DELAWARE CITY, Del. (AP) - For her first few years as the unofficial ghost tour skeptic at Fort Delaware, the state park’s historian Laura Lee was a perfect foil for her fellow guide.
Milford’s Rick Coherd, real life ghost hunter and founder of Delmarva Historic Haunts, was always the believer. Lee, on the other hand, mostly played along.
But then over the past couple of years, a few “weird things” happened while Lee was at Fort Delaware.
One night while staying overnight at the 288-acre park on Pea Patch Island with a Boy Scouts of America troop, Lee heard footsteps downstairs at her private lodging quarters.
Thinking someone was joking with her, she went downstairs to see who it was.
When she got there, no one was around. She was alone. And when she went back to her room, the sleeping bag she had spread out across her bed was crumpled in a ball in the corner.
“I was only gone for two minutes, so that kind of weirded me out,” says Lee, also interpretive program manager for Fort Delaware, which dates back to the Civil War when the Union used it as a prison for Confederate prisoners.
“I just took a couple of Tylenol PMs and went to sleep because once you’re out there, you’re out there,” she adds. “There are no boats to take you home at night.”
With Labor Day weekend in our rear view, pumpkins and other Halloween-themed goodies are beginning to sprout around us. In addition to the slew of haunted attractions that begin in Delaware soon, including favorites like Middletown’s Frightland (Friday) and the Georgetown-area’s Screams at the Beach (Oct. 3), some of the bigger regional haunts are opening in September.
Lancaster, Pennsylvania’s Field of Screams opened its 22nd season Sept. 5 with an estimated 80,000 guests expected over its 27 nights of operation. New attractions this year include a suffocation chamber and a snake-themed “Serpent Falls.”
On Sept. 19, Terror Behind the Walls at Eastern State Penitentiary was to open in Philadelphia, showcasing its unique location: the actual former prison that ran from 1829 to 1971 and housed everyone from infamous Chicago gangster Al Capone to bank robber Willie Sutton. (Yes, it’s as creepy as it sounds.) On the same day, Jason’s Woods in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, also was to open.
Jim Schopf, who co-founded Field of Screams with his brother in 1992, still enjoys watching the unpredictable human reaction to pure fright. During training for his haunted house “actors,” he spells out just how unpredictable it can be.
“I’ve been pushed, hit, yelled at and spit on. It is really fight or flight - they are either going to run away or start fighting you,” Schopf says. “In training, I tell the actors that if you get into someone’s personal space and invade it, expect a reaction one way or another. We’ve even had people wet their pants.”
OPENING DATES FOR DELAWARE’S HAUNTED ATTRACTIONS
Sept. 26 - Frightland, 309 Port Penn Road, Middletown. $20-$50. Through Nov. 1.
Oct. 3 - Wicked Woods, 2621 Sandy Bend Road, Wyoming. $15. Through Nov. 1.
Oct. 3 - Screams at the Beach, 22518 Lewes-Georgetown Highway, near Georgetown. $25-$35. Through Nov. 8.
Oct. 3 - Paranormal Adventures, Fort Delaware State Park, 45 Clinton St., Delaware City. Runs through Oct. 31. (There is a special five-hour adventure held Halloween night from 9:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.)
Oct. 10 - Fright Night, Brecknock Park, 80 Old Camden Road, Camden. $7. Through Oct. 25.
Oct. 10 - Cemetery House, Laurel Volunteer Fire Department, 205 W. 10th St., Laurel. $10 or $9 with a canned good. Through Oct. 31.
Oct. 17 - The Haunted Forest, Roxana Fire Company, 35943 Zion Church Road, Roxana. $10. Through Nov. 1.
Oct. 24 - Hockessin Haunted House, 19 Nathalie Drive, Hockessin. $4. Through Oct. 31.
Oct. 24 - Sea Witch Halloween & Fiddlers’ Festival, downtown Rehoboth Beach. Free. Through Oct. 25.
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Information from: The News Journal of Wilmington, Del., https://www.delawareonline.com
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