Session 66: Delaware...

This episode, we dive into the state of Delaware.  Mainly because I knew nothing of it.  Enjoy!


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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
The year was two thousand and nine, and I had
just gotten a new to me, my two thousand and
two Honda Civic SI code name the EP three, better
known as Karina, and I wouldn't know it then, but
that would be the last Karna of cars. The next

(00:23):
car would get would be D two thousand and four
Subaru Forster XT, which was named Miranda after Miranda Lawson
from Mass Effect. But let's take it back to two
thousand and nine. I had said just picked up the
two thousand and two Honda Civic SI. I didn't know it,
but I was going to quit my job at Tokyo

(00:46):
as the head chef at Habachi. I was getting burnt
out and smoking, drinking the usual. But other than that,
it was just a couple of different factors going on.
I I didn't really like working there anymore. I didn't
really like cooking that much anymore. I kind of lost
the passion for it. And when you lose a passion

(01:07):
for something, you kind of just don't want to do
it anymore. So I figured I'd take this vacation, I
go down to visit my family in Delaware, And as
you might already know, I don't like going to Delaware
unless I have to go to Delaware. So I decided
on the whim to go down and see my family

(01:29):
in Delaware. And I again a lot of wooden notes.
But I didn't know then, but that would also be
the last time I saw my grandfather alive at least,
so I was glad that I was able to say
goodbye to him at the time, and proper proper. I mean,

(01:51):
we we kind of had a weird relationship. It wasn't
any hate, it wasn't any spike or anything like that.
We just didn't connect. We didn't click. And you know,
as I got older, I figured, you know, bury the
hatchet and all this good stuff. And so it was time.
It was time to go to Delaware. And yeah, we talked.

(02:15):
You know, obviously he was blind and didn't know it,
but he knew my voice and he touched my hair,
and you know, I just said it was good for
me to be there, and I felt the warmth there.
We reconnected, and like I said, I was glad that
I was able to say goodbye to him properly, because

(02:38):
again that was the last time I would see him
alive and interact with him. And so two thousand and nine.
Tough year I had. Well, I didn't break up with
my ex girlf and my ex girlfriend decided that she
wanted to break up with me, and in hindsight, dodged

(02:59):
a bullet. So wanted to clear my head. Just hated work,
hated everything really and I really loved driving. So I said,
what the hell, I'm just gonna get in this car
and I'm just going to drive to Delaware. The only
person that knew I was going to Delaware was my

(03:22):
cousin Suan, so shout out to one. He was staying
at the University of Delaware at the time, and I said, Hey,
I'm coming down. So without much fanfare, I just decided
to drive down there in a rainstorm. By the way,
drove through Watson Glenn, Watkins Glenn for a little bit,

(03:42):
and get in a rainstorm. Got there next morning. My
heat shield from the uh the catialic converter had started rattling,
so that was a pain in the butt. That was
about two hours of rattling, and so got that care
of at pep boys had them just rip it off.

(04:03):
But I get there and little did I know that
my mom was also going to be in Delaware as well.
So we had this plan where we weren't going to
tell my mom. Actually we didn't tell anybody. It was
just me and so on. And then he called his
older brother later on so we can get everything going.

(04:23):
But it was cool, it was cool. I didn't I
didn't plan any of that. And what I did do
while I was waiting for my cousin to wake up
was this was around early morning. I decided to drive
to the Christinia Mall. And this is probably around eleven.

(04:45):
I would say eleven because the mall was already open
at the time. And I decided to drive to the mall,
and I had turned on the radio and cash Money
was representing for the nine to nine and two thousands,
and I was just driving very slowly through the parking

(05:06):
lot and I got to the stop sign and I
was about to go, but then a group had kind
of just darted around the corner, and so I stopped
the car and I let him go, and this girl
and I just made eye contact, and she was wearing

(05:30):
a headdress and she was Middle Eastern. Judging from the headdress,
I'm guessing Iranian. Her face wasn't covered, but we made
eye contact and I smiled and she smiled back, and
Juvenile's Slow Motion for Me just happened to be playing,

(05:52):
and it was just perfect. As she's walking by the car,
we never lost eye contact as she walks across my car,
and for a brief moment on a bati schwea Arabi
with my eyes and she smiled and I smiled back,
and that was the end of it, and Juvenile was

(06:14):
still playing in the background. So Juvenile Slow Motion for
me has a core memory that is locked in there,
and I will never forget that. No matter how many
concussions I've had, how many traumatizing injuries I've had, I'm
always going to remember that I was at the Christinia

(06:35):
Mall and Juvenile's Slow Motion for Me was playing as
a beautiful Middle Eastern woman now walked by my two
thousand into Honda Civic. So let's get into the Let's
get into this week's episode. First of all, I just
want to apologize that I wanted to do this last week,

(07:01):
but I have I developed a cold from from the
colonizers who were sick, and I didn't want the recording
to be nothing but sniffles in between, so I decided
to hold off on it. And then I forgot that
we were actually going on vacation for Alex's birthday, and
so that became a thing. But here I am doing

(07:24):
it now live. We'll do it live, and it's about
the state of Delaware. And again, if you guys don't
remember previous episode, Mary and I were thinking about going
on a trip to Delaware and we wanted to see
what was cool with things that you know, to do there,
and there were places like you know, parks and waterfalls

(07:47):
here and there, but that was about it. We checked YouTube,
we googled, and we couldn't find any interesting things on Delaware.
So we went to Barnes and Noble and you know,
there has to be like a travel guy. I had
a lonely planet or something like that. So we go
to Barnes and Noble. Nothing. Okay, okay, okay, this is weird.
So nothing at Barnes and Noble, Nothing on Google, nothing

(08:10):
on YouTube, Amazon, maybe there's books about Delaware on Amazon. Nothing.
So we got frustrated and just said, you know what, yeah,
we're not gonna go to Delaware. And we wouldn't four
years later, so that memory came up and I did
some more research because that's what I do now. As

(08:33):
a forty three year old, I did some research into
the state of Delaware. So this is Session sixty six Delaware. Yeah,
so prefact. In December seventh, seventeen eighty seven, Delaware became
the very first state to be ratified into the US Constitution,

(08:56):
which it probably wears the nickname the first State. They
plastered everywhere the status is taken very seriously. You'll see
it on license plates, government buildings, school banners, even some
businesses use it as part of their branding. Again. Ratified
December seventh, seventeen eighty seven, Delaware beat all twelve other

(09:19):
colonies to ratify the US Constitution, becoming the official first state.
Designing took place in Dover, and delegates were unanimous in
their vote, thirty to zero. So man, that's a big thing.
I mean, you know, Alaska being the fiftieth state, Delaware
being the first, but you'rero is number one. If you

(09:42):
ain't first, your last, riggy baby, riggy babbing. So this
was a bold move as the Constitution was a brand
new framework for the government and not everyone was eager
to ditch the Articles of Confederation. I should probably talk
about that later. So December seventh. Every December seventh is
celebrated as Delaware Day. The capital of Delaware is Dover,

(10:07):
one of the oldest continuously inhabited capitals in the United States.
It was strategically chosen during the Revolutionary War due to
its inland location and safer from coastal attacks. Today it
balances historic charm like Legislative Hall at Old State House
with events like the Firefly Music Festival held at the
Dover Speedway. I reached out to my cousin Swan about

(10:31):
facts and stuff, and he never got back to me.
He kind of ghosted me. So I actually went and
did some digging about ghosts in Delaware. So thanks to Swan,
I went paranormal on Delaware, and I'm going to talk
about that later on. Largest city in Delaware is Wilmington.
Wilmington sits at the confluence of the Christinia and Brand

(10:55):
Newine Rivers, not far from Philadelphia. It is the financial hub,
with many corporations choosing Delaware for its business friendly laws.
Talk about that later. Culturally, it has a strong art
scene and is home to places like the Delaware Art
Museum and the Grand Opera House. Population the state, the tiny,

(11:20):
tiny state of Delaware has a population of just over
one million people, making it the sixth least populated state.
Most residents live in the northern third of the state,
around Wilmington and Newark. Despite its small size, it has
a very diverse demographic, especially in urban areas. Its abbreviation
is d E. If you guys are listening and you

(11:41):
want a phonetic pronunciation, it is Delta echo. You'd be
surprised how often people forget this one. It's also sometimes
confused with Denver or Detroit by the uninitiated. The state
bird is not your middle finger. It is the Delaware
blue hen. The blue hen chicken isn't your average poultry.

(12:04):
During the Revolutionary War, Delaware soldiers were said to carry
fighting blue hens with them, and their bravery became legendary.
So let me get this straight. You're in the Revolutionary
War and some of your soldiers decided they wanted to
role play and have a companion beast, have a dog,

(12:25):
have a wolf, of course, but a chicken. That that
there you go. So it's symbol of courage. And even
the University of Delaware's mascot is the fighting blue hen
named ud get it university yea. The state flower is

(12:46):
the peach blossom. In the nineteenth century, Delaware was known
as for its peach orchards, with millions of trees dotting
the landscape. The peach blossom was adopted as the state
flower in eighteen ninety five to its legacy. While not
a major peach producer, the flower is a nostalgic nod
to a sweeter time. How sweet of a time are

(13:10):
we going back to here? Considering h eighteen ninety five
was a little uh, a little thing grigated, That's what
I'm saying. Pet Bridge Farm remembers so Delaware's Revolutionary War
rowe might as well talk about it, right. Though small,

(13:31):
Delaware played a critical military and political role in the Revolution.
It sent delegates to the Continental Congress and was actively
involved in the fight for independence. The state's only major
battle during the Revolution was the Battle of Cooches Bridge
in seventeen seventy seven near Newark. Though technically a British victory,

(13:53):
it delayed the Red Coats long enough to fortify Philly.
Kind Of like a scapegoat, you know, I'm not sure
if you guys have ever seen a scapegoat, but an
actual scapegoat is a goat that faints when it's scared,
and that goat is eaten by a wolf, a dog, whatever,
any any predator that is out to get the rest

(14:15):
of the flock. That goat goes down. Everybody else eats
that goat and the rest of the flock gets away.
That's what Delaware's a little victory was. We lost, but Philly,
Philly was ready and if you ever been to Philly,
they're ready for war anytime. So let's talk about We've

(14:39):
talked about Paul Revere's ride, We've talked about Sydney's ride,
and so now we are going to talk about Caesar
Rodney's midnight ride from July first through July second, seventeen
seventy six, when the vote for independence came down to
a tie among Delawarre's delegates, Rodney, who was ill with

(15:01):
cancer and suffered from asthma, rode eighty plus miles through
thunderstorms from Dover to Philly to break the tie in
favor of independence. He rode overnight on bad roads in
sweltering heat, with one side of his face wrapped due
to a cancerous legion. His vote turned the tide. With autumn,

(15:22):
Delaware may not have voted for independence. You can see
Rodney's statue on the Delaware State Quarter and formerly in
the US Capital's Natural Statuary Hall, almost at Stationary for
some reason, but National Statuary Hall. You know, I didn't

(15:43):
know that was Rodney in the back of the quarter
until I actually did this research. I just thought it
was par Revere, to be honest with you, But here
we are. We've learned something today. Corporate capital of America,
Delaware is home to more than sixty thousand or I'm sorry,
sixty Delaware is home to more than sixty percent of

(16:04):
all Fortune five hundred companies, including giants like Amazon, Google,
and Walmart. Why It's Chancery court specializes in corporate law
that has no juries, just judges with deep business knowledge.
The state's in general corporation law is one of the
most flexible and business friendly in the country. As a result,

(16:25):
there are more corporations registered in Delaware then there are
people living in it. Let that sink in a little bit.
Also sidebar. If just saying, if, if the Department of
Justice is listening, and if the FBI is listening, you

(16:46):
might want to check out some of the warehouses in Dover, Delaware.
By the way, the warehouses that are close to the river,
not the river, the water there. Because when I worked
for the Big Blue Electronic box store, I would trace
back a lot of resellers to warehouses in Dover, Delaware. Lots.

(17:14):
Just saying. I'm not saying, just saying, just saying, just
maybe you want to check those places out. Maybe you
want to go to the Big Blue block store and take
a look at some of their orders and see where
those online orders are heading, most likely Dover, Delaware. Just
say it anyways. Old Newcastle colonial time capsule, the town

(17:39):
of Newcapsule, newcapsule. The town of Newcastle looks like it
got frozen in the seventeen hundreds. Cobblestone streets, original colonial
homes and old Newcastle courthouses where Delaware declared its independence
from Pennsylvania and the British Crown. For a time, Delaware
was governed from Newcastle before Dover took over. The first

(18:04):
European settlers in Delaware weren't English. They were Dutch and Swedish.
In sixteen thirty one, the Dutch settlers established a trading
post called I never I never got a chance to
do this, but swennadel Zwennadel that sounds about right in

(18:27):
what is now Louis Louise Louise, making it Delaware's first
European settlement. In sixteen thirty eight, the Swedes founded Fort Christinia,
now part of Wilmington, launching the short lived New Sweden Colony.
Eventually the Dutch took it over again, and finally the
British in sixteen sixty four. Delaware is made up of

(18:53):
just three counties, the fewest of any United States state,
US state, United States, of any state there you go.
One is Newcastle County, which is urban, industrial, heavily populated.
Two Kent County, which is home to capital Dover, and
three Sussex County, the agricultural beachy with towns like Real

(19:18):
about Real, Bath and Bethany. Every county has its distinct flavor,
like states within a state, you know, they got their
own thing going. Delaware was indeed a slave state, but
it never seceded from the Union, which is what I

(19:38):
said about the peach blossom thing. Bring it back to
the old times, good times. Maybe your friend go through
the back door when he comes to visit day. It
was low to the north, but many Delawareans had Confederate sympathies,
a classic border state tension. It didn't ratify the Thirteenth Amendment,

(20:02):
which is to abolish slavery, until nineteen oh one, thirty
six years after the Civil War had actually ended. No,
that's not a typo. That's not I looked that up.
Wikipedia wikied it. Yeah, so what's up with the blue
hen obsession? We're going back to that. So the Delaware
blue hen isn't just a state bird, it is a
cultural icon. During the Revolutionary War, a Delaware regiment kept

(20:28):
the fighting game hens as entertainment and possibly morale boost
These birds were feisty, and so are the troops. The
legend stuck. The blue Hen's chickens became the nickname of
the Delaware soldiers. The University of Delaware named their mascot
U D, a fierce looking blue hen in sneakers. Yeah,

(20:48):
he's a he's a celebrity. I mean, it's Delaware. There's
really not much going on. As you can see, I'm
I'm having to do all this. The Dover International Speedway,
nicknamed the Monster Mile, this concrete NASCAR track in Dover
is legendary for being brutally fast and hard on cars.

(21:10):
The track's mascot is Miles, the Monster Monster Mile Miles
and Mother again. Yeah is a towering stone gullum bursting
from the ground holding a race car. They really leaned
into it too. Miles even appears on the winner's trophy,
and there's a giant forty six foot tall version outside
the track. Only in Delaware would people take launching pumpkins

(21:34):
so seriously that it's become a world class competition. Pumpkin
Chunkin started in nineteen eighty six and became a nationally
televised event. You can see it on ESPN. Actually, teams
use air cannons, catapults, and tribuchets to launch pumpkins for distances,
sometimes over four thousand feet. It was originally held in

(21:57):
Sussex County and grew into a fall phenomenon, complete with costumes, cookoffs, carnage,
lots of smash pumpkins. Weirdly, the smashing pumpkins never performed there.
Legal issues and injuries temporarily paused it, but it remains
a legendary local tradition. Delaware has no state sales tax,

(22:19):
which draws shopsers from nearby states. Like moths to a
wallet friendly flame, people literally drive over the border just
to buy big ticket items. The Christinium, all where I
have a core memory, near Newark is a retail mecha
where you can buy iPhones and Gucci bags and everything

(22:42):
in between, all tax free. But I live in New Hampshire,
so I mean I already know this. Delaware has only
twenty eight miles of Atlantic coastline, but it punches hardened
tourism and local lore. Real Bath Beach, ReHO both Realo
both Real Bath, both ReHO both a popular LGBTQ plus

(23:07):
thirty two to forty five hot hot destination and family
friendly boardwalkown Bethany Beach known for its quiet, cozy vibe
and Cape Henlopen State Park great for history, buffs and
beachgoers alike. Used as a World War two coastal defense site.
Might have to hit that up next time I'm in Delaware. Yeah,

(23:29):
you can also ferry across the Delaware Bay from Louz
to Cape Maine, New Jersey. Neaymour's Mansion America's forgotten French palace,
built by Alfred Ill DuPont I actually got that one right.
This is a Gilded Age chateau in Wilmington, modeled after Versailles.

(23:51):
It has one hundred and five rooms, former gardens, fountains,
and a garage full of vintage cars. Delaware was a
playground for the DuPont family, who essentially helped industrialize America
through chemistry and gunpowder. It's state dessert peach pie. Peach.
While not officially legislated like in some states, peach pie

(24:14):
is widely recognized as Delaware's dessert of choice, a call
back to its nineteenth century peach industry, which is at
one point produced millions of baskets a year. Bonus quirk,
there's a peach blossom festival in Fountain celebrating the bloom.
So yeah, you guys want festivals, there you go. Delaware

(24:36):
is also technically a ship graveyard. Off the coast of Delaware,
more than two hundred shipwrecks lie under the waves, including Revolutionary,
civil and or Were two era wrecks. Scuba divers and
maritime historians consider it one of the East Coast's most
underappreciated dive zones. I don't dive, I can't swim. So

(24:57):
as much as I love history, can't see it again.
Callback more legal entities than people. As mentioned before, Delaware
is home to over one million registered businesses, more than
the state's population. Every big corporation you've ever heard of,
chances are there quote unquote based in Delaware. Legally speaking,

(25:19):
most of them are just po boxes in Wilmington. So now,
like I mentioned, I text my cousin Swan about facts
about Delaware. He lives there. I should have just texted
Cat or my niece Shelby. Shouts out to Cat and Shelby,

(25:40):
but he ghosted me. He kind of just left me hanging,
no dots, not even left me unread, just didn't even
bother reading it. So as a representation of being ghosted
in Delaware, I started diving into the paranormal of Delaware
and here's what I got. Fort Delaware Civil War Ghost

(26:00):
Island For those tourists, the location is Pea Patch Island,
Delaware River. It was built in eighteen forty eight and
was used as a Union fortress in Civil War prison
for Confederate soldiers. During the Civil War, Fort Delaware was
used to house over twelve thousand Confederate prisoners, many of
whom died from diseases, malnutrition, and just plain gave up despair.

(26:26):
The island was hot, swampy, isolated and hellish conditions were
cramped with poor sanitation and infestations. It earned the nickname
the Andersonville of the North. After the war, Fort Delaware
became a symbol of Union strength, but also a place
of tragic suffering. Some of the paranormal activity there is

(26:48):
disembodied voices. Visitors often hear whispers, even full conversations coming
from emptim corridors, shadow figures, dark humanoid forms, sometimes moving
in formation as if re enacting roll calls. Cold spots,
even in the summer, rooms drop in temperature suddenly and

(27:09):
inexpect to be in explicably some kid. So scent phenomenon,
This is a weird thing. I would, even today's day,
I would smell when I go to places, I would
smell cigarettes, or I would smell cigars in places that

(27:30):
I would go visit and come to find out people
smoke a lot of cigarettes and cigars in those places.
I'm not saying that it's a phenomenon thing. I just
think that I pick up on those things a lot
more than other people do. So cent phenomenon is the thing.
The smell of gunpowder, body odor, or multi bread often
hits people in places where no such material exists. Paranormal

(27:54):
investigators have reported high EMF readings in the old mess hall,
apparitions in prisoner barracks, and EVP recordings that include names, screams,
and even help me so ye that goosebumpser while I'm recording.
You can take a ghost tour at night, complete with
lanterns and park rangers who won't confirm or deny, but

(28:22):
they'll take your money. The the Shelbyville Swamp Monster a
hoax turned horror. It's located at the Great Cypress Swamp
near Shelbyville, Delaware. It was first sighted in nineteen nineteen fifties.
Again hoax, the it's a swamp cryptid or a bigfoot

(28:45):
type creature. In the nineteen fifties, a local newspaper editor,
Ralph grapper House, admitted to creating a monster for fun.
He and his friends, or he and his friend Fred
Stevens would dress up in a furry outfit with glowing
eyes and lurk around the road, terrifying drivers. But here's
where it gets weird. Sightings continued for decades well after

(29:09):
the pranksters stopped. Hunters hikers teens reported hearing inhuman howls,
seeing huge tracks, and even glimpsing a tall, shaggy figure
in the mist. Some claim it resembles Bigfoot, while others
more like a lizard like or even amphibian, suggesting something
more than a guy in a suit. The Great Cypress

(29:31):
Swamp itself is massive, wet, and mostly uncharted, a perfect
hiding place for something real or breeding ground for your imagination.
So Ralph decides to make a monster and it starts
to take on a life of its own. If you

(29:51):
are familiar with the slender Man, it is something that
is also man made and created. But you can get
give energy to these beings, you can make it happen. So,
for instance, if you are in a haunted house, in

(30:12):
a fake haunted house, like you go to during Halloween
or something, and you get yourself already scared when you
go in there, so if something jumps out there, you're screaming,
even though you know it's fake. You know that is
an actor. But you make yourself happen. You give your

(30:33):
imagination energy, you give it form. So people go into
the forest, they're looking for Bigfoot. Maybe they see one,
maybe they don't. It's just you gave that the ability
to manifest itself, That's what I'm saying. So when people

(30:53):
such as Ralph who makes this legend, claims that hey,
there's a big foot out there, all of sudden people
are out there and they're like, oh, yeah, I remember
that bigfoot. Well I just saw one. Oh oh you
saw it too. Yeah yeah. So then it just becomes
like mass hysteria. And so that's when you got to
be a little careful with things like that. Now. I'm

(31:13):
not saying that Bigfoot's fake, because you know me, I
do love many some cryptids, and I do love the
frequency theory. But sometimes it is just you tricking yourself.
The Rockwood Mansion haunted Gothic estate. By the way, It's
located in Wilmington. It was built in eighteen fifty four

(31:35):
by Joseph Shipley, a English merchant banker. The sprawling Gothic
style mansion was inspired by English country homes and has
dark hallways, antique furnishings, and a Victorian air sense of gloom.
Sounds like my kind of place? What's it known for?

(31:56):
The mirror? One mirror is said to reflect figures standing
behind you that aren't really there, especially active during storms
or around midnight, which is usually the witching hour. If
you guys have ever heard the statement, witching hour, usually
around eleven pm and three am is when things start

(32:18):
to go really, really weird. When I used to work
at Arigato, a Japanese restaurant in Rochester, New York, we
knew the place was haunted because it used to be
a warehouse and somebody a heckuld actually had an accident
with a forklift and died there. And every night around

(32:42):
eleven o'clock things start to get weird. Things start to move,
like cupboards would open. I saw what I thought was
like a green cloud dipping behind a plant, which just
happened to be near one of the bathrooms, and all
of a sudden, I heard the bathroom door open. Kids

(33:05):
can be heard running around the tables. You know, they
don't have to be dead, they just have to have energy.
So if somebody had a really good time there, they
leave a part of themselves. That's what it means when
you say I left a part of myself. So I
went to Iceland, I left a part of myself in Iceland.
There's a part of me haunting Iceland somewhere right now

(33:27):
over Skoga Falls by the way, So that's just basically
what it is. Sometimes you don't have to die, you
just have to really really like a place or really
love something. I'm going to talk about our vacation next
week where Alex and my dad have this unshakable bond,

(33:48):
and I just know that after my father passes away,
we are going to have to deal with that. We
are going to have to deal with my father being
so attached to Alex that he's not going to let go.
And again, we're gonna have to deal with that. I

(34:10):
just know it. We'll get there when we get there.
But that's the bond that my father and Alex have,
and I'll talk about that next week after when I
talk about our vacation. So the lady in white a
common apparition said to glide silently through hallways, sometimes appearing
at the foot of a guest sped. The lady in

(34:32):
white appears in a lot of places, and I've never
seen a lady in white myself. I've seen a lady
in gray, which is which is kind of scary until
I see her all the time at my aunt's house,

(34:53):
well not my aunt, but at Mary's aunt's house. Yeah,
I I walked downstairs one day, and I just told
Mary's aunt. I said, Hey, there's a lady upstairs by
the way. She's in a gray dress and she is
staring at one of the beds. And she goes, oh,
you see her too, Yes, yes, I do. And that

(35:13):
was the end of the conversation. But I see her
every now and then and again. Nothing malicious, nothing scary.
She's just there, hopefully looking after the kids. Animal ghosts.
Visitors report seeing phantom dogs, perhaps remnants of Shipley's pets.
Time loops. Guests say they've heard footsteps only to find

(35:34):
themselves re experiencing events they've just lived moments before. The
site offers paranormal tours, and investigators have gathered EVPs, cold spots,
and photographic anomalies. Smyrna Town of Ghosts. The Smyrna Opera
House rebuilt after a fire in eighteen seventy, and the

(35:56):
current building dates to eighteen seventy two. Reported hauntings include
clapping and footsteps when the auditorium is empty, curtains moving
on their own, and a spectral woman seen sitting quietly
in the back row. Cry Baby Bridge, located also in
the country road near Smyrna, the legend is a woman

(36:20):
in the eighteen hundreds threw her illegitimate baby into the creek,
then jumped in herself. If you park your car on
the bridge at night, you might hear baby crying, and
some report handprints appearing on car windows. Electrical issues are common,
like lights flickering and radios turning to static. The phantom

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train of Hopkinson in Hockinson doware, of course, locals tell
of a disused rail line that still echoes with the
sound of an invisible train. The train is heard but
not seen around midnight, especially during the fall, is described
as a steam engine with a distinct whistle, rumbling and

(37:02):
breaks screeching. The paramanormal twist is that an accident in
the early nineteen hundreds supposedly killed a conductor, and now
he rides the phantom line endlessly. You can walk parts
of the Pomeroy and Newark rail trail nearby, but people
do so after dark. Few people do so after dark sorry.

(37:28):
The Atty Sea Inn in Bethanese Beach Victorian Ghost hotel
built in nineteen oh two, quaint Breezy Beach B and
B by day goes central by night room hauntings Room
number one. The metal bathtub reportedly vibrates violently with no cause.

(37:51):
Room number six haunted by Paul Delaney, a former innkeeper
who allegedly died in the room. Guests report feeling watched,
smelling so guar smoke, and waking to see him at
the foot of their beds. Room number eleven, the phantom
organ music plays where no organ exists. Despite this, it's
a favorite of paranormal tourists. Some guests come specifically to

(38:14):
interact with those spirits. And finally, we have the Witch's
Tree in Kent County's Dark Sentinel, a woman accused of
witchcraft in the seventeen hundreds was hanged from a narrow,
old tree deep in the woods outside Dover. The superstition
is that if you touch the tree on Halloween, you'll
suffer from terrifying dreams, unexplained scratches, hallucinations from hallucinations of

(38:39):
a hanging sap oozes from it in a way that
some claim looks like thick, dark blood. No animals nest
in it and leave often refuse to grow on one side.
It's now a local dare for teens, though some say
they come back differently. What does that mean? Did they

(39:03):
hit Pubert you want to touch the tree? I don't know.
I haven't been Doware enough to test these things out.
But what do you guys think? Do you think Delaware
is a place to go now? Like, is that a
tourist destination? I mean, aside from the beaches, which is
very small by the way. Uh Joe Biden's house, maybe

(39:28):
Joe Flockle's house again. That's that's all I could dig
up on Delaware. So I hope you guys enjoyed my
little tour there. If not, Boomy, I guess kind of
ran out of ideas there. But uh wow, I just
went southern. Man. I need to sleep. I don't have

(39:51):
my tea. By the way, I can't find any more
of my favorite Kobucha green tea, so I'm going to
have to order that off of Amazon. I'm just drinking
straight up water now, boo. But thank you everybody for listening.
I am going to probably record the vacation tomorrow because

(40:12):
it's Alex's birthday, or the vacation was Alex's birthday, and
so he'll be going back to school and he's probably
not going to enjoy that pretty well after having such
a fun filled vacation, seeing his grandparents, going to the
Video Game Museum Hall of Fame, actually the Video Game
Hall of Fame. Then shooting down to the Boston Brick

(40:36):
Company where he bought a vintage Lego set, which I'm
not even going to tell you how much that costs.
Let's just say it's vintage and it's complete, or was
a complete vintage set until he opened it. And we
went to Plymouth, Massachusetts, where we saw the Plymouth Rock,

(40:58):
which is which is a thing. It's there, Yeah, that's
that's that's that's it really just a Plymouth Rock. But
UH took a picture in front of it because I
don't know. Maybe one of his ancestors was a member
of the Mayflower Band, people who knows Pilgrims. But we'll

(41:20):
talk about that next week, maybe tomorrow if I got
time to record it, and then i'll release it next week.
There you go, but again, thank you for listening. Hopefully,
Uh I didn't lose anybody because I wasn't recording, But
if you stuck around, thank you, thank you, thank you,
and as always, bopin, I'll talk to you guys later. Bye,