Rockwood Museum: Wilmington's Haunted Gothic Mansion

Rockwood sits on a wooded rise in north Wilmington, a dark stone mansion of steep gables, tall chimneys and a long veranda, with a glass conservatory on one end and 72 acres of park and woodland around it. It looks like a haunted house from a film, and New Castle County, which owns it, is happy to agree. The county runs it as a museum, and alongside its house tours and art exhibitions it offers paranormal investigation tours from the attic to the basement.

The ghost stories here come from the people who know the house best: museum staff, volunteers, a county executive and the parapsychologist who leads some of its tours. They center on Mary Bringhurst, who lived at Rockwood almost all her life and died there at the age of 100. This guide covers the family, the house and the ghosts, and how to see them for yourself.

History of Rockwood

Joseph Shipley came from a Wilmington Quaker family and made his fortune as a merchant banker in Liverpool, England. When he planned his retirement home in Delaware he hired the English architect George Williams to design a house modeled on Wyncote, his English home, and Shipley had never even seen the site when the plans were drawn. Rockwood was built between 1851 and 1854 in the Rural Gothic style, with steep gables, decorative bargeboards and a conservatory, and Shipley moved in with his household, including his dog and his horse.

After Shipley, the estate stayed in the family. In 1891 his great-nephew Edward Bringhurst Jr. became the owner, and he moved in with his family the following year. The Bringhursts lived at Rockwood for more than seven decades, and the museum today is furnished to show their way of life around the turn of the 20th century. The family portrait in the house shows Mary, Edward, Bessie and Edith.

Mary Bringhurst was the last of the family to live there. She spent most of her long life at Rockwood and died in the house in 1965 at the age of 100, leaving the estate to her niece, Nancy Sellers Hargraves. Mrs. Hargraves in turn left it to a nonprofit, and in 1973 New Castle County took over the mansion and its grounds.

Rockwood was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Today it is a museum, park and events venue with a six-acre historic garden, woodland trails through Bringhurst Woods, art exhibitions, yoga on the veranda and guided house tours. In 2022 it was voted Best of Delaware for ghost tours.

The ghosts of Rockwood

Mary Bringhurst

Mary is the spirit visitors talk about most. In a 2017 CBS Philadelphia segment filmed in the house, parapsychologist Louis DiMieri, known as Dr. Lou, described how her former bedroom is often cold and how people sometimes smell lilacs, one of her favorite perfumes. A county staff member on the same tour said simply that the ghosts are nice.

Mary lived in the house for most of a century, so it is easy to see why she is the ghost people expect to meet. Older lists also describe a man in a red smoking jacket, which some link to Joseph Shipley himself, though we found no first-hand account of him.

The Shadowman

The basement belongs to a figure called the Shadowman. Dr. Lou told CBS he had never seen him but had felt his presence. Visitors on the investigation tours report the basement as the part of the house where they feel most uneasy.

The mirror and the railings

Rockwood’s best photo story comes from the drawing room. Visitors who photograph themselves in the large mirror sometimes say they find another person standing beside them who was not on the tour. Others report people looking down at them from the upper railings of the stairs and footsteps on the stairs when nobody is there. A 2017 Visit Wilmington release summed it up: footsteps, cold spots and apparitions, in a family that loved their home so much that most of them never truly left.

Ghost Hunters at Rockwood

The mansion appeared on the Biography Channel’s My Ghost Story in 2011 and in an episode of SyFy’s Ghost Hunters. WDEL reported that the investigators heard a screeching noise they could not explain in at least one room, and that the team told museum volunteer April Lindsey the house was active but the activity was probably benign. Museum director Philip Nord, who said he had once seen the spirit of a former resident himself, hoped the episode would ease the fears of some of his volunteers.

The county's own verdict

New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer told CBS in 2017: ‘There are ghosts here. I encourage people to come, and you’ll find stories of your own.’ It is not often a local government says that about a building it owns.

Where to look

• Mary's bedroom: known for sudden cold and the smell of lilacs.
• The drawing room mirror: where an extra figure is said to appear in visitors’ photos.
• The upper railings and stairs: the setting for faces looking down and footsteps with nobody there.
• The basement: home of the Shadowman.
• The attic: where the Paranormal Experience tours begin their search.

Visiting Rockwood

Rockwood Park is open daily, and the museum is open Wednesday to Saturday, with guided house tours on Fridays and Saturdays. The county also runs themed tours, art exhibitions, garden programs and guided hikes through the park and Bringhurst Woods, some of which need reservations. Only the west wing is wheelchair accessible; the main museum rooms are up stairs. Call 302-761-4340 for groups and special reservations.

For the ghosts, book one of the county’s Paranormal Experience nights, described as Rockwood’s classic investigation tour, which takes small groups from the attic to the basement with paranormal equipment. In past years the county has run monthly ghost tours, including an earlier family version for ages 12 and up, a late-night paranormal option for ages 14 and up and occasional overnight investigations for experienced ghost hunters. Halloween season is the busiest time, so book early.

Rockwood is about ten minutes from downtown Wilmington and close to Bellevue State Park, whose du Pont mansion has ghost stories of its own.

• 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

Tips for your visit

• Book a Paranormal Experience tour well ahead in September and October.
• Bring a camera and try the drawing room mirror shot.
• Wear shoes for stairs: the investigation tours go from the attic to the basement.
• Arrive early to walk the six-acre garden before your tour.
• Combine your visit with Bellevue Hall and Old Swedes Church in Wilmington.

More haunted places nearby

• Bellevue Hall, Bellevue State Park: a du Pont mansion with restless upper floors, five minutes away
• Old Swedes Church, Wilmington: a 1699 church with a bell that rings by itself
• Fort Delaware: Delaware’s most haunted place, 30 minutes south
• Fort Mifflin ghost hunt: our nearest ghost hunt, in Philadelphia
• Haunted places in Delaware

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the official website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and investigators tell them, and we say where records contradict a story.

• New Castle County: Rockwood Park and Museum
• Wikipedia: Rockwood Museum and Park
• CBS Philadelphia: Rockwood Mansion (2017)
• WDEL: Is Rockwood Mansion haunted? Ghost Hunters investigate
• Visit Wilmington: Greater Wilmington provides frightfully fun walks through history (2017)
• Delaware DNREC: Unveiling Delaware's dark secrets, the haunted Fort Delaware and beyond
• WHYY: Haunted locations of Delaware (2009)