Bellevue Mansion

Philadelphia wool merchant Hanson Robinson built this estate as a summer retreat, originally called Woolton Hall. William du Pont bought it in 1893 to raise fine carriage and draft horses, and renamed it Bellevue Hall after an ancestor's business partner, Pierre de Bauduy de Bellevue. His son, William du Pont Jr., inherited the estate in 1928 and remodeled its Gothic exterior into the Neo-Classical mansion seen today, modeled closely on his other home, Montpelier, in Virginia. The du Pont family gave the estate to the State of Delaware in 1976, and it's now the centerpiece of Bellevue State Park. Staff say the closed-off second and third floors are the most active: chairs are found rearranged, the electricity misbehaves, and laughter and screaming have been heard with no one present. Paranormal investigators have recorded what sounds like a child crying, and audio responses from multiple recorders during basement sessions.