hauntings occur in the neighborhood of Bay Oaks in Lewes, Delaware. People have seen orbs and light streaks. It’s believed that this was an area of a massacre between Indians and Dutch settlers. Residents who are of Dutch ancestry experience ghostly happenings here. People walk in and out of old spots and often people get the feeling that they are being watched or that someone is in the room with them. A teenager experienced waking up and feeling an unseen hand choking them. Luckily the hand was taken from the neck. The area has been under paranormal investigation.

In New Castle County, New Castle at the Women's’Correctional Institute, which was built on top of the old Potter’s Field two little ghostly children ride their bikes up and down the halls at night. In the presence of no more than 1 or 2 people a little girl can be heard crying through the vent in the shower room. The spirit says her name is Jamie and she’s looking for her mother. The sounds of a man fussing and a woman screaming for help can be heard.

The Valley in Newark, Delaware near Pike's Creek there is a long, creepy, haunted winding road. Eyes have been sighted, screams have been heard and things run in front of cars or chase them. Trees seem to follow and move along with cars bending toward them, and you must stay alert. Along this road is supposedly a tree where an abandoned baby was placed and left to die. People have heard the sounds of an infant crying coming from the tree.

The Witch's Tree in Selbyville is haunted by a man sitting in a truck and reading a newspaper. People wouldn't give this a second thought except that right next to the tree is an eight-foot ditch and thick woods surround the area. There would be no room for a truck or anyway, it could get near the tree. A woman can be heard crying, a man mumbling, a dog barking and the sounds of a truck being started.

In Smyrna at the Belvin house balls of light can be seen and voices heard. There are entities walking about and there is the presence of a dog who used to be called Pee-Wee and he can be heard barking. A dead neighbor, in the shape of a vortex (a man without a face), walks around the property and looks into the living room window. Then there is a man whose skull was crushed inside a tree and he roams the place with no head apparently looking for it. A nice place to pay a visit.

In Wilmington in an old building (about 200 years or so) one can find the "Dead Presidents Pub and Restaurant” where the staff have dishes thrown at them, screams are heard and dominoes fly from game boards. This all is apparently related to a former customer who was a prankster (1950s) named Lemonade Mullery. He ended up having the last laugh in the 1960s when he slipped in a puddle of urine in the bathroom and fell and broke his neck. This strange presence can easily be felt here by everyone.