Thu 25 Feb, 2010
The John F. Craig House Bed & Breakfast
Every old house in Cape May has its share of creaks and phantom knocks. Most of these noises can be easily explained as everyday occurrences like floors settling, shutters banging or a loose window pane rattling. Some houses, however, have phenomena going on that cannot be explained as normal, everyday occurrences. These houses usually have an unseen cast of ghostly characters lurking about, banging into this and slamming into that. Luckily for you and me. The John F. Craig House is one of those “special” houses in Cape May that makes my line of work just so much more interesting! You can read all about this wonderful old house in The Ghosts of Cape May Book 1.
I have been doing some weekend “ghost gigs” here over the last two years, taking a small group of people into the house and spending two nights, alone, with the ghosts. It has been quite a unique experience. The house is located on Columbia Avenue, Cape May’s original “Beach Avenue,” prior to the Civil War when the current Beach Avenue was nothing but rows of sand dunes and tidal pools. Columbia Avenue was developed right after the Civil War when Cape May was trying to get back on its feet again. The southern clientele was gone, alienated by the city taking sides with he treacherous yankees from the north! To entice the old customers back from Philadelphia, Cape May’s lifeline of tourism, new cottages were built throughout the town and especially along Columbia Avenue for Philadelphia’s well-to-do.
The John F. Craig House is actually two buildings put together. The rear section was moved here and attached to the new house when it was erected in 1866. I have always felt the date 1834 is attached to the rear section, but we have not yet been able to validate this psychically received information. Two different houses, two different sets of ghosts. Now all “living” under the same roof. The Craig House is one big paranormal punch served… well chilled.
The rear section of the house is the oldest. I had the opportunity to spend a few stays in the Lucy Johnson Room (pictured above.) Lucy was a former servant of the Craig family, the third owners of the property. Contrary to local folklore, she does not haunt the house. I have always felt energy in this section of the house, but have not had too much in the way of a paranormal experience. On my last visit I was somewhat run down from just having completed the new book and putting together a lecture about the book the night before. I decided to go back to bed after breakfast and when I awoke around lunchtime, I commented to my partner, Willy, how cold I was and that the room was icy. He suggested it was because I was still in bed and I got up and we went out for the day. When we returned later that afternoon, I approached the door to the room and heard what sounded like a fan going inside. I opened the door and walked in to find the room temperature approaching 90 degrees! Not only was the bathroom heater on, the wall heater had been turned up to 87 and the fireplace was also turned on! The housekeeper had not been back in the room, nor had the owners since we had left. Obviously the ghosts had overheard my complaint about the room being “icy” and decided I needed a bonfire! A kind gesture or a practical joke? One never knows with ghosts.
The first owner of the house, a man named Richardson, drowned off the Cape May coast when his boat hit rough surf. Poor man had to walk all the way from the bottom of the ocean back to the Craig House. The second owner of the house, Benton Knott Jamison, was a big banker from Philly and used the home as his “summer cottage” where he entertained his wealthy friends each summer season. B.K. Jamison lost his fortune in a a financial crash in 1890 and sold the property to John Fullerton Craig in 1891. Jamison died in 1912 in Philadelphia and to the best of my knowledge does not haunt the Craig House.
After John Craig’s first wife, Susan Byrd, died at a young age, Craig bought the Cape May house and summered there with his children, and their nanny Emma Camp (pictured left.) The children were always terrified of the strict nanny and were never permitted to go back into her section of the house. Only Mr. Craig would occasionally go back to… check her plumbing. John Craig and Emma Camp eventually got married. It was quite a scandal.
I think it is Emma Craig who is the ghostly matriarch of the house. Although on the last two ghost gigs she rally did not make much of an appearance. Early times I have visited, I did sense her moving about the house. The last two times a ghost named “Frank” was very strong in the house. One of John Craig’s children, I believe, was named Frank. He may have returned to visit the old summer cottage or it could be someone totally unrelated to previous owners. Ghosts are transient.
The most intriguing ghosts here come in from the street. When I have conducted our Saturday night seances, I have found that there is more paranormal activity coming into the house than there is residing in the house to start with. A ghost named Abigail Hughes came through to one group from her old home on Hughes Street. Another ghost identifying herself as Wallace Warfield Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, also appeared to me in one seance! The Duchess of Windsor died in Paris and was buried in Frogmore, the Royal burial ground in England, so why she is haunting Cape May is somewhat baffling. Other than she was born in Pennsylvania and had vacationed in Cape May several times in her life, there is no logical reasoning for her to have been at my seance that night. If it really was Simpson, she would have been one of the only really famous ghosts that I have encountered in Cape May. If in fact it was actually her ghost I was encountering and not something claiming to be her.
One of the strongest ghostly visitors to the Craig House is a young boy. When I sense him entering the room, the temperature plummeted; even with the fireplace lit! He was particularly attracted to one couple who came to two of my gatherings at the Craig House and went so far as to follow them home and back, telling the group, through my psychic communication with him, things about the couple’s house none of us could possibly know. I think the boy died in Cape May and his family moved away or left him after he crossed over. He is now one of the many ghostly orphans who roams about town.
The last time I conducted my seance at the Craig House the ghosts must have all been out to dinner. As I sat with a new group and a few old friends from previous groups, I set out a psychic line and hooked a big nothing. Nada. Not one ghost. I was just about to call it a night when someone showed up. But it was not a ghost, it was a Spirit, a loved one of one of the people who were in attendance, who had traveled back from the Other Side to deliver messages to her living relatives in the room. After the first Spirit came through, DOZENS more followed. It was like a psychic side show. Channeling mayhem, and I was the ring leader! That night, almost thirty different souls tried to barge through until I could not take another hit of their energy. Channeling is like trying to have a conversation while standing in the surf and getting knocked back and forth. My batteries were dead, and the dead were not helping!
All in all, it was one of the most wonderful group channelings I have ever done. I would like to invite some of those who were there to briefly share their experience below. I did not start out to channel the Spirits from the Other Side, but since the house ghosts were AWOL, I guess the Spirits decided to make good use of the opportunity. I am glad they did. Nothing is more comforting than reuniting people on the Earth Plane with those they loved and have lost.
The next morning at the Craig House, I awoke refreshed and invigorated. As I slowly opened my eyes, for a split second I saw the ghost of a man I did not recognize. It was not John Craig. It may have been the ghost who called himself “Frank.” He stood at the foot of my bed, smiled and nodded. Then he was gone. He seemed happy with what I had done for the group last night. They had not got their ghosts, but they did get a chance to be together with loved ones from the Other Side one more time. I smiled back at him, wherever he was now… and I didn’t dare comment about the room temperature this time… it was just fine thank you!
The ghosts of the Craig House rarely disappoint. Owners Barbara and Chip Masemore are two of the nicest innkeepers in town and the Craig House is one of the top five places to stay in Cape May. I shall return to this wonderful old haunt and perhaps the ghosts will return as well. I suggest a stay as soon as possible.
Visit them online at The John F. Craig House.com
Tell the ghosts Craig sent you.
©2010 ChannelCraig, Inc.
3 Responses to “Past Haunt – The John F. Craig House”
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Craig says:
I would love to hear from some of you that have attended one of the Craig House “Ghost Gigs.” Please post your thoughts here!
clighthouse3 says:
Craig,
My friend Cari and I were at your last gathering at the John F. Craig House and had a wonderful time. Frank came through and said he liked hanging out in Room 3, well we were in Room 3. He said that he liked the energy from the TV in the room and like to hang around it. Early in the morning of our first overnight, around 6am, I felt something tapping on the bottom of my foot, almost like it was trying to get my attention. I told it to “stop” and instead of tapping on my foot, it started tapping on the bed. I turned on the light, and then the TV and it stopped. Maybe it was Frank and he wanted the TV turned on. Saturday night after the seance, Cari and I went to our room and made a deal with Frank, I told him we would leave the TV on all night if he would let us sleep, and so he did.
The other interesting occurrence happened when we were all sitting in the parlor having refreshments around 5pm. We asked, and Barbara explained to us who the people in the pictures were on the wall near the staircase. There was one of John Craig, two of the house and one of the Craigs at a family dinner. You were talking about the history of the house and talking about the owners previous to John Craig. I don’t know if he intended to make a point, but you heard a voice that told you that something was wrong near one of the pictures. We all looked around the room and the picture of the house, just below John Craig’s picture near the staircase was completely turned on an angle. No one was near it, nor did anyone bump or rotate it.
I was happy that my father and brother came through for me, but was surprised when my mother-in-law came through. I always hoped that she would come through to give me a message for my daughter, her granddaughter, as she was very distraught when her Nana passed away almost 10 years ago. She came through as “Flo”, her name was Florence, but my daughter always refers to her as “Flo”. She stated that she is always looking over my daughter’s shoulder and made some other comments about my daughter that were very meaningful. What was interesting was when I came home and told my daughter, I looked at a picture that she had next to her bed in a frame. It is a picture of her when she was two years old with both her Great Nana and Nana, who was standing to the side of her, looking over her shoulder. She has a quote on the frame that says “My Angels”. Whenever any of her friends saw the picture, they always asked why she didn’t have a better picture of her Nana looking towards the camera, and she always commented that her Nana was watching her over her shoulder.
I am looking forward to future events that you will be conducting in Cape May and am looking forward to your new book.
Cathy
junkare says:
Love this B&B Craig. The spirit energy of this section of Cape May is so alive. The seance you did here was amazing, getting the Duke and Duchess of W****** was very cool!