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History
The land that the mansion stands on originally belonged to the Swedish Royal Family who granted it to David Morgan in the late 17th century.
A century later it was bought by Charles Hillyard III who would build the home, that would be eventually be called Woodburn, in 1790.
Hillyard’s daughter inherited the property and her husband was the first to lease the house to the State Governor in 1820.
In 1825 the house sold to Daniel Cowgill and his wife who kept it in the family until 1912 when it was sold to a future US Senator Daniel Hastings. Hastings made numerous changes to the interior and had the reflecting pool, pillars and front porch added.
In 1918 it was bought by a retired dentist called Frank Hall who renovated the interior of house once again. When Hall died in 1953 it was proposed that the mansion become the Governor’s official residence but the State Legislature vetoed the idea.
The majority of the land was then split from the house and given to a school leaving only an acre and a half around the mansion.
In 1965 Governor Charles Terry secured the mansion for the State of Delaware and it has remained the Governor Residence ever since.
Paranormal Activity
Many consider this mansion to be the most haunted house in the State.
It is said there are several nice and benevolent ghosts and one rather malevolent and nasty one.
The first recording of paranormal activity was in the early 1800’s when a guest of Daniel Cowgill passed a gentleman in 18th century attire on the staircase. He later learned this apparently very solid apparition – who he took as just another guest – was, in fact, Mr Cowgill’s deceased father.
A soldier forever dressed in his uniform from the Revolutionary War is seen floating throughout the house.
The ghost a little girl in a red-checked gingham dress. She has seen since the 1940’s and is unusually seen dancing and playing in the garden.
At least one ghost has been seen helping himself to the house wine. One of the owners of the house would leave a full decanter of wine out every night only to find it emptied every morning.
As for the not so pleasant ghost: it is that of a southern slave catcher who got his head caught in the popular tree that is still on site. He got his head caught in a hole in the tree and ended up strangling himself to death. To this day his unpleasant death is replayed before witnesses.
Other Reported Activity: disembodied voices; phantom footsteps and feelings of being watched and not alone.
HAVE YOU HAD A PARANORMAL EXPERIENCE AT THIS LOCATION?
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History
We unable to find a year of this event; but sometime in the early history of the European Colonization of North America a small Dutch settlement was brutally attacked on this site. The colonists were completely slaughtered. Proof of this massacre has been found by home owners in this high-end neighborhood with artefacts being found on their property including Dutch pottery and arrowheads.
Paranormal Activity
This haunting has rather odd factor in that it, for the most part, only shows itself to those with Dutch ancestry. It may be that the energy of the site is completely reliant on the ghosts themselves or is that the ghosts believe only someone Dutch can help them find peace.
Orbs, streaks and other light anomalies are the most common paranormal phenomena witnessed here. There are also reports of cold breezes and spots that follow people around with no physical source.
In a first for me there is also a very strange phenomena in that books on hauntings and the paranormal tend disappear right off people's bookshelves or out of their homes. Perhaps the ghosts are trying to tell us all something; makes me curious as to what would happen if you opened this article in one of the houses in this area.
There is also a report of a teenage girl waking up and being unable to breathe. She felt as if a hand was wrapped around her throat and when the choking subsided, she saw a ghostly hand moving away from her. All in all, this is one of the strangest hauntings I've ever across.
Other activity: feeling as though you being watched and not alone; electrical disturbances and light anomalies.
HAVE YOU HAD A PARANORMAL EXPERIENCE AT THIS LOCATION?
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All Photos Courtesy of Craig Mitton
History
This building was constructed circa 1765. It was first used as a home for 2 pilots on the bay and river.
It gained its famous name from a cannonball – which can still be seen here – fired from a British frigate in the War of 1812 that embedded itself in the wall of the house. The building has been used as a restaurant, a laundry store and was even the mayor’s office for a while.
In the early 1960’s efforts began to save the historical houses in Lewes which were beginning to suffer the ravages of time. This house was bought in 1963 by the Lewes Historical Society who converted it into a maritime museum.
Paranormal Activity
There are two ghosts said to haunt this house.
Phantom footsteps are heard walking back and forth on the second floor. This is thought to be an unidentified woman pacing while she awaits her husband to return from the sea.
The second ghost is that of Sarah Rolan who is said to have stood to close to the fireplace and had her dress caught on fire. The fire spread quickly up her dress causing her a painful death. Sarah is known to cooperative with investigators and even answer questions. Unsurprisingly, she responds to any flame and some light sources.
HAVE YOU HAD A PARANORMAL EXPERIENCE AT THIS LOCATION?
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History
At some point in the 19th century Maggie Bloxom was traveling down Woodland Church Road and came to a small bridge over a branch of the Nanticoke River. Upon crossing the bridge something spooked the horse who reared up causing the carriage to flip off the bridge.
Tragically, Maggie was not just killed in the accident but decapitated.
Many say Maggie was pregnant at the time.
Maggie’s grave can be found in a nearby area; and she did die at a young age.
Paranormal Activity
This is another haunted location that can be easily dismissed as just another Urban Legend.
Of course, all Urban Legends are laced with truths and the sheer number of recorded encounters with the paranormal at this site makes dismissal hard.
While the chants of either “Maggie, Maggie, Maggie” or “Maggie, Maggie, we have your baby” are probably not necessary they have become a ritual of local teenagers.
Unexplained figures are often seen moving through the surrounding woods. They are usually seen at night but they may be there in the day as well but it’s not scary to look for ghosts in daylight.
Countless photographs have been taken with light anomalies which cannot be easily written off as dust, moisture or insects. Most of the photographic evidence show the light anomalies moving closer with each photo.
The phantom sounds of horses galloping are reported.
The apparition of Maggie is not witnessed very often but when she does appear she’s headless and has walked right towards the living disappearing when she gets close.
HAVE YOU HAD A PARANORMAL EXPERIENCE AT THIS LOCATION?
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By Moon Rhythm from living under the milky way - daywalk in bear, delaware, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2755828
History
This pond was originally built on St Georges Creek to be used as a source of freshwater for the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal in the 19th century. The canal connected the Delaware River with Chesapeake Bay.
At 200 acres (81 hectares) this pond is the largest in all of Delaware; it was used for power both for the locks and a grist mill.
In the mid-20th century ownership of the area was transferred to the State.
The area had been used as a recreation area since the 19th century, so Delaware opened it as a as a State Park in 1963.
The park is named after John Lum who ran to grist mill that was once on this site.
Although swimming is not allowed in the pond both boating and fishing is.
The area is also used for hiking, cross country skiing and camping.
Paranormal Activity
The most common report of paranormal activity is that of a teenage girl’s muffled screams and pleas for mercy. They are heard both day and night; most frequently by people on Lums Pond’s Swamp Trail.
This said to be from 1870 when a young girl ran away from home and sought shelter in the forests around the pond.
Unfortunately, she ran into a man who beat her, raped her and murdered her. The murderer was never caught. This crime cannot be verified in historical records but reports of phantom cries do date back to the 1870’s.
The apparitions of John Lum and his son – who worked the mill with him – are still seen wandering the grounds. The sounds of the non-existent grist mill and it’s water wheel are also clearly heard. People following the phantom sounds eventually make their way to site of the former mill; but there is nothing there now.
The park is said to have been between two of the stops on the Underground Railroad that once took slaves to freedom but not everyone escaped. The apparitions of slaves as well as disembodied voices and other unexplained sounds are heard in the park. This activity is said to be the slaves who died attempting to escape.
HAVE YOU HAD A PARANORMAL EXPERIENCE AT THIS LOCATION?
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By Missy Lee - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17519423
History
Fort Delaware is a former harbor defense fort and Civil War Prison located on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River. Its main purpose was to stop any enemy from penetrating the harbors of Wilmington and Philadelphia.
Pea Patch Island was seized by the US Government from a private citizen after he refused to sell when a French engineer identified it as a primary defensive site.
The sea walls – as well as a wooden fort – were built during the War of 1812. The wooden fort was demolished in 1821.
Construction was begun on a star shaped fort at some point in 1817; its main purpose was defense of Philadelphia before a force could get near the city itself. Despite numerous issues with building on the silt the fort was operation in 1825.
In 1831 a fire damaged the fort – parts of the old fort can still be seen in the seawall – and a new fort needed to be built. The pentagonal fort there today was originally built between 1848 and 1860. Its foundation goes down 40 feet in places to avoid the shifting ground that plagued the last fort.
During the Civil War, the fort held Confederate POWs up to and including Generals. By the end of the war the fort held 33,000 men. 2,500 prisoners died during captivity from such causes as smallpox, tuberculosis and diarrhea. 109 Union soldiers and 40 civilians also died at the fort during this period.
The fort was kept garrisoned through the rest of the 19th Century but eventually went into a caretaking mode until the advent of World War I when it was garrisoned again briefly. World War II also saw soldiers in the fort again after the attack on Pearl Harbor but when that war ended the fort was declared surplus and closed down for good.
The State of Delaware acquired the site from the US Government and eventually created the Fort Delaware State Park which encompasses the entire island. The Park functions as a living museum as well as a bird sanctuary.
In October of each year haunted tours are offered at the fort.
Paranormal Activity
Although this location is considered the most haunted places in the State there are very few details as to what exactly can be found.
A female apparition has been seen walking through the wall of the Officer’s Kitchen and is thought to also be responsible for calling out people’s names and saying – the ever popular – “Get Out!”
The prisoners lived and died in terrible conditions as the Geneva rules for POWs had not been created yet. It is easy to understand how they can be very angry and destitute; not to mention plain old miserable. While individual ghosts have not been identified thousands died here and pretty much every possible form of paranormal and haunted activity has been witnessed here over the years.
The ghost tours come in a 3 hour and a 5 hour version so if you’d like to experience the many ghosts of the Fort its just a click or call away.
HAVE YOU HAD A PARANORMAL EXPERIENCE AT THIS LOCATION?
Please Share Your Experiences
By Pubdog (talk) - Own work (Original text: I (Pubdog (talk)) created this work entirely by myself.), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16988613
History
Jan Roeloff deHaes was the first owner of the property. He was one of the first settlers in what was then known as Fort Casimir when it was first settled in 1651.
He passed the property to his grandson sometime around 1800. By 1807 it is recorded that a small brick house sat on the property. This house was demolished when the Amstel House was built.
Dr John Finney bought the property in 1738 and built the house which stands there now.
When he died 1774 the property and house passed to his daughter: Anna Dorthea.
Anna rented the house to Nicholas Van Dyke the seventh Governor of Delaware and a prominent figure in the bid for independence. As such the house had a number of famous guests including George Washington.
In the 1780’s Kensey and Anna Johns lived in the house waiting for theirs to be built. Anna was Van Dyke’s daughter and Kensey was a member of the Constitutional Committee that ratified the Constitution making Delaware the first State.
The house underwent some renovations in 1905 but otherwise has been left alone.
In 1935 a group of citizens raised enough money to buy the house and protect it. This was the first preservation done in the town and the group evolved into the New Castle Preservation Society.
The house is now a museum containing many things that belonged to it’s famous former owners.
Paranormal Activity
The ghost of a 5 year old girl is seen in the house. Her name is Anna but she is not Van Dyke’s daughter – but possibly her granddaughter – who died from an illness.
There is also a male ghost who likes to open and close windows and doors. He’s also known for floating things through the air right in front of witnesses. What isn’t known is his identity: it could be Dr Finney himself or maybe Van Dyke.
A woman’s transparent apparition is seen by a window on the second floor seeming to be looking out at the view. Many people believe this is Anna Dorthea choosing to stay behind to keep her daughter company.
HAVE YOU HAD A PARANORMAL EXPERIENCE AT THIS LOCATION?
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All Photos Courtesy of Craig Mitton
History
Dr Joseph Wales ran the original 8 bed tuberculosis sanatorium known as the Brandywine Sanatorium. It was located in the Timiken Woods near Brandywine Creek (exact location is unknown).
In 1907 the sanatorium was down to it’s last couple of dollars and had no way to survive the upcoming winter. Dr Wales turned to his cousin, Emily Bissell; who was the President of the Delaware chapter of the Red Cross, and an accomplished fund raiser.
Emily set up a Christmas Seals program through the post office allowing even the poorest people to contribute to the fight again the White Plague; tuberculosis. The $300 needed to get the sanatorium through the winter was quickly raised.
When even President Theodore Roosevelt became interested in the Christmas Seal program it exploded in popularity. By 1910 there it was so successful that the facility moved to a new location (the location it is still in).
By 1919 the facility held 60 beds with another sanatorium across the road for African-Americans, called Edgewood Sanitorium, containing 20 beds.
Emily Bissell continued fund raising for the sanatorium until her death in 1948.
In 1955 the name of the sanatorium to Emily P Bissell. In 1957 as anti-biotics brought and end to the tuberculosis epidemic to an end sanatorium was replaced with hospital.
It is unclear exactly when but the facility was turned into a long term care unit before it was closed down by the State in 2015. By the time the conditions inside the former infirmary – the only part of the original sanatorium still standing – were barely habitable.
Paranormal Activity
Reported Activity: apparitions; shadow figures; touches, tugs and pulls by unseen entities; time slips; electrical disturbances; cold and hot spots; disembodied voices; unexplained noises from whispers to loud bangs; objects moving on their own; objects disappearing and reappearing in other places; light anomalies; unexplained mists; unexplained breezes and mists; physical pains in the chest and coughing and feelings of being watched, not being alone and being followed.
Team Experiences
While taking a video (see below) through a window near the morgue we captured a shadow quickly moving along the wall (this has been captured in the past in exactly the same spot). We felt an almost overwhelming amount of etheric energy as soon as we came around the corner to the back of the building. This wave of energy emanates from the hospital's loading dock (specfically the doors leading to the morgue area). An unexplained noise while we were taking photos and video at a broken window in the physician's house. A feeling of being watched - as well as movement - in the open (not boarded up) windows in both the main building and the 2 houses on the site.
HAVE YOU HAD A PARANORMAL EXPERIENCE AT THIS LOCATION?
Please Share Your Experiences
By Smallbones - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12245906
History
This gothic revival mansion was built between 1851 and 1854 for banker Joseph Shipley. Shipley made his money in Liverpool, England before moving to the new world.
In 1891 Shipley’s grand nephew, Edward Bringhurst Jr, took possession of the house after Shipley’s death. The museum today is set up to mirror life in the mansion at this time.
The estate then passed to the Bringhurst’s daughter, Mary. Mary – who reached 100 years old -passed the mansion to her niece, Nancy, who would leave it to a non-profit for the enjoyment of present and future generations.
In 1973 the estate passed to New Castle County who would completely renovate the mansion and estate in 1999.
Paranormal Activity
Many consider this property the most haunted house in Delaware and second only to Fort Delaware as the most haunted location in the State.
Although we are unable to do a full investigation here Our Paranormal World will be visiting this location in July, 2024.
The identified 28 ghosts of Rockwood Mansion are said to be former residents and include:
A woman who wanders the house and is said to be surrounded by cold air. She has been known to approach people visiting the house.
A man in a red smoking jacket who is most often seen with his dog.
A small boy who is thought to be Eddie the son of Edward Bringhurst Jr. His ghost is most often encountered near what was once his playhouse on the property – now in ruins – but he is also found in the mansion. He has been reported as pushing visitors in a playful manner.
A pair of dogs who belonged to the Bringhurst family appear outside of second story window.
Mary Bringhurst’s music box is known for playing on it’s own.
A woman in white has been photographed in a tour group.
There’s even a report of a woman – appearing as solid as any living person – telling people the museum is closed when it is open.
A blast of cold air has been reported in the attic.
Other reported activity: shadow figures; phantom footsteps; disembodied voices, whispers and whistling; phantom sounds of children playing; phantom smells of tobacco, perfume and flowers; light anomalies; cold spots; a feeling of being covered in something cold and wet; pushes, tugs and pulls by unseen entities; objects moving on their own and feelings of being watched and not being alone.