[CLOSED AS OF AUGUST 28, 2021]
There are many paranormal happenings that have occurred at, 18 The Circle or The Brick, a 14-bedroom Hotel on the Circle in Georgetown, Delaware over the years. You need to remember, it’s a 185-year-old building that has gone through generations of visitors—both alive and dead.
The original structure was built by local Delaware construction guys, Joshua S. Layton and Caleb B. Sipple in 1836. These men also built the Sussex County Courthouse right across the Circle.
During the Civil War era, the building was called, The Union Hotel. It was also once a public housing building where rough and tumble people stayed early on and many decades later, in the 1950s became a bank, The Wilmington Trust Co. When the bank closed, it became an upscale Inn for people to enjoy the historic community of Georgetown, DE and people who wanted to travel to the historic town for a nice weekend getaway. Burton C. Baker the original Innkeeper before it was a bank; he was able to make the Hotel a neat place to go and visit on the Delmarva Peninsula.
Today, the Brick Hotel is a rare building because there are only a few such historical buildings and attractions which have stayed in-tact. This is mainly due to its prominent history in the community, architecture, and because of the spookiness to boot!
Current Innkeepers, The Lester’s, love to share the Brick Hotel with their guests and ghostly friends, but weren’t believers right away.
Whether you love ghost stories or not, this is an exquisite, gorgeous federal and Greek style Inn will grab your attention or open your bedroom door without your permission at night!
See also: Delaware’s Most Haunted Hotels | The Most Haunted Places in Delaware
It is believed that the current owners, The Lester’s may have stirred up the ghostly haunts in 2008, when they did some renovation work on the property. Over the years, many ghosts appear in the home, in addition to many other strange occurrences in the hotel, seen by several staff and guests. Lynn’s staff members refer to two of the spirits as, George and Ophelia—who like to play around and are friendly with people.
She was also told that former bank employees of The Wilmington Trust Co. that once worked in the Brick Hotel were very uncomfortable at night while in the building. And due to the validity and evidence of the session with the medium and EVP recordings have been made, Lynn Lester is finally a believer in the spirit realm and knows the strange happenings are real! She told the group of paranormal investigators, “We are haunted by occupation with what appears to be at least one friendly ghost.”
During a paranormal investigation, over a decade ago, EVP was done, motion detectors and other gadgets were used and infrared photos captured images of potential ghosts from the past.
Psychic medium Donna Smith and her husband Revan and other investigation team members from Delaware also used night vision cameras to check out the hotel paranormal activities. They were able to confirm there are several spirits in the home and one they encountered was most likely female, or someone with a very feminine side.
Smith held a séance in 2008 and did tarot card readings at an event in the hotel. She said, “We had communication here, and it would be nice to get more for the history of the building.” “…we do this for fun; spirits are real.” During the investigation many people who took part had felt cold spots in the room and there were several noises that couldn’t be explained during the event. Witnesses also saw a figure of someone or something down one of the hallways.
In a 2009 article that describes their ghostly investigation, it sheds light on what exactly happened in the investigation. A group picture was taken the even in July 2008 (or 2009) with the participants in the hotel. The main center, chandelier in the room was flickering and cameras shut off. According to Revan, there were orb abnormalities and various phrases were picked up by EVP including:
“That’s a classic.” “You needn’t bother.” “That’s my broken bone” and “Medical.”
“Redrum,” (murder spelled backwards; in the movie, “The Shining.”
While these messages are not all clear as to why they were said many of the voice recordings seem to be from the time period around Dec 2941 of the Pearl Harbor bombings and during the time of the Civil War when the Brick hotel was called, the Union Hotel.
If you haven’t traveled and stayed at The Brick Hotel yet and are curious—you should! If you love taking photos and are an amateur ghost or orb hunter, you may just encounter many orbs on your pictures! This isn’t your only proof of course and you may witness something spooky down a hallway or in your room, yourself!
Many staff members have witnessed light shutting off, on several occasions randomly and lights flashing and going absolutely haywire! Some attribute this to George or Ophelia, but no one is really sure which ghost is doing this—or maybe it’s someone they haven’t encountered or confirmed yet through EVP.
You might want to take some video (of course with The Lester’s permission) on your phone or if you have a professional camera or recorder. It is said that guests and staff have witnessed doors opening and closing, when no one is psychically moving them, of course.
At night sometimes the showers turn on themselves—yikes! And many paintings have been seen at night to be moved or relocated with ghostly hands—unseen to the naked eye! This place is sure to spook you to the core and may or may not be a place you want to be at midnight! Wonder what the witch hour is like, at 3am (when all ghosts or paranormal activity supposedly happens most! The Ghostbuster’s would love this place!
Brick Hotel, 18 The Cir, Georgetown, DE 19947, United States