Weekend Spotlight is a round-up of the five best events to check out in Delaware over the coming weekend, curated by Arts + Culture Editor Cannon Taylor. This edition covers Oct. 9-11, 2026. What should be on our radar for future editions? Let us know!
Sweet Revenge
Lantern tour will divulge Dover’s dark past
Friday, Oct. 9. John Bell House. 43 The Green, Dover. 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Tickets: $15.
It seems unlikely one could commit a double murder in Dover from nearly 3,000 miles away, but that’s exactly what Cordelia Botkin did. In 1898, she mailed arsenic-laced candies from San Francisco to the wife and sister-in-law of a man she had an affair with.
Botkin’s story is one of many you may hear at First State Heritage Park during its spooky Dark Dover Lantern Tour, which will be riddled with period-accurate costumes and plenty of jumpscares…