Welcome To Jersey Shore Ghosts
From cold spots, unexplained screams and cries, and an eerie presence at every corner, Long Beach is filled with blood curdling stories of murder, shipwrecks, natural disasters, and strange occurrences.
Field of Screams
On the surface, the John J. Guild Jr. Recreation Area and Ball Field is a normal, happy place for families to enjoy summer afternoons, but the truth is almost too terrifying to hear. Join Jersey Shore Ghosts to uncover what horrible spirits want to play with the living.
There are lots of giggling children running around here during the day, and yet there is more laughter at night despite the park being empty. Residents regularly hear the chilling cackling of little boys and girls long after the sun goes down. Some have seen the swings sway despite an absence of wind, and others have reported shadowy figures dashing back and forth while hissing for the living to “come and play” with them.
Of course, not every encounter is so benevolent. The locals have dubbed one ghost as “The Boy in Black,” and he appears to be a much darker entity. Reports say he has a murky form with blood-red eyes, and he stands apart from the other children and watches silently.
What Will I See?
Visit Long Beach Island’s Most Haunted Locations, Including:
- Hotel LBI – This Hotel of horrors has several guests who refuse to check out. From suicidal beautifies to the tragic death of a bellhop in a freak accident, it is common to encounter the strange and otherworldly at this haunted hotel.
- Dios Cafe – Come for the coffee but leave before dark. This little café is known for the ghost of a deep-diver who perished over a hundred years ago. He still wears his diving gear, decaying diving helmet and all.
- Surf City Hotel – Once a popular destination for the cocktail crowd, this location is now favored by the dead. Locals have consistently seen apparitions believed to be the victims of the Powhatan shipwreck of 1854.
Shipwrecked Spirits
The Surf City Hotel is one of the city’s oldest landmarks, and it is often visited by the spirits of those who perished in a horrible shipwreck in 1854. The Powhattan was a powerful ship transporting over 200 men, women, and children from Europe to New York City when it encountered a devastating storm off the New Jersey Coast. The ship broke apart and quickly sank, leaving no survivors.
Today, those passengers who drowned now roam the area including the Surf City Hotel. Staff report cold spots on summer days; hearing eerie, disembodied singing; and glasses whipping off the counter by themselves. Some guests have seen the spirit of a woman and her baby, holding onto each other by an upper window, their faces tormented in cold terror as they stare at the ocean.
Join Jersey Shore Ghosts to investigate the sorrowful weeping of these unfortunate passengers who found a watery grave instead of a new life in America. Locals claim that when the wind rises, unmistakable pleas call out for help along the beach only to be gulped back down by the waves.
Why is Long Beach Island so Haunted?
Sharks and Storms
In 1962, the Ash Wednesday storm injured over a thousand people and killed over forty, one which continues to wander the coast night after night. Follow Jersey Shore Ghosts through the horrific details of that night, and learn why the spirit of Evelyn Marks has yet to find peace.
Hers is far from the only terrifying tale of the sea. In 1916, a series of shark attacks along the Jersey shore killed at least four people over a two-week period. Shortly after these grizzly scenes came reports of one victim’s ghost.
Many have described a young woman in an antique bathing suit with bloody gashes in her legs and abdomen. Her face is said to be a gnarled knot of fear as she whispers for help before vanishing into the sea’s mist.
Long Beach Island’s Most Haunted
The Ocean County Courthouse just thirty miles west of Long Beach is a modest looking building but haunted to the core. Look out for a translucent figure of an old man in the courthouse who slowly approaches without speaking. No one knows his story except he thinks he belongs there and no one else does. Others have reported strange experiences such as door knobs rattling like mad, lights turning off by themselves, and random slamming doors.
Shortly after the American Revolution, the Massacre at Barnegat Inlet (aka The Long Beach Island Massacre) occurred ten miles to the north of Long Beach. Twenty-one sailors had their throats slit ear to ear under the order of Captain John Bacon. Today many hear tortured moaning and wailing coming off the dunes, and others have seen blurry images of men adorned in old sailor outfits.
Near the same area is the site of the Barnegat Light shipwreck where a husband and wife drowned while their infant daughter watched from the shore, and today many young couples pushing baby strollers have encounters with a man and a woman in clothing of the late eighteenth century who ask to admire the newborn before disappearing while singing “In the Sweet By and By” in an endless search for their child.
* This is a walking tour and we do not enter privately-owned buildings or private property *
