A Haunted Governor’s Mansion

Woodburn Mansion

For over 200 years, people have seen and heard ghosts at the historic Woodburn mansion in Dover, Delaware.

This beautiful, 1790s Georgian house has seven bedrooms and beautiful gardens.

Woodburn in the 1950s.

Several of Delaware’s leading citizens have lived in this house. In 1965, the state of Delaware bought the property, renovated it, and made it the governor’s mansion.

The first Woodburn ghost sighting happened in 1820. Dr. M.W. Bates the owner, at this time, invited a Methodist preacher, Lorenzo Dow to stay the night.

After socializing, Dow retired for the evening to an upstairs bedroom. The next morning, he passed another man on the stairs. The preacher noted this man was dressed in “colonial garb”—and was shuffling up the steps oddly.

When he reached the breakfast table, he asked the Bates’ who the other guest was. Baffled, they told him no other guests were in the home.

After he described this man, the couple felt certain it was Dr. Bates’ father, who had been dead for years.

Woodburn gardens.

Another ghost seen and heard at Woodburn is a “slave raider.”

Dan Cowgill, a Quaker, owned the mansion before the Civil War. The house was a stop along the Underground Railroad.

One night a group of angry raiders came to the mansion looking for escaped slaves. Cowgill was able to chase them off.

One raider attempted to escape by climbing a poplar tree in the front yard. He slipped and got caught in a knot of the tree. He hung there, trapped and unnoticed until he died.

This tree still stands.

To this day, witnesses report hearing his screams as he tries to escape.

Woodburn dining room.

Several governors’ wives have seen ghosts in the mansion’s dining room.

These women state they heard footsteps at all hours of the night in this room, as well as seeing men, dressed in revolutionary-era clothes floating across the room.

These ghosts seem to be more fun-loving than scary. The spirits in the house are called “wine ghosts.”

The reason for this is they imbibe whatever wine is left out. If glasses are left half-full, etc., witnesses return to find them empty.

When Governor Charles Terry Jr. lived in the mansion, one ghost, in particular, was observed helping himself to the mansion’s vintage wines in the dining room.

A previous owner, before it was the governor’s residence, stated every night he would fill a decanter with wine, he then would find it empty the next morning.

It seems these ghosts like to party.

The mansion also has a young female ghost. This girl is seen in the garden wearing a red-checkered gingham dress. She likes to splash water in the homes’ fountains and pools.

Fountain at Woodburn.

This young spirit  “crashed” Governor Michael Castle’s inauguration in 1985.

Several guests felt something tugging at them throughout the ceremony. And many witnesses saw her floating shyly in the corner of the reception hall.

The public can visit this mansion—but by appointment only.

Haunted Hannah House

“The House that reeks of death . . .”

Hannah House

This old house is located on the southern part of Madison Avenue in Indianapolis, Indiana. Witnesses state the home’s history has left it haunted.

Alexander Hannah built this grand 24-room house in 1858.

Hannah was born a Quaker and the son of the president of the Indiana Central Railroad first trained as a harness maker. He left this business to seek his fortune as a prospector in the Californian gold fields. He earned enough money to become part owner of a ranch.

He returned to Indianapolis in 1850. He worked for his father, Samuel Hannah and bought 240 acres south of the city where he began construction on his dream home at the age of 37.

The Hannah House is a 2-story redbrick structure designed in the fashionable Italianate style with Greek revival influences.

Hannah became a progressive farmer who used all the latest scientific techniques. His community involvement included: being a sheriff, postmaster, and a member of the Indiana General Assembly.

In 1872, Hannah a confirmed bachelor for many years married Elizabeth Jackson. 

Upstairs bedroom.

Alexander and Elizabeth sadly were unable to have children. At one point Elizabeth miscarried. This baby is buried near the couple at their family plot. One legend states this stillborn baby haunts an upstairs room in the Hannah House where she was born.

Despite this tragedy the Hannah’s often entertained and kept busy with public events. He and his wife are believed to haunt their home.

One legend states Alexander Hannah’s most passionate activity was one he had to keep secret. He used Hannah house and its surrounding acreage as a stop on the Underground Railroad before the Civil War.

Records of this activity were obviously not kept but in more recent years partially collapsed tunnels have been discovered on the Hannah property—these could have been used to help escaping southern slaves made their way to Canada.

One story passed down through the family involved a rainy evening when a group of slaves were hidden in the home’s cellar. One of these slaves accidentally tripped over an oil land and set the room ablaze.

These slaves, unable to flee succumbed to the smoke and flames. Hannah’s servants buried their bodies in the dirt of the cellar floor so it would not be discovered the house was used as a “stop.”

Cellar's dirt floor.

Years later, many witnesses reported smelling burning flesh and decomposing bodies in the Hannah House.

Hannah Family marker.

Alexander Hannah died in 1895, and after Elizabeth died in 1888, the house lay empty for 4 years. A German immigrant, Roman Oehler, a jeweler, purchased the home along with 21 acres in 1899. His daughter’s family--named Elder-- lived in the house until 1962. The home still is owned by this family today.

During their time in the house, Mr. Elder heard a shelf containing canned fruit jars in the cellar crash down--till this day he cannot explain what caused the rack to fall.

For the next thirty years, the property lay mostly unused. A family by the name O’Brien rented the property in 1972 and ran an antique business for 10 years. They lived in the house upstairs for one year--but were then driven out by the activity--even though they kept the store open.

This family claimed to have experienced a variety of paranormal activity. They reported feeling cold spots and seeing fleeting apparitions.

They smelled foul smells including rotting corpses--in the bedroom upstairs where the Hannah baby was born. Despite attempts to clean this room the smell always returned.

The witnesses saw doors, and wall hangings move on their own. They saw a spoon fly off a coffee tray and hit the wall. These witnesses also stated they heard disembodied voices—which included whispering.

In 1978, the Hannah House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

In 1980, the Southport Jaycees used the old house as a Haunted House for several years. Members of this group were often stumped by the fact that one chandelier downstairs would sway without any explainable reason. 

Several members stated that one afternoon before the Haunted attraction opened their sound system with their spooky music turned on, and then they heard footsteps enter the house, but no one was there.

One woman who drives into Indianapolis on her way to work passes the Hannah House--she states that she often sees an old man in period clothing standing on the lawn by the house waving at her.

Today Hannah House can be rented for special events--this is to raise funds to preserve it.

Paranormal groups and psychics that have investigated the home state having similar experiences to those listed above as well as hearing unexplained scratching sounds.

The Ghost of Mathias

This story is elusive--the names, several of the places etc. cannot be traced. But it is interesting so I place it here...

In the fall of 1958 a black freeman by the name of Mathias presented a letter from an abolitionist group to a Quaker minister, Reilly Daniels who lived in Rochester, New York. This letter informed Reilly that Mathias could be trusted. He gave Mathias a place to stay and made him the church handyman. 

The two men worked together for the next two years helping escaped slaves from the south travel to Canada on the Underground Railroad.

Not much is know about Mathias before he approached Reilly--there is no written history or photograph of him. The information that is known today about this unusual man is because for years after these two men worked together his story was passed down from one generation to the next in Rochester. 

The fact that Mathias and Daniels even worked together is surprising because Daniels was a Christian and Mathias was known to practice hoodoo.

From the 1830’s on, every southern plantation had at least one slave who practiced hoodoo--which had been passed down. Hoodoo rituals evolved from a mixture of West African, Native American and European spiritual rituals. 

A misconception is that hoodoo is the worship of Satan--this is not true. People who practice hoodoo are sometimes called conjurers because the practice involves casting spells and curses or as they are called “tricks”--with fetish rituals such as mojo bags filled with herbs and dried bones. 

On the flip side a Hoodoo doctor, which Mathias was, also called upon supernatural or spiritual powers in order to help people.*

Because of this difference in beliefs it is said that Mathias clashed with Daniels on more than one occasion. In March of 1860, Mathias left Rochester to continue his work in the south. 

His plan was to pass himself off as a slave on a Savannah, Georgia plantation so that he could help slaves escape and then lead them north to the Underground Railroad. 

Another Abolitionist, Abigail Potterson encountered Mathias as he made his way south. She arranged a safe cellar for Mathias to stay in for the day while she found a carriage that could take him to the next underground “station”.

Here is what Potterson wrote in her dairy in March of 1860-- it is paraphrased to shorten her entry:

“When I brought him lunch he was sitting on the cellar’s dirt floor. His back was to me as I approached him. He was tossing something that looked like white twigs on the ground before him and I heard him muttering something in a low tone. I walked up to him and tapped him on his shoulder. He turned and looked at me with hatred in his eyes. I felt dizzy and faint.

The next thing I knew I woke up next to him lying on the dirt floor. He apologized for scaring the soul away from my body. He explained he had meant no harm. She then saw on the ground one of the white twigs he had forgotten to pick up. It wasn’t a twig, though, but an animal bone.”

After this Mathias made it as far as Earl Lander’s plantation near Savannah. He planned to help 12 slaves escape. Samantha Devon shared the following account of this escape in a book entitled, Unchaining Freedom. Her grandfather was one of the slaves that escaped with Mathias’ help. Again, her account is paraphrased in order to shorten it:

“The man who helped my grandpa was a Hoodoo doctor. My grandpa could tell he was because who else could show up out of nowhere in a Georgia slave cabin and announce he was from New York and was there to help everyone get free. They were all actually afraid of him--knowing what he was. Grandpa Toby said that one night he gathered everyone in one cabin and told them it was time. He gave them all mojo bags to wear under their clothing and said it would make them invisible to the white people.

One boy, Silias refused to go along with it and instead went to tell the foreman what was going on. Grandpa said Mathias killed Silias even before he was halfway across the yard. But the dogs must have smelled something because they started howling and everybody had to get out quick. The Hoodoo man stayed behind and made a spell to stop the men from chasing after but something happened and he got caught.

Grandpa saw his freedom because of that man. He was grateful but he never wanted to see him again. Said if he wasn’t the devil then he was a close cousin.”

What happened next was published in a local Savannah newspaper under the April 3rd headline, COLORED RASCAL CAUGHT, SLAVES ESCAPE.

“The farm of Earl Landers was the scene of an escape last night. Mr. Landers shot and caught an unknown negroe that is suspected of being a northern abolitionist agitator but 12 negroes are still missing. Mr. Landers' brother, Andrew Landers was killed when his horse fell upon him during the chase. Following is a list of the escaped slaves and their particulars…”

After Mathias was captured he was taken to the county Courthouse by Sheriff Gil Smithson and placed in a cell. No medical attention was provided for his wound and the official record at the time mentions that Mathias died while trying to escape that same day.

In 190l the truth came out when former Deputy Sheriff Wayne Haskins admitted that he watched as Earl Landers and the sheriff hung the captured man in his jail cell. 

Haskins stated that these two men were surprised when the prisoner stopped struggling and instead used his last breathe of life to snatch a black flannel bag underneath his belt. He then sprinkled the contents on the sheriff and Landers. 

Locals say it was this “trick” by Mathias that caused both men to be cursed with very bad luck up until they were both killed in the bloody Civil War battle of Bull Run.

As long as this courthouse stood it seems Mathias’ ghost haunted the cell where he was hanged. 

As the years passed and more courthouse workers heard the story of the murder-- they became convinced that the unusual things they were seeing and hearing were caused by Mathias’ ghost. 

Several prisoners that were kept in the same cell over the years stated it was always unnaturally cold. Workers reported smelling herbs in the area. 

There also were reports that people actually heard the sound of Mathias rasping breath as the noose tightened around his neck.

By the time the courthouse was torn down in 1948 most had forgotten about this murder. But in 1973 a local man, Terrance Mallory discovered an old photograph at an estate sale. 

It shows a woman holding a baby in a turn of the century dress standing in front of the window that once was Mathias’ cell. By the 1900s this cell was being used as a supply room. Malloy feels the blurry image on the windowpane is actually the ghost of Mathias.

*  Hoodoo is practiced not only by blacks but by some Anglos. It was considered by many during the Civil War to be a kind of folk magic. It was a country cousin to the Voodoo that was practiced in the Caribbean and New Orleans. Although it consisted of mostly benign folk medicine, many practitioners seemed to have other powers, such as, psychic ability.