Spooky New Jersey: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore

by S. E. Schlosser, Paul G. Hoffman (Illustrator)

Overview

Pull up a chair or gather round the campfire and get ready for 40 creepy tales of ghostly hauntings, eerie happenings, and other strange occurrences from times past. Set deep in the Pinelands and Ramapo Mountains, along the Atlantic coast, and in historic towns like Burlington and Springfield, the stories in this entertaining and compelling collection will have you looking over your shoulder again and again.
New Jersey folklore traditions are kept alive in these expert retellings by master storyteller S. E. Schlosser and in artist Paul Hoffman's evocative illustrations. You'll meet ghosts and witches, hear things that go bump in the night, and feel an icy wind on the back of your neck on a warm summer evening. Whether read around the campfire on a dark and stormy night or from the backseat of the family van on the way to grandma's, this is a collection to treasure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493027149
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	07/01/2017
Series:	Spooky
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	1,025,014
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Author S.E. Schlosser has been telling stories since she was a child, when games of "let's pretend" quickly built themselves into full-length stories. A graduate of the Institute of Children's Literature and Rutgers University, she also created and maintains the website AmericanFolklore.net, where she shares a wealth of stories from all fifty states, some dating back to the origins of America. She is the author of six other books in the Spooky series.

Artist Paul Hoffman studied painting and printmaking, completing his first extensive illustration work on assignment in Egypt, drawing ancient wall reliefs for the University of Chicago. His work graces books of many genres—children's titles, textbooks, short story collections, natural history volumes, and numerous cookbooks. For Spooky New Jersey, he employed a scratchboard technique and an active imagination.

Read an Excerpt

Public Assist
North Plainfield

It was late October, and we were relaxing in the common room of the firehouse, watching TV, when the phone rang. It was nine o'clock. A call at that time of night usually meant a fire or a public assist of some kind. There were only three of us on duty at the moment; the lieutenant, Joe, and me. I like to be first at things - first to go into a burning house, first to answer the phone, first to the dinner table - so I jogged into the bunk room to the nearest extension to answer the call.
"North Plainfield Fire Department," I said into the phone, expecting the dispatcher's voice, calling us to a fire.
Instead, a woman started babbling to me half in English and half in Spanish about some emergency she was having at her house. I couldn't understand what she was saying, except for the words "ghost" and "haunted". I asked her to slow down and tell me what the emergency was.
The woman took a deep breath and said: "We need you to come at once. There is a terrible ghost in our house and we want you to remove it."
"A ghost?" I said aloud in an incredulous tone.
The lieutenant's head appeared around the frame of the door. He looked intrigued. "What is it?" he asked. I motioned him to silence and said into the phone: "Lady, this is the fire department. Do you have a fire or an emergency of some kind?"
"An emergency, yes!" the woman said at once. "We have a ghost. Please come!"
She sounded really frightened. I glanced over at the lieutenant, who was bursting with curiosity by this time, and covered the mouthpiece of the phone.
"It's a public assist. Some woman wants us to get rid of a ghost in her house," I told him.
"A ghost?" the lieutenant's face lit up with glee. "Oh, we gotta take this call!" ....

Table of Contents

Introduction PART 1: GHOST STORIES 1. Ghosts of Ringwood Manor - Ringwood General Erskine still returns to watch over his old home. 2. In the Fog A ghostly railroad conductor must tell his tale to a group of people or he will never rest in peace. 3. Karen and the Ghost - Mendhem A girl encounters a ghost while visiting the ruins of an old convent. 4. The Author An author's ghost appears in his sister's home. 5. Morgan's ghost Much to her chagrin, a ghost appears in Morgan's closet. 6. Amazing Grace - Springfield A ghost starts tearing the hymnals in a local church 7. Jockey Hollow Ghosts - Jockey Hollow State Park In a dense wooded area, the spirit of a woman in white carries a lantern as she visits the camp of George Washington and his troops. 8. Jimmy's - Morristown A popular local nightclub is haunted by a female from the Revolutionary War era. 9. King George Inn - Warren The spirit of a soldier still walks the cemetery at night. 10. Skylands Manor - Ringwood A ghost peers out of a window each night. 11. Annie - Wayne A prom queen is run over on her big night, and her ghost returns to the place she was killed. 12. Caldwall House - Union Lady Caldwell, who was murdered by the British when they raided her home, still walks the grounds of her mansion. 13. The Parkway Ghost - Garden State Parkway The Garden State Parkway is haunted by a tall male ghost wearing a long, belted raincoat. 14. Union Hotel - Flemingtonar A bouncer and several others workers are terrified one night when a pair of little girl's patent leather shoes walks up the stairs with no body attached. 15. Winterwood Gift Shoppe — Cape May Two sisters haunt a Gift Shoppe. PART 2: POWERS OF DARKNESS AND LIGHT 16. The Jersey Devil - Pine Barrens A devil haunts the Pine Barrens of South Jersey. 17. Haunted House - North Plainfield Firefighters are called to inspect a house that has begun moaning. 18. Mark of the Spirit hand Those who receive the Mark of the Hand are doomed to death. 19. Tolling of the Bell — Watchung Reservation A bell tolls in an abandoned ghost town just before someone is about to die. 20. Sammy and his Fiddle - Pine Barrens A fiddler encounters the devil in the pine barrons 21. The Face in the Fireplace - Watchung When a family moves into a new house, they discover a phantom face sometimes appears in their fireplace. 22. On Washington Rock - Washington Rock State Park The Devil pays a visit to Washington Rock. 23. The Library - Raritan The old librarian still haunts the library, moving books, switching on and off lights, and appearing in the windows. 24. Clinton Road - West Milford A hell-hound roams a ten-mile stretch of road in northern New Jersey. 25. Footprints - Cinnaminson The spirits of small children leave footprints in the snow. 26. Purgatory House — South Hampton A daughter still roams around the house where she was murdered. 27. Ship Wreck - Surf City, Long Beach Island Visitors to a local beach hotel still hear the screams and cries of the doomed passengers and crew on a wrecked ship. 28. Spy House Museum — Port Monmouth. The tunnels below the museum are home to the ghost of a pirate. 29. The Poltergeist - Lambertville A poltergeist moves into a local high school, with amazing results. 30. They're Playing My Song - Denville A spirit likes to sing in a local theater when the lights go out for the night.

Editorial Reviews

From Newark and Jersey City to Burlington County and Cape May, Spooky New Jersey repopulates the Garden State with ghostly tales, expertly retold by S. E. Schlosser and enhanced by Paul G. Hoffman's haunting artistry. The stories include apparitions associated with Captain Kidd, Aaron Burr, and Joseph Bonaparte. Other locales include Princeton, Atlantic City, Camden, Summit, and Sandy Hook.