Five Really Haunted Places in South Jersey

The local volunteer fire company's haunted firetruck or other Halloween attraction is fun, but if it's unexplainable, blood-curdling scary you want, you have to find someplace that's really haunted... all the time, not just weekends in October.

Thanks to the haunted authorities at America's Most haunted: Haunted Places in New Jersey and Shadowlands Haunted Places Index, here are five really haunted places in Atlantic and Cape May Counties, New Jersey.

Are they the spookiest of all the haunted places to be seen locally?  Perhaps. Maybe not.  But they all have good stories attached to their haunting,  So read, squirm and enjoy.  Feel free to add any other local haunted place you know of and why they say it's haunted in the comments section below.

1- Jonathon Pitney House, 57 Shore Road  in Absecon

Dr. Jonathan Pitney, is often referred to as "the father of Atlantic City". It was Dr. Pitney who first saw the possibilities of Atlantic City as a premier resort city. Pitney is credited with first bringing the railroad to Atlantic City.

Dr. Pitney settled in Absecon in 1820. His home still exists on Shore Road. Recently refurbished, it operates today as a bed and breakfast.

It's said that late at night, when the only visitors where staying in a private cottage of this B&B, a soft flute-like song could be heard playing.  No one else was on the property, not even a owner or caretaker.

2- Henry Ludlam Inn, 1336 Rt. 47, Dennisville. The sight of "strange sounds and events", this old house is a favorite with the haunted followers,  And it's for sale now!  Here is a description for the realtor's ad for the house.

"Take a step back in time when you enter the Henry Ludlam House. This charming 1740’s Federal Style home with an 1804 addition has original wide plank floors, beamed ceilings, 4 fireplaces (3 in bedrooms and 1 in the dining room), a cast iron wood-burning stove in the parlor, and a brick floor in the enclosed side porch, to list just a few of the special features. There is also a formal dining room, and a kitchen with stainless steel appliances. Each of the 6 bedrooms in the house has its own bathroom, and 2 of the bedrooms have private decks with views of Ludlam Pond -- the 55-acre pond that borders on the property where you can canoe and fish. The 3-acre property also has an 1800 sq. ft. barn/garage (built in 1990) with electricity, a room above and a deck with a view of the pond, a gazebo, and plenty of parking. Recent upgrades to the property include new supports to level the house, new cedar shake roof, new milled siding, almost all new windows, new gutters and downspouts, new heater, new oil tank, propane water heaters, almost all new wiring and plumbing, new side foyer, new milled flooring in the 1st floor bedroom, new French doors and deck on 1st floor bedroom, and new kitchen floor. Presently a single family home, this was once a bed & breakfast inn (The Henry Ludlam Inn), and has been in the National Register of Historic Places since 1993".

3- The Abbott House, 6056 Main Street, May Landing. The Abbott House, built in the 1860s by lawyer Joseph E.P. Abbott and his wife Adeline, is located in the older section of Mays Landing. For the past 150 years, the house has operated as a bed and breakfast.

According to  local legend, a young girl inhabits the top floor of the inn, and guests have reported hearing the sounds of a ball bouncing in the upper floor.

4- The Taj Mahal Casino, 1000 Boardwalk, Atlantic City.  According to Shadowlands, a man who jumped to his death from the tenth floor of the parking garage, haunts that area every night around midnight.

5- Southern Mansion, 720 Washington Street, Cape May  The ghost of a well-dressed woman wearing a strong-scented perfume has been encountered by many people.  The ghost is believed to be Ester, the niece of Capt. George Allen, who built the house in 1863.  There is one particular room in the house that psychics have claimed brings considerable tension in the house. The owner believes that someone died in that room.