The Ghosts of Ocean Tower
There’s a lot of history behind the doors of Resorts Casino Hotel, not just the ghosts of Ocean Tower. This was the first casino hotel to open up in Atlantic City and the first legally run casino outside Nevada. The property history is just as interesting.
The hotel has been home to rooming houses, a hospital, and soldiers during wartime. With so many people passing through and plenty of tragedy tied into the war efforts, no wonder the hotel is filled with a plethora of ghosts and paranormal activity.
The History of Resorts Casino Hotel
The Resorts Casino Hotel didn’t come about until 1978, taking the place of a couple of three-story Quaker homes. The wood Quaker rooming houses opened to guests in the late 1860s, and the Boardwalk was built in 1870. Chalfont and Haddon Hall, those two homes, ran under similar names under different ownership over the years up until they were purchased with the idea of making room for the first legal gambling places in the city.
Chalfont was demolished in 1980 after becoming too dilapidated for repairs. The building known in the beginning as Haddon Hall was remodeled into what is now Resorts Casino Hotel. No matter the lost building, it’s possible that some of the hauntings at Resorts stem from the times when they were boarding houses and later hotels.
There’s more to the history of Resorts, though, as one of the most haunted parts of the place is the Ocean Tower. There are two of these towers—the Ocean Tower and the Rendezvous Tower. The latter of the two was built in place of the Atlantic Tower, which was demolished in 2002.
Ocean Tower – This tower was built in 1927. It is 260 feet tall. This is where the main casino floor is, along with the pool, main retail and dining areas, and 480 guest rooms.
Rendezvous Tower – The newer tower houses 459 rooms. It opened for business in 2004, after the Atlantic Tower was brought down and cleared away.
The Ghosts of Ocean Tower
The first ghost sightings at what is now Resorts date back to 1903. It was then that Chalfonte and Haddon were first merged into one hotel—Chalfonte Haddon Hall Hotel. The hotel was 15-stories high and had a thousand rooms, but it seemed to be the top floors with the most paranormal events.
Remodeling tends to awaken spirits resting within places. Once work started on the old hotel, guests began reporting that there were cold pockets on the upper floors, which are often a sign of ghosts.
It seems that once the paranormal stuff started happening, it wasn’t going to stop. There have been multiple ghostly reports over the years.
The Howling Tower
The tower is brick and steel, but people reported that it sometimes swayed in the wind. The sound of the swaying, or perhaps the wind howled within the hallways—and those noises didn’t stop with the passage of time. It’s said that the howling can still be heard today the higher you are in the tower.
The Ghost in the Elevator
A ride in the elevator brings with it some spooky sounds as well. There are reports of strange knocking and pinging noises. While some people may believe that these are normal elevator sounds, those who hear them feel as though they are something far more otherworldly.
The Little Tramp’s Paranormal Avatar
Wrongly described by some reports as a wraith, which is the ghost of someone who died an especially horrific death, there is a strange ghostly figure at the hotel. Better described as a paranormal avatar, to loosely steal an idea from the Ghostbuster’s franchise, Charlie Chaplin’s “Little Tramp” has been spotted in dark corners.
There’s always the remote chance that this “character” ghost is Chaplin himself, but he always appears in character. He flips his hat towards people who walk by. Most only see the motion of the hat, while few catch the image of the person as well.
Ghosts of the WWII Hospital
During WWII, as with many hotels and other larger businesses, the hotel was used as quarters for soldiers. There was also a hospital run inside for injured soldiers. Ghosts of some of the men in the air corps who were treated at the hospital have been spotted in the hallways and even the registration area.
The Bride and Groom
Hotels and casinos will always be popular destinations for proposals, weddings, honeymoons, and anniversaries, so it should be no surprise when a ghostly bride and groom show up. The pair spotted on the second floor of Resorts are usually seen walking through walls while their arms are intertwined. No one knows who the couple is, but they’re too transfixed on one another to pay attention to shocked onlookers.
The Shaking Door
A couple who stayed in a room in the Ocean Tower reported on the frightening experience they had in their room. The entire night it felt as though they weren’t alone, and in a short time, while they were trying to relax, they were startled by noises.
It started out as bumping noises on the door to their hotel room—they figured it was other guests heading to their room. However, the door began to shake, as though someone was trying to get in the room and was determined to get that door to open. Some believe it may have been ghosts of WWII soldiers trying to get into the room.
Ghosts Roam Outside of Resorts, Too
If you thought there inside of Resorts was haunted, spend some time outside. It seems ghosts are common in the parking lot and on the beach around this casino hotel.
Ghostly Children and Nurses
The parking lot, especially the valet lot, has its own collection of ghosts roaming around at night. Many people have spotted nurses, with a ghostly glow, pushing children around in wheel chairs and carriages. Children of all ages have been seen, some walking on their own, but slowly.
It seems that no one knows where these spectral children could have come from. They sometimes disappear quickly in a puff of light-up smoke. None of them appear happy—some look lost and confused, some sad, and others look angry.
The Cat Lady
Stray cats are a common thing around Atlantic City, and it seems they gather around the casino on the beach each morning. There’s a reason they’re there—they’ve come to see the cat lady.
When the cats are gathered around, meowing and looking at empty spaces, there’s a chance the ghostly cat lady is there. Some people have seen her early in the morning when the sun is first rising. She wears black and walks along the Boardwalk, appearing as though she’s feeding the cats that obviously see her too.
Why Is This Place So Haunted?
There are so many ghosts roaming around Resorts Casino Hotel; one may wonder if there’s something special attracting them there. From the idea of places built on “hell mouths” to wells being portals for the paranormal, there are lots of ways buildings and areas become more likely to be haunted. There may be a significant reason why this hotel is such an active place for paranormal events—it has a 13th floor.
Most high rises and hotels, basically any building with 13 or more floors, don’t have a 13th floor because the number 13 is believed to be unlucky, especially in the US. From Judas being the 13th guest at the last supper to thirteen, causing an unbalance to an even dozen in multiple situations, this number has a bad rap (Ancient Egyptians saw it as a lucky number).
Perhaps it is the fact that they didn’t omit this supposedly unlucky number that has called sinister beings to the hotel. Could the 13th floor be a portal attracting the dead? Even creepier—when the hotel was being used as a hospital during WWII, the floor right below was the morgue! While hospitals usually have the morgue in the basement, the makeshift hotel in Resorts was on the 12th floor instead.
Resorts Hotel Casino could rightfully be considered one of the most haunted places in Atlantic City. There are so many ghostly sightings that it’s almost hard to keep track of them. While none of the ghosts seem to be dangerous to people, some of them sure do a good job of frightening the people who experience their paranormal actions.
Sources:
https://resortsac.com/history/
https://atlanticghosts.com/2021/04/23/top-10-haunted-places-in-atlantic-city/
