Legends & History from a Haunted Island

Civil War GHOSTS at Fort Delaware coincides with the 10th anniversary of the island prison’s evening Ghost Tours.

The book includes many of the ghost stories told over the years, plus other tales of very recent encounters at the fort and on Pea Patch Island. In addition, there are a few reports of ghost sightings in nearby Delaware City and in New Castle. One of the most interesting chapters is based on an interview with noted Delaware storyteller Willis Phelps Jr.—who works as an historic interpreter at Fort Delaware and who is an expert on such issues as Civil War history and African-American history. His information on a lost graveyard in Delaware City, which contains the burial sites of four U.S. Colored Troops from the Civil War, is a wonderful addition to the book.

Of course, there are comments from historians, re-enactors, volunteers, park staff (present and past), tourists and, in particular, a very eerie picture—of what appears to be an apparition—captured by Amy Justice during an evening Ghost Tour in September 2005.

Also, Dr. Lou DiMieri—founder of the East Coast Society for Paranormal Research, a local ghost hunting group—was very helpful in providing an evaluation of many of the fort’s haunted sites.

Previous Ghost Tour visitors will recognize the stories in such chapters as “The Skull Man,” “Door to Nowhere” and “Where are the Dungeons?” But there also is a significant amount of new material, accompanied by photographs—about Fort DuPont, lost gravesites, prisoner escapes, a burning at the stake, a mysterious curse and the possibility of buried Confederate treasure—that make this book a worthwhile addition to one’s collection, whether a Civil War buff, ghost hunter or Fort Delaware tourist.