Haunted Locations

The Elks Lodge of Bridgeport is reportedly haunted, and mysterious things are said to occur on pretty much any given day of the year. In October, they go all out and customize their creepy basement into a terrorizing haunted maze with performers at every turn. When Kate and I arrived, they had hit a dead spot in their flow of guests and a sinister, brown-cloaked ghoul asked if we wouldn’t mind waiting to see if more people would be along for the walk-through. We assumed he would be leading the tour. Waiting a couple minutes was fine with us, and it gave us a chance to take in the the horrific landscaping on the outside grounds, such as tombstones, cobwebs, impaled heads and severed arms.Some poor creature was elaborately hooked up to some wires on the front porch, purportedly for the purpose of electrocuting it. As we took a few minutes to observe these lovely sights, our cloaked leader decided the hell with it, and told us it would just be the two of us walking through! He then said he needed to go in and check to see if everyone was ready at their stations for our walk-through. After we were abandoned on the front porch area, it suddenly seemed a lot more quiet and darker than it did a minute ago. Then we noticed something odd……some banging on the entrance door coming from the inside of the place.  Already this was a unique scenario where the antagonists are inside a house, and in the real world, common sense fight or flight logic would prompt you to just walk away.  We just kind of stared in confusion at these gruesome faces looking out the side window, as they made beckoning motions. I remembered being told to just stay where I was though, so a miscommunication on the ghoul’s part may have resulted in a prolonged start. Finally someone actually opened the door and waved us in. Traversing through the maze was a little confusing at times when our cloaked leader would mysteriously disappear. He would always reappear just in time to divert us away from the unauthorized areas we were heading. Of course we got lots of one on one attention, but the performers were also conscientious enough not to be too overbearing. There is one encounter with a lady sitting on top of some kind of platform, where your only option to proceed is to crawl underneath her through some tiny wooden passage way. Its just a little bit claustrophobic and a little bit of a nuisance, but its no big deal. Kind of like ducking underneath a fence. Through the entire tour, the guide held up a camera taking non-stop pictures of our reactions. Some guests may not have noticed this due to the nonstop action from all different directions. Your peripheral vision gets a good workout here. Anyway, not sure where the pictures are going. I did try and find them on the Elk’s website, but to no avail.   Being in a group of two gives you way more attention than you bargained for……..so much, that at times you can feel obligated to make small talk with the workers when they stop screaming and lock eyes with menacing stares.

This event is the best “value for the money” Halloween Haunted House event that you can hope to find. A lot of work goes into creating it, and I believe it is pretty much all volunteer. The hosts were very friendly and informative. The costumes were creative and I was surprised to see children in on the act too.I think it is every bit as scary as the Bates Motel.  We were impressed that for just the price of $10 each, we got this much of a show. It was way more elaborate than I thought it would be considering the price and that they operate as a non-profit. Best part for me is that they lived within walking distance of my house!  If you live anywhere near Bridgeport, mark this on your calendar for next year. Definitely worth the trip.

Skeletons, witches and corpse brides are just a few things you will encounter if you come out to this interesting event which apparently has been around for about 15 years.  From what I understand, this small-town, annual, early-October party grew unexpectedly from a small merchant-run event to the wild costume extravaganza that it is today.

Ive actually never seen anything quite like it. If you attend without a costume, you will definitely be in the minority. There are more people dressed up than not, and everything kind of happens outdoors.

There is no real indoor party…..I guess you could say that the central celebration zone consists of the sidewalks and shut-down streets of the Mill Race Village area of Mt Holly, NJ.   After you’ve had a fill of the endless parade of costumed adults on the street, you could decide if you wanted to hang out in a beer tent, check out a local shop, restaurant or even chat with some on-scene paranormal investigators. Most local businesses keep their doors open to take advantage of the unusually massive crowd. Many shops embrace the spirit of the holiday with their own modest (or excessive at times) decorations.  

For the most part we stuck to the outdoor scene although I was curious to investigate the Robin’s Nest Restaurant.

This restaurant is reportedly haunted, and really plays up the Halloween theme.  As we walked along one of the streets, we came across a fire performer who did some daring maneuvers with various batons, palm torches and fiery hoop.

Aside from gawking at the costumed attendees, there is lots to see and do outside as various vendors, food trucks and performers line the streets.

The Witches Ball  website mentions that this event is more for adults than for kids, and that some of the costumes can be on the revealing side. I guess from that description, one could picture a Mardi Gras experience, but it is pretty far from it. Sure, there is some cleavage here and there, but it is appropriately in-line with a classic medieval, gothic or renaissance type of image. In other words….no slutty witches or boob-flashing.

Its almost like a First Friday on steroids, and I get the impression there would have been way more attendees and vendors there if not for the steady all-day rain. I think its a great idea to have this sort of thing early in the month of October. I think there should be more of these all throughout the month, not just parties on Halloween alone.

Once while thumbing through a book of ghost stories, I randomly came across a write up on this restaurant.  There were many first-hand experiences from both workers and customers of unexplained happenings. Wondering whether the ghostly accounts of this printed piece from 30 years ago migrated into the social media world we know today, I decided to “Yelp it”.  While I did not see any comments involving the place being haunted, a Google search quickly turned up a lot of websites describing paranormal experiences from years ago to the present. I found at least one reference to a resident ghost named “Charlie” on Trip Advisor.

The Inn is not exactly en route to anything. Its in a town called Alburtis. This name always eludes me as I try to recall where the hell this restaurant is. If you think in broad terms, it is somewhat near Potts Grove and Macungie. You would take the Quakertown exit from 476. If you are still drawing a blank, I can only say that Allentown was about 15 miles away.

The restaurant’s website is very blunt about claiming the place to be haunted. Right on the homepage they mention ghost stories and rumors of lingering spirits. Then if you check out the “History” tab, it gets even more interesting. Supposedly, years ago,  an “Indian” was hung in the common area (interesting choice of words…..I don’t think I have referred to a Native-American as an Indian since I was 15). Then another guest was “murdered in a second-floor closet”. Not sure who did the copy for this website, but subtlety was definitely not their forte. These two horrific events are the logical explanation for the Inn’s haunting, but apparently there has never been a clear enough sighting or interaction to determine exactly who the ghost belongs to. Without any way to distinguish whether it is from the long-deceased Indian (their words not mine), or the poor, unfortunate guest who was murdered on the second floor……. the management simply opted to name him “Charlie”; a composite ghost.  Charlie apparently harbors no resentment towards his untimely death as the website clarifies that he is friendly to all who stop at the Inn.
Upon arriving at the Inn with my girlfriend Kate, the haunted aspect seems to be somewhat downplayed. I guess you could say they sort of embrace their haunted reputation with a somewhat distorted looking image of the Charlie ghost on the front page of the menu, but there are no other overt props to suggest the place is haunted. The darkly-lit dining area might come off a little spooky to some people, but if you had no clue the place was haunted before you got there, you would probably be just as clueless when you left. That totally makes sense if your goal as a business is to be taken more seriously for the food you serve, as opposed to creating a sideshow for ghost searchers. While I didn’t exactly come for the food, I did enjoy my Chicken Olivia and would be happy to stop in again. Kate thought her meal was bland, but “not the worst she ever had”.

As mentioned earlier, the Inn is very dark (but not too dark). We enjoyed a table right beside the fireplace. Our waitress was very pleasant, which made it easy for me to dig for some ghost details. She had worked there for 20 years, and sure enough in that span of time she had experienced some weirdness. She said there have been moments where plates she was carrying with a firm grip had been flipped in the air, creating a cyclone of flying food splatter. At times, there are unexplained shadows moving across the dining area, which I thought was especially creepy. I think she mentioned some flickering lights. I was also impressed that she dug up some pictures of various Inn guests which revealed images that had no relation to the subjects. One picture of a boy waving showed an infant in the background which had no relevance to the guests there at the time. Another picture showed a smoky image commandeering the foreground, which resembled their Charlie ghost logo. In this case, smoke would have had no connection to the subject (a man standing behind the bar), or anything else going on at that time.

I was glad to fit this trip in before the busy slate of October horror craziness. Worth stopping by if you are in that area.

I actually did the Boyertown Ghost walk a couple of years ago in 2014. For whatever reason, this event completely escaped my memory, but not due to any lack of interest or lack of enthusiasm. While obviously not in Philly, or even the nearby suburbs, this is a worthwhile trip on a summer night if you don’t have anything else going on. I thought it was good timing to post this tour as the “walk organizers” only operate during summer hours and their schedule kicks off late in May. It continues monthly through October (every 4th Saturday).

The event begins with a group sitdown in the Boyertown Historical Society building. The building is old, creepy and has all the character you need to set the mood for a haunted tour. Boyertown’s background is discussed, and some of the things that make it haunted. If you get in there a little early, the staff are happy to have some bonus ghostly conversation with you. Speaking of the staff, they are friendly, knowledgeable and genuinely interested in what they do. They will happily tell you that a noted “ghostologist” named Charles Adams III considers Boyertown “one the most haunted small towns in America”. I hadn’t heard of this guy prior to this tour, but I knew his name very well by the end, as every one of the staff brought it up several times.

After the 20 minute introduction, the actual walking tour begins in one of the busier parts of town. It was led by only one member of the staff–an older woman dressed very conservatively in black and white. Heavy traffic along one of the main streets (Philadelphia Ave) was a little distracting, but not terribly. The most memorable part of the tour is a stop at the site of the Rhodes Opera House which caught fire in 1908. A kerosene lamp was knocked over during a performance igniting a fire, and 170 people tragically lost their lives due to poorly constructed escape routes. This story was perhaps the most memorable/disturbing part of the 90 minute tour. At the event introduction in the historical building, one of the ghost-savvy staff mentioned that he cannot even walk past the site because he can still hear the screams of those people who desperately tried to escape that night. Its mentioned that this terrible incident with the significant amount of deaths is perhaps why the town is said to be haunted. It was an interesting story and it made me wonder how many small towns out there have similar tragic stories like this buried in the archives.

Towards the end of the tour, our guide stopped us at a local establishment–Durango’s Saloon. I recalled seeing this bar while first driving into Boyertown, and had my own premonition that I would find myself inside there at some point that night. As we stood outside, our guide told us that many haunted events occur here on a regular basis. A haunted bar?? She actually went inside and pulled the owner out to tell us all about some of the weird goings-on. Apparently, an old Philadelphia Flyers hockey mask up on the wall will routinely fall to the floor on its own. Other ghostly mischief include ghost cats meowing and staff of the bar getting their ears flicked by unseen troublemakers.

Right after the bar owner finished up his set of ghost stories and resumed his managerial responsibilities inside, something very bizarre happened. The tour guide began to sway and stagger back and forth and then slumped up against the outside bar wall. I think all attendees thought the same thing–was this part of the tour? Was she acting dramatic for some tour end finale? Nope…..she fainted. It was a hot night in late June but still….kind of surprising considering she would be used to giving the tour throughout the summer. Several of us rushed over to assist her and bring out some water from inside Durango’s. My girlfriend and I hung out for a little while in case any additional assistance was needed. Assuming the situation was well in control (and all things considered, the tour was probably nearly over)…..we abandoned the group and went inside the bar for a couple of drinks. Moments later, flashing lights from an arriving ambulance outside confirmed our hunch that the tour was officially complete…..at least that night’s unique version.

It was a fun way to spend a Saturday night. If there was one complaint, it would have been the tour guide’s use of a local lady in the group to tell of her haunted experiences. I guess it was relevant because this lady lived in a haunted house along the tour, but this person didn’t really seem like someone who was entirely “with it”. This lady looked as though she might have finished off a six-pack before she joined the tour and appeared to have a little trouble standing up straight. Her storytelling was all over the place and not necessarily coherent. I couldn’t tell what her connection was to the tour guide…..they may have been friends and apparently planned this ahead of time.