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Delaware native and paranormal historian Josh Hitchens invites you on a spooky road trip through the First State, telling scary stories of the most frightening phantoms that lurk in New Castle, Kent, and Sussex Counties.

Read the legend of Fiddler's Bridge, meet the ghosts in the Governor's Mansion, learn the truth behind the Selbyville Swamp Monster and many more terrifying tales that will chill your bones. Combining historical facts with fearsome folklore, The Haunting of Delaware: Ghosts and Legends from the First State is sure to keep you reading long past midnight…if you dare. Experience Delaware's ghostly history and the echoes it creates in the present day, places where the souls of the dead have not yet found rest.

Delaware's experience in the Great War was that of an awakening. What had been a pastoral collection of farms and merchants was rapidly transformed into a dynamic, economically thriving society. From the immense munitions contribution of the DuPont Company to burgeoning shipbuilding on the Wilmington waterfront, the First State took a leading role in meeting the war's industrial demand. It fortified coastal defenses and thwarted U-boat attacks on its coast. Its men and women learned of valor and sacrifice as thousands of native sons fought in Europe and daughters volunteered on the homefront. Author Kennard R. Wiggins Jr. traces the history that changed the state forever.

Though New Castle did not see any battles during the American Revolution, it was the Delaware's Colonial capital, and at it was at the center of the rebellion in the state. Its village green, still present today, served as a venue for early forums where colonists aired their grievances with the British government. Though it was considered more radical and inclined towards rebellion than the rest of Delaware, the city was also home to a sizable Loyalist community. When the city was occupied by the British in 1777, Loyalists from other colonies flocked to the relative safety of the city. However, after their departure, New Castle was still plagued by refugees" who were essentially Loyalist privateers that preyed on the coastal communities of the Delaware Bay. Historian Ted Corbett charts the history of this community in its days leading up to the Revolution, through the conflict and into the early years of the Republic when Delaware struggled to set up its new government."

Rebels, soldiers and watermen have all toiled and roamed among the fields, bays and beaches of Sussex County. With grit and ingenuity they built strong communities that could face the onslaught of storms and sun seekers. From tales of the Black Camp Rebellion and the infamous Patty Cannon to stories of practical jokesters who brought a swamp monster to life, local author James Diehl brings together a fascinating
and whimsical collection of vignettes that paints a portrait of Delaware's largest county. Between its sunny coast and green fields lie the small towns that the hardworking and hospitable people of Sussex County call home.

Images of America: Delaware State Police illustrates the storied past of the Delaware State Police from 1920 to 1985.

April 28, 1923, marks the birth of the Delaware State Police. Discussions occurred as early as 1906 for a statewide police organization to cope with speeding automobiles, roving bands of troublemakers, and the ever-present bootleggers. Prohibition and the 18th Amendment brought the discussion to the forefront. With the hiring of Charles J. McGarigle and Joseph A. McVey, the Delaware Highway Police Department came to fruition on January 1, 1920. Using many never-before-published photographs from the Delaware State Police Museum archive,

Forty Acres was developed into a neighborhood in the 19th century from a 40-acre parcel of farmland. Just as many other neighborhoods have ethnic associations, many Irish Wilmingtonians have their roots in Forty Acres. Some Forty Acres families stayed for generations, and the neighborhood was popular well into the 20th century. What makes Forty Acres different is its sense of community and the close-knit relationships developed between its residents. While it is admired for its historic charm, the neighborhood is an urban community made up of a mixed-use residential and commercial village within the city of Wilmington. Today Forty Acres continues to be a place where the word "neighbor" holds strength, value, and friendship.

The Village of Arden was founded in 1900 by sculptor Frank Stephens and architect Will Price, both social reformers who sought to create an ideal society based on principles set forth by the American economist Henry George. With funding from Joseph Fels, a wealthy Philadelphia soap manufacturer who also financed C. R. Ashbee's Guild of Handicraft in England, Stephens and Price purchased 162 acres in northern Delaware and named their colony after the Arden forest of William Shakespeare's As You Like It. The community's motto was "You Are Welcome Hither," but Arden's founders did not anticipate the diverse and colorful mix of radicals and progressives their experiment would attract, including Upton Sinclair, muckraking author of The Jungle, and Scott Nearing, author of Living the Good Life. Through photographs, Images of America: Arden explores the early history of one of this country's most vibrant, yet little known, utopian experiments.

Dunleith, a community just two miles south of Wilmington, arose in the early 1950s and was the first African American housing development marketed in Delaware. African Americans, many of whom were World War II veterans, teachers, and blue-collar workers, purchased their first homes in Dunleith. During this period of civil rights programs, finding equal education and housing opportunities was a challenge, particularly for African Americans. The school and churches of the Dunleith Estates community encouraged a generation of families to persevere through this difficult period. The rich history of the community is documented through vintage photographs in Images of America: Dunleith.

When the call went out in 1862 for volunteers for Delaware's 4th Infantry Regiment, a number of men from prominent Quaker families came forward to fight for the Union. Deeply patriotic and strongly opposed to slavery, they served with distinction in some of the later campaigns of the Civil War, from Cold Harbor through Appomattox. Among them was Henry Gawthrop. Commissioned a first lieutenant in Company F, he saw action during the Siege of Petersburg and at the Battle of Five Forks. Fifty years after the war, he drew on his diary and letters from the war years to create a unique memoir that is among the most comprehensive and detailed of any Delaware Civil War veteran. This is his story.

Horse racing embodies the very spirit of America, honoring our dual traditions of risk taking and adventure seeking. Known throughout the racing world, Delaware Park shines as a diamond among racecourses. The park was designed and built by Willie DuPont, a lean and wiry man for whom there was no sweeter music than "the pound of horses' hooves." In the decades that followed, Delaware Park became the home of Kelso, Secretariat and Barbaro, some
of the greatest names in horse racing history. Read about the dramatic ups and downs of this legendary institution as Kenneth Baumgardt captures the spirit of one of America's most celebrated racing destinations.

Bob Trapani, executive director for the American Lighthouse Foundation and co-founder of the Delaware River & Bay Lighthouse Foundation, recounts the stories of twenty-seven beacons from the lost Cape Henlopen Light Station, completed in 1767, to the Marcus Hook Range Rear Light Station, constructed in 1920. He not only discusses their construction and the changes they have undergone over the years, but also tells dramatic tales of their keepers, who braved storms, isolation and poor conditions so that the lights would stay burning for those at sea.

Once a place of war, then a place of health, and finally, preservation, Fort DuPont has had a long and interesting history.

Fort DuPont is named in honor of Rear Admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont and located on the Reeden Point tract, land initially granted to Henry Ward in 1675. The first fortification built was the Ten Gun Battery during the Civil War, a heavily armed earthwork fortification dedicated to protecting the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal--as Sgt. Bishop Crumrine wrote in 1864, "These guns command the channel and could blow to atoms any vessel rash enough to attempt to pass.'? In the decades to follow, the battery at Delaware City was gradually modernized into a formidable military post that remained active through World War II. Declared surplus in post-war peacetime, the site reopened in 1948 as the Governor Bacon Health Center, and by 1996, over 300 acres were reestablished as Fort DuPont State Park.

The fascinating origins of this once peaceful resort town are explored in Michael Morgan's Bethany Beach.

Before a 1901 ceremony opened the peaceful resort town, the wild dunes of Bethany Beach were part of the rough-and-tumble New World and the deadly land wars between Delawareans and Marylanders. The twentieth century brought crowds eager to partake of a healthy saltwater bath and chicken-and-waffle socials. Local author Michael Morgan chronicles the history of this ""quiet"" resort with stories of rumrunners who concealed their illicit goods in local chicken coops, World War II residents who anxiously kept a weather eye on the Atlantic and the devastating 1962 nor'easter. Join Morgan as he deftly narrates the storied history of this beloved Delaware beach town.