New Jersey's Most Haunted Town Is—Trenton

CAPE MAY, NJ — It may surprise you to know that Niche.com has ranked Trenton as the most haunted town in New Jersey, according to their 2022 list released over the summer.

Trenton ranked as New Jersey's most haunted because of its rich history starting before, and throughout, the American Revolutionary War. Trenton was founded in 1719 and also has a high number of cemeteries.

The former Trenton Psychiatric Hospital has also been ranked as one of the most haunted places in the state.

Why? According to Wikipedia, in 1907 Dr. Henry Cotton became the hospital's medical director, and "Believing that infections were the key to mental illness, he had his staff remove teeth and various other organs (including spleens, colons and ovaries) from the hospital patients."

Cotton's medical practice resulted in hundreds of patients dying at the mental hospital, and thousands more left maimed. His practices continued at the hospital until the 1960s.

Another haunted spot in Trenton is a two-story home at 728 Cass Street, which used to be owned by a well-known liquor dealer in the area. The house is called the “House of Mysteries” and is said to have many ghosts living inside for many years, to the annoyance of people who live there in present day.

Other haunted spots in New Jersey:

The Seabrook-Wilson House, also known as the Spy House, in Port Monmouth in Middletown: The house was built as a private home, but during the Revolutionary War it functioned as a tavern that was popular among the British troops occupying Monmouth County at the time. The nickname Spy House comes from the lore that the local tavern owner at the time used to get the British soldiers drunk, who would then spill military secrets that he would pass on to Colonial American troops. The tavern also used to keep an eye on which British ships were sailing in and out of Sandy Hook.

"There's one story of a couple, a man and a woman, who came in for a tour of the house," said Monmouth County Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger, who knows the history of this area well. "They were met with a docent (guide) fully dressed in colonial period garb who gave them the most extensive tour of the house, I mean really showing them all the rooms and this person knew so many impressive facts about the time period.

"Well, the next day the man realized he had left his wallet behind and he returned to the Seabrook-Wilson House. When he got there, the guide on duty told him it was impossible, the house had been closed to tours yesterday and nobody had been on the property."

Other Internet sites tell stories of a woman in white who is said to be the widow of a dead American Continental soldier. There are also stories of her son, who she raised from an infant in the Seabrook-Wilson House, but when he was a young boy went to play in the ocean across the street and tragically drowned. He now appears as a ghostly boy peering down from windows.

Related: 10 Of New Jersey's Scariest REAL Places