Shackle Island, the Ghost Slaves of Patty Cannon - near Phillips Landing, Delaware

Notorious ferry boat master Martha "Patty" Cannon did more than transport people across the Naticoke River at Woodland Ferry in Delaware.  She and her band of hooligans captured, sold, and transported freed slaves back to plantations in the South.  One of the most notorious places she would keep her captured slave out of the public eye, was a secluded island on the Naticoke that became known as "Shackle Island".  For centuries, the island itself has been a ghost.  No one seemed to know where it was located, until recently.

Some have discovered ruins of a moss covered boat and believe that this marks the spot of the lost Shackle Island where the notorious slave smuggler Patty Cannon hid some of her victims.

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The Ghost of Patty Cannon - Woodland Ferry, Delaware

In the late 1700s at a place known as Woodland Ferry, located in Colonial Delaware, a woman by the name of Martha "Patty" Cannon ran a ferry that transported folks across the Nanticoke River.  Patty lived just north in the nearby town of Johnson's Corners.  Patty was not an ordinary woman, on many levels.  She was large and burly in appearance and stood over 6 feet tall.  Some say that she could best any man in a fight.  What was really scary about Patty Cannon though, was that she was just as nasty on the inside as she appeared on the outside and was a very murderous woman.

The skull of Patty Cannon is all that is left as a reminder of her brutal legacy.  It is kept in a hat box in a library office.

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Headless Soldier of Cooches Bridge - Newark, Delaware

During the Revolutionary War, British and Hessian troops were advancing on Philadelphia.  Brigadier General William Maxwell led a small force on a mission to delay the British advance so that Washington could evacuate Philadelphia.  One of those soldiers still marches on the road to Philadelphia to this day.

Cooches Bridge near Newark, Delware long ago

On September 3, 1777 American forces met up with advancing British forces on Old Cooches Bridge Road in what some refer to today as The Battle of Cooches Bridge or The Battle of Iron Hill.  After several skirmishes, the Colonial forces pulled back to Cooches Bridge where another skirmish ensued.  During the battle, fighting was fierce.  It is said that one British soldier killed on the bridge, literally had his head blown off.  Subsequently, the American forces were overrun and the British forces eventually captured Philadelphia.  However, General Washington was able to pull out of the city before hand.

Rockwood mansion in Wilmington, Delaware - The Vortex of Souls

The Rockwood mansion in Wilmington, Delaware is said to be home to a phenomenon that people refer to as The Vortex of Souls.  Read the full story>>

Rockwood Mansion, Wilmington DE