Haunted Places in Delaware: 22 of the Most Haunted to Visit
A Civil War prison island, a governor’s house with a ghost who drinks the wine, Gothic mansions, lighthouses and the oldest streets in the First State. These are Delaware’s most haunted places, with what is history, what is legend and how you can visit.
Delaware is small enough to cross in two hours, but it was settled in the 1630s, and almost every town has an old house with a story. We have checked every place below against current sources: official sites, state historians, National Register records and local news. You will find which places are open, which run ghost tours or paranormal nights, which take overnight guests and which you can only see from the road. The ghosts are reported as staff, visitors and investigators tell them, and we say plainly where a story has no record behind it.
The state’s own agencies are part of the story: Delaware State Parks runs evening paranormal investigations at Fort Delaware each fall, New Castle County runs paranormal tours at Rockwood, and the governor’s official website tells Woodburn’s ghost story. Haunted Rooms does not run events in Delaware yet; our nearest ghost hunts are at Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia and Linville Manor in Maryland.
Visit on a tourGhost toursParanormal investigations allowed
Address Pea Patch Island; ferry from 45 Clinton Street, Delaware City, DE 19706
Where to look The officers' kitchen, the officers' quarters, the casemates and dungeon cells, and the old prison barracks area
Reported ghosts A woman in the officers' kitchen who tells people to leave, children in the officers' quarters, the 'blue man' in a doorway
Visiting Island fort reached only by the park’s seasonal ferry from Delaware City
Tours Living history interpreters and daily cannon firings in season; Paranormal Adventure evenings each fall
Hours and season Late April to late September, weekends in spring and fall and Wednesday to Sunday in summer; ferries 10 AM to 3 PM, last return 4:30 PM
Tickets Ferry ticket includes the fort: adults $15, children 2 to 12 $8
Ghost hunting Yes: the park’s own evening Paranormal Adventure investigations with Diamond State Ghost Investigators (ages 13 and up)
Fort Delaware is a granite and brick pentagon on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River, built between 1848 and 1868 to guard the ports of Wilmington and Philadelphia. During the Civil War it became a prison: more than 11,000 men were held there in August 1863, about 33,000 passed through by 1865, and roughly 2,500 died, half of them in a smallpox epidemic. Many are buried across the river at Finn’s Point National Cemetery in New Jersey.
It is Delaware’s best-known haunted place. Visitors and investigators describe footsteps and doors in empty rooms, shadows in the casemates, a woman’s figure in the officers’ kitchen who is said to tell people to leave, and children in the officers’ quarters. The state park itself runs evening Paranormal Adventure investigations with Diamond State Ghost Investigators in the fall.
What investigators report
Investigators at the fort use EMF meters, data recorders and temperature sensors, and focus on the mess hall, officers’ kitchen, ordnance room area, officers’ quarters and the west end, which they describe as very active. Participants report being touched and hearing what sounded like cannon fire.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book the fall Paranormal Adventure as soon as dates are released; the evening investigations with Diamond State Ghost Investigators sell out months ahead.
Visit on a tourGhost toursParanormal investigations allowed
Address 4651 Washington Street Extension, Wilmington, DE 19809
Where to look Mary Bringhurst's bedroom, the drawing room mirror, the upper railings and stairs, and the basement
Reported ghosts Mary Bringhurst and her lilac perfume, the Shadowman in the basement, figures at the railings
Visiting Park open daily; the mansion is seen on guided tours and events
Tours Guided house tours, plus Paranormal Experience investigation tours and Halloween ghost tours
Hours and season Museum open Wednesday to Saturday, with guided house tours on Fridays and Saturdays
Tickets Paid house tours; members get discounts
Ghost hunting Yes: the county’s own Paranormal Experience tours use investigation equipment
Quaker merchant banker Joseph Shipley made his fortune in Liverpool and built Rockwood between 1851 and 1854 as his retirement home, to a design by English architect George Williams. His great-nephew Edward Bringhurst Jr. took over in 1891, and Edward’s daughter Mary lived in the house until she died there at the age of 100. New Castle County received the estate in 1973 and runs it as a museum and 72-acre park.
Rockwood’s ghosts are part of its program. Visitors talk most about Mary: a cold spot in her room and a smell of lilacs, her favorite perfume. A figure called the Shadowman is said to stay in the basement, and people photographing themselves in the drawing room mirror say someone else sometimes appears beside them. The house was filmed for Ghost Hunters and for My Ghost Story.
What investigators report
On Ghost Hunters, a REM pod reportedly went off repeatedly when investigators asked “Do you know Eddie?”, and the attic was where a door opened by itself. The team linked the dining room to a playful spirit called Eddie.
Hours and season April 1 to October 1, Wednesday to Saturday, 10 AM to 4 PM
Tickets No fee; $5 donation welcomed
Ghost hunting Yes: the society’s occasional Haunted Histories paranormal investigations with First State Paranormal Investigations
This cedar-shingled house on Front Street dates to the mid-1700s and is the only building in Lewes that survives with damage from the British bombardment of April 1813, when the Royal Navy fired on the town for about 22 hours; a cannonball is still lodged in its foundation. It has been a home, a bank, a print shop, a laundromat and a taxi stand, and Historic Lewes has run it as a maritime museum since 1963.
The Lewes Historical Society itself calls it one of Delaware’s most haunted sites. The best-known story is of a young woman who died after her skirts caught fire at the hearth; she is usually called Susan Rowland, though one TV report gives the name Sarah Rolan, and one tour dates her death to 1917. Staff and visitors report footsteps upstairs, a door that will not stay shut and tools moved overnight.
What investigators report
A Delmarva Historic Haunts team reported a long yes/no session on a Ghost Meter Pro after placing a candle in the long-unused fireplace and using a flashlight to mimic firelight. An EMF word device reportedly also gave readings during the session.
Where to look The upstairs bedroom windows and the rooms where pictures and mirrors are hung
Reported ghosts The Lady in Blue, seen in an upstairs window
Visiting Museum open for tours, programs and exhibitions
Tours House tours, plus Hauntings in History evening tours each October
Hours and season Seasonal tour hours; check the society’s site
Tickets Tour fee; Hauntings in History tickets must be reserved
Ghost hunting No public investigations
The Amstel House, also called the Dr. Finney House, was built in 1738 in the colonial river town of New Castle, and it was the home of Governor Nicholas Van Dyke during the Revolution. In 1931 local people raised money to buy it, and the group that did so became the New Castle Historical Society, which still runs it as a museum alongside the Dutch House.
Its ghost is the Lady in Blue. The society’s executive director, Mike Connolly, has told local reporters that she is seen in an upstairs window by people passing in the street, that reports go back almost 100 years, and that paintings and mirrors have been found on the floor, propped upright against the wall, with their hooks still in place. Nobody knows who she was.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book the society’s Hauntings in History tour in October, which goes inside the Amstel House after dark and walks the cobblestone streets.
Address 606 North Church Street, Wilmington, DE 19801
Where to look The burial ground and the bell
Reported ghosts A churchyard bell said to ring late at night, and graveyard tales whispered since the 1800s
Visiting Historic site with guided tours; an active Episcopal parish
Tours Guided tours, plus Ghosts in the Graveyard tours each October
Hours and season Check the site for current tour hours
Tickets Tour fee; Ghosts in the Graveyard tours about $15 for adults
Ghost hunting No ghost hunting in the burial ground
Holy Trinity, known as Old Swedes, was built in 1698 and 1699 by a mostly Swedish congregation on the burial ground of the New Sweden colony’s Fort Christina, which dates to 1638. It calls itself the nation’s oldest church building still used for worship as originally built, and more than 15,000 people are said to be buried in the churchyard. It is a National Historic Landmark and part of First State National Historical Park.
The site leans into its graveyard lore every October with Ghosts in the Graveyard lantern tours. Its own listings say stories about graveyard hauntings were whispered in Wilmington’s parlors and taverns in the 1800s, and the best known is a bell that rings in the churchyard late at night with nobody there to ring it. The tours present these as the stories they are.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book an October Ghosts in the Graveyard tour; reservations are required and children under 6 are not recommended.
Where to look The old stairs and the ground-floor rooms
Reported ghosts A more forceful presence than the Cannonball House, linked by tour guides to an old murder mystery
Visiting Free museum and shop run by Historic Lewes
Tours Stop on the Lewes Legends evening walking tour
Hours and season April to October, Wednesday to Saturday, 10 AM to 4 PM; November to mid-December, Thursday to Saturday; closed late December to March
Tickets No fee; $5 donation welcomed
Ghost hunting No public investigations here
The Ryves Holt House is a strong candidate for the oldest house in Delaware: tree-ring dating puts its timbers at about 1680, and Historic Lewes dates it to about 1686. Philip and Sarah Russell ran it as an ordinary, a simple inn. Ryves Holt, later Chief Justice of Delaware, bought it in 1723, and it is now a museum and shop run by Historic Lewes and part of First State National Historical Park.
The Lewes Legends walking tour stops here for its ghost stories, and visitors are told of a ‘murder hole’ and stairs tied to a murder mystery around two centuries old. Older ghost lists describe the spirit here as more aggressive than the one next door at the Cannonball House. We found no named witness or record behind the murder story, so take it as tour lore.
Haunted Rooms tip: Pick up the Lewes Legends tour here on a fall evening, and visit the free museum by day.
Visiting a haunted place by day is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through a historic building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and vigils, and gives you time to explore on your own. These are the nearest ones we run.
Where to look The main staircase, the dining room, the reception hall and the garden pools
Reported ghosts Charles Hillyard III in a powdered wig, a wine-drinking ghost, a little girl in a gingham dress
Visiting The governor’s residence; tours are not currently offered, with occasional public events
Tours No regular tours at present
Hours and season Grounds and house open only for scheduled public events
Tickets Free when open for events
Ghost hunting No ghost hunting at the governor’s residence
Charles Hillyard III built Woodburn in Dover in the 1790s, and the state calls it one of the finest Middle Period Georgian houses in Delaware. It passed to his daughter Mary and her husband, Dr. Martin Bates, then to the Quaker Cowgill family, and in 1965 the state bought it as the official home of Delaware’s governors.
Woodburn has the oldest ghost story in the state that is still told by the people who live there. The governor’s own website tells how the preacher Lorenzo Dow passed an old man in a powdered wig on the stairs around 1815, a man Mrs. Bates recognized as her dead father. Staff still leave out a glass of wine for Hillyard, and guests at a 1985 inauguration said they saw a little girl in a gingham dress.
Haunted Rooms tip: Woodburn is a working residence: watch the Woodburn website for its occasional public open houses and holiday events, and otherwise admire it from Kings Highway.
Where to look The attic servants' quarters, the closed upper floors and the basement
Reported ghosts Unnamed spirits blamed for flickering electricity, moved chairs, screams and laughter
Visiting Park open daily; the hall opens only for scheduled tours and events
Tours Occasional scheduled tours and paranormal programs, such as Paranormal 101: Bellevue Mansion
Hours and season Park 8 AM to sunset daily
Tickets Park entry $5 per Delaware vehicle, $10 out of state; walkers and cyclists free
Ghost hunting Only on the park’s own scheduled paranormal programs
Philadelphia wool merchant Hanson Robinson built a castellated Gothic Revival retreat called Woolton Hall here from 1855. William du Pont bought the estate in 1893, and in 1931 to 1933 his son William du Pont Jr., a famous racehorse owner, had it remodeled as a copy of Montpelier, James Madison’s Virginia home, where he had grown up. Delaware bought the estate in 1976 and opened it as Bellevue State Park.
Park staff and investigators say the hall’s upper floors, which are closed to the public, are the most active. The stories describe lights and electricity that misbehave, chairs that move and screams and laughter in empty rooms; Diamond State Ghost Investigators told a regional magazine in 2023 that most activity is in the attic servants’ quarters and the basement. Nobody claims to know who the spirits are.
Haunted Rooms tip: Watch the park’s events page for its Paranormal 101 evenings at Bellevue, and walk the grounds by day.
Address 99 Ocean View Parkway, Bethany Beach, DE 19930
Where to look Room 1 and its copper tub, Room 6, Room 11, the halls and the roof
Reported ghosts A former handyman linked to Room 11; a member of the Addy family said to have fallen from the roof
Visiting A working inn: book a room to stay the night
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts; stay the night instead
The Addy Sea was built in the early 1900s (1902 or 1904, depending on the source) as a summer home for John Addy, one of Bethany Beach’s founding families, and it is now an adults-only inn of about 16 rooms right on the sand, with original woodwork and brass fixtures. It is a Select Registry member and one of the town’s best-known landmarks.
Three rooms carry its ghost stories. Guests say the copper bathtub in Room 1 has shaken on its own, organ music has been heard from Room 6 though there is no organ, and Room 11 is linked to a former handyman. Others describe a figure running the halls at night, perfume in the air and footsteps on the roof. The inn itself does not market its ghosts.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book directly and ask for Room 1, 6 or 11 by number; summer weekends fill early.
Open to the publicGhost toursParanormal investigations allowed
Address 65 Lake Avenue, Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971
Where to look The Bewitched house (children) and the BEDazzled house (adults, at night)
Reported ghosts A girl the innkeepers call Eleanor Sigsbee, three other children and adult figures at night
Visiting A working bed and breakfast: book a room to stay
Tours Ghost hunting package run with Delmarva Historic Haunts
Ghost hunting Yes: the inn’s own ghost hunting package
Bewitched & BEDazzled is a two-house bed and breakfast on Lake Avenue, a short walk from the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk, run by Inez Conover since 2002. It embraces its ghosts and has offered a ghost hunting package with Delmarva Historic Haunts, which investigated the houses over two nights in 2012.
Staff told the Cape Gazette in 2013 that beds are found rumpled minutes after being made, doors open on their own and furniture moves. Innkeeper Aquilla Harris described seeing a full apparition of a girl in a hallway; investigators linked her sketch to Eleanor Sigsbee, said to be a daughter of Captain Charles Sigsbee of the USS Maine. We could not confirm from the captain’s records that he had a daughter of that name who died here.
What investigators report
Delmarva Historic Haunts ran a two-night investigation with ghost meters and recorders, reporting a ghost meter conversation and hearing “shut the door”. The owner says child spirits are linked to the Bewitched building and its stairs, while adult spirits are mostly heard at night in the BEDazzled house.
Address Delaware Breakwater, off Cape Henlopen; boat tours from 43 Cape Henlopen Drive, Lewes, DE 19958
Where to look The keeper's quarters and the stairs to the lantern
Reported ghosts William Landrey of the schooner Mary Rogers, who died here in 1892; former keepers
Visiting Offshore: reachable only on a boat tour
Tours Daytime lighthouse tours and evening Spooky Lighthouse Tours with Cape Water Tours
Hours and season Seasonal tours, mostly summer and fall
Tickets Spooky Lighthouse Tour from about $50 per person (ages 8 and up)
Ghost hunting No regular public investigations
The East End Lighthouse is a 49-foot cast iron ‘sparkplug’ tower on the end of the Delaware Breakwater, lit in October 1885 to mark the harbor of refuge inside Cape Henlopen. It was retired as a working light in 1996, the state took ownership in 1999, and a full restoration was finished in December 2020. There is no public access except by boat tour.
Delaware’s state information office tells its best-known story: on January 19, 1892, the schooner Mary Rogers was wrecked against the breakwater in a storm, and her sailing master, William Landrey, hesitated to cross to safety, was hurt in the water and died at the lighthouse. Visitors and tour staff describe footsteps, moved belongings and windows that open by themselves. Cape Water Tours runs evening Spooky Lighthouse trips with costumed storytellers.
What investigators report
Guests on the lighthouse paranormal tour use voice recorders, EMF meters, a spirit box, an Ovilus, dowsing rods and a pendulum, working up floor by floor to the top floor and observation deck. One attendee reported getting answers to questions through the equipment.
Where to look The study in Poplar Hall, the stairs and halls, and the grounds
Reported ghosts John Dickinson, said to be heard writing in his old study
Visiting Visitor center and grounds open Tuesday to Saturday
Tours Guided tours of Poplar Hall; no ghost tours
Hours and season Tuesday to Saturday, 10 AM to 4 PM; mansion tours Thursday to Saturday at 10:30, 11:30, 1:30, 2:30 and 3:30
Tickets Free; donations welcome
Ghost hunting No ghost hunting; this is a state history museum
Judge Samuel Dickinson built the brick mansion called Poplar Hall in 1739 and 1740 on a 13,000-acre plantation south of Dover. His son John Dickinson, the ‘Penman of the Revolution’ and a signer of the Constitution, grew up here. A British raid damaged the house in 1781 and a fire nearly destroyed it in 1804. The state runs it as a free museum, part of First State National Historical Park since 2013, and in 2021 archaeologists found a likely burial ground for people the Dickinsons enslaved.
Ghost lists say John Dickinson never left: visitors are said to hear a quill scratching in his old study, see a figure on the grounds and record his voice. We could not find any account from the site’s own staff or any named witness, so treat this one as a story that has grown on the internet rather than a documented haunting.
Haunted Rooms tip: Go Thursday to Saturday so you can join a guided mansion tour, and ask the interpreters about the Plantation Stories Project.
Where to look Captain James Drew's tomb and the oldest stones near the church
Reported ghosts Captain James Drew of HMS DeBraak, said to leave the churchyard on moonless nights
Visiting An active church; the churchyard is open to respectful visitors in daylight
Tours The state’s Zwaanendael Museum has led free tombstone walks here; no ghost tours of the churchyard
Hours and season Daylight hours
Tickets Free
Ghost hunting No ghost hunting in an active churchyard
St. Peter’s congregation fenced part of a four-acre grant as a burial ground by 1681, and its oldest stone, for Margaret Huling, dates to 1707. Here are Ryves Holt, members of the Rodney family and Captain James Drew of the British warship DeBraak, which capsized off Cape Henlopen in May 1798. One stone gives Elizabeth Cullen a birthday of February 30, 1760, a date that never existed.
Delaware’s own state information office has retold the legend: the DeBraak was said to have been lured onto the shoals by a phantom light, and Captain Drew’s ghost leaves the churchyard on moonless nights, searching for his lost crew. A screaming ‘Sea Witch’ was said to guard the wreck until it was found in 1986. These are sailors’ legends, and nobody has recorded a modern sighting at the grave.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask at the church for its printed guide to noteworthy graves, and pair a daytime walk here with the DeBraak exhibit at the Zwaanendael Museum.
Address 961 South Old Baltimore Pike, Newark, DE 19702
Where to look The roads around the bridge on foggy nights
Reported ghosts A headless British soldier walking the roads
Visiting Closed except to registered tour groups while it becomes a public site
Tours Monthly guided grounds tours; private group tours by request
Hours and season Monthly one-hour outdoor tours, limited to 20 people
Tickets Free with registration
Ghost hunting No ghost hunting
On September 3, 1777, about 1,000 American light infantry and militia skirmished with British and German troops near the Cooch family’s mill and bridge as the British marched on Philadelphia. It is Delaware’s only Revolutionary War battle, and a long tradition, which historians doubt, says the Stars and Stripes first flew in combat here. The Cooch family lived on the land for seven generations and sold the house to the state in 2018.
The legend is a headless British soldier, said to have lost his head to a cannonball early in the fight, who walks the roads near the bridge on foggy, moonless nights. It is a classic battlefield ghost story and no witness has ever been named. The state is turning the homestead into a museum, aiming to open by the battle’s 250th anniversary on September 3, 2027.
Haunted Rooms tip: Register for one of the free monthly outdoor tours; the site is otherwise closed while the state prepares it for 2027.
Address 15099 Cape Henlopen Drive, Lewes, DE 19958
Where to look The dune bunker behind Tower 12 near the campground bike trail, and Battery 519
Reported ghosts A phantom soldier still on duty behind Tower 12
Visiting State park open daily; the museum is inside the park
Tours Fort Miles Museum tours of Battery 519
Hours and season Park open daily, morning to sunset; museum hours vary by season
Tickets State park entrance fee; museum admission separate
Ghost hunting No ghost hunting; the park closes at sunset
Fort Miles was built from 1938 to defend Delaware Bay in World War II, with big guns hidden in the dunes, an underwater minefield and a line of concrete fire control towers along the beaches. The German submarine U-858 surrendered here in May 1945. The land became Cape Henlopen State Park in 1964, and today the Fort Miles Museum fills Battery 519, an underground gun battery with a restored 12-inch gun.
The legend is of a phantom soldier still on duty behind Tower 12. People who walk too close to his bunker, under a dune by the campground bike trail, say they have heard growling or been shouted at by a voice with no body, and his face is said to appear in photos and video. The story is told in the Cape Gazette and on Lewes ghost tours; nobody has put a name to the soldier.
Haunted Rooms tip: Climb the open fire control tower and tour the museum in Battery 519 by day, then cycle the campground trail past Tower 12 before the park closes at sunset.
Where to look The widow's walk on the roof and the second-floor room below it
Reported ghosts A Revolutionary War sentry shot on the widow's walk in 1777
Visiting Tours by appointment; also a wedding and event venue
Tours Guided house tours by appointment; historic tree tours
Hours and season By appointment
Tickets Adults $3, students $1
Ghost hunting No public investigations
Thomas Collins, later a Revolutionary War general and Delaware’s eighth governor, gave Belmont Hall its Georgian front around 1773, and he died here in 1789. During the Revolution the house served as an emergency meeting place for the state’s General Assembly. A fire destroyed the top floor in 1922, and the state bought the house in the 1980s; it is now a museum, wedding venue and the home of a Revolutionary War Day each fall.
The story goes that in 1777 a British party trying to capture Collins shot a sentry standing guard on the widow’s walk, and he died in the room below. A Daughters of the American Revolution plaque in the front hall remembers him. His spirit is said to remain, and older accounts claim his bloodstains can still be seen on the second floor; owners were already telling the sentry story to a National Geographic reporter in 1935.
Haunted Rooms tip: Call ahead to book a tour (groups of four or more) or time your visit for Revolutionary War Day in the fall.
Where to look The old closed-off stairwells, the front doors and the bar
Reported ghosts Edgar Allan Poe and his curse, footsteps on closed stairs, doors that swing open
Visiting Working bar and restaurant
Tours No ghost tours
Hours and season Restaurant hours
Tickets Free to enter
Ghost hunting No public investigations
St. Patrick’s Inn stood on this corner of Newark’s Main Street from about 1747, and Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon used it as a base while surveying their famous line in the 1760s. Fur trader James S. Martin bought it in 1848, tore it down and put up the four-story brick Deer Park Hotel in 1851. The National Register calls it the only 19th-century inn left on Main Street; today it is a busy tavern near the University of Delaware.
Edgar Allan Poe lectured at Newark Academy in December 1843 and is said to have stayed at St. Patrick’s. The legend says he fell in the mud outside, cursed the inn and everyone in it, and has haunted it since. Staff describe footsteps on the closed-off stairs when opening or closing, coughing and voices, and front doors that swing open as if someone has walked in.
Haunted Rooms tip: Come for a drink on a quiet weeknight and ask the bartenders what they have heard on the old stairs at closing time.
Where to look The terminal offices after hours, the food court and the patio behind the terminal
Reported ghosts A man who looks into the office, white figures after closing, cigar smoke, shipwrecked sailors
Visiting Public ferry terminal open during ferry hours
Tours Starting point for Cape Water Tours’ Spooky Lighthouse Tour
Hours and season Ferry operating hours
Tickets Free to enter; ferry fares apply
Ghost hunting Past ghost hunts were special events run with the Lewes Historical Society
The Lewes terminal of the Cape May-Lewes Ferry stands near Cape Henlopen on a stretch of beach where bodies from shipwrecks washed ashore for centuries. A marker on the dock honors the hundreds of sailors ‘whose unidentified bodies were here cast ashore’, and local accounts put the number buried in the sand at 600 to 800. The old Lewes quarantine station for sick sailors and immigrants stood nearby.
A longtime ferry employee told WMDT in 2014 that it was nearly impossible to keep overnight staff, that one woman quit after a few nights, and that his own family saw a man look into his office when nobody else was on duty. The Lewes Historical Society has run ghost hunts in the terminal, where participants reported white figures after hours, footsteps and the smell of cigar smoke.
What investigators report
A public ghost hunt with Intuitive Investigations reported spirit box and K-II meter responses in the food court, the walkway to the ferry loading area and the outdoor courtyard behind the terminal. One spirit box reply to where a traveler was going was reportedly “to the university”.
Haunted Rooms tip: Arrive early for an evening ferry or the Spooky Lighthouse Tour, read the sailors’ marker on the dock and watch the sun set over the bay.
Where to look The Swamp Forest Trail and the old Lum's Mill House
Reported ghosts The miller John Lum and his son, a water wheel heard turning, a young woman's screams in the woods
Visiting State park open daily
Tours Nature programs; no ghost tours
Hours and season Morning to sunset daily
Tickets State park entrance fee in season
Ghost hunting No ghost hunting; the park closes at sunset
Lums Pond, Delaware’s largest freshwater pond, was made in the early 1800s when the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal dammed St. Georges Creek to feed its locks; it also powered a gristmill. The state park around it opened in 1963 and covers about 1,790 acres, and the old Lum’s Mill House, dated to about 1713, is on the National Register.
Two legends are told here. Visitors say they have seen John Lum and his son still working at the mill and heard a water wheel turning where none runs. Darker is the story of a young runaway murdered in the woods near today’s Swamp Forest Trail, whose pleading voice and muffled screams are said to carry on quiet nights. The tellings disagree on whether that happened 150 years ago or in the 1970s, and we found no record of the crime.
Haunted Rooms tip: Walk the Swamp Forest Trail in daylight and leave before the park closes at sunset.
Where to look The captain's quarters and the crew's quarters
Reported ghosts Footsteps, banging and a female voice reported by an overnight investigation team
Visiting Museum ship open for tours in season
Tours Guided tours of the ship
Hours and season Seasonal; check the foundation’s site
Tickets Tour fee or donation
Ghost hunting Investigations have been by private arrangement only
The Overfalls (LV-118) was built in Maine in 1938, the last lightship built for the U.S. Lighthouse Service. She served off Connecticut, Massachusetts and Boston until 1972, and the Coast Guard gave her to the Lewes Historical Society in 1973, when she was renamed for the old Overfalls station at the mouth of Delaware Bay. She is a National Historic Landmark, moored on the Lewes canal and run by the Overfalls Foundation.
Her ghost story is recent. In November 2022 a team called the Phantom Detectives spent a night aboard and said they recorded footsteps, banging and a female voice in the captain’s and crew’s quarters, and one of them called it among the most haunted places he had investigated. The foundation’s president told local TV he knows of nobody who died aboard, though the hair on his neck sometimes stands up when he is alone on the ship.
What investigators report
Investigators walking the ship at night reported unusually high EMF meter readings, along with footsteps and voices in the crew quarters. The lead investigator advised speaking to the spirits respectfully, as you would a friend or neighbor.
Reported ghosts Unexplained voices, toys that move and a smell of old-fashioned tobacco
Visiting Small free museum
Tours Walking tours of downtown Smyrna by the Duck Creek Historical Society
Hours and season Saturdays 10 AM to 1 PM, or by appointment
Tickets Free
Ghost hunting No public investigations
Robert Holliday built the house known as The Barracks in the late 1700s; nobody is sure where the name came from, although it was used early on. U.S. Senator Presley Spruance owned it, and in August 1863, with Smyrna the headquarters for enrolling Union troops, Delaware’s first Civil War draft lottery was drawn on its front porch. The Duck Creek Historical Society received it in 1981 and opened it as the Smyrna Museum in 1989, with a restored early 1700s plank house behind.
The ghost stories are modest and mostly from visitors. A user-submitted account describes toys moving and a smell of old tobacco at a Christmas open house, and ghost lists mention voices and sounds and the feeling of being watched. Older lists say the house was a War of 1812 barracks; the state’s historical marker does not support that, so we have left it out.
Haunted Rooms tip: Visit on a Saturday morning, when the museum is open and free, and ask about the Duck Creek Historical Society’s walking tours of Smyrna.
Address Woodland Church Road, near Woodland and Seaford, DE 19973
Where to look The short bridge and the woods on both sides
Reported ghosts Maggie Bloxom, said to search for her baby or her head
Visiting A public country road; view from the roadside
Tours Featured on Chesapeake Ghosts Delmarva tours
Hours and season Public road
Tickets Free
Ghost hunting Public road with private land on both sides; do not trespass
Maggie’s Bridge is a short crossing on Woodland Church Road in the marshy country west of Seaford. The legend says a young woman named Maggie Bloxom died here in the late 1800s when thunder spooked her horse and her carriage went over the side; in most versions she was pregnant, and in some she lost her head. Teenagers stop on the bridge at night and shout ‘Maggie, I have your baby!’ and wait for sobbing in the marsh.
Haunted Eastern Shore author Mindie Burgoyne told WMDT that ‘this is where young people go to scare themselves’, and the Cape Gazette calls it a widely known urban legend. A grave for a young Maggie Bloxom is said to be in a local cemetery, but nobody has produced a record of the accident. It is a narrow public road: do not stop in the lane.
Haunted Rooms tip: If you go, park safely off the road, keep your lights on and do not trespass on the farmland and woods beside the bridge.
These places appear in older lists of haunted spots. We keep them here so you know the facts before you go, but you cannot (or should not) visit them.
The Brick Hotel on the Circle, Georgetown
The 1836 inn where staff named two playful ghosts George and Ophelia closed to guests for good on August 28, 2021, and the building is now leased as offices. You can admire it from The Circle. Read its story in our Brick Hotel guide.
The David Finney Inn, New Castle
The old inn on Delaware Street, said to share a Finney family ghost with the Amstel House, changed hands in 2021 and is now a law office and apartments, not a hotel. See our David Finney Inn guide, and visit the Amstel House instead.
Christiana Fire Company Station 12, Christiana
The firehouse where a dark figure was said to appear in the engineer’s room doorway was demolished, and the company moved into a new $7 million Station 12 on East Main Street in March 2022. It is a working fire station, not a place to visit. One board member joked to WDEL that some of the old ‘spirits’ may have survived the move.
Cat Man's Grave, Long Cemetery, Frankford
The legend of a cat-faced caretaker who stalls the cars of anyone who knocks on his tomb grew up around the Colonel Armwell Long family cemetery near Frankford, reached by a private road. The crypt at the center of the story was torn down in 1994, and there is no record of any ‘Cat Man’. Do not trespass on the private road or the burial ground.
Haunted Delaware by town
Haunted places in Lewes: the Cannonball House, the Ryves Holt House, the East End Lighthouse and the Lightship Overfalls
Changed from our older guide: we added ten places, including Old Swedes Church, the Amstel House, Belmont Hall, Cooch’s Bridge, the Deer Park Tavern, Lums Pond and five Lewes sites, and wrote new full guides to Rockwood and Woodburn. The Christiana firehouse moved to the off-limits list because the haunted building was demolished, and Cat Man’s Grave because it sits on a private road and its crypt is gone. We corrected the claim that ‘the French built’ Fort Delaware, dropped the Smyrna Museum’s War of 1812 barracks story, which the state’s marker does not support, and say plainly that the John Dickinson quill pen story has no traceable witness.
Visited one of these places? Tell us what happened
We collect first-hand accounts from visitors and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your visit. We read every story before it’s published.
Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island, a Civil War prison where about 2,500 of roughly 33,000 prisoners died. Delaware’s environmental agency calls it the most haunted place in the state, and the park runs its own paranormal investigations each fall. Rockwood in Wilmington and Woodburn in Dover are close behind.
Where can I go ghost hunting in Delaware?
Fort Delaware State Park runs evening Paranormal Adventure investigations with Diamond State Ghost Investigators each fall, New Castle County runs Paranormal Experience tours at Rockwood, and the Lewes Historical Society holds occasional paranormal nights at the Cannonball House. Haunted Rooms’ nearest ghost hunts are at Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia and Linville Manor in Maryland.
Is the Delaware governor's mansion haunted?
Woodburn, the Governor’s House in Dover, has Delaware’s oldest ghost story. The governor’s official website tells how a preacher met the builder’s ghost on the stairs around 1815, and staff still leave out wine for him. The house is not open for regular tours.
Can you stay overnight in a haunted place in Delaware?
Yes. The Addy Sea in Bethany Beach and Bewitched & BEDazzled in Rehoboth Beach both take guests. See our guide to haunted hotels in Delaware.
What is the most haunted town in Delaware?
Lewes, founded in 1631, makes the strongest claim: the Cannonball House, the Ryves Holt House, an offshore lighthouse, a haunted lightship and a ferry terminal built on a sailors’ burial beach. See our guide to haunted Lewes.
Is Maggie's Bridge real?
The bridge is real, on Woodland Church Road west of Seaford, but nobody has produced a record of the accident in the legend. Local writers call it an urban legend. It is a narrow public road with private land beside it, so do not stop in the lane or trespass.
Sources and how we research
Every place in this guide is checked against its official website, historic register listings and news coverage, and we confirm whether it is open, closed, private or gone before we list it. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and local historians tell them; we say so where records contradict a story. Each place shows how many independent sources we checked it against; our own Haunted Rooms pages are not counted.
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every place in our guides using official sites, historic registers, local archives and news coverage, and we report ghost stories as the stories they are. We review each guide regularly so you are not sent to a place that has closed, changed hands or banned visitors. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
