Hunting for Hauntings - Mid-Atlantic Tourism Group Demonstrates the "Spirit" of Hospitality

Ghostly Sites - Delaware

The following are just a few spirited samples, but to find more, visit our links page.

Addy Sea (99 Atlantic Avenue, Bethany Beach, DE 19930, 800-418-6764) (website: www.addysea.com)

Plumber John Addy of Pittsburgh built his home, now a bed and breakfast, in 1904. Room One contains a copper tub that was originally installed by Addy himself. Guests and owners have reported that sometimes the tub shakes for no apparent reason. Organ music is often heard wafting through the rooms, but there isn’t an organ in the home. The owner has often heard footsteps and unexplained noises, and on one occasion she was locked in a downstairs closet when the door swung shut on her. The owners, who don’t know the identity of these otherworldly guests, have determined that they are mischievous yet non-threatening.

Fort Delaware (45 Clinton St., Delaware City, DE, 302-834-7941) (website: www.destateparks.com)

Fort Delaware is now owned by Delaware State Parks and is open as a living history museum. The fort was built in 1858 and was home to more than 33,000 prisoners of war during the Civil War. Many visitors believe that the ghostly occurrences at the fort can be attributed to the prisoners, who were forced to live in cramped and crowded conditions. Visitors have caught glimpses of shadows and detected movement along the hallways of the fort and have heard voices and laughter throughout the facility. Perhaps most eerily, photographers have captured images of a Confederate soldier standing next to a living person. The fort now organizes ghost tours several times throughout its operating season, which runs from late April through September.

Rockwood Museum (610 Shipley Road, Wilmington, DE 19809, 302-761-4340) (website: www.rockwood.org)

Once the home of merchant banker Joseph Shipley, the Rockwood Mansion is located on a beautifully landscaped property in northern Wilmington. In addition to the “usual” mysterious footsteps and strange sounds, the mansion’s ghosts have been up to other mischief. On two occasions volunteers at the mansion have been greeted at the door by water streaming down the staircase. Upon investigation, it was found that the bathtub faucet in the third-floor servant’s bathroom was open full force. There have also been sightings of an apparition of an elderly woman with a cane who disappears into the north bedroom. And on one occasion, a security guard went upstairs to investigate the sound of footsteps and found a family photo turned face down when he returned to the entry hall.