The ghosts of Delaware

The ghosts of Delaware
Delaware the "First State" offers many choices for tourists such as Brandywine Valley with historic stone houses and rolling hills and Rehoboth Beach, one of the most popular Delaware beaches. And then there is the dark side... Located in Dover, Delaware on King St. is The Woodburn Mansion (Governor's Residence). Tours are given to the public by appointment.

Charles Hillyard built this Georgian mansion in 1790. The layout of the mansion includes a drawing room, music and dining rooms, wide hallways, 7 bedrooms and a cellar. The mansion is furnished in the middle period Georgian style.

The mansion is located on an estate with many old pines, Crepe Myrtles, Popular Trees and English Boxwood. There is a formal garden to the east of the mansion and in front stands a gigantic, gnarled Popular which has eerie looking „apertures" 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. The first manifestation occurred in 1824 when Dr. M. W. Bates and his wife live there. A guest Lorenzo Dow was staying with them. On his way to have breakfast with the Bates Lorenzo passed a gentleman going up the stairs. The gentleman was dressed in the fashion of the preceding generation. He had queued hair, knee breeches and a ruffled blouse. Since the apparition 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 had been Mrs. Bates long, departed 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 also the one who helps himself to the vintage wines in the cellar.

There is also a ghost gliding around wearing a Revolutionary War costume. Then there is the ghost of 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 run – away slaves. At the time the mansion was owned by a Quaker Daniel Cowgill. He drove the raiders off but on of them decided to hide in the huge Popular in front of the mansion. Unfortunately the raider slipped and his head got caught in a hole in the tree he hung there until he died. People have seen his body hanging in the tree reliving his horrible death.

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.

During Governor Michael Castle’s inauguration party a guest spotted the apparition of a little girl standing in the corner of the reception room. Governor Castle let 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 in the tree and they hear the awful moans and his rattling chains inside and outside the mansion.

Fort Delaware is locate 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 prisoner 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 have been 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 unpleasant 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 "see-through" 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.

In Lewes, Delaware in the newly built neighborhood of Bay Oaks there have been reported sightings of orbs and streaks of light. 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. Cold spots are walked in and out of, a feeling of being watched or of someone unseen being in the room with you. One teenager experienced waking up feeling chocked by an unseen hand which then was taken from his neck. The area has been under paranormal investigation.

In New Castle County, New Castle at the Womens’ 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 if Jamie and she’s looking for her mother. The sounds of a man fussing and a woman screaming for help can be heard.

Newark, Delaware – The Valley – has a long, creepy, haunted winding road near Pike’s Creek. 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.

In Selbyville there is the Witch’s Tree by which people have seen a Man in a truck reading a newspaper, The only problem is that no truck could be there because next to the tree is an eight-foot ditch and all the rest is surrounded by thick woods. 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 figures that walk 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 the property and looks into the living room window. Then there is a man who’s skull was crushed inside a tree and he roams the place with no head apparently looking for it. Nice place to pay a visit.

In Wilmington in an old building (about 200 years or so) one can find the „Dead President’s Tavern" 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 60s 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.