Haunted places guide ยท Wilmington, North Carolina
Haunted Places in Wilmington, NC: 6 Places to Visit or Investigate
A World War II battleship, a mansion built on the eve of the Civil War, a theater with friendly ghosts in the gallery and a fort that fell in 1865. Wilmington is one of the most haunted towns in the South, and Haunted Rooms runs ghost hunts at three of these places.
Wilmington’s port history runs from colonial merchants to blockade runners to the battleship moored across the Cape Fear River, and its ghost stories follow. We have checked every place below against current sources. Haunted Rooms runs its own after-dark ghost hunts aboard the Battleship North Carolina, and has run ghost hunts at the Bellamy Mansion and Poplar Grove Historic House.
Commissioned on April 9, 1941, USS North Carolina earned 15 battle stars in the Pacific, the most of any American battleship in World War II. On September 15, 1942, a torpedo from the Japanese submarine I-19 tore a hole in her port side and killed five men. She was towed up the Cape Fear River in October 1961 and dedicated as the state’s World War II memorial in April 1962.
Staff, visitors and investigators describe a young sailor in the washroom area tied to the torpedo strike, a fair-haired man moving down passageways, hatches that open and close, lights that switch on and off, and voices on recorders. A staff member told WECT in 2008 that the ship at night is simply creepy, and the museum’s own programs director has discussed the stories on a local history podcast. Haunted Rooms runs ghost hunts aboard.
What our team has found
REM pods respond during group sessions night after night, alongside strong K2 and dowsing rod activity, dead bells and spirit candles lighting up. The torpedo room has been the most active area, with figures on the SLS camera, which has also picked up figures by the Wishing Well. Estes sessions have been interesting, and one EVP captured a loud bang that was also heard in the room.
From Haunted Rooms event reports
Haunted Rooms tip: Our nights include a daytime ship tour; wear light clothes, as it gets warm below decks.
Where to look Ellen Bellamy's southwest bedroom, the fourth-floor children's rooms and the cupola stairs
Reported ghosts Ellen Bellamy, a man in black said to be a Union officer, heavy boots
Visiting House museum with guided and self-guided tours
Hours and season Daily, tickets and tours 10 AM to 4 PM
Tickets Self-guided tour $16 adults, $8 students
Ghost hunting Yes: Haunted Rooms ghost hunts
Dr. John Dillard Bellamy’s 22-room Greek Revival and Italianate mansion was built from 1859 to 1861, much of it by enslaved carpenters and free Black artisans, including enslaved plasterer William B. Gould. Union officers took it as headquarters in 1865, arsonists gutted the interior in 1972, and it reopened as a museum in 1994 under Preservation North Carolina.
Ellen Bellamy lived here until 1946, and staff and visitors describe a Victorian woman on the top floor, ink-black fingerprints by a wall sconce that keep coming back, heavy boots on the wooden floors and a man in black taken for a Union officer. Night managers have told of doors opening by themselves. Haunted Rooms has run ghost hunts here.
What our team has found
Estes sessions and K2 meters have given our teams the most activity, and on one night several doors and cabinets opened on their own. When much of the furniture was out for floor refinishing, EVP sessions picked up comments about the missing items, including the piano being gone.
From Haunted Rooms event reports
Haunted Rooms tip: Tour the mansion by day, and see our ghost hunt page for dates of our after-dark ghost hunts.
Address 10200 US Highway 17 North, Wilmington, NC 28411
Where to look The upstairs bedrooms and the hallways
Reported ghosts A Civil War soldier's footsteps, a grieving mother of the Foy family
Visiting House museum with guided tours
Ghost hunting Yes: Haunted Rooms ghost hunts
The Foy family bought the land at Scotts Hill in 1795 from the estate of Revolutionary leader Cornelius Harnett and kept it until 1971. Joseph Mumford Foy’s three-story Greek Revival house went up around 1850, built largely by people the Foys enslaved, and the museum tells their story alongside the family’s. It opened to visitors in 1980, is on the National Register, and is cared for by the Poplar Grove Foundation.
Paranormal investigators have described footsteps they connect with a Civil War soldier, and the grief of a mother who lost four of her children, among six generations of Foys who lived and died in the house. The site has run its own October paranormal tours, with guides telling Foy household stories in the house, tenant house and graveyard. Haunted Rooms runs its own ghost hunts here.
What our team has found
REM pods respond during group sessions nearly every night, spirit candles stay lit and flash in response to questions, and the SLS camera often maps figures, including by the stairs. Estes sessions are consistently good and have given responses the team links to Hannah, a young enslaved girl associated with the property. Guests in many groups report being touched, and K2 activity is significant.
From Haunted Rooms event reports
Haunted Rooms tip: Visit the house museum by day, and see our ghost hunt page for Poplar Grove ghost hunt dates.
Where to look The galleries and the back of the auditorium
Reported ghosts Two men and a woman in old-fashioned dress, said to be friendly
Visiting Working theater; performances and guided tours
Tours History Tour (45 to 60 minutes) and a Haunted Tour of ghost stories for ages 13 and up; book a week ahead
Hours and season Box office Monday to Friday afternoons and before performances
Tickets Tours $15 adults, $12 military, $8 students
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts
Thalian Hall opened on October 12, 1858, a 1,000-seat theater designed by New York architect John Montague Trimble and built into Wilmington’s City Hall, which it still shares. Buffalo Bill, Lillian Russell, John Philip Sousa and Frederick Douglass appeared here, and the main auditorium has never been gutted.
UNC Wilmington historian Chris Fonvielle has written that generations of actors and staff, his own mother among them, reported three figures in period dress, two men and a woman, in the galleries and at the back of the house. In May 1969 he toured the building with Thalian Association president Tatum Robertson, who said she saw a tall man in Edwardian clothes follow her up the aisle and vanish. The ghosts are said to be friendly, even helpful. The hall now runs its own Haunted Tour.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book the hall’s own Haunted Tour a week ahead, then come back for a show and look up at the first gallery.
Where to look The cellar, built on the walls of the town's first jail
Reported ghosts Unexplained experiences tied to the old jail beneath the house
Visiting House museum open for tours
Tours House and garden tours
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts
Merchant John Burgwin, treasurer of colonial North Carolina, built this Georgian town house on Market Street in 1770 on top of Wilmington’s first jail, which dates to about 1744; jail cells survive below. Lord Cornwallis entertained his officers here during his three-week occupation of the town in 1781. The Colonial Dames bought the house in 1937 to save it from a gas station and opened it as a museum in 1951.
The museum says it is often asked about ghost stories, and its podcast Haunted Tales of the Cape Fear opens with this house and its jail. Local TV has run a segment on the house’s ghost, and the museum has offered autumn legends and lore walks around the surrounding blocks. No named ghost appears in the written record, so treat the stories as stories; the jail cells are real.
What investigators report
A paranormal research team that investigated the museum reports its EMF detector fluctuated when they asked the presence direct questions, with activity focused on the upstairs hallway and creaking in the master bedroom. They also recorded staff interviews beforehand, saying spirits tend to join conversations about themselves.
Address 1610 Fort Fisher Blvd S, Kure Beach, NC 28449
Where to look The surviving Land Face mounds and Shepherd's Battery
Reported ghosts General W.H.C. Whiting on the mounds; soldiers heard after dark
Visiting State historic site with a visitor center, museum and a marked trail past the surviving earthworks
Hours and season Tuesday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; closed Sunday, Monday and state holidays
Tickets Free
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts; the grounds are open in daytime hours only
Fort Fisher guarded New Inlet and the Cape Fear River and kept Wilmington open to blockade runners. By 1865 its sod-covered sand mounds made it one of the largest earthen forts in the world. A Union attack failed in December 1864, but on January 15, 1865 Union troops stormed in through Shepherd’s Battery. General W.H.C. Whiting, shot in the thigh, surrendered that night and died a prisoner in New York on March 10, 1865. Erosion, a highway and a World War II airstrip took most of the mounds, but part of the Land Face survives.
Ghost writer Alan Brown tells of three veterans at an 1868 reunion who saw a figure on a gun emplacement raise his sword when they waved, and they took it to be Whiting. Local writers still say his ghost walks the mounds he helped build and that soldiers are heard there at night. These are traditional stories; the battle itself is well documented.
Haunted Rooms tip: Walk the trail along the surviving mounds to Shepherd’s Battery late in the day; the site closes at 5 p.m.
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.
This legend still appears on older lists, but there is nothing left to visit.
The Maco Light, Brunswick County
For about a century a lantern-like light was reported on the tracks near Maco Station, blamed on a beheaded conductor named Joe Baldwin. The Wilmington Railroad Museum found no record of him; a conductor named Charles Baldwin died in an 1856 collision nearby. The tracks were pulled up in the late 1970s and nothing marks the spot.
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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.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most haunted place in Wilmington?
The Battleship North Carolina, featured on Ghost Hunters, has the biggest reputation, followed by the Bellamy Mansion and Thalian Hall.
Can you go ghost hunting on the Battleship North Carolina?
Yes. Haunted Rooms runs ghost hunts on board from 8 PM to 2 AM, with access to the torpedo hit area that is closed on day tours, plus a daytime ticket to tour the ship.
Is Poplar Grove haunted?
Its stories center on the Foy family: David Foy’s footsteps in the front office and Nora Foy, who lost four babies, upstairs. The museum runs paranormal tours on select October evenings, and Haunted Rooms has run ghost hunts there.
Does Thalian Hall have ghost tours?
Yes. The hall offers a Haunted Tour for ages 13 and up alongside its history tour; book a week ahead.
What happened to the Maco Light?
The ghost light seen along the railroad at Maco, west of Wilmington, has not been reported since the tracks were removed in the late 1970s.
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.
