Haunted Delmarva: Princess Anne

PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – Princess Anne is a historical Eastern Shore town with with a dark history, and not only is it home to the living, but it’s also home to the dead.

Mindie Burgoyne, the author of the Haunted Eastern Shore Books and the Founder of Chesapeake Ghost Tours said, “The Princess Anne tour is our most disturbing tour, we talk about really harsh content.”

Princess Anne is known to be a hub for paranormal activity.

It’s home to wandering spirits of women who can’t let go of the past, and apparitions of violent criminals with unfinished business.

First, we’ll discuss the Princess Anne Police Department. The department’s building used to be a jail housing some of the areas most dangerous criminals.

Burgoyne said, “The jail that was here was burned down by the prisoners and they escaped, so when they built the new jail they thought well they’re not going to burn this down, stone doesn’t burn these walls are 18 inches thick.”

The things that once happened in this jail were nothing short of gruesome.

A prisoner was dragged out of the jail and murdered in front of the town.

Killings took place behind the walls in the cells.

Burgoyne said, “So a lot of jails are haunted but think of all the negative energy that’s inside a jail.”

This isn’t the kind of place you would ever want to find yourself alone.

According to Mindie Burgoyne, while the building was being renovated, construction workers refused to ever be in the building by themselves especially at night.

Burgoyne said, “They would have things happen, tools go missing, windows opening and closing, doors slamming, footsteps that were unaccounted for, to such a high concentration that they wouldn’t be in alone.”

But construction workers weren’t the only ones with paranormal encounters, dispatchers and police officers have experienced things as well.

One day, a dispatcher was working alone in the building with her kids.

Her kids ran around the building exploring, but when her son came back downstairs he told his mom he had met a frightening woman.

Burgoyne explained, “She said ‘What did you see buddy?’ And he said ‘A lady,’ So she was a little startled by that and she asked a little bit about the lady and he said she was sick.”

Undoubtedly, whoever these disturbed spirits are they can’t seem to rest.

Next, we’ll discuss the Teackle mansion.

It’s one of the oldest buildings in Princess Anne, and rumor has it that at night you can actually see an apparition walk from one side of the second story to the other.

Burgoyne said, “Sometimes she appears to be holding a candle or a flashlight because shes illuminated a little bit.”

Many believe the ghost haunting Teackle Mansion is that of Elizabeth Teackle, the wife of Littleton Dennis Teackle who built the grand mansion years ago.

Elizabeth was the caretaker of the home and she became deeply attached to it.

Tragically, the Teackle family lost the home when they could no longer afford it and the mansion was later split into apartments.

One of the tenants experienced first hand the ghost of Elizabeth wandering the halls looking out the window.

Burgoyne said, “He said he woke up in the middle of the night and a woman in a long white dress walked through his door and over to the window, and he gathered his things and he left and he never came back.”

According to Mindie, police experience a lot of strange phenomenon when it comes to the mansion as well.

“When they’re patrolling sometimes they’ll see what appears to be a figure in the window in that top second floor moving from left to right,” Burgoyne said.

Beyond that, we’re told police are constantly called to the house.

Burgoyne said, “At times the internal alarms go off and they have to go and check it out and make sure everything is okay and it always is, but something seems to trip the alarms.”

Could it be the ghost of Elizabeth Teackle?

Mindie said, “None of us would know that, but it is interesting that Elizabeth Teackle, this was her house and she had one daughter.”

If you’re interested in visiting any of these locations but you don’t necessarily want to go alone, you can go with a group of people with the Chesapeake Ghost Tours.