Kelly Lin Gallagher-Roncace - Haunted Gloucester, Salem and Cumberland Counties

Published by Haunted America

A Division of The History Press

Charleston, SC

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2017 by Kelly Lin Gallagher-Roncace

All rights reserved

First published 2017

e-book edition 2017

ISBN 978.1.43966.208.3

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017938345

print edition ISBN 978.1.46713.624.2

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is dedicated to many peoplesome of this realm and some who have passed on. Thank you to my family and friends who have given me endless support in all of my endeavors, no matter how outlandish and impossible they may seem.

PREFACE

In October 2012, I climbed into a yellow school bus and traveled through Salem County, New Jersey, to visit a handful of haunted locations with Revolution Tours and Jersey Unique Minds Paranormal Society. At the time, I was a features writer for the South Jersey Times and NJ.com and was gathering information about the tour in order to write a fun story for my newly created seasonal series, Haunted Adventures.

It was in September, while I was planning my Halloween event coverage for the season, when a co-worker, reporter Jim Cook Jr., suggested I create and write the series for Halloween season.

In addition to the Historic Ghost Tour of Salem County, I wrote about haunted attractions on Moreys Piers in Wildwood, Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia and Cowtown in Pilesgrove.

The stories appeared in the South Jersey Times throughout October, helping readers find fun places to go for a good scare during Halloween time.

While I love haunted attractions and being scared out of my wits by a highly skilled zombie or a perfectly sane man wielding a chain saw, it was while I was on the Historic Ghost Tour of Salem County that I realized I wanted to be more involved in the world of the paranormal.

Ever since I was a little girl, Ive been interested in hauntingly creepy ghost stories. Ive been watching paranormal research shows like Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures since they first hit the airwaves, and I enjoy learning about the history associated with many of the hauntings in New Jersey and across the globe.

My story about the Historic Ghost Tour of Salem County appeared online at NJ.com on October 17, 2012, and also ran in print in the South Jersey Times under the Haunted Adventures headline.

Hoping to make my goal of getting more involved with the paranormal a reality, I decided to apply to become a paranormal investigator with Jersey Unique Minds Paranormal Society (JUMPS) shortly after interacting with the team during the tour.

Founded in 2007 by Doug Hogate Jr., JUMPS is a nonprofit ghost research organization based in Salem County that conducts professional, scientific investigations for clients who believe they are experiencing ghost activity in their home or business or on their property.

After Halloween season came to an end and I began investigating with JUMPS, Cook suggested I continue my scary scribing but change the name to something that would convey the idea that the stories were going to be about actual hauntings, as opposed to those with a howling werewolf soundtrack playing in the background.

And so, my weekly column, Paranormal Corner, was born.

The first Paranormal Corner appeared in the South Jersey Times on Monday, November 12, 2012, and the column ran nearly every week through October 2016. At that point, I transferred into the NJ Advance Media Entertainment Team, and Paranormal Corner slowly went by the wayside. I didnt stop writing about the paranormal; my ghost writing just took a different direction and lost the title. I put together packages about Jerseys ten most haunted taverns, thirteen creepy places to visit on Friday the Thirteenth and thirteen times the Jersey Devil has been spotted in the Garden State.

In December 2015, while Paranormal Corner was still going strong as a weekly column, I was contacted by an editor at The History Press who had seen my work on NJ.com. The editor proposed a contract for a haunted compilation of ghost stories surrounding Gloucester, Salem and Cumberland Countiesan area that was formerly known as West Jersey.

Having experienced many hauntings in these counties through my involvement with JUMPS, I took on the project with reverence, and it has finally materialized in the book you are now holding in your hands.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

When researching and investigating the paranormal, it definitely takes a village to produce a book that puts so many ghost stories in one place for readers to easily enjoy. There are many people who have assisted me in this journey into the unknown, and Im going to attempt to thank each and every one of them here. This would not have been possible without every single one of you, and I appreciate you all to the full moon and back.

I would like to thank The History Press for finding my writing interesting and good enough to ask me to pen this ghost story book for them. You definitely made my dream come true.

Thank you to my former co-worker and forever friend Jim Cook Jr. for inspiring me to take on a weekly column about the paranormal. What other newspaper has regular paranormal content every week? Well, there may be another out there, but none that I know of. Jims idea led to my getting offered a contract for this book, so to him, I am forever grateful.

Thank you to the South Jersey Times and NJ.com for allowing me to write Paranormal Corner every week for nearly four years. They took a big chance allowing ghost stories to appear in the publication every week, and it very much paid offat least it did for me.

Thank you to Jersey Unique Minds Paranormal Society and Doug Hogate Jr. for accepting my application back in 2012 and teaching me so much about paranormal research and investigating. Without you and the team, none of this would be a reality.

Thanks to Gaynel and Craig Schneeman and their resident ghosts at Barretts Plantation House Bed and Breakfast. Im so glad I have gotten to know you both in addition to Pumpkin and his spiritual companions. The inn is one of my favorite spots in New Jersey.

Thank you to Jennifer Jones, executive director of the Salem County Chamber of Commerce, for sharing her memories about Johnson Hall in Salem City with me for this book. Also, thank you for always being such a good friend.

Thank you to Gregg Jones, Greenwichs resident ghost expert and ghost tour guide, for spending a day taking me all around his beautiful and historic town and sharing all of its haunting secrets with me. Greenwich has truly turned into one of my favorite little Jersey towns.

Thank you John Ogbin for connecting me with Gregg in order to get all the great Greenwich stories.

Special thanks to my family for their unwavering support.

Thank you to my mother, Linda Gallagher, for always supporting, encouraging and pushing me to be the best. Rest easy until we meet again.

Thank you to my father, John H. Gallagher Jr., for being my biggest cheerleader for as long as I can remember.