The Town Where Ghosts Never Check Out — and Tourists Are Checking In
A loud creak emanated from the stairs, prompting an uncontrolled, cartoon-style gasp as my hand became a claw around my boyfriend’s arm. “What was that?” I panic-asked as a head popped up from the staircase. “It’s just Carla!” our guide, Rosemary Rombado, said with a laugh. “She’s one of our staff.” Okay, so it wasn’t the ghost of the five-year-old girl she had just told us tended to linger on the staircase.
I was seriously on edge, gingerly avoiding the elegant mirror next to me, as I’d been told mirrors are excellent portals for ghosts. We’re halfway through a private version of Cape May’s “Voices From Beyond Tour” in what’s said to be the most haunted building in one of America’s most haunted towns. I’d already heard several eerie EVP (electronic voice phenomena) recordings of the nine resident spirits believed to inhabit the Emlen Physick Estate, including women, men, a young child, and even a few dogs. According to Ranker.com, the estate, dating to 1879, is New Jersey’s most haunted building. And my pit stains would agree.
Photo: Lauren Breedlove
I’ve always been a bit of a scaredy-cat when it comes to the idea of paranormal activity. I was the kid who turned the lights off in my room, then ran and leaped into the bed immediately afterward. (You know, to avoid whatever was hiding under there.) So, to find myself in a place where dark shadows lurked in the hallway, phantom dogs barked, faces appeared in the windows, and the chills of ghostly presences were common, was a surprise to me.
I know Cape May well. It served as our family vacation destination throughout my childhood, where my sisters and I spent our days jumping over waves at the beach or creating laughable synchronized swimming routines in the pool. On this trip, I wanted to try something a little different during a shoulder-season jaunt to America’s oldest seashore resort. Most people go to Cape May for the beach — but I had gone for the ghosts.
Cape May is exceedingly charming, with its well-preserved Victorian architecture, pedestrian-only outdoor mall lined with cute shops, and historic trolley tours. But it’s also notorious for haunted happenings. “Cape May is steeped in history. In all of those layers of history, there are more than a few ghosts tucked in. Some of these ghost stories really are part of the lore and history of the town,” psychic medium and five-time author Craig McManus shared with me. He’s the premier ghost hunter in Cape May, often leading tours in partnership with Cape May MAC (Museums, Arts, and Culture), the local non-profit heritage tourism organization.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Museums+Arts+Culture (@capemaymac)
While peak summer season lures diehard beach-goers, fall brings travelers looking for other cozy-season offerings. When your town is one of the most haunted in the country, it’s only natural to lean into it in the autumn months. But it wasn’t always seen that way. McManus went on to explain that ghost tourism was initially seen as taboo by town business owners. That all changed in the 1990s, though.
“Television shows like Sightings made people suddenly take an interest in the paranormal. People realized ghosts were good for business. Many people staying at B &Bs, inns, or hotels were interested in hearing the ghost stories, and a good number of those people also wanted to stay in the haunted rooms,” McManus explained. “While many love the old Victorian architecture and history of Cape May, the ghost stories also helped pull in tourism.”
Supernatural and ghost-themed travel has helped keep other destinations afloat during slower tourism seasons as well, such as Salem, Massachusetts, and Savannah, Georgia. Cape May MAC has been running ghost tours since 2004; in fact, it’s the reason the Emlen Physick Estate is still standing today. The organization was formed in the 1970s to save the 1879 estate from demolition and is now “the city’s leading non-profit organization dedicated to tourism in the nation’s only National Historic Landmark City,” shared Cape May MAC’s Director of Media Relations Susan Krysiak.
The Physick Estate, circa 1960. Photo: Cape May MAC
Saving the estate was the catalyst for this designation, and also set the stage for the idea that historical draws could drive tourism. “Our ghost offerings have been the economic lifeblood of our fall programming for many years, helping bring visitors to Cape May after summer’s end,” says Krysiak. “They drive our tour schedule through the fall, but in fact, we offer ghost tours all year. They just make a bigger splash during our Halloween season,” says Krysiak.
McManus seconds this, saying that the estate is a perfect example of a home that managed to “retain its original cast of ghostly inhabitants. If you want to keep a family of ghosts happy,” he says, “do like MAC did: restore their home and maintain it beautifully just as it was in the ghosts’ day.” This means the spirits inside have no humans in their space, which still looks how it did while they were living. “The ghosts at the Physick Estate have no reason to leave,” he added.
“The old Victorian homes and buildings, along with the dark, gaslit streets, create a wonderful, eerie atmosphere on fall evenings,” he says. That may be part of the reason his October ghost walks, he says, draw an average of 100 people per weekend in the fall just for tours.
Photo: Lauren Breedlove
Over the past few decades, local inn and hotel owners have jumped on the ghost-driven lodging bandwagon, too, hosting paranormal-centric events. I stopped in for brunch and a chat with Ron Long, one of the owners of Elaine’s of Cape May, a bed and breakfast known for its stellar food and live music – and haunted happenings, of course. He regaled me with tales from past guests, ranging from those who heard loud partying in the then-non-existent rooms above them to a woman who was scratched by a ghost cat (named “Streak,” supposedly). While some guests request to stay in the most haunted rooms, he acknowledges they’re not for everyone. “We had one couple booked in Room 2 during a ghost-hunting weekend. At the end of the first night, they decided not to sleep here,” he shares with a chuckle.
For those who want to explore the city’s haunted side but are wary of listening to EVPs in a haunted mansion, there’s a trolley ghost tour that fulfills the paranormal craving while keeping it a little less frightening. Other offerings are also available to fill a spooky weekend, including a three-course “Channeling Dinner” led by McManus and an interactive murder mystery evening at the Emlen Physick Estate.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Museums+Arts+Culture (@capemaymac)
I left Cape May this time with a deeper understanding of the paranormal world, more confusion about my own beliefs regarding ghosts, and – as I would find out weeks after my visit — a little surprise waiting in my interview recordings. As I listened to it while sitting on my blue sectional in Upstate New York, minute 26:58 gave me chills. Out of nowhere, I can hear an emphatic, drawn-out whisper that didn’t come from me or my interview subject. Immediately after I say “okay,” it’s easy to hear a phantom female voice repeating my words: “okay.”
I know I didn’t repeat myself, especially not in a whisper, and the whisper sounds much closer than my voice, almost as if someone spoke it directly into the microphone.
It begs a question: was I mocked by a ghost in Cape May? I suppose we’ll never know for sure – but the pursuit of finding out is enough to get me to go back.
Photo: Lauren Breedlove
If you’re feeling brave, there are a slew of old hotels, inns, and bed and breakfasts said to be haunted throughout Cape May. Start with the sprawling Congress Hall, Hotel Macomber, and the Inn of Cape May, just to name a few. There’s also the new-to-the-scene Lokal Hotel Cape May, just a block from the beach, and the supposedly haunted Fisherman’s Cottage Airbnb, near Cape May’s wharf.
If you end up doing your own paranormal investigation on an Emlen Physick Estate ghost tour, consider making a reservation afterward for Vintage BYOB., a convenient upscale restaurant on the estate grounds. 
Matador Network's Blog
- Matador Network's profile
- 6 followers
