Elaine's & The Ghosts of Cap May.

Good Evening Gals and Ghouls!

The question I have for you tonight is this... Do you believe in Ghosts!?

Being a haunter and fan of everything Halloween and Horror related I am also naturally into the paranormal as well. Am I a believer in the afterlife? Yes. Do I go hunting for ghosts? Not really. You see as funny as it sounds that I am a haunter who loves to give a good scare and I love going to other home and pro haunts during the season to get a good scare the truth is I would probably poop my pants if I actually saw a real ghost but it doesn't stop me from kind of looking for them which brings me to Cape May and Elaine's Bed and Breakfast.

The past two years my wife and I have started taking weekend trips to Cape May New Jersey and staying over night in various Bed and Breakfasts. I have to say if you are a haunter and you are looking for some great inspiration especially if you do a victorian mansion style haunt than Cape May is where you want to visit! We have really grown to love the rich history of Cape May but even more than that we have really grown to be fascinated by the various haunting stories the town holds. You see back in 1878 one of the most disastrous fires that has ever swept through any seaside resort happened right in Cape May. Almost half of the town went up in ashes. So many of the buildings burned down and so many people died. It is because of this traumatic event that many believe there are still some souls who continue to wander and visit their old stomping grounds. Once such souls name is Emily and she happens to reside at Elaine's Bed & Breakfast.

My wife and I were given a Gift Certificate to stay at Elaine's two summers ago. It is well known to most who visit Cape May often that Elaine's hosts a Haunted Mansion Dinner every night during the summer. Our friends who gave us the gift certificate know that I am a haunter and they figured that my wife and I would love this so we eventually booked our room and off we went not knowing that we would be staying in what was reportedly the most haunted room in the house by the book Cape May Haunts which is written by D.P. Roseberry & Psychic Laurie Hill.

The setting of the evening we were to check in was something out of a horror movie. It was a torrential down pour with the loudest crashing thunder and streaking lighting I have ever seen! We almost didn't even go however, we made the trek and got there at about 9:30 PM. As I was brining in our luggage my wife Carolynn went to check in. I waited in the hallway. To my right was a small bar where I overheard a couple ask "By the way, we hear Elaine's is haunted. Is this true?" The host asked if the couple was staying at the inn and they said no so she said "oh, ok I'll tell you then. I just didn't want to scare you in case." I began to think "In case of what?" She proceeded to explain that a young girl by the named of Emily passed away in the house at the early age of 13. Her bedroom was room number 6 but she also had a play room which was room 4. Emily didn't die in the tragic fire i explained above however she was very sick. She would stay in her bedroom most of the time but go to room 4 (her playroom) when she wanted to see outside because there is a balcony that looks over the town off of room 4.

Well after listening to all this you can imagine I was eager to learn what room I would be staying in for the weekend with my wife and to my shock we got room 6!! At this point my wife had no idea our room was reportedly the most haunted nor did she know much about the haunted history surrounding Elaine's or even most of Cape May for that matter but I was only learning myself. I felt I needed to tell her and of course she freaked out! There was a slight moment of dread of staying in the room but we decided to tough it out and I must say it was one of my most interesting weekends I had ever experienced.

I kid you not when I tell you that throughout our stay we heard laughter, knocks coming from within our  closet, children running past our room in the hallway at 3 am and what sounded like a party going on right below us in the middle of the night and the thing about all this is that besides us there was only one other couple staying in Elaine's that weekend and they were in room 4!

All in all our stay at Elaine's hasn't stopped us from continually visiting Cape May and staying over and we have actually just received another gift certificate for Elaine's yet again so we will be doing a follow up there very, very soon! I highly suggest a mini vacation to Cape May if you have the chance. There are multiple ghost walk tours, night time ghost trolley tours and horse and buggy tours and so many ghostly claims to investigate while you are there not to mention some great shopping, eating and an awesome beach. For the haunters reading this, Cape May is a great trip for reference. Be sure to visit the Emlen Physick Estate if you go because the grounds and the decor of this place is simply amazing and a haunters dream! If I had the Emlen Physick Estate I don't know where I would start with my halloween display!

Below are various pictures from my stay at Elaine's, my trip to the Emlen Physick house and a few links for those who are a bit more curious. I hope you enjoy and stay tuned for my future visit to Elaine's which will probably take place some time this spring/summer. I hope to do a deeper investigation and see what results I can turn up!

The Cape May Fire of 1878
Emlen Physick Estate
Elaines Bed & Breakfast