Bewitched & BEDazzled B&B, Rehoboth Beach: The Sea Captain's Daughter and the Pillow-Throwing Children

Bewitched & BEDazzled is a dog-friendly bed and breakfast on Lake Avenue, a quiet tree-lined street in downtown Rehoboth Beach, a few minutes’ walk from the boardwalk and the beach. It is made up of two houses. The rooms are themed on Golden Age Hollywood stars and the 1960s TV show Bewitched, and each has a private bath; some add a fireplace or a jetted tub. There is a year-round outdoor hot tub and an enclosed dog run.

Unusually for a beach B&B, the owners talk openly about their ghosts, which makes it one of the friendliest haunted hotels in Delaware. Guests and staff describe children who mess up made beds and throw pillows on the floor, adult figures seen in the second house at night, and a girl an innkeeper drew from life who was later identified by investigators as the daughter of a famous sea captain.

The ghosts of Bewitched & BEDazzled Bed and Breakfast

The girl in the sketch

The inn’s best-known story began when innkeeper Aquila Harris saw a girl in the house so clearly that she took her for a guest. Harris wrote everything down and drew a detailed picture, noting the girl’s pale complexion and dusty black shoes. Owner Inez Conover later said Harris saw her “in full detail, as if she was a living person.”

Delmarva Historic Haunts, a paranormal group from the peninsula, identified the girl as Eleanor Sigsbee, a daughter of Captain Charles Dwight Sigsbee, who commanded the USS Maine when it blew up in Havana harbor in 1898. The Cape Gazette reported in 2013 that, according to the story, Eleanor was staying in the building and died there at the age of 13. Published records of the Sigsbee family do not mention an Eleanor, and we have found no record of a Sigsbee death in Rehoboth, so treat the name as the investigators’ identification rather than established fact.

The story fits an older one. The original version of this guide described the ghost of a sea captain and his family, with the captain’s 12-year-old daughter seen in the basement and his wife and son around the grounds, and noted that nobody had established who the captain was.

The children of the Bewitched house

Most of the day-to-day activity is put down to children. Conover has said four ghost children are often found in the Bewitched building, and they have a habit housekeeping staff do not love. “They mess up the beds, they go in and throw pillows on the floor,” she told a local reporter, so freshly made rooms look as if someone has already been in them.

Guests also report footsteps in the hallways and voices when nobody else is around.

The grown-ups of BEDazzled

The second house has its own residents. Several adult figures are seen and heard there, and unlike the children they tend to appear at night.

Conover was a skeptic at first. She changed her mind as guests photographed apparitions and wrote about them in reviews, and she told the Cape Gazette she had staff “literally run out of the building next door a couple times, scared to death.” She has her own story too: in her own home, she said, she saw a man walk up and sit on the side of her bed. “They’re all good spirits. They don’t do anything negative,” she has said. “The one thing we don’t have is any nasty ghosts.”

The 2012 investigation

Delmarva Historic Haunts spent two nights at the inn in November 2012 with infrared cameras, audio recorders and meters. Co-lead investigator Rick Coherd called it “definitely a haunted place.” The team said they heard a voice say “shut the door,” one member felt her hand being held, and they recorded what they described as a conversation through a ghost meter.

These are the investigators’ own claims and have not been independently tested. In February 2013 the group returned to host a public Paranormal 101 event at the inn, and the inn later offered a Ghost Hunting 101 package with them.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

• The Bewitched house: Rooms themed on the TV show. This is where the four ghost children are said to throw pillows and rumple beds, and where the girl in the sketch was seen.
• The BEDazzled house: Rooms themed on Golden Age Hollywood stars. Adult figures are reported here, mostly at night.
• Fireplace and jetted-tub rooms: Some rooms in both houses have a fireplace or a jetted tub; ask when you book.
• Hot tub and dog run: A year-round outdoor hot tub, and a lit, enclosed dog run for four-legged guests.

History of Bewitched & BEDazzled Bed and Breakfast

Rehoboth Beach is one of the Mid-Atlantic’s favorite beach towns, popular with visitors from Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia. Lake Avenue is a quiet, tree-lined street in the downtown grid, a short walk from the boardwalk.

Little has been published about the two houses before they became a bed and breakfast. Inez Conover has owned and run Bewitched & BEDazzled since 2002, giving the rooms their Hollywood and TV themes and making the inn noticeably welcoming to dogs.

The ghost stories grew as guests posted photos and accounts online. After the 2012 investigation, a story by Jon Bleiweis brought the Sigsbee identification and the pillow-throwing children to a wider audience, and the inn began offering a Ghost Hunting 101 package: an expert-led ghost hunt with Delmarva Historic Haunts during a two-night stay, at the standard room rate, with a full innkeeper’s breakfast and a wine reception.

Charles Dwight Sigsbee, the captain named in the story, was born in Albany, New York, in 1845, commanded the USS Maine from 1897 and was cleared by a court of inquiry after the ship was destroyed in February 1898. He died in New York City in 1923. Published records of his family mention a daughter, the artist Mary Ellen Sigsbee, but not an Eleanor.

Tips for a haunted stay

• Ask when you book whether Ghost Hunting 101 is still running; it was offered on two-night stays.
• Bring the dog: the inn has a lit, enclosed dog run and treats.
• Rooms in the Bewitched house put you with the children; BEDazzled is where the adults appear at night.
• Walk to the boardwalk for dinner, then come back for the hot tub.
• Combine your stay with the Addy Sea in Bethany Beach, about 25 minutes south, another Delaware beach inn with ghost stories.

More haunted hotels nearby

• The Addy Sea, Bethany Beach: a 1902 oceanfront inn with stories in Rooms 1, 6 and 11
• Atlantic Hotel, Berlin, Maryland: an 1895 small-town hotel about an hour south
• Kitty Knight House, Georgetown, Maryland: a riverside inn tied to the War of 1812
• Haunted hotels in Delaware

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.

• Cape Gazette: Bed, breakfast and ghosts (Feb 2013)
• Haunted Places to Go: True paranormal activity at Bewitched & BEDazzled (Jon Bleiweis)
• Savvy: Bewitched & Bedazzled listing
• KAYAK: Bewitched & Bedazzled B&B, Rehoboth Beach
• Wikipedia: Charles Dwight Sigsbee

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