All states / Delaware
Explore 50 haunted places in Delaware. Read ghost stories, local history, source notes, and visiting information in the PHASM Haunted Atlas.
Newark, Delaware · Other
Former Rodney residents told Her Campus about a man appearing in dormitory doorways. One residence-hall director mistook him for a maintenance worker before he vanished. A later graduate described a similar figure watching from beside the door, then disappearing while she looked down from bed.
Pea Patch Island, near Delaware City, Delaware · Other
Fort Delaware’s island walls enclose Civil War prison history and stories of whispers, footsteps and figures glimpsed in the dark. Delaware’s own environmental agency has recorded the investigators’ accounts. Visits depend on the park’s seasonal boat service and separately scheduled programs.
Felton–Frederica area, Delaware · Road or bridge
A dog with glowing red eyes is said to wait beside Route 12 after dark. Delaware Haunted Houses retells a gruesome explanation: a tenant murdered his landlord and fed the remains to a dog, which became the roadside specter. A 2021 contributor reported sounds resembling chewing and chains, with the sensation of being followed near the fields. Legendary murder not verified. Reports disagree on exact stretch; no point pin or stopping instructions.
Dover, Delaware · Historic house
The ghost attributed to John Dickinson keeps up the habits of a writer and a sleeper. According to Delaware Haunted Houses, people hear a quill scratching across paper in his den even when no one is working there. His bed is also said to become rumpled in the afternoon, as though he has just risen from a nap.
Middletown, Delaware · Historic house
A boy’s alleged death in the early twentieth century anchors Locust Grove’s ghost story. Delaware Haunted Houses describes household lights and appliances switching on or off, furniture moving and strange noises inside the farmhouse. The recurring impression is that somebody remains in the rooms even when the living occupants believe themselves to be alone.
Frankford, Delaware · Cemetery
The Catman is described in Delaware Haunted Houses as a dead cemetery caretaker with feline features who still drives disruptive visitors away. The tale connects him with an above-ground tomb and vehicles that suddenly refuse to start. A 2019 contributor described their own ATV failing near the cemetery, echoing the older roadside legend. Do not knock on walls or disturb graves. The summoning ritual is folklore, not visitor guidance.
Bear, Delaware · Natural landmark
The haunting follows the Swamp Forest Trail around Lums Pond. In the Delaware Public Archives’ telling, a young runaway was murdered in the surrounding woods, and her pleading voice and muffled screams are sometimes heard along the trail. The voice remains the story’s central detail, without any visible figure or identified killer.
Seaford area, Delaware · Road or bridge
Maggie’s Bridge carries the story of a pregnant woman who died in a crash at the crossing. Delaware Haunted Houses retells a local challenge in which calling to Maggie about her baby supposedly provokes an answer from the unseen mother. The story survives through visitors’ accounts of disturbances at this quiet crossing.
Newark, Delaware · Theater
Elmo is the name given to Mitchell Hall’s resident ghost, a workman said to have fallen from scaffolding. UDaily’s 2004 account describes footsteps, strange breathing, mischievous laughter and a wake of cold air. Lights reportedly switch themselves on and off, while two small children have also been seen in the theater’s balcony. UDaily’s 2018 retrospective explicitly says Elmo’s origin has no historical basis; do not state fatal construction accident as fact.
Frederica area, Delaware · Historic house
The woman called Tom’s Daughter in the Mordington legend is remembered in a black dress and white bonnet. The Delaware Public Archives says she was enslaved and confined in an attic after resisting her enslaver, then died trying to escape. Her apparition reportedly walks beside the pond and through the dining room, while some tellings include lingering screams. Legendary personal history unverified; residential location and exact pin withheld.
Slaughter Neck, Delaware · Cemetery
Jonathan Morris is the wandering figure associated with the boardwalk trail between Slaughter Neck and Broadkill Beach. According to the Delaware Public Archives, his farmhouse once stood near the route. His presence is said to be strongest at his grave in the old Morris family burial ground, where the trail story finds its physical focus.
Newark, Delaware · Other
UDaily connects Old College’s reputation with the 1858 killing of student John Edward Roach near its entrance after a dispute between classes. During later building renovations, workers reportedly encountered shadowy figures, objects going missing and unexplained noises. The unsolved killing and these later disturbances form the building’s separate campus legend.
Gumboro, Delaware · Historic house
Heavy breathing on the stairs and footsteps without a visible person give this house its reputation. Delaware Haunted Houses also describes figures crossing the yard and harmonica music at odd hours. The voices are attributed to two different presences: a friendly child and an older, more solitary inhabitant who seems reluctant to leave.
Wilmington, Delaware · Cemetery
An NEH account notes nineteenth-century newspaper and diary stories of Old Swedes’ bells tolling mysteriously at midnight. The churchyard’s dead provide several suggested identities for its restless inhabitants, including Revolutionary veteran Peter Jaquett and two sisters who died of fever. The old reports leave those identities unresolved, with the unexplained bell ringing as the enduring motif.
Newark, Delaware · Other
Her Campus writer Kaylee Giacomini describes her own suite’s bathroom door slamming when nobody was inside. She and her roommates also felt an unseen presence. A previously inactive light flickered, and the bathroom light reportedly kept strobing after its switch was turned off.
Newark, Delaware · Other
A Her Campus collection retells the claim that occult architectural geometry cursed Recitation Hall. Equipment accidents and strange deaths were attributed to the design; later alterations were supposedly meant to break its influence. The article says reports subsided after the art department changed the building. Unsubstantiated campus curse legend; do not present architect’s beliefs, deaths or supernatural cause as documented history.
Wilmington, Delaware · Historic house
Rockwood’s Gothic Revival mansion has enough unusual visitor reports that the county itself schedules ghost walks and paranormal programs.
Newark, Delaware · Road or bridge
A family of six is said to cross Salem Church Road around midnight. In the story published by Delaware Haunted Houses, the figures belong to relatives executed nearby after accusations of witchcraft. Their repeated journey across the pavement gives the road its particular legend, rather than a single resident ghost inside a house. Claim of early-1900s witchcraft executions is unverified and historically suspect; label urban legend. No precise incident point.
St. Georges, Delaware · Road or bridge
The fiddler at Scott’s Run is called Jacob in the account collected by the Delaware Public Archives. An enslaved man, he supposedly played from the old bridge’s railing until a fall into the stream ended his life. The music is said to have outlasted both the musician and the wooden crossing: listeners report his fiddle at the replacement bridge.
Smyrna, Delaware · Other
Unseen voices, unexplained sounds and objects shifting position are the disturbances described by Delaware Haunted Houses at Smyrna Museum. Visitors are also said to feel watched inside the old building. The account associates the haunting with its military uses, including barracks and Civil War recruitment, without identifying any particular soldier as the ghost.
Newark, Delaware · Other
A student video discussed by Her Campus described scratching and pounding from Smyth’s unoccupied fourth floor. Its door allegedly moved without anyone using it. The students also found scratches in a boiler room, features they interpreted as signs that something remained in the otherwise quiet building.
Dover, Delaware · Other
The figure attached to Dover’s Green is an angry judge who refuses to retire from the neighborhood. Delaware Haunted Houses describes his apparition walking among nearby tombstones before venturing onto the square. The account identifies no judge by name, leaving the stern nighttime wanderer as a local tradition attached to the historic civic space.
Newark, Delaware · Cemetery
In the legend collected by Ed Okonowicz for UDaily, Charlie Miller lost his head while riding through the churchyard during the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge. A patch in the church wall became part of the tale. His headless horseman is said to search along Welsh Tract Road and nearby highway margins. Distinct named churchyard and Charlie Miller variant; not a second bridge profile. Battle details and wall explanation are folklore.
Dover, Delaware · Historic house
The official Delaware governor’s residence has a surprisingly friendly resident ghost: a gentleman in old-fashioned dress who may enjoy a glass of wine.