Is NJ's Most Haunted House Middletown's "Spy House"?

Recently the Asbury Park Press posted Weird NJ: Is Spy House America's 'most haunted house?' . In the past  I've also posted about Middletown's very only haunted house during this time of year. So I figured I'd repost my original story that  first appeared in 2011, as a companion to Weird NJ's  piece to give you another perspective on one of  (if not the) oldest houses in New Jersey, that's right here, in our back yard!:

While looking for an interesting ghost story to post in honor of Halloween, I came across a real treat. I found a 2003 documentary posted on Youtube (posted in three parts and recently updated in 2010 ) that featured arguably one of the oldest, if not the oldest home in Monmouth County, the Whitlock/Seabrook House a.k.a The Spy House located in the Port Monmouth section of Middletown NJ. It is said that as many as 23 ghosts call the Spy House home.

The documentary features Psychic Consult Jane Doherty, who years ago use to give ghost tours of the Spy House during this time of year. I remember taking a tour of the old house years ago when Doherty was acting as our psychic tour guide. It was a fun night and enjoyable experience even though we didn't meet any ghosts first hand that night.

I also remember meeting Gertrude Neidlinger on a few other visits to the house, she really was a special person she always made you feel at home, and boy could she tell a story! Neidlinger pasted away in 1998.

The 1st video below is a more recent, updated story of the Spy House. It was posted online this past August 17th and contains a brief summary of the house's history (containing some clips from the original documentary) along with the results of a paranormal investigation that was performed at the site.

These video's were posted on Youtube by The Paranormal Rangers, I hope you enjoy them.

Is Old Tennent Church Cemetery haunted?

Here's a great way to start of your Halloween and if you're a Weird NJ fan you'll love this.

The guys from Weird NJ, Mark Sceurman and Mark Moran, recently went to the Old Tennent Church in Manalapan to explore the grounds and get to the bottom of a little ghost story that has become a local legend. Their trip to the Monmouth County church was filmed by Brian Johnston of the Asbury Park Press.

If you've never been to the Old Tennet Church and you are a history buff, I highly reccommend taking a trip to there. The church played a significant roll in the Battle of Monmouth during the Revolutionary War.




Warning - this video auto-plays so if you don't want to listen to it time and again when logging on to the blog you will need to stop the player as the video begins. Talk about a Halloween nightmare, gees... 

Calico; Middletown's "Evil" Clown For Sale

It was about a year ago now that I had suggested to John Azzolina, the son of the late Joseph Azzolina Sr., founder of the Foodtown supermarket chain and who represented the northern Monmouth County Bayshore area, first as a State Senator than as a member of the NJ State Assembly, that he and his family should take the opportunity and market the image of Calico the Clown.

Calico, aka "the Evil" Clown of Middletown, has been the mascot for Foodtown's parent corporation Food Circus, since 1956 and has become something of a pop culture icon over the past dozen years, being featured in magazines (Weird NJ) and movies (Clerks 2).

John had told me at the time, that his brother Joe Jr.,had been thinking about marketing the image of Calico for sometime but just hadn't gotten around to it. So, after the encouraging words from me, he said that he would talk to his brother and see where he stood with it.

From time to time over the passing months, I've been receiving periodic update from John about the marketing of the clown. John said that it was a large undertaking and that it could take a while before all the legal issues of trademarks, licenses and copyrights could be worked out but they were being worked on and sometime soon there would be a whole line of merchandise featuring Calico "the Evil" Clown.

So when I walked into the Spirits Liquor store on Rt 35 in Middletown (the official home of Calico the Clown), just before this past Christmas to buy some libations for the holiday, I smiled to myself when I saw the very first "Evil" Clown t-shirt hanging off one of the wine displays as you enter the store, because I knew that I had played a small part in it being there.

I didn't purchase one of the shirts at the time because I was to busy trying to get Christmas under wraps, but I kept it in the back of my mind for the next time I made it to the store.

So A few days ago as it turns out, I received an email from John Azzolina with an updated status report on the merchandising efforts, he said that all the hurdles had been overcome and that the marketing of the "evil" clown had begun with the t-shirts with other merchandise and collectibles to come. He was glad to hear that I had already seen the t-shirt and was happy that I could smile about it.

So yesterday when I finally made it back to the liquor store, I had a hard time deciding which "Evil" Clown shirt to buy, now instead of just one shirt design, there were three or four designs and colors to chose from. It was a tough choice but I purchased the original shirt that I saw back in December,a white t-shirt with a large image of the clown on it.

I was told that so far the sale results for the shirts have been great. The t-shirts are currently only available for sale at three locations, which happen to be the Spirit Liquor stores in Middletown, Red Bank and Wanamassa. Soon however, they will be available in the Foodtown supermarket stores all over the state.

If you would like to purchase a shirt the cost is $20 for the white shirt (modeled above), and $15 for the other designs.

How Could We Forget 100th Anniversary of the Jersey Devil?

With all of the excitement surrounding the Obama inauguration today, it's no wonder that we have forgotten a very important piece of New Jersey news and folklore. I have to give the heads up to the radio program coast to coast am for reminding us of this very import event in our State's history.

This week marks the 100th anniversary of the notorious rampage of the Jersey Devil, which took place in the Delaware Valley from January 16-23, 1909. Strange tracks were found in the snow and across the rooftops of houses, with witnesses claiming to see something like a large flying kangaroo.

"...Legend has it that in 1735, a Pines resident known as Mother Leeds found herself pregnant for the thirteenth time. (Leeds is the name of one of New Jersey’s earliest settlers, and many descendants of the Leeds family can still be found throughout NJ to this day.) Mother Leeds was not living a wealthy lifestyle by any means. Her husband was a drunkard who made few efforts to provide for his wife and twelve children. Reaching the point of absolute exasperation upon learning of her thirteenth child’s forthcoming, she raised her hands to the heavens and proclaimed “Let this one be a devil!”

She went into labor a few months later, on a tumultuously stormy night, no longer mindful of the curse she had utter previously regarding her unborn child. Her children and husband huddled together in one room of their Leeds’ Point home while local midwives gathered to deliver the baby in another. By all accounts the birth went routinely, and the thirteenth Leeds child was a seemingly normal baby boy.

Within minutes however, Mother Leeds’ unholy wish of months before began to come to fruition. The baby started to change, and metamorphosed right before her very eyes. Within moments it transformed from a beautiful newborn baby into a hideous creature unlike anything the world had ever seen..."

 More at >>> WeirdNJ.com.

Weird NJ Hunts the Jersey Devil: