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Interpreter's Notes
by Laura Lee, Fort Delaware Interpreter
Is Fort Delaware Hounted?
Read Laura's bio.
The number one question asked this season is a difficult one for me to answer. As a historian, I always question everything and seek proof. Someone once said that ultimately every conclusion by a historian rests upon the documentary evidence; if it doesn't, it is fiction.
Fort Delaware has always been an amazing place to visit and explore. But this year, the popularity of television shows like SyFy's Ghost Hunters and The Travel Channel's Most Haunted has brought in a whole new wave (more like a tsunami) of first-timers to Fort Delaware. They come for the ghosts, but my job is to make sure they return for the history.
I am not going to lie – the incessant questions about ghosts can often drive me over the edge of the ramparts on some days. However, this wave of paranormal excitement has wonderful potential to boost visitor numbers. Increased visitorship results in more revenue, which directly funds our restoration projects. So while I may not have met the ghosts directly, they are my friends…!
The stories of ghosts grow with each candlelight tour and each paranormal investigation program. I will always be a die-hard historian, a realist who questions the effectiveness of the gizmos and gadgets used by the ghost hunters. They tell me that a K2 meter detects “energy fields,” and that the electronic voice recorders capture “background noise” (evidently the ghosts talk quietly behind your back in low, hushed tones while you are not paying attention). Some say that “orbs” are photographic evidence of spirits, while Jason and Grant (of Ghost Hunters fame) personally told me that orbs are just specks are dust. And they are experts, aren't they? Are there truly any experts on this stuff? My email inbox is frequently clogged up with emailed picture attachments. They look like clouds to me, but astute visitors point out the “clear” vision of a soldier, a cook, or a crying child. It's all so overwhelming.
Visitors ask me if I have ever seen a ghost. I will first say that if any place is truly haunted, it would be Fort Delaware. A desolate island in the middle of the Delaware River that housed nearly 12,000 Confederate prisoners was certainly no country club. It was not the "Andersonville of the North" as referred to by many Civil War authors. Andersonville, a notorious Southern prison was a den of horrors in a time when the Confederacy could hardly afford to feed its own people. Of the 12,000 at Fort Delaware, 2,700 people died, most of disease. Men came into the prison camp in an already weakened condition from the battlefield, and were little match for illness. As one prisoner so eloquently stated in his diary, “Some of the men here have more life on them than in them (referring to the graybacks, or lice).” I haven't seen any ghosts, but I have heard the occasional odd noise. Such as the time last October when I went upstairs to the storage area to fetch a gallon of apple cider for an evening program. Clearly hearing footsteps, I went through all four rooms looking for my interpreter, only to find no one. A bit weirded out, I went downstairs and never told anyone. That is, until a few weeks later when a panicked AmeriCorps interpreter came running downstairs screaming "I heard someone up there!" Hmmm.
It may or may not be haunted, but I can definitely feel a presence there. I always have felt that way, dating back to the 1990s when I worked at the Fort as a seasonal interpreter. I just always believed that if there were spirits that they approved of what I was doing. I tell their story. I may not know the name of the kitchen ghost, or ever have an opportunity to see a Union soldier lurking in the casemates. But I try my best to remember their lives through the living history programs we offer. Based on the letters, journals, military and census records, photographs and sketches, we share their lives with visitors. It is not as important to remember dates and numbers, but the stories of those who lived there tell it all.
It is with a heavy heart that we close down the fort in October, winterizing it for next season. Fort Delaware will re-open the first weekend of May, and even earlier for school groups. Keep an eye on the Fort Delaware web page for upcoming programs in 2010. POW Weekends, on the second weekends of June, July, and August, and Victorian Kids Fest in June bring the fort to life with many living history volunteers. Appetite for Apparitions returns, an enjoyable evening including catered dinner in the mess hall followed by a candlelight ghost tour, hosted by yours truly and noted folklorist Ed Okonowicz. Fort DuPont, located on the mainland across from Fort Delaware, will host programs this year as well. Check out the vintage base ball tournament hosted by the Diamond State Base Ball Club (the weekend of May 22) or Hounds and History, a historic trail walk where Fido is invited as well.
Come for the history, and maybe you'll see the ghosts!