May 26, 2025 • 45 mins
On this episode we are visiting one of the oldest towns in America. Not only does it boast a rich history, but its streets also beg the question- what is normal and what is paranormal?
Sources & Reference Material:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP0lIiqIgrg
https://history.delaware.gov/new-castle-court-house-museum/ncch_history/
https://www.delawareonline.com/story/lifestyle/2008/10/20/old-new-castle-s-hauntings/63945434007/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:15):
Sherlock Holmes once said when you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the
truth. But what if the truth isn't just
improbable? What if it's horrifying?
What if it's something so baffling that our minds can't
accept it? What if it's because our senses
can't confirm it? Or it makes your very soul
shudder from committing such a depraved act.
(00:38):
In this podcast, we'll journey through haunted history,
metaphysical happenings, unexplained disappearances, and
unconventional murders, events that challenge everything you
thought you knew. And sometimes we'll uncover the
truth, but perhaps not in the way you were hoping.
I'm Jen. And I'm Liu, and this is the
haunting truth where facts blur into the unknown, and what
(01:01):
remains after we question everything might just shake us
to our core listener discretion advice.
(01:23):
Welcome listeners to another spine chilling episode of the
haunting truth. Those who might be new to us.
I'm Jen and my other Hostess with the mostess here is woo
woo. So this podcast is where world
we explore the world of the unexplained, eerie legends, true
kind stories, you know, everything that is supernatural
kind of rolled into one. Today I'm going to take you to
(01:46):
one of the oldest towns in America, Newcastle, Delaware.
Not only does it boast a rich history, but its streets are
also home to stories that will make you question whether it's
real or whether it's paranormal.So this is the haunting truth
about old Newcastle, Delaware. And this is specific for our
Newcastle peeps. You know who you are, so enjoy
and walk along the streets with us as we can.
(02:08):
Yeah, so some of the stories people probably heard, but we
try to get gather some unique ones that nobody has heard
really before. So New Castle DE may seem like a
charming, quiet town at first glance.
It's nested along the Delaware River.
It has cobblestone streets, colonial Arab buildings.
It offers a glimpse into America's past.
(02:31):
It's kind of like a Williamsburg, but very small and
condensed in only a a few streets instead of like a huge
park. But behind its picturesque
facade lies a history of death, mystery and ghostly encounters
that has made its place a hotbedof paranormal activity.
So sit back, relax, turn your lights down and we're going to
(02:52):
go ahead and dive into some of the haunting tales of old
Newcastle. Delaware, welcome to our town.
Yeah. So founded in 1651, New Castle
DE is one of the oldest Europeansettlements in the United
States. It was originally founded by the
Swedes and the Dutch. They kind of fight over who did
it first. So old Newcastle boasts several
(03:14):
buildings that still stand todaythat have Swedish as well as
Dutch influence. So over the centuries, this tiny
town has seen its fair share of turmoil, battles kind of like
plagues, and even political unrest.
And with that kind of history, it's no surprise that some of
the spirits from the past have yet to move on.
(03:36):
But what makes Newcastle unique is how most of its notorious
hauntings are tied to the very buildings that stand today.
So old Newcastle has been home to several founding fathers,
such as George Reed. Gunny Bedford in this city was
the capital of Delaware and played a pivotal role in the War
of Independence, not just politically, but industrial.
(03:59):
It's been an industrial hub for our nation for several years,
oddly enough. So, yeah, so just to to draw a
visual picture, and I know you alluded to this a little bit in
the beginning, but for folks that aren't familiar with
Newcastle, it's literally like 1Main St. and then another St.
that is goes through like Battery Park that faces off on
(04:22):
the river there. And then there's some really,
really pretty picturesque homes around, kind of like that Main
Square, Main Street kind of thing.
Yeah, I work SO. The village.
Greek. Yeah, the village.
Greek. So I work not too far down the
road from it and I will say I used to go over here on lunch
all the time because it's, you know, 5 minutes, 10 minutes from
where I was working at the time.And I would stop off and I'd do
(04:44):
a nice long walk down through the park.
It's really pretty. Maybe stop off at a couple
restaurants that they have through there.
But it's very quiet. Like it's not like a, you know,
when you think of like big historical towns like New
Orleans or Savannah or anything like that, it's not as lively.
It's just it's very quiet and. Yeah, it's, it's, it's kind of
(05:07):
nestled onto the edge. So if you're thinking of
Newcastle, Delaware, which is inNewcastle County, it's kind of
pushed to the edge. So it's on like a back Rd.
It's not even off of like the main highway.
It's off of a small one called Route 9 and it's nestled between
marshland and it's kind of surrounded by it almost.
You don't. Go through a main road to get
(05:28):
there, you actually have to findthat place.
Yeah, you have to go through. Yeah, you have to like veer off.
And it is surrounded by quite a bit of marshland.
And it's kind of nestled in thislittle kind of peninsula almost
area. And it is surrounded by you go,
it looks like seemingly you're just going through kind of a
marshy area with a little town. You veer off to your right and
(05:48):
when you go down this road, all of a sudden you go two stop
signs down and you're in the middle of a colonial area.
It's just very unassuming. It is and it's very expensive.
So just to give a quick call outto the real estate market, I
know when I looking through there, they have some really,
really cool houses, but they're not cheap by any means.
I mean you're looking at really expensive.
So the people that live there now are typically for money or
(06:12):
they're retired and they like itquiet and clean.
So like when I say that's quiet,that's really kind.
Of it has its own like sailing or Yacht Club.
I believe it's like a sailing club that they have.
It's very like exclusive specific The Strand, which is
one of the oldest streets in theUnited States.
You cannot even get a fire truckdown it.
(06:34):
It's so small. It is extremely historic.
It has George Reed's house on itand it is about, well, the house
is run for around 1,000,000 plusdollars just to be on that
specific street. So it's very exclusive and it's
very quiet. Now what we're going to focus on
right now is definitely in this area and it is actually the
(06:55):
Newcastle courthouse. I've been to the courthouse.
Yes. So it has really great tours,
but the courthouse specifically,which not a lot of people know
about, it dates back to 1732 with the building that stands
today. However, the original courthouse
in jail deep back to 1651, but were burned to the ground in
(07:19):
1729 by one of the most prolificthieves in all of England.
So I didn't know it went back that far to the 1600s.
But I am also not surprised to hear that it burned to the
ground because that seems to be a theme in all episodes up till
now. But yeah, OK, yeah.
Absolutely. We definitely have a theme.
Yeah, it was really old. So it was commissioned somewhere
(07:41):
in the 16. I think they built originally on
that land for the courthouse. But the the one that burned down
was actually commissioned by William Penn to be built.
And it was supposed to be just kind of a log cabin ish kind of
structure that was built there. But it did have a courthouse and
it did have a jail, and it was supposed to be there
(08:03):
specifically like a two-story log, you know, log structure
that was also for any kind of assemblies and things like that.
So there was some sort of presence of an assembly or so he
could come down and he could kind of reign over that specific
territory. I do find it funny just to throw
in there now that not only like a mile down is William Penn High
(08:26):
School. Yes, yes, I do find it.
And William Penn has a statue that's right there.
So this actually the reason William Penn is so prolific is
because he actually owned this territory.
So he owned Pennsylvania, but Delaware was included in this
territory as well. And that's why he built the
original courthouse where they had this this area.
(08:48):
Now going back to the prolific thief from England, his name was
William Kelsey and he was known to be a thief.
So think of like Oliver Twist. He had been stealing since he
was 8 years old. He was just like your basic
pickpocket. He could break into anything and
he even stated that it gave him a thrill that he couldn't get
(09:10):
anywhere else. All right, so I'm not that up on
my Dickens. So basically just think of like,
yeah, yeah. So think about like poor houses
back in the day. They had a lot of children.
Those children had to fend for themselves.
So a lot of them stole and they would form gangs in order to
steal from people do. What you guys do so.
(09:32):
Yeah, so he he did come from a family where he had siblings and
everything. And his first theft quote UN
quote is he stole from his brother and he just said that
that thrill, he couldn't get it anywhere else so he just kept
stealing from. People, I feel like everybody
steals from their brother as their.
I mean, yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm.
Pretty sure he was missing some peeps or something.
(09:54):
Now, so the magistrates in England, we're so tired of
seeing William Kelsey in their petty crimes court in London,
they, they shipped him to Middletown, DE as an indentured
servant. So he just kept getting arrested
over and over again for being a thief.
And they just got so sick of himthat they shipped him to
(10:15):
Middletown. Delaware and he got shipped out
of where? London, England.
So weren't. They shipping like prisoners to
Australia at that point or like was the Middletown cheaper?
We got the discount. Yes.
So notice how it's cheaper. So before they started shipping
people over to to Australia, they were shipping people to the
(10:36):
United States. So we were the first.
We were the first penal colony, yeah.
Yes. Wonderful.
But what they were doing is instead of building prisons like
they did over in Australia, theywere just making people
indentured servants for people who needed that.
No, Yeah. If you knew anything about
(10:57):
indentured servitude, basically what you had to do is you had to
pay off your journey to the New World.
And that was, that would cost you either the cost of your
passage or seven years of service, whichever came first.
That. Was pretty much against her will
anyway, right? They're like you got to go so.
Yes, yeah. So we're going to get to, you
(11:18):
know, he obviously wasn't used to being law abiding anyway, so
this was not a good match. All right, yeah.
So he decided he was going to run away shortly after becoming
an indentured servant. He was like, this is not the
life for me. Surprise.
So, but William, again, he was not exactly a planner.
(11:38):
So as soon as he got tired and hungry, when he was making his
way to the closest larger city, which it was Wilmington, he
didn't want to go towards Dover because there wasn't a lot below
Dover. So he tried to go towards
Wilmington so he could go to more populated areas, which at
that time was also New Amsterdamor New York City.
So he made his way. He was making his way to
(12:00):
Wilmington. Well, he got hungry, so he
stole, broke into a house. He stole two loaves of bread and
honey. Now this was punishable by death
in the New World. Was it the bread or was it the
honey that made it punishable? It was the break in and the
combination of that, because youhad to think in the New World
people didn't have a lot, so stealing was a very grave thing.
It wasn't like the streets of London, so it wasn't Les.
(12:22):
Miserables was on the same right.
He went to to prison for stealing bread, right?
Yeah, that was that was yeah. He went to prison for was it?
He did or she did. She did somebody.
Somebody from? Somebody went to prison for
stealing. Bread.
I just remember there was stealing bread.
Yeah, that was definitely the case.
So basically what happened, William was caught very quickly
(12:45):
for his crime and he was taken. He was taken and he was
convicted. Steal it and then sit on the
front stoop and just like kind of layout the honey on his like
slices of bread and just munch it.
Yeah, just sitting there just, you know, eat away.
I didn't think anybody was home.So he was, he was captured
extremely quickly. And then from there, he was
(13:06):
convicted and he was taken to a cell after the Newcastle,
Newcastle County Courthouse deemed him that he was, you
know, guilty. Now, he was to be hung the very
next day. Damn.
They're not wasting time. They were not wasting any time
on this one after his trial ended.
Now William Kelsey, as I said, was a master thief and he could
(13:29):
break into anything. So it wasn't a far stretch that
he thought to himself, I can break out of anything if that's
the case. So William Kelsey started a fire
in the jail room, causing the guard to let him out to put out
the fire, which gave him an opportunity to escape.
So which he did. So why everybody else was trying
(13:50):
to get buckets in order to drench it.
And now you had to think there wasn't a fire brigade or
anything else at that time. So they literally had to get
buckets and go and get them fromthe Delaware River to try to put
this fire out, which was approximately 2 blocks from the
river. So Needless to say, William
Kelsey slipped what slipped awaywhile everybody else was trying
(14:10):
to get large quantities of waterfrom the river to put out this
fire. Needless to say, that did not
happen in a burn to the ground. Yeah, because we all know that
the R ratings on the installation back at that time
wasn't necessarily up to code. Yeah, there was, it was a log
cabin. That thing was going up like a
Tinder Oaks. They were.
Fairly close to the river at that point, but still I guess if
(14:32):
you got something raging that's two blocks is a long way to go.
Yeah, it's a long way to think about it.
You're just carrying a bucket and then you're running.
So those it's slashing everywhere and by the time you
get there it's like half a bucket.
So there's no way you're puttingthat out.
Now, again, as I said, William Kelsey was not a planner.
So once he escaped and everybodywas busy putting out the flames,
(14:53):
he thought he had plenty of timeto escape, so he stopped to get
a beer down at one of the local Taverns, which happened to be
the same location that the localsheriff had stopped to get a
beer. Who hasn't?
That's where you're going to stop like before you're putting
out this fire. I got to, I got to get some
liquid courage in me before I get going.
(15:14):
So let me stop off and get. It.
Yeah. So apparently the local sheriff
who had nabbed him actually was sitting there drinking a beer at
that seemed Tavern and he was like, oh, I just convicted you
of hanging. So he snatched him up again.
Yeah. Sounds sounds legit and it was
like Jessup's Tavern. Will it?
It was not at Jessup's Tavern, but I thought that that was
hilarious. So he did.
It wasn't a Tavern in old Newcastle, but it wasn't far
(15:36):
away. Like he didn't travel a lot to
get to this Tavern. So he didn't obviously have a
lot of he he was not a planner. I'm just going to say that
again. So now the irony of this is that
because the court has had burneddown and they did need to still
(15:57):
hold a trial for him again, theyended up having it having it at
the local Tavern across the street.
So I say not the same Tavern where he got busted, is it?
No, it is not the same Tavern that he got busted at, but
because they literally sentencedhim and right away they took him
across the street and promptly hung him on the village green.
(16:19):
So they there was no jail. There was not.
There was no stop. There was no collect $200 like
he immediately got hung after his sentencing was complete
because they had nowhere to keephim.
He burned the jail down. I don't know whether to be
terrified that it happened that that they are proud that it
happened that quickly. Like we already convicted you.
(16:41):
You were getting ready to hang. You tried to run, idiot.
You got caught. All right, well, we're going to
take care of this right now. Like really get to the heart of
the efficiency of things. I kind of feel some kind of some
kind of way with that simplification.
Yeah, but before he he was hung,they did give him dime to have
his last speech or last say. He made an 8 minute impassioned
(17:03):
speech about not having a chanceat any other life and encouraged
other people that were going down the wrong path to change
their ways. So now I'm really sad and I feel
sad that I said that. So we didn't have an option.
Yeah, so he definitely, well, hedid.
He could have been an indenturedservant.
He could have turned his life around and he could have started
(17:24):
a new life. But again, he wasn't a planner
and he was very impatient, so hedidn't give himself the chance
to really settle into the new world.
This only happened a few months after he got off the boat.
That's really kind of stinky. Did he, do we have copies of or
do you have access to like what his actual speech was?
(17:46):
So I didn't get access to what his actual speech was.
I do think somewhere in the archives they do have a summary
of what he stated somewhere in the archives.
So I think that is in the old library, which is now close to
the public today. But today people do report
seeing black shadow figures on the green behind the courthouse
(18:07):
where the supposed hanging tree and gallows stood for many
years. So many do speculate that
William Kelsey, the prolific thief who tried to escape death
several times, you can still find him near the Hanging Tree
in Old Newcastle. And I have heard about the
hanging tree a lot in old Low Castle, so I think when we come
back from break, maybe we can touch on that maybe a little bit
(18:28):
more. I don't know if there's any
other ghosts in that area or anything along those lines, but
I know I have heard of. That well, there's there's
plenty of ghosts on the green and we're definitely going to
get into that. So we'll be right back with more
on the on the ghosts on the green.
All right, talk to you in a minute then.
All right, see you then. Welcome back, everybody, to The
(19:02):
Haunting Truth. So we're going to get into the
hauntings of the Green. So the village green is an area
behind the courthouse, and it's also behind the first assembly
house. So there is a really cool
archway. And when you walk underneath of
it, that is the entrance to the village green.
It has natural cobblestones thatare original to, I believe that
(19:22):
even the 1600s. It has a huge open area.
And then from there, behind the jailhouse as well as the
courthouse, that is where they had the market area.
So it has, you know, a bunch of really cool things and very
historic buildings. But a lot of these historic
buildings that surround the green itself are part of these
(19:44):
really founding families of the community.
And where there's always money, there is usually death and greed
that follows. So we're going to kind of go
into that. So as I said, it's the green is
surrounded by historic homes anda lot of haunted inhabitants.
One of those chilling stories comes from the Amstel House.
It was built in 1730's. The local legend has it as a
(20:06):
family was living there in the 1800s and it experienced a
series of disturbing events. So there is a lot of history in
the Amstel House and the people had rough and hard lives.
So it was the governor's, the governor's house.
The governor's wife died in childbirth.
A fiance died in battle and a wife's child died, as well as
(20:27):
the husband all died of tuberculosis.
So in a very short amount of time, a lot of people
unfortunately passed away withinthe governor's mansion and with
this specific family. So as we said, it's the
governor's house. So it kind of changed hands a
couple different times, but every single time it went to a
new family. Unfortunately somebody passed
(20:48):
away. So there is been rumors that
this is a very cursed house. Unfortunately, so you know,
we've got childbirth, you've gottuberculosis, you've got battle
plagues, so on. Pretty common for the time I
think with fair but I forgot what I was going to do with that
(21:14):
but. I mean, it does seem like.
It's very, yeah, at this time, you know, as we talked about in
previous episodes, when we're talking about things around the
same, the same kind of timing issue, it's not, you know, you
don't go to the Funeral Home andhave a, you know, a viewing and
then a burial. It's typically at the house
itself, right. So yes.
(21:35):
Is that true in this case? It is true in this case as well.
So there were no funeral homes. Just like most of my other
stories, the coffin or the body was set up in the parlor.
The mirrors were covered in black fabric.
People believe there was a risk of the spirit of the body, you
know, getting trapped in the house.
So they wanted to make sure thatthey covered the mirror so it
couldn't come back. And it was supposed to deter
(21:57):
people from creating a supernatural environment and
drawing death into the living. Now, one of the reasons they
think that maybe this didn't happen with a couple different
is they used to rent rooms in this house as well.
There was a Barber shop. There was a butcher that was on
the ground floor. And they think that maybe
because it wasn't part of the regular home and people are not
(22:20):
adhering to these customs, that maybe that they were able to get
purchase back into the house through these rented rooms.
And I think I went by this house.
So I did a haunted tour with theHistorical Newcastle Society a
couple of years ago. And I want to say we went by
this house because I remember them saying it used to be a
Barber shop and people can stillhear, see experience.
(22:45):
It's probably one of the most active houses I think they have.
It is. Absolutely.
There's a couple kind of lots a.Lot of times with the historic
tours they do have a specific, they open up some of the houses,
not all of them. And Amstel House is one of the
houses that they open up becauseit is supposed to be one of the
most active houses in old Newcastle.
Which if you live in Delaware, that says a lot because we have
(23:08):
a lot of haunt, extremely haunted locations in the state
itself. But they hear visitors continue
and employees continue to hear disembodied voices knocking on
the walls, the sound of furniture being overturned.
They they do experience a a woman in blue, and she does
(23:30):
stand by the window. And we'll watch passers by.
And several passers by have actually stated that they have
seen the woman in blue and they thought it was a reenactor.
Yeah. And actually, I want to say in a
tour that we were in, and I think this is a different house,
not this particular one, but they actually had a mannequin
(23:51):
kind of set up in the window to kind of show what it would look
like if people were seeing there.
Not, not here, but I it was the old restaurant, not the one by
Jessup's. But if you go a couple down,
it's changed hands a couple times.
I forget what it is now, but I think on the 2nd floor they have
like a mannequin I. Think that's Nora?
Is it Nora Lee's now? No, it's not normally.
(24:15):
So there was like two other ones.
It's like the upper crust restaurant.
It was like the nicer one, the one that I've actually never
been in because I can't afford to eat there.
I know what you're talking about.
It was called Arsenal on the Green.
Yes. And they changed it like it's
changed hands a couple times. And I don't know what the
current name of it is, but they did have, when we were doing the
tour, they had a person like a mannequin set up, you know?
(24:37):
Because now it is one of the oldest houses in old Newcastle
and because it was so expensive,they shut that down.
It's the visitor. It is now the historical
societies. Oh, so they OK, so maybe they
moved down over there. All right, It's been a.
Bit So there's now 2. There's a visitor center and
there is the Historical Society center as well.
(24:59):
The new visitor center is in thesheriff's old house, and
Historic Historical Society is now in the old Arsenal on the
Green. OK, so I think I went to the
Historical Society because it's like kind of awful blocks, like
down. It's like a little corner kind
of thing. Yeah.
All right, that's where I went. But yeah, OK, very good.
But yeah, I never actually ate there because I can't afford it.
(25:21):
It was extremely expensive to say the least, but yeah.
So you can clearly see her through the window, but the
house has been vacant for years so people will still regularly
see her. There is not reenactors that
dress up like her in any way shape or form because they do
want to actually have people report sightings of her back to
to the Historical Society. So they do that on purpose.
(25:46):
Now another haunting in old Newcastle takes us straight to
the old Dutch House which was built in 1700.
This does have a chilling connection to a tragic love
story. It said that a young woman named
Eleanor was engaged to a man named Samuel and he was a
sailor. Samuel had promised to return
from a long voyage and Mary Eleanor, but as the months
(26:07):
passed, he never returned, Returned to her, as you know,
back in those days, you know, hewent on a trip.
You didn't come back. Sometimes the waters were
treacherous and it took a long time to get to England and back.
So Eleanor, at one point she became very desperate.
And so in a fit of madness, she took her own life and threw
herself off the roof. Yeah.
(26:31):
And if you look at the old Dutchhouse, it is not a very far
fall. So she really need to have like
she she left pretty hard to end her own life at that point.
So she went. With purpose, she went with.
Purpose, that's for sure and they do consistently see a ghost
wandering in front of the old Dutch house at night on a pretty
regular basis. So now there is quite a few
(26:58):
other places that people see ghosts that are wandering the
village green in itself, as I said, it is where the hanging
tree is. It was an old markets.
You do see a lot of shadow figures as you walk through it.
Also the other end of it is where another the Episcopal
churches, which has one of the some of the oldest cemetery
(27:19):
stones in the United States. So you will see a lot of ghost
figures and you'll will. I was there during the lightning
storm and when you would see things light up, you would see
the whole cemetery light up, butyou would see figures of people
walking as well. OK, that's super cool.
I wish I had a camera. So it's like capture.
(27:40):
I can see it in my hand and. I here I'm taking pictures and
I'm like, oh, there must be another tour because you don't
think about it. You're like, oh, that must be.
And I was like, no, that's not another tour.
You're, I was informed you were the last one of the evening.
So yeah, exactly. And it was raining, so I was
like, maybe it's just my eyes playing tricks on me.
(28:02):
And then my friend like grabbed onto my arm and was like, did
you just see that? Yes, yes, I did.
Now one of the other places thatwe're going to talk about in old
Newcastle is the Haunted Bell Tower, and that is at the
Newcastle Presbyterian Church. It was built in 17 O 7.
The church bell tower has witnessed decades of death, war
and sorrow, and many locals claim of hearing the bell
(28:26):
tolling late at night when it isnot supposed to be ringing at
all. And visitors do report seeing
figures dressed in black standing beneath the tower, and
they do feel a chill as they're watching it.
Now, right beneath the bell tower.
It's the church itself, and the grounds are very open.
And it does kind of lead to houses and things along those
lines. But it's a very open area where
(28:48):
you can clearly see people coming and going.
So it's not like they're hidden.So it's very obvious when you
can see somebody that's going back and forth so.
Do we know? I'm just thinking like if the
bell tower is at the church, right?
Church is the church. It shouldn't have, you know,
(29:10):
black clad figures gathering around it.
Do we have? Do we know what?
Happened there. That would potentially so oddly
enough, I did have a question. So I there is so the the there's
the Episcopal Church as well as the Presbyterian Church.
There is no cemetery at the Presbyterian Church.
(29:33):
I'm not sure where they were burying people and I was not
able to confirm, so I don't knowif somehow they ended up either
burying people at the Episcopal Church or somehow they ended up
building houses over top of them.
I'm. Pretty sure they're underneath
the road. They're probably doing this.
Savannah yes, like just. Yep, just building right over.
(29:55):
So because that it is so old, myonly assumption is that somehow
they might have built over the cemetery at some point in time.
They probably did. And because there's no flooding
or anything in that way, they would have stayed right, exactly
where they were. Yeah.
OK, That makes sense to me. Yeah.
So I couldn't really find anything.
So these are just some of the unsettling parts of the
hauntings. So just be careful if you're
(30:17):
venturing too close to the bell tower late at night because you
will feel a huge sense of dread and you feel like something is
going to happen to you. And it's been reported several
times on several different occasions, especially on the
night tours. I'm going to take that as a
challenge. OK, Well, I mean in in October
there are plenty of night tours that go around.
(30:38):
So I would definitely take that as a.
Challenge, I will say I did the one, but it was just kind of
like light hearted. It didn't get into any of the
deeper stuff. But now, now, now based on that,
I'm going to ask some specific questions.
Yeah. Where are people buried?
Yeah, I mean figures. These are very valid questions.
So in my opinion, I did take thetours I took.
(31:01):
I would definitely encourage youto take the old Newcastle County
Courthouse tour. You're going to get a lot of
great information. The person that did the tour for
me, her name was Wendy. She was absolutely amazing.
She had a really good like solidhistory Nuggets that you will
not hear anywhere else that I was able to really incorporate.
And then as you walk around, there is plenty of buildings
(31:23):
that are open. There's at least three different
tours that you can do of the George Reed House, the Amstel
House and the old Dutch House aswell.
And then if you just walk around, there is plenty of
locals who would be be willing to tell you about the history of
these locations. So I would definitely encourage
you to find out the haunting truth and see if you feel that
old Newcastle is haunted for yourself.
(31:47):
I completely believe the courthouse because of how long
it was open before, how many criminals were put to death, how
many tragic stories are embodiedin it.
And also you have to understand that at the time, old Newcastle
was the seat of the County Courthouse.
And at a time where slavery was actively going on, Delaware was
(32:09):
a border state. There are several cases.
And where there were people who were helping enslaved families
make it to Pennsylvania from through Delaware, they were
actually all of their livelihoodwas taken from them for helping
families run away. So there's several cases that
(32:30):
were tried in Delaware in that specific courthouse based off of
those terms and people lost their homes, their businesses
and their livelihood. And also, too, if we do want to
call back to the Patty Cannon. So there was punishment at that
courthouse as well. I don't they weren't hung, but
(32:50):
there was public whippings. There was there was public
lashings. They used a cat and eye tails.
And they were punished out there.
They also had a stockade, They had a pill, a pillar edge as
well. So they would put people in the
stockade, they would nail their ear to a board in the stockade.
(33:10):
And then once you were, in orderto get away from it, some
people, especially thieves for like petty crimes, you had to
rip your ear off of the nail andthat would identify you as a
criminal. That's that's part of it.
So there was a lot of things that were really kind of
atrocious that really happened at the courthouse itself,
(33:32):
especially with the sentencing, because you have to think this
was still owned by England and they had some pretty severe
crimes that could be dictated bythe governor.
Yeah. And I want to say, I know
Delaware was one of the ones that had hangings for a while.
(33:52):
And I don't know that this is true or accurate, but maybe you
can lend some insight into that.Was Delaware the one that had
like the last public hanging or when was the last public
hanging? The last public hanging, I did
look into this. I think the last public hanging
that happened in Delaware, Don'tquote me on it, but I did look
it up. I believe it was in the 1960s.
(34:13):
OK. All right.
So I thought it was more recent.It was 1960 or 1980, I'd have to
validate, but it was the last public hanging in the United
States was in Delaware. OK.
That's what I thought. That's where I was going, like I
was kind of finding. Out yeah, it was the last public
hanging in the United States wasdone in Delaware and I believe
you know it. I was a so it was the 1980s
(34:35):
because I it was in the news andI'm pretty sure and I was, I'm
not trying to date myself people, but I was alive at that
time. It's all right.
We we can do that. So, so all of our listeners, so
seekers, if you have additional information on that, feel free
to let us know and let us know Kind of when that last hanging
(34:58):
one, I knew I'd heard that it was in Delaware.
It was the last hanging. I just didn't know how recent it
was. I thought it was recent.
And to me, 80s was recent because again, you know, not to
date ourselves, but I was alive in the 80s and really limited up
with my neon funk in my big earrings, in my scrunch.
Yeah, and the Newcastle County Courthouse in Old Newcastle,
(35:19):
they stopped using it in 1881 and they transferred everything
municipality wise to Wilmington.Okay.
It wasn't. It definitely wasn't at this
courthouse, but it was a hangingand it was done in Wilmington
and it was in the 80s, but it was executed at the jail itself.
So I think Smyrna was open at that time and that's where they
(35:43):
did the last hanging I'm pretty sure.
And then just another fun fact about Delaware, because, you
know, I love to listen to Alice Obscura.
Wilmington is also home to the largest frying pan in the US.
Also odd you. Can go see it in the museum.
Wilmington Museum. Well Wilmington museum.
(36:04):
I don't know why but. Well, I mean, that's fantastic.
So also it. Was a chicken fry.
In in old Newcastle, just so you're aware, you're not allowed
to walk your pig on Wednesdays because that is market day and
it's still on the books today. So you could technically get
fine for walking your pig on Wednesday.
So what happens if you don't? They just snatch your pig and
they like, throw them up there like bacon for everybody.
(36:25):
Like what's? Going on like what's there is a
fine for walking your pig on Wednesday because it is a market
day and it would interrupt the market days if you walked your
pig on Wednesdays. 'Cause if you want your pig all
right. Yeah, it's either that or pigs
are very renowned for like, getting into mischief, so.
When we're when we're walking through old Newcastle on
(36:47):
Wednesdays, you can't hold my hand 'cause I don't want people
to tell me that you violated on Wednesday.
I'm going to wake up. Maybe we should do it now.
I want to do it on Wednesdays. I don't know if any of the local
police would still know that that is a valid law on the
books, but when I found that I laughed out loud.
(37:09):
I thought it was absolutely hilarious.
And there is police officers that are in old Newcastle all
the time because there's so manytourists, especially when it
starts getting warm out, that they're just kind of camped out
there. They're trying to figure out
what people are doing because, you know.
They're not camped out, they're hanging out in the bar.
We're looking for thieves that are trying to break out of
prisons and whatnot. I mean, they were right next to
the courthouse when I was takingthe tour, so.
(37:33):
That's where they're at. That's just not sugarcoat.
Yeah, but all right, so that's good stuff.
So for all right. So I have one last question for
you before we were at that if you don't have anything else
that you wanted to talk about from?
A home? No, I don't have anything else.
So what? What do you ask?
All right, so you and I both know old Newcastle is very hot.
It's got a lot of history, it's got a lot of a lot of the things
(37:53):
that that drive what interests us.
Has there been any professional ghost hunters?
Have you been able to find any visits to any of these houses,
or is this kind of like a niche that nobody's found yet?
So I did look online. There's so many different, I
don't, I didn't see anything like Ghost Hunters or somebody
(38:14):
like on the sci-fi channel or anything else.
But I did see that there is quite a few podcasters that did
have gone there before. There is plenty of people who do
like YouTube, who take the tours, like little niche people
who have like smaller, yeah, smaller influencers and things
like that that do do it on a pretty regular basis.
(38:37):
So they do to have posted it, but I haven't seen anything
where it is like it's ghost hunters or taps or anything else
or like would it Zach who's a demonologist or anything.
He hasn't gone to old Newcastle one.
I think the Historical Society would probably be have an
aneurysm, but. Probably it's fine I need to
(38:59):
find these niche. I don't know, but the Historical
Society, I think there's some that are a little rogue because
I really wanted to get into the old library because I haven't
seen it since I was young. It's it's a gorgeous location
for anybody who is not from Delaware.
The old library is an Octagon shaped building that has a glass
floor to it that you can see into the basement and it has
(39:20):
glass on top, so it's like a prism when you open up the
doors. It is amazing.
Yes. It's not really open to the
public. For a very long time it was
owned by a local artist and she only gave private tours
sometimes every once in a while to school children.
And one of my at my school, somebody happened to know her
and she did allow a small group of us to have a private tour
(39:43):
there and that was when I was younger.
But it has not been open to the public for a long time.
I think last year was the first year the historic society opened
it up for public tours and they just have not been able to get
the funds to reopen it this year.
So it only lasted for a summer. OK, we need to.
(40:04):
We need to figure out how to make.
That I know it's it's beautiful if anybody ever gets the
opportunity. So Long story short, I was
trying to go into the backyard to get a view of it so I could
see inside because one of the locals who was part of the.
Not trespassing, Not. Trespassing.
Part of the Historical Society had advised that nobody would
(40:25):
care. I was wrong.
Somebody was working on the House.
So I was told, oh, we're not open.
Yes. All right, Well, there's.
Nothing I I'm going to have to look up.
Yeah, some of these locations oreven as you can tell, even some
of these locations are hidden topeople who are from the Delaware
(40:45):
area as well. So you you will always find
little hidden gems that people are not aware of.
So which is really cool to me. It is very cool to me too.
So thank you for bringing this around.
Some of these I've been familiarwith, some of those most
definitely not. A few that I'm not and we're
going to have to chase down. Well, if you guys are
interested, I would highly encourage you to go and find out
(41:08):
for yourself. So thank you for joining us for
another sign tingling journey into the haunted grounds of old
Newcastle. But don't forget to visit, visit
location. As I said, it's a great
historical site. Don't forget to like and
subscribe to this channel. Also make sure that you listen
to our other podcasts if you're interested in what we have to
say and some of the stories thatwe have.
But as always, keep your eyes open, continue to seek the
(41:31):
truth, and don't drink the water.
Delaware River just that's a hard pass.
I'm just going to let you know right now.
Yeah, it's really close now, down from the power plant.
I, I, I wouldn't recommend it. We got some more poop soup going
on. And Blinky, the three eyed fish.
I'm just saying. So yeah, there's.
Like there's some kinds of weirdstuff going on out there.
I definitely wouldn't do it so real quick.
(41:51):
So for local recommendations, isthere any place that you would
recommend seeing? So we had mentioned throughout
this Jessup's Tavern, we we mentioned Dora Lee's, so it's
not familiar with Newcastle. If you are there was our two
restaurants. Jessup's Tavern goes back to
they they kept the same kind of like old colonial feel.
They don't dress up anymore. They used to have to wear
(42:13):
costumes to go with that, but it's really good Tavernish food
with a very big menu of importedBelgian beers.
And the New Orleans is based offof New Orleans.
It's got a really cool kind of voodoo vibe.
It's a jazz place, so they do have jazz on the weekends.
I would highly suggest that you go there.
(42:33):
So those are really the main restaurants that are there right
now. It's because it's really small,
let's be honest, like it's really, really small.
So those are main restaurants. I do suggest that you do the
Amstel House, the Old Dutch House, you go to the George Reed
House, you visit the Strand, also go to the.
I would suggest going to the historic location where the
(42:55):
historic society is because theyhave a lot more information.
They've been doing it for a lot longer.
The visitor center is just kind of, it's nice, but it doesn't
have as much information as the Historical Society because
they're the ones who actually get the tours together.
They do all the haunted tours, they're all volunteer.
So they're phenomenal people whodo this out of the kindness of
(43:17):
their heart. So I would definitely suggest
going there because they really,really love history.
So those are my suggestions I. Do and I check out the calendar
too, right? Because every year they have a
like a Tavern on the green they have.
An art on the green they have. Separation day, like separation
day, which is what I was lookingfor, which is like the battle of
independence for Newcastle. Yeah, so for anybody who doesn't
(43:40):
know, Delaware is the first state to separate from England,
as well as Pennsylvania in the same day and declare their
independence. I did not know that.
So you knew more about that Man,I just knew they had a Safari
Buchanans. I love me some history.
I told you I'm like the Forrest Gump of this group.
Like I'm OK with that. It's fine.
(44:00):
It's all good. That's what I knew.
If I threw it out there, you'd be like, I know instantly what
you're talking about. This one is so.
Yeah. So there's really cool festival.
I mean, it is a very, very smalltown.
And again, this isn't a place that I would like plan on
spending an entire week. Or weekend.
I would say it's a good day trip.
Good day trip. Yeah, absolutely.
I would say that. So I would definitely suggest
that. All right, guys.
(44:22):
Well. All right, thank you so much.
I appreciate it. And to Jen's point, thank you
all for joining us. Feel free to tell us what we did
well, but we didn't do well. We live for any and all comments
and feedback. All right, but I, I do recommend
visiting old Newcastle. It's done its own little.
Yes it does and we will catch you guys on the next episode.
(44:43):
So we will see you next week. See ya.
Bye bye.
Sherlock Holmes once said when you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the
truth. But what if the truth isn't just
improbable? What if it's horrifying?
What if it's something so baffling that our minds can't
accept it? What if it's because our senses
can't confirm it? Or it makes your very soul
shudder from committing such a depraved act.
(00:38):
In this podcast, we'll journey through haunted history,
metaphysical happenings, unexplained disappearances, and
unconventional murders, events that challenge everything you
thought you knew. And sometimes we'll uncover the
truth, but perhaps not in the way you were hoping.
I'm Jen. And I'm Liu, and this is the
haunting truth where facts blur into the unknown, and what
(01:01):
remains after we question everything might just shake us
to our core listener discretion advice.
(01:23):
Welcome listeners to another spine chilling episode of the
haunting truth. Those who might be new to us.
I'm Jen and my other Hostess with the mostess here is woo
woo. So this podcast is where world
we explore the world of the unexplained, eerie legends, true
kind stories, you know, everything that is supernatural
kind of rolled into one. Today I'm going to take you to
(01:46):
one of the oldest towns in America, Newcastle, Delaware.
Not only does it boast a rich history, but its streets are
also home to stories that will make you question whether it's
real or whether it's paranormal.So this is the haunting truth
about old Newcastle, Delaware. And this is specific for our
Newcastle peeps. You know who you are, so enjoy
and walk along the streets with us as we can.
(02:08):
Yeah, so some of the stories people probably heard, but we
try to get gather some unique ones that nobody has heard
really before. So New Castle DE may seem like a
charming, quiet town at first glance.
It's nested along the Delaware River.
It has cobblestone streets, colonial Arab buildings.
It offers a glimpse into America's past.
(02:31):
It's kind of like a Williamsburg, but very small and
condensed in only a a few streets instead of like a huge
park. But behind its picturesque
facade lies a history of death, mystery and ghostly encounters
that has made its place a hotbedof paranormal activity.
So sit back, relax, turn your lights down and we're going to
(02:52):
go ahead and dive into some of the haunting tales of old
Newcastle. Delaware, welcome to our town.
Yeah. So founded in 1651, New Castle
DE is one of the oldest Europeansettlements in the United
States. It was originally founded by the
Swedes and the Dutch. They kind of fight over who did
it first. So old Newcastle boasts several
(03:14):
buildings that still stand todaythat have Swedish as well as
Dutch influence. So over the centuries, this tiny
town has seen its fair share of turmoil, battles kind of like
plagues, and even political unrest.
And with that kind of history, it's no surprise that some of
the spirits from the past have yet to move on.
(03:36):
But what makes Newcastle unique is how most of its notorious
hauntings are tied to the very buildings that stand today.
So old Newcastle has been home to several founding fathers,
such as George Reed. Gunny Bedford in this city was
the capital of Delaware and played a pivotal role in the War
of Independence, not just politically, but industrial.
(03:59):
It's been an industrial hub for our nation for several years,
oddly enough. So, yeah, so just to to draw a
visual picture, and I know you alluded to this a little bit in
the beginning, but for folks that aren't familiar with
Newcastle, it's literally like 1Main St. and then another St.
that is goes through like Battery Park that faces off on
(04:22):
the river there. And then there's some really,
really pretty picturesque homes around, kind of like that Main
Square, Main Street kind of thing.
Yeah, I work SO. The village.
Greek. Yeah, the village.
Greek. So I work not too far down the
road from it and I will say I used to go over here on lunch
all the time because it's, you know, 5 minutes, 10 minutes from
where I was working at the time.And I would stop off and I'd do
(04:44):
a nice long walk down through the park.
It's really pretty. Maybe stop off at a couple
restaurants that they have through there.
But it's very quiet. Like it's not like a, you know,
when you think of like big historical towns like New
Orleans or Savannah or anything like that, it's not as lively.
It's just it's very quiet and. Yeah, it's, it's, it's kind of
(05:07):
nestled onto the edge. So if you're thinking of
Newcastle, Delaware, which is inNewcastle County, it's kind of
pushed to the edge. So it's on like a back Rd.
It's not even off of like the main highway.
It's off of a small one called Route 9 and it's nestled between
marshland and it's kind of surrounded by it almost.
You don't. Go through a main road to get
(05:28):
there, you actually have to findthat place.
Yeah, you have to go through. Yeah, you have to like veer off.
And it is surrounded by quite a bit of marshland.
And it's kind of nestled in thislittle kind of peninsula almost
area. And it is surrounded by you go,
it looks like seemingly you're just going through kind of a
marshy area with a little town. You veer off to your right and
(05:48):
when you go down this road, all of a sudden you go two stop
signs down and you're in the middle of a colonial area.
It's just very unassuming. It is and it's very expensive.
So just to give a quick call outto the real estate market, I
know when I looking through there, they have some really,
really cool houses, but they're not cheap by any means.
I mean you're looking at really expensive.
So the people that live there now are typically for money or
(06:12):
they're retired and they like itquiet and clean.
So like when I say that's quiet,that's really kind.
Of it has its own like sailing or Yacht Club.
I believe it's like a sailing club that they have.
It's very like exclusive specific The Strand, which is
one of the oldest streets in theUnited States.
You cannot even get a fire truckdown it.
(06:34):
It's so small. It is extremely historic.
It has George Reed's house on itand it is about, well, the house
is run for around 1,000,000 plusdollars just to be on that
specific street. So it's very exclusive and it's
very quiet. Now what we're going to focus on
right now is definitely in this area and it is actually the
(06:55):
Newcastle courthouse. I've been to the courthouse.
Yes. So it has really great tours,
but the courthouse specifically,which not a lot of people know
about, it dates back to 1732 with the building that stands
today. However, the original courthouse
in jail deep back to 1651, but were burned to the ground in
(07:19):
1729 by one of the most prolificthieves in all of England.
So I didn't know it went back that far to the 1600s.
But I am also not surprised to hear that it burned to the
ground because that seems to be a theme in all episodes up till
now. But yeah, OK, yeah.
Absolutely. We definitely have a theme.
Yeah, it was really old. So it was commissioned somewhere
(07:41):
in the 16. I think they built originally on
that land for the courthouse. But the the one that burned down
was actually commissioned by William Penn to be built.
And it was supposed to be just kind of a log cabin ish kind of
structure that was built there. But it did have a courthouse and
it did have a jail, and it was supposed to be there
(08:03):
specifically like a two-story log, you know, log structure
that was also for any kind of assemblies and things like that.
So there was some sort of presence of an assembly or so he
could come down and he could kind of reign over that specific
territory. I do find it funny just to throw
in there now that not only like a mile down is William Penn High
(08:26):
School. Yes, yes, I do find it.
And William Penn has a statue that's right there.
So this actually the reason William Penn is so prolific is
because he actually owned this territory.
So he owned Pennsylvania, but Delaware was included in this
territory as well. And that's why he built the
original courthouse where they had this this area.
(08:48):
Now going back to the prolific thief from England, his name was
William Kelsey and he was known to be a thief.
So think of like Oliver Twist. He had been stealing since he
was 8 years old. He was just like your basic
pickpocket. He could break into anything and
he even stated that it gave him a thrill that he couldn't get
(09:10):
anywhere else. All right, so I'm not that up on
my Dickens. So basically just think of like,
yeah, yeah. So think about like poor houses
back in the day. They had a lot of children.
Those children had to fend for themselves.
So a lot of them stole and they would form gangs in order to
steal from people do. What you guys do so.
(09:32):
Yeah, so he he did come from a family where he had siblings and
everything. And his first theft quote UN
quote is he stole from his brother and he just said that
that thrill, he couldn't get it anywhere else so he just kept
stealing from. People, I feel like everybody
steals from their brother as their.
I mean, yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm.
Pretty sure he was missing some peeps or something.
(09:54):
Now, so the magistrates in England, we're so tired of
seeing William Kelsey in their petty crimes court in London,
they, they shipped him to Middletown, DE as an indentured
servant. So he just kept getting arrested
over and over again for being a thief.
And they just got so sick of himthat they shipped him to
(10:15):
Middletown. Delaware and he got shipped out
of where? London, England.
So weren't. They shipping like prisoners to
Australia at that point or like was the Middletown cheaper?
We got the discount. Yes.
So notice how it's cheaper. So before they started shipping
people over to to Australia, they were shipping people to the
(10:36):
United States. So we were the first.
We were the first penal colony, yeah.
Yes. Wonderful.
But what they were doing is instead of building prisons like
they did over in Australia, theywere just making people
indentured servants for people who needed that.
No, Yeah. If you knew anything about
(10:57):
indentured servitude, basically what you had to do is you had to
pay off your journey to the New World.
And that was, that would cost you either the cost of your
passage or seven years of service, whichever came first.
That. Was pretty much against her will
anyway, right? They're like you got to go so.
Yes, yeah. So we're going to get to, you
(11:18):
know, he obviously wasn't used to being law abiding anyway, so
this was not a good match. All right, yeah.
So he decided he was going to run away shortly after becoming
an indentured servant. He was like, this is not the
life for me. Surprise.
So, but William, again, he was not exactly a planner.
(11:38):
So as soon as he got tired and hungry, when he was making his
way to the closest larger city, which it was Wilmington, he
didn't want to go towards Dover because there wasn't a lot below
Dover. So he tried to go towards
Wilmington so he could go to more populated areas, which at
that time was also New Amsterdamor New York City.
So he made his way. He was making his way to
(12:00):
Wilmington. Well, he got hungry, so he
stole, broke into a house. He stole two loaves of bread and
honey. Now this was punishable by death
in the New World. Was it the bread or was it the
honey that made it punishable? It was the break in and the
combination of that, because youhad to think in the New World
people didn't have a lot, so stealing was a very grave thing.
It wasn't like the streets of London, so it wasn't Les.
(12:22):
Miserables was on the same right.
He went to to prison for stealing bread, right?
Yeah, that was that was yeah. He went to prison for was it?
He did or she did. She did somebody.
Somebody from? Somebody went to prison for
stealing. Bread.
I just remember there was stealing bread.
Yeah, that was definitely the case.
So basically what happened, William was caught very quickly
(12:45):
for his crime and he was taken. He was taken and he was
convicted. Steal it and then sit on the
front stoop and just like kind of layout the honey on his like
slices of bread and just munch it.
Yeah, just sitting there just, you know, eat away.
I didn't think anybody was home.So he was, he was captured
extremely quickly. And then from there, he was
(13:06):
convicted and he was taken to a cell after the Newcastle,
Newcastle County Courthouse deemed him that he was, you
know, guilty. Now, he was to be hung the very
next day. Damn.
They're not wasting time. They were not wasting any time
on this one after his trial ended.
Now William Kelsey, as I said, was a master thief and he could
(13:29):
break into anything. So it wasn't a far stretch that
he thought to himself, I can break out of anything if that's
the case. So William Kelsey started a fire
in the jail room, causing the guard to let him out to put out
the fire, which gave him an opportunity to escape.
So which he did. So why everybody else was trying
(13:50):
to get buckets in order to drench it.
And now you had to think there wasn't a fire brigade or
anything else at that time. So they literally had to get
buckets and go and get them fromthe Delaware River to try to put
this fire out, which was approximately 2 blocks from the
river. So Needless to say, William
Kelsey slipped what slipped awaywhile everybody else was trying
(14:10):
to get large quantities of waterfrom the river to put out this
fire. Needless to say, that did not
happen in a burn to the ground. Yeah, because we all know that
the R ratings on the installation back at that time
wasn't necessarily up to code. Yeah, there was, it was a log
cabin. That thing was going up like a
Tinder Oaks. They were.
Fairly close to the river at that point, but still I guess if
(14:32):
you got something raging that's two blocks is a long way to go.
Yeah, it's a long way to think about it.
You're just carrying a bucket and then you're running.
So those it's slashing everywhere and by the time you
get there it's like half a bucket.
So there's no way you're puttingthat out.
Now, again, as I said, William Kelsey was not a planner.
So once he escaped and everybodywas busy putting out the flames,
(14:53):
he thought he had plenty of timeto escape, so he stopped to get
a beer down at one of the local Taverns, which happened to be
the same location that the localsheriff had stopped to get a
beer. Who hasn't?
That's where you're going to stop like before you're putting
out this fire. I got to, I got to get some
liquid courage in me before I get going.
(15:14):
So let me stop off and get. It.
Yeah. So apparently the local sheriff
who had nabbed him actually was sitting there drinking a beer at
that seemed Tavern and he was like, oh, I just convicted you
of hanging. So he snatched him up again.
Yeah. Sounds sounds legit and it was
like Jessup's Tavern. Will it?
It was not at Jessup's Tavern, but I thought that that was
hilarious. So he did.
It wasn't a Tavern in old Newcastle, but it wasn't far
(15:36):
away. Like he didn't travel a lot to
get to this Tavern. So he didn't obviously have a
lot of he he was not a planner. I'm just going to say that
again. So now the irony of this is that
because the court has had burneddown and they did need to still
(15:57):
hold a trial for him again, theyended up having it having it at
the local Tavern across the street.
So I say not the same Tavern where he got busted, is it?
No, it is not the same Tavern that he got busted at, but
because they literally sentencedhim and right away they took him
across the street and promptly hung him on the village green.
(16:19):
So they there was no jail. There was not.
There was no stop. There was no collect $200 like
he immediately got hung after his sentencing was complete
because they had nowhere to keephim.
He burned the jail down. I don't know whether to be
terrified that it happened that that they are proud that it
happened that quickly. Like we already convicted you.
(16:41):
You were getting ready to hang. You tried to run, idiot.
You got caught. All right, well, we're going to
take care of this right now. Like really get to the heart of
the efficiency of things. I kind of feel some kind of some
kind of way with that simplification.
Yeah, but before he he was hung,they did give him dime to have
his last speech or last say. He made an 8 minute impassioned
(17:03):
speech about not having a chanceat any other life and encouraged
other people that were going down the wrong path to change
their ways. So now I'm really sad and I feel
sad that I said that. So we didn't have an option.
Yeah, so he definitely, well, hedid.
He could have been an indenturedservant.
He could have turned his life around and he could have started
(17:24):
a new life. But again, he wasn't a planner
and he was very impatient, so hedidn't give himself the chance
to really settle into the new world.
This only happened a few months after he got off the boat.
That's really kind of stinky. Did he, do we have copies of or
do you have access to like what his actual speech was?
(17:46):
So I didn't get access to what his actual speech was.
I do think somewhere in the archives they do have a summary
of what he stated somewhere in the archives.
So I think that is in the old library, which is now close to
the public today. But today people do report
seeing black shadow figures on the green behind the courthouse
(18:07):
where the supposed hanging tree and gallows stood for many
years. So many do speculate that
William Kelsey, the prolific thief who tried to escape death
several times, you can still find him near the Hanging Tree
in Old Newcastle. And I have heard about the
hanging tree a lot in old Low Castle, so I think when we come
back from break, maybe we can touch on that maybe a little bit
(18:28):
more. I don't know if there's any
other ghosts in that area or anything along those lines, but
I know I have heard of. That well, there's there's
plenty of ghosts on the green and we're definitely going to
get into that. So we'll be right back with more
on the on the ghosts on the green.
All right, talk to you in a minute then.
All right, see you then. Welcome back, everybody, to The
(19:02):
Haunting Truth. So we're going to get into the
hauntings of the Green. So the village green is an area
behind the courthouse, and it's also behind the first assembly
house. So there is a really cool
archway. And when you walk underneath of
it, that is the entrance to the village green.
It has natural cobblestones thatare original to, I believe that
(19:22):
even the 1600s. It has a huge open area.
And then from there, behind the jailhouse as well as the
courthouse, that is where they had the market area.
So it has, you know, a bunch of really cool things and very
historic buildings. But a lot of these historic
buildings that surround the green itself are part of these
(19:44):
really founding families of the community.
And where there's always money, there is usually death and greed
that follows. So we're going to kind of go
into that. So as I said, it's the green is
surrounded by historic homes anda lot of haunted inhabitants.
One of those chilling stories comes from the Amstel House.
It was built in 1730's. The local legend has it as a
(20:06):
family was living there in the 1800s and it experienced a
series of disturbing events. So there is a lot of history in
the Amstel House and the people had rough and hard lives.
So it was the governor's, the governor's house.
The governor's wife died in childbirth.
A fiance died in battle and a wife's child died, as well as
(20:27):
the husband all died of tuberculosis.
So in a very short amount of time, a lot of people
unfortunately passed away withinthe governor's mansion and with
this specific family. So as we said, it's the
governor's house. So it kind of changed hands a
couple different times, but every single time it went to a
new family. Unfortunately somebody passed
(20:48):
away. So there is been rumors that
this is a very cursed house. Unfortunately, so you know,
we've got childbirth, you've gottuberculosis, you've got battle
plagues, so on. Pretty common for the time I
think with fair but I forgot what I was going to do with that
(21:14):
but. I mean, it does seem like.
It's very, yeah, at this time, you know, as we talked about in
previous episodes, when we're talking about things around the
same, the same kind of timing issue, it's not, you know, you
don't go to the Funeral Home andhave a, you know, a viewing and
then a burial. It's typically at the house
itself, right. So yes.
(21:35):
Is that true in this case? It is true in this case as well.
So there were no funeral homes. Just like most of my other
stories, the coffin or the body was set up in the parlor.
The mirrors were covered in black fabric.
People believe there was a risk of the spirit of the body, you
know, getting trapped in the house.
So they wanted to make sure thatthey covered the mirror so it
couldn't come back. And it was supposed to deter
(21:57):
people from creating a supernatural environment and
drawing death into the living. Now, one of the reasons they
think that maybe this didn't happen with a couple different
is they used to rent rooms in this house as well.
There was a Barber shop. There was a butcher that was on
the ground floor. And they think that maybe
because it wasn't part of the regular home and people are not
(22:20):
adhering to these customs, that maybe that they were able to get
purchase back into the house through these rented rooms.
And I think I went by this house.
So I did a haunted tour with theHistorical Newcastle Society a
couple of years ago. And I want to say we went by
this house because I remember them saying it used to be a
Barber shop and people can stillhear, see experience.
(22:45):
It's probably one of the most active houses I think they have.
It is. Absolutely.
There's a couple kind of lots a.Lot of times with the historic
tours they do have a specific, they open up some of the houses,
not all of them. And Amstel House is one of the
houses that they open up becauseit is supposed to be one of the
most active houses in old Newcastle.
Which if you live in Delaware, that says a lot because we have
(23:08):
a lot of haunt, extremely haunted locations in the state
itself. But they hear visitors continue
and employees continue to hear disembodied voices knocking on
the walls, the sound of furniture being overturned.
They they do experience a a woman in blue, and she does
(23:30):
stand by the window. And we'll watch passers by.
And several passers by have actually stated that they have
seen the woman in blue and they thought it was a reenactor.
Yeah. And actually, I want to say in a
tour that we were in, and I think this is a different house,
not this particular one, but they actually had a mannequin
(23:51):
kind of set up in the window to kind of show what it would look
like if people were seeing there.
Not, not here, but I it was the old restaurant, not the one by
Jessup's. But if you go a couple down,
it's changed hands a couple times.
I forget what it is now, but I think on the 2nd floor they have
like a mannequin I. Think that's Nora?
Is it Nora Lee's now? No, it's not normally.
(24:15):
So there was like two other ones.
It's like the upper crust restaurant.
It was like the nicer one, the one that I've actually never
been in because I can't afford to eat there.
I know what you're talking about.
It was called Arsenal on the Green.
Yes. And they changed it like it's
changed hands a couple times. And I don't know what the
current name of it is, but they did have, when we were doing the
tour, they had a person like a mannequin set up, you know?
(24:37):
Because now it is one of the oldest houses in old Newcastle
and because it was so expensive,they shut that down.
It's the visitor. It is now the historical
societies. Oh, so they OK, so maybe they
moved down over there. All right, It's been a.
Bit So there's now 2. There's a visitor center and
there is the Historical Society center as well.
(24:59):
The new visitor center is in thesheriff's old house, and
Historic Historical Society is now in the old Arsenal on the
Green. OK, so I think I went to the
Historical Society because it's like kind of awful blocks, like
down. It's like a little corner kind
of thing. Yeah.
All right, that's where I went. But yeah, OK, very good.
But yeah, I never actually ate there because I can't afford it.
(25:21):
It was extremely expensive to say the least, but yeah.
So you can clearly see her through the window, but the
house has been vacant for years so people will still regularly
see her. There is not reenactors that
dress up like her in any way shape or form because they do
want to actually have people report sightings of her back to
to the Historical Society. So they do that on purpose.
(25:46):
Now another haunting in old Newcastle takes us straight to
the old Dutch House which was built in 1700.
This does have a chilling connection to a tragic love
story. It said that a young woman named
Eleanor was engaged to a man named Samuel and he was a
sailor. Samuel had promised to return
from a long voyage and Mary Eleanor, but as the months
(26:07):
passed, he never returned, Returned to her, as you know,
back in those days, you know, hewent on a trip.
You didn't come back. Sometimes the waters were
treacherous and it took a long time to get to England and back.
So Eleanor, at one point she became very desperate.
And so in a fit of madness, she took her own life and threw
herself off the roof. Yeah.
(26:31):
And if you look at the old Dutchhouse, it is not a very far
fall. So she really need to have like
she she left pretty hard to end her own life at that point.
So she went. With purpose, she went with.
Purpose, that's for sure and they do consistently see a ghost
wandering in front of the old Dutch house at night on a pretty
regular basis. So now there is quite a few
(26:58):
other places that people see ghosts that are wandering the
village green in itself, as I said, it is where the hanging
tree is. It was an old markets.
You do see a lot of shadow figures as you walk through it.
Also the other end of it is where another the Episcopal
churches, which has one of the some of the oldest cemetery
(27:19):
stones in the United States. So you will see a lot of ghost
figures and you'll will. I was there during the lightning
storm and when you would see things light up, you would see
the whole cemetery light up, butyou would see figures of people
walking as well. OK, that's super cool.
I wish I had a camera. So it's like capture.
(27:40):
I can see it in my hand and. I here I'm taking pictures and
I'm like, oh, there must be another tour because you don't
think about it. You're like, oh, that must be.
And I was like, no, that's not another tour.
You're, I was informed you were the last one of the evening.
So yeah, exactly. And it was raining, so I was
like, maybe it's just my eyes playing tricks on me.
(28:02):
And then my friend like grabbed onto my arm and was like, did
you just see that? Yes, yes, I did.
Now one of the other places thatwe're going to talk about in old
Newcastle is the Haunted Bell Tower, and that is at the
Newcastle Presbyterian Church. It was built in 17 O 7.
The church bell tower has witnessed decades of death, war
and sorrow, and many locals claim of hearing the bell
(28:26):
tolling late at night when it isnot supposed to be ringing at
all. And visitors do report seeing
figures dressed in black standing beneath the tower, and
they do feel a chill as they're watching it.
Now, right beneath the bell tower.
It's the church itself, and the grounds are very open.
And it does kind of lead to houses and things along those
lines. But it's a very open area where
(28:48):
you can clearly see people coming and going.
So it's not like they're hidden.So it's very obvious when you
can see somebody that's going back and forth so.
Do we know? I'm just thinking like if the
bell tower is at the church, right?
Church is the church. It shouldn't have, you know,
(29:10):
black clad figures gathering around it.
Do we have? Do we know what?
Happened there. That would potentially so oddly
enough, I did have a question. So I there is so the the there's
the Episcopal Church as well as the Presbyterian Church.
There is no cemetery at the Presbyterian Church.
(29:33):
I'm not sure where they were burying people and I was not
able to confirm, so I don't knowif somehow they ended up either
burying people at the Episcopal Church or somehow they ended up
building houses over top of them.
I'm. Pretty sure they're underneath
the road. They're probably doing this.
Savannah yes, like just. Yep, just building right over.
(29:55):
So because that it is so old, myonly assumption is that somehow
they might have built over the cemetery at some point in time.
They probably did. And because there's no flooding
or anything in that way, they would have stayed right, exactly
where they were. Yeah.
OK, That makes sense to me. Yeah.
So I couldn't really find anything.
So these are just some of the unsettling parts of the
hauntings. So just be careful if you're
(30:17):
venturing too close to the bell tower late at night because you
will feel a huge sense of dread and you feel like something is
going to happen to you. And it's been reported several
times on several different occasions, especially on the
night tours. I'm going to take that as a
challenge. OK, Well, I mean in in October
there are plenty of night tours that go around.
(30:38):
So I would definitely take that as a.
Challenge, I will say I did the one, but it was just kind of
like light hearted. It didn't get into any of the
deeper stuff. But now, now, now based on that,
I'm going to ask some specific questions.
Yeah. Where are people buried?
Yeah, I mean figures. These are very valid questions.
So in my opinion, I did take thetours I took.
(31:01):
I would definitely encourage youto take the old Newcastle County
Courthouse tour. You're going to get a lot of
great information. The person that did the tour for
me, her name was Wendy. She was absolutely amazing.
She had a really good like solidhistory Nuggets that you will
not hear anywhere else that I was able to really incorporate.
And then as you walk around, there is plenty of buildings
(31:23):
that are open. There's at least three different
tours that you can do of the George Reed House, the Amstel
House and the old Dutch House aswell.
And then if you just walk around, there is plenty of
locals who would be be willing to tell you about the history of
these locations. So I would definitely encourage
you to find out the haunting truth and see if you feel that
old Newcastle is haunted for yourself.
(31:47):
I completely believe the courthouse because of how long
it was open before, how many criminals were put to death, how
many tragic stories are embodiedin it.
And also you have to understand that at the time, old Newcastle
was the seat of the County Courthouse.
And at a time where slavery was actively going on, Delaware was
(32:09):
a border state. There are several cases.
And where there were people who were helping enslaved families
make it to Pennsylvania from through Delaware, they were
actually all of their livelihoodwas taken from them for helping
families run away. So there's several cases that
(32:30):
were tried in Delaware in that specific courthouse based off of
those terms and people lost their homes, their businesses
and their livelihood. And also, too, if we do want to
call back to the Patty Cannon. So there was punishment at that
courthouse as well. I don't they weren't hung, but
(32:50):
there was public whippings. There was there was public
lashings. They used a cat and eye tails.
And they were punished out there.
They also had a stockade, They had a pill, a pillar edge as
well. So they would put people in the
stockade, they would nail their ear to a board in the stockade.
(33:10):
And then once you were, in orderto get away from it, some
people, especially thieves for like petty crimes, you had to
rip your ear off of the nail andthat would identify you as a
criminal. That's that's part of it.
So there was a lot of things that were really kind of
atrocious that really happened at the courthouse itself,
(33:32):
especially with the sentencing, because you have to think this
was still owned by England and they had some pretty severe
crimes that could be dictated bythe governor.
Yeah. And I want to say, I know
Delaware was one of the ones that had hangings for a while.
(33:52):
And I don't know that this is true or accurate, but maybe you
can lend some insight into that.Was Delaware the one that had
like the last public hanging or when was the last public
hanging? The last public hanging, I did
look into this. I think the last public hanging
that happened in Delaware, Don'tquote me on it, but I did look
it up. I believe it was in the 1960s.
(34:13):
OK. All right.
So I thought it was more recent.It was 1960 or 1980, I'd have to
validate, but it was the last public hanging in the United
States was in Delaware. OK.
That's what I thought. That's where I was going, like I
was kind of finding. Out yeah, it was the last public
hanging in the United States wasdone in Delaware and I believe
you know it. I was a so it was the 1980s
(34:35):
because I it was in the news andI'm pretty sure and I was, I'm
not trying to date myself people, but I was alive at that
time. It's all right.
We we can do that. So, so all of our listeners, so
seekers, if you have additional information on that, feel free
to let us know and let us know Kind of when that last hanging
(34:58):
one, I knew I'd heard that it was in Delaware.
It was the last hanging. I just didn't know how recent it
was. I thought it was recent.
And to me, 80s was recent because again, you know, not to
date ourselves, but I was alive in the 80s and really limited up
with my neon funk in my big earrings, in my scrunch.
Yeah, and the Newcastle County Courthouse in Old Newcastle,
(35:19):
they stopped using it in 1881 and they transferred everything
municipality wise to Wilmington.Okay.
It wasn't. It definitely wasn't at this
courthouse, but it was a hangingand it was done in Wilmington
and it was in the 80s, but it was executed at the jail itself.
So I think Smyrna was open at that time and that's where they
(35:43):
did the last hanging I'm pretty sure.
And then just another fun fact about Delaware, because, you
know, I love to listen to Alice Obscura.
Wilmington is also home to the largest frying pan in the US.
Also odd you. Can go see it in the museum.
Wilmington Museum. Well Wilmington museum.
(36:04):
I don't know why but. Well, I mean, that's fantastic.
So also it. Was a chicken fry.
In in old Newcastle, just so you're aware, you're not allowed
to walk your pig on Wednesdays because that is market day and
it's still on the books today. So you could technically get
fine for walking your pig on Wednesday.
So what happens if you don't? They just snatch your pig and
they like, throw them up there like bacon for everybody.
(36:25):
Like what's? Going on like what's there is a
fine for walking your pig on Wednesday because it is a market
day and it would interrupt the market days if you walked your
pig on Wednesdays. 'Cause if you want your pig all
right. Yeah, it's either that or pigs
are very renowned for like, getting into mischief, so.
When we're when we're walking through old Newcastle on
(36:47):
Wednesdays, you can't hold my hand 'cause I don't want people
to tell me that you violated on Wednesday.
I'm going to wake up. Maybe we should do it now.
I want to do it on Wednesdays. I don't know if any of the local
police would still know that that is a valid law on the
books, but when I found that I laughed out loud.
(37:09):
I thought it was absolutely hilarious.
And there is police officers that are in old Newcastle all
the time because there's so manytourists, especially when it
starts getting warm out, that they're just kind of camped out
there. They're trying to figure out
what people are doing because, you know.
They're not camped out, they're hanging out in the bar.
We're looking for thieves that are trying to break out of
prisons and whatnot. I mean, they were right next to
the courthouse when I was takingthe tour, so.
(37:33):
That's where they're at. That's just not sugarcoat.
Yeah, but all right, so that's good stuff.
So for all right. So I have one last question for
you before we were at that if you don't have anything else
that you wanted to talk about from?
A home? No, I don't have anything else.
So what? What do you ask?
All right, so you and I both know old Newcastle is very hot.
It's got a lot of history, it's got a lot of a lot of the things
(37:53):
that that drive what interests us.
Has there been any professional ghost hunters?
Have you been able to find any visits to any of these houses,
or is this kind of like a niche that nobody's found yet?
So I did look online. There's so many different, I
don't, I didn't see anything like Ghost Hunters or somebody
(38:14):
like on the sci-fi channel or anything else.
But I did see that there is quite a few podcasters that did
have gone there before. There is plenty of people who do
like YouTube, who take the tours, like little niche people
who have like smaller, yeah, smaller influencers and things
like that that do do it on a pretty regular basis.
(38:37):
So they do to have posted it, but I haven't seen anything
where it is like it's ghost hunters or taps or anything else
or like would it Zach who's a demonologist or anything.
He hasn't gone to old Newcastle one.
I think the Historical Society would probably be have an
aneurysm, but. Probably it's fine I need to
(38:59):
find these niche. I don't know, but the Historical
Society, I think there's some that are a little rogue because
I really wanted to get into the old library because I haven't
seen it since I was young. It's it's a gorgeous location
for anybody who is not from Delaware.
The old library is an Octagon shaped building that has a glass
floor to it that you can see into the basement and it has
(39:20):
glass on top, so it's like a prism when you open up the
doors. It is amazing.
Yes. It's not really open to the
public. For a very long time it was
owned by a local artist and she only gave private tours
sometimes every once in a while to school children.
And one of my at my school, somebody happened to know her
and she did allow a small group of us to have a private tour
(39:43):
there and that was when I was younger.
But it has not been open to the public for a long time.
I think last year was the first year the historic society opened
it up for public tours and they just have not been able to get
the funds to reopen it this year.
So it only lasted for a summer. OK, we need to.
(40:04):
We need to figure out how to make.
That I know it's it's beautiful if anybody ever gets the
opportunity. So Long story short, I was
trying to go into the backyard to get a view of it so I could
see inside because one of the locals who was part of the.
Not trespassing, Not. Trespassing.
Part of the Historical Society had advised that nobody would
(40:25):
care. I was wrong.
Somebody was working on the House.
So I was told, oh, we're not open.
Yes. All right, Well, there's.
Nothing I I'm going to have to look up.
Yeah, some of these locations oreven as you can tell, even some
of these locations are hidden topeople who are from the Delaware
(40:45):
area as well. So you you will always find
little hidden gems that people are not aware of.
So which is really cool to me. It is very cool to me too.
So thank you for bringing this around.
Some of these I've been familiarwith, some of those most
definitely not. A few that I'm not and we're
going to have to chase down. Well, if you guys are
interested, I would highly encourage you to go and find out
(41:08):
for yourself. So thank you for joining us for
another sign tingling journey into the haunted grounds of old
Newcastle. But don't forget to visit, visit
location. As I said, it's a great
historical site. Don't forget to like and
subscribe to this channel. Also make sure that you listen
to our other podcasts if you're interested in what we have to
say and some of the stories thatwe have.
But as always, keep your eyes open, continue to seek the
(41:31):
truth, and don't drink the water.
Delaware River just that's a hard pass.
I'm just going to let you know right now.
Yeah, it's really close now, down from the power plant.
I, I, I wouldn't recommend it. We got some more poop soup going
on. And Blinky, the three eyed fish.
I'm just saying. So yeah, there's.
Like there's some kinds of weirdstuff going on out there.
I definitely wouldn't do it so real quick.
(41:51):
So for local recommendations, isthere any place that you would
recommend seeing? So we had mentioned throughout
this Jessup's Tavern, we we mentioned Dora Lee's, so it's
not familiar with Newcastle. If you are there was our two
restaurants. Jessup's Tavern goes back to
they they kept the same kind of like old colonial feel.
They don't dress up anymore. They used to have to wear
(42:13):
costumes to go with that, but it's really good Tavernish food
with a very big menu of importedBelgian beers.
And the New Orleans is based offof New Orleans.
It's got a really cool kind of voodoo vibe.
It's a jazz place, so they do have jazz on the weekends.
I would highly suggest that you go there.
(42:33):
So those are really the main restaurants that are there right
now. It's because it's really small,
let's be honest, like it's really, really small.
So those are main restaurants. I do suggest that you do the
Amstel House, the Old Dutch House, you go to the George Reed
House, you visit the Strand, also go to the.
I would suggest going to the historic location where the
(42:55):
historic society is because theyhave a lot more information.
They've been doing it for a lot longer.
The visitor center is just kind of, it's nice, but it doesn't
have as much information as the Historical Society because
they're the ones who actually get the tours together.
They do all the haunted tours, they're all volunteer.
So they're phenomenal people whodo this out of the kindness of
(43:17):
their heart. So I would definitely suggest
going there because they really,really love history.
So those are my suggestions I. Do and I check out the calendar
too, right? Because every year they have a
like a Tavern on the green they have.
An art on the green they have. Separation day, like separation
day, which is what I was lookingfor, which is like the battle of
independence for Newcastle. Yeah, so for anybody who doesn't
(43:40):
know, Delaware is the first state to separate from England,
as well as Pennsylvania in the same day and declare their
independence. I did not know that.
So you knew more about that Man,I just knew they had a Safari
Buchanans. I love me some history.
I told you I'm like the Forrest Gump of this group.
Like I'm OK with that. It's fine.
(44:00):
It's all good. That's what I knew.
If I threw it out there, you'd be like, I know instantly what
you're talking about. This one is so.
Yeah. So there's really cool festival.
I mean, it is a very, very smalltown.
And again, this isn't a place that I would like plan on
spending an entire week. Or weekend.
I would say it's a good day trip.
Good day trip. Yeah, absolutely.
I would say that. So I would definitely suggest
that. All right, guys.
(44:22):
Well. All right, thank you so much.
I appreciate it. And to Jen's point, thank you
all for joining us. Feel free to tell us what we did
well, but we didn't do well. We live for any and all comments
and feedback. All right, but I, I do recommend
visiting old Newcastle. It's done its own little.
Yes it does and we will catch you guys on the next episode.
(44:43):
So we will see you next week. See ya.
Bye bye.
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