What are journalists missing from the state of Delaware? What would you most like WHYY News to cover? Let us know.
Haunted houses are a given during the Halloween season, but this year in Lewes, scares aren’t limited to the land. Visitors are able to hop aboard a 114-foot historic ship for a spooky experience.
The Lightship Overfalls is a National Historic Landmark in Delaware that has been preserved as a museum. It’s docked right off Pilottown Road. In February, USA Today named it one of the top-10 maritime museums in the country. The Overfalls Foundation, a volunteer-led nonprofit, preserves, maintains and operates the ship.
But this October, the nautical craft is transformed into a haunted vessel. The foundation is hosting “Ghostship Overfalls,” a fundraising effort that goes toward preserving the nearly 100-year-old ship.
Dave Shook, president of the foundation, said he got the idea for the haunted tour after watching “Spirits of the Shore” on a local news station. It featured reporters exploring areas believed to be haunted across the Delmarva region, including the lightship.
“They stayed overnight in the ship, and they verified the presence of paranormal activity,” Shook said.
When asked if he personally noticed any paranormal activity, Shook recounted a time he was working on the lightship late at night.
“I heard the loudest bang, like somebody dropped a metal tool or something in the ship. And I really got chills, and I just felt as if it was time to go home, and I left,” Shook said.
The foundation had difficulty with fundraising this summer, Shook said. Normally, they hold tours from May to October, and charge $5 per ticket to fund the ship’s maintenance. Due to this summer’s heat, the foundation was limited in being open for tours, since the ship gets too hot for visitors to go inside.
Shook said the haunted tour could help raise money needed for maintenance.
“I said, ‘Let’s try to do this,’” Shook said. “And it was a crazy idea ‘til it wasn’t. And now, it’s tremendously successful, and it’s going to help us float the boat, literally.”
The Lightship Overfalls is in need of dredging, as the boat is currently sitting in mud.
“We need to have the slip dredged so we can have it towed to the drydock and have it painted, have the skin underneath done again so that we can keep it going,” Shook said.
In addition, the ship is in need of a hull inspection and other repairs.
To put together the ghostship, the foundation recruited Rehoboth Beach resident David Ehrhart.
The ship is decorated in professional-grade Halloween props supplied by Ehrhart, including skeletons, headstones, statues and animatronics. He had previously wanted to open a haunted house in the area, and welcomed the opportunity to do so with the foundation.
