The Complete Guide To Haunted Places In Wilmington, NC

If you’re planning on visiting Wilmington, our Wilmington, NC Travel Guide can help you plan your trip with ideas for where to stay, what to do, restaurants in the area, and more.

And, if you’re doing a ghost tour because you’re in the Port City in the fall and that just feels right, check out all the other fall things to do in Wilmington, NC.

Haunted Places In Wilmington, NC

Affiliate links are included in this post and Drugstore Divas may make a small commission if you use them.

We’re putting this list in alphabetical order because that just seems to make the most sense.

Also, full disclosure: These are stories, passed down from others, to us, to you. Do with them what you will. Like I said before, we haven’t personally seen any ghosts in Wilmington. And we don’t have any association with the people and places in this post.

Bellamy Mansion

Before the Bellamy Mansion (503 Market St) was built, the land there was used as gallows for executions, then known as Gallows Hill. The gallows did move a few blocks away, leaving the land available for other uses.

The mansion was built by Dr. John D. Bellamy, a plantation owner, physician, and businessman, for his large family. He and his wife Eliza had eight children and she was pregnant with their tenth when they moved into the house. (Honestly, I don’t know what happened to number nine).

The family moved in with nine slaves who lived in the slave quarters in the backyard, which are still there today.

Ghosts of an elderly couple have been seen in the windows of the home, plus ghosts of children have been reported both on the upstairs (which was the floor the children’s rooms were on) and outside. It’s been said that the children outside are the children of the slaves.

Someone on TripAdvisor said that he was upstairs on a tour with his wife and thought he saw her in the home’s nursery. When he got closer, he realized no one was there. He was all alone on the floor.

We’ve been here a few times for Nights of Lights, an annual free self-guided tour to see the home decorated for Christmas. We never got haunted there, but we went before I knew all the stories about what the land was and that there were ghosts. So, yeah, we may never return.

Bullock Hospital Building

On Front Street, there’s the old Bullock Hospital building (221 N Front St). It’s apartments and rooms for rent now, but back in the 1920s, it was a full, working hospital.

Years later, our ghost tour guide had friends in a band who rented a space there for practice. While they were practicing, they would hear thumping and doors slamming.

When practice was over, they would turn off all the lights, get in the elevator, and push the button for the ground floor. Rather than taking them there, though, the elevator always opened in the basement — which used to be the hospital’s morgue.

They’d run up to the ground floor and out to their cars, turn around, and see the lights in the room they used for practice had turned back on. So they’d have to go upstairs again to turn them off.

Burgwin-Wright House

The Burgwin-Wright House (224 Market Street) was built in 1770 for John Burgwin. It’s the only structure in town from the colonial era that’s open to the public. It was built on top of the land where the former jail was from 1744 to 1768 until it burned down.

The Wright family bought the home in 1799 and stayed there until 1869.

There have been reports of a woman sitting at a spinning wheel. The spinning wheel has also been seen spinning on its own.

Staff members have heard heavy footsteps walking from one side of the house to another. And some have even seen a figure walk by them. One even said he closed and locked a door one night, then found it open the next morning.

The Wilmington Paranormal Research has investigated the house and recorded voices, including a female voice saying, “Stephanie.”

Gnome Nom Nom (Formerly The Scoop Ice Cream Shop)

Two, young, female apparitions used to haunt the former ice cream shop (365 N Front St). They would knock over napkin holders and salt and pepper shakers, plus turn off the freezers at night so all the ice cream would melt.

Just children making mischief.

When the workers there realized it was two bored children, they bought a doll and left it in the shop for the ghosts to play with. Once they did, all the mischief stopped.

C-Suite Lounge (formerly Fire & Spice Gourmet)

The location (312 Nutt Street) is situated on the back side of The Cotton Exchange, facing out towards the parking lot.

When the location was Fire & Spice, it was owned by Tommy and Judy Cooper. Men in old-fashioned morning coats and ladies in long gowns would catch Tommy’s eye as they walked past his shop in the morning.

When he would look back, they would disappear.

Latimer House

The Latimer House (126 S 3rd St) is the current home to the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society, but it was originally the home of Zebulon and Elizabeth Latimer, who had nine children. Five of those children died in before the age of 4, in this house.

Morbid fact: There’s actually post-mortem photos of the babies hanging in the house. Back in those days (the home was built in 1852), photography took time, and it was easier to photograph non-moving objects. And dead babies don’t move.

What does move is an Emily Dickenson book inside the home. It has been known to levitate and drop. Lights have turned on and off during tours. And curators have told stories about hearing marbles roll around upstairs, out of a mouse hole, like children were playing.

And, a putrid smell has been noted in the basement.

Plus, if you Google images of the Latimer house, there’s one where you can see a shadowy figure in the window.

And someone on Reddit noted having their necklace pulled at the gate.

Lula’s (A Pub)

Everyone agrees that Lula’s (138 S Front St), a pub in downtown Wilmington, is haunted. And everyone agrees that it’s haunted by a former slave named Cooter who escaped and was caught numerous times.

His owner finally decided to give him his freedom papers, but cut off his feet first, saying, “You won’t be running away anymore but you’re free to go anywhere you’d like.”

From here, the stories diverge based on whoever is telling the tale. Either Cooter’s feet were cut off at the location of Lula’s pub or Cooter escaped to Wilmington, where he realized Lula’s pub was part of the Underground Railroad, so he spent time in the hardware store that was there and connected to an underground tunnel, helping other slaves escape.

Either way, the stories agree that Cooter’s spirit is still there.

The storage room has been found locked from the inside, the current owner heard a stack of plates breaking only to realize they were completely intact. A seance was held with numerous names written on post it notes stuck to the wall. The names fell down one by one, leaving one remaining: Cooter.

Michael’s On The Waterfront

Michael’s On The Waterfront (5 S Water St) is a restaurant now, but it used to be a brothel named Blue Post (not to be confused with the current bar with that name a few feet away).

The brothel was run by a 6-foot-tall woman named Gallus Meg who didn’t take kindly to rowdy pirates who tried to take advantage of the working women.

When Gallus Meg heard of an unruly patron, she would grab them by the neck and hold them high (like they were being hung at the gallows, hence how she got her name).

She would also bite off their ears and kept them in a jar on her bar. They served as both a warning to any new patrons, plus she would feed them to anyone who complained in her bar.

She’s long gone now, but she still is there protecting women. As the story goes, a man went into the women’s bathroom at the restaurant … and was greeting by the ghost of Gallus Meg.

We ate here and didn’t get haunted. Pete’s dad was with us and used the restroom, but he must have used the men’s because he didn’t come back with any stories.

New Hanover County Public Library

The main library of the New Hanover County Public Library (201 Chestnut St) is housed in the former Belk-Beery department store building — and is haunted.

There are three known ghosts who haunt the library: an older woman, an older bearded man who wears late 19th century clothing (and was killed by gunshot in a duel on the property), and a young man. They’ve been known to make general library noises, like the sound of a book’s pages turning and calling out — quietly, of course — to library staff and calling them by name.

They’ve also been known to unplug the vacuum cleaners, turn the microfilm readers on an off, books moving places, amongst other harmless interactions.

The Local History room gets the most haunted action, possibly from a spirit who was really interested in the Civil War and spent a lot of time researching there.

Orton Billiards and Pool Hall

The Orton Hotel was built in 1888 on Front Street. It became a luxurious, three-story hotel, attracting rich clientele from up North who wanted an escape from the cold.

By 1949, though, it became dated and customers had found reprise elsewhere in town. However, about 30 guests were staying at the hotel that year when a fire came through and burned almost all of the wooden building to the ground.

What remained was the basement billiards and dining room — and maybe an unregistered guest. During the fire, guests reported seeing a disoriented man walking through the smoke.

Decades later, the basement was renovated to become Orton Billiards and Pool Hall (133 N Front St). Reports of toilets flushing and sinks turning on and off have been made, plus people have heard disembodied voices.

And then there’s Bill, a patron who speaks to pool players, then says he has to attend to some business on the fourth floor and leaves. Is he the ghost of the unregistered guest? Maybe.

Orton’s also has underground tunnels that were eventually blocked off, but may have been part of the Underground Railroad. Are they haunted? We’ll never know.

Pete and I played pool here, at the self-proclaimed country’s oldest pool hall, years ago, but we never bumped into Bill. The pool hall did temporarily close in 2020, but it hasn’t reopened.

Paddy’s Hollow

Paddy’s Hollow (10 Walnut Street) is and Irish restaurant in the Cotton Exchange with a great chicken sandwich — and a ghost named Fred, a tall man with long curly black hair.

As the story goes, there was a female manager who went into the storage room and came face to face with Fred. He politely asked, “Can I help you?” before disappearing.

The manager ran out of the restaurant and never came back.

Poplar Grove Plantation

Poplar Grove (10200 US-17) was originally a peanut plantation, then became the home of the Foy family from 1795 to 1971.

As the story goes, it’s still the home of David Foy, the family’s first born son.

David rebelled against his family to join the Confederate Army, but contracted typhus and died at the home. He has been heard stomping around the front office where the plantation’s business had taken place.

The wife of his sister-in-law, Nora, who bore four children who all died at only a few days old, is also at unrest there. She has been known to hang around the children’s rooms upstairs.

It has also been said that the tenant houses are haunted by former slaves who worked on the peanut plantation, but there isn’t any specific information about who they are or how they haunt the area. Poplar Grove does offer ghost tours around Halloween, so you might be able to get some information then.

We used to do the farmer’s market weekly at Poplar Grove Plantation, and we never got haunted. We did also do a tour of the main home (which was rebuilt after a fire in the 1800’s), and weren’t haunted then either, although it’s a huge plantation/antebellum home, so it gives off some vibes.

Port City Pottery

Another Cotton Exchange is of a man in a dark blue uniform with a gold braid across the chest who would stand at the wall of Port City Pottery (307 N Front St).

To his dismay, not everyone can see and hear him.

He stopped one person to ask why customers could hear voices (meaning, their cell phones) but could not hear him. Another time, an employee felt him trying to talk into her ear, but she couldn’t hear his words.

Price-Gause House

The Price-Gause House (514 Market Street) is across the street from the Bellamy Mansion, which means it, too, was built on Gallows Hill, a site of executions in Wilmington.

Although Dr. William Price, a doctor and lieutenant colonel in the Civil War, may not have known that when he built his family’s home there in 1860.

And the home’s next owner, Thomas J. Gause, a captain of the 115th Machine Battalion of the 30th Division in World War I, may not have known either.

It’s wildly considered to be the most haunted building in Wilmington.

When people were hung at the gallows, many families couldn’t afford to pick up the bodies. So they were left there, with trenches dug to bury them. Bones have been dug up all over the property, prompting one former resident, Alice Rhinestein, to become interested in anatomy become one of the first female physicians in New York.

It’s been said that kitchen items in the home have been moved around and there’s clanking of metal on metal and stomping on the stairs, which may be the ghosts mimicking the sound of them being lead in chains to the gallows.

Figures in period clothing have been seen in the windows and doorways, including George who has been known to greet passers-by.

Someone reported seeing the words “Help me” written in condensation that had formed in the window, as well.

Side note: I went there to take this photo for the post and did get a creepy feeling there, but I figured that was mostly from the stories I knew. I did snap this photo and then immediately walked quickly to my car.

When I uploaded this photo, I took a look in the windows. Look at the top left window. There’s the reflection of an upside down bat — even though this was taken in the daytime and there were no bats in the tree and no other reflection of the tree. Uh, okay. Creepy.

Then, look in the middle window on the second floor. It looks like a full dead body looking out the window. Is it? I don’t know. But I also don’t want to find out.

St. James Parish Cemetery

Samuel Russell Jocelyn and his new bride, Mary Ann Simpson, got into an argument. And, as people do, Samuel left the house. But, this was 1809 (or 1810, depending on if you believe lore or historical records), so he took off on horseback.

He fell off the horse and was thrown into a small river, where his body was frozen. He was interred, as bodies are. And his final resting place was St. James Parish Cemetery (between Third Street between Market and Dock Street), the oldest cemetery in Wilmington.

But, here’s the thing. Samuel was just frozen. Not dead.

He appeared in a dream to his best friend Sandy Hostier, begging Sandy to dig him up. After three days, Sandy obliged and Samuel’s body was exhumed.

And, inside the wooden grave, they found Samuel with bloody fingernails (some of which may or may not have been in the coffin). He apparently defrosted and woke up buried alive.

It’s said you can still hear Samuel’s screams as he tries to escape his grave.

Thalian Hall

If there’s an old theater in town, you should just assume it’s haunted. They all are. And Thalian Hall (310 Chestnut St) in Wilmington is no exception.

The stunning theater was built in the 1880s, carefully renovated after famous actress Jenny Lynn said the building was too small and she wouldn’t perform there. So the acting troupe there added the giant columns outside the theater that still stand today and gorgeous red seats.

Two of those red seats, up in the balcony, are occupied by a man and a woman in theatrical dress. No one knows who they are, but they’re there.

And they’re heroes, if you ask one director.

He brought the dog to practice one day and the dog ran up to the balcony. He then jumped off the side and was falling to the ground. The director and actors who saw the dog jump ran to where he would have landed, expecting the worst. But the dog was perfectly fine and happy, not a scratch on him.

It’s said the ghosts from the balcony grabbed him and brought him to the ground safely.

Other unknown ghosts haunt the building, playing tricks on the actors and staff. When actors are reciting lines in the theater’s dark corridors, they’ve heard whispers and the air is ice cold. Props and scripts have gone missing.

The Cotton Exchange

There are offices above the shops in The Cotton Exchange (321 N Front St). One of those offices was rented by our tour guide’s friend.

She said he would hear heavy footsteps walking towards a door upstairs, so the friend followed the footsteps and watched as the door was opened. But before he could go inside, the door was slammed shut.

There’s also a little boy who appears to be jumping and running on a bench (that doesn’t exist) in the O’Brien building of The Cotton Exchange.

And, there’s a woman in a long white dress who has been seen all over The Cotton Exchange. She is usually found in The German Cafe while diners are eating. However, a young boy saw her in the bathroom once and others have reported seeing her at the top of a set of stairs near Fidler’s Gallery.

And finally, an employee at Java Dog reported watching one of the rocking chairs near the Annex rocking. Rather than slowing down, like an empty rocking chair would do, it sped up.

The Golden Gallery

The Golden Gallery (321 N Front St) was opened in The Cotton Exchange in 1977 by Ellen Golden and is the only single-family gallery in North Carolina.

The ghost of a man in a top hat and dark suit sometimes appeared near the listening station to hear the music that played.

USS North Carolina

The Battleship North Carolina (1 Battleship Rd NE) is one of the most decorated ships in the country. It originally took 2,300 sailors to operate the ship.

Those sailors completed the same tasks day after day. So, although they’ve left the ship, they’ve left behind something called “residual haunting.” The repetitiveness of the tasks left behind an imprint, so you’ll see the apparitions doing their daily tasks over and over.

Visitors to the battleship, which is open to the public, have reported hearing screams of “get out” while they were on tours.

The battleship is also available to rent for parties. And one woman was at one of the parties there when she met a man who came up to her to tell her she was “cute.” When she went to reply, he had vanished.

And finally, there’s a ghost-a-gator there. Charlie the alligator was a large alligator who resided in the intercoastal, where the battleship is situation. Guests saw the large alligators for years before he passed. One tour guest did mention seeing him — years after Charlie had already gone on to the big river in the sky.

Danny Bradshaw, who was a nightwatchman on the battleship for 30 years, wrote a book called Ghosts on the Battleship that goes into way more detail.

Wilmington Railroad Museum

The Wilmington Railroad Museum (505 Nutt St) preserves the history of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad — and maybe some ghosts.

It has been said the museum is super haunted. Rebekah Carmichael, known as Rebekah the Ghost Guide on TikTok, has a few videos of herself in the museum, hearing voices and more.

This is another one of those places where we’ve been there before, but we weren’t haunted. However, we did only go to see the museum itself and check out the displays, not the spirits.

Take A Ghost Tour In Wilmington:

If you don’t want to make your own self-guided ghost tour based on our post, you can choose from a ton of ghost tours in Wilmington.

There’s the Wilmington Ghosts: Phantoms of Pirates and Patriots Tour, which focuses on downtown Wilmington and the riverwalk area. You can also book a similar tour through US Ghost Adventures, which we have taken.

And then there’s tours through Haunted Wilmington, which offer both a ghost walk and a haunted pub tour to choose from.

Haunted Places Near Wilmington:

This list is very specifically everywhere in Wilmington proper. However, there are also a few places near Wilmington that you should check out.

There’s the Fort Fisher State Historic Site in Kure Beach, which was the site of the Battle of Fort Fisher and is home to the spirits of fallen soldiers, including the ghost of Confederate General William Whiting who was mortally wounded there.

Also, across the bridge in Maco, there was the story of the Maco Light. Joe Baldwin, who was decapitated on the railroad tracks, swung his lantern nightly looking for his head. The county eventually pulled up the tracks and the sightings stopped.

More Ghost Stories:

We’ve explored a ton of ghost stories around the country. If you want to read about them, check out our posts with Haunted Places In San Juan, Puerto Rico, Haunted Places In Las Vegas, Haunted Places In Abbeville, SC (which includes the haunted Belmont Inn, where my mom actually got haunted on our stay there), Haunted Places In Tacoma, WA, and Haunted Places In Durham, NC.

We also got a private tour of the The Haunted Capitol Theatre In Yakima, WA.

And, if you want to book a haunted stay, check out our list of Haunted Hotels In South Carolina.