Q: Is the old light at Cape May Point haunted?
A: That depends on if the ghosts are working or not.
If you have visited Cape May you have no doubt climbed the 199 steps up the winding staircase to the top of the old lighthouse. When it comes to being joined by the living, you would not be alone. The dead are another story—sometimes they haunt the light, sometimes they haunt the light-keeper’s house and sometimes they are just not home.
With ghosts, a house is only haunted if the ghosts are at home. The same goes for lighthouses. In the case of the Cape May light, the long history of the structure has contributed a good deal of ghosts to the area. Built in 1859 as the third incarnation of a light at Cape May Point, a long line of keepers tended to the light and grounds and some of those folks never left—they died, but they never left.
Climbing the stairs on a hot summer day is a popular thing to do, but if you are looking for ghosts, take the Ghosts of the Lighthouse Trolley Tour that I have created with the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts (MAC.) It runs at night when the paranormal activity is highest at the old light. As you stop at each landing, gaze out to see the beautiful panoramic views the portal windows allow. Take a step back inside and you might just catch a glimpse of some paranormal views as well as the panoramic ones.
I was fortunate enough to be able to investigate the lighthouse several times, at night and alone. On previous visits I had sensed a woman carrying pails of “something” up the stairs and disappearing near the top. I saw this woman in my “mind’s eye,” not as an apparition or visible ghost. There are few actual ghost sightings at the light, but there are many ghost “feelings.” Take the tour and you will see what I mean!
One warm summer evening, I brought a camera and a tape recorder with me and waited until the state park around the light had closed for the evening, and the crowds had left the area, before I started to record for EVPs. I noted on the tape several times that I felt a blast of cold air swish by. It was neither windy nor cool that night and in fact the air was quite hot and humid. On one occasion, I mentioned the cold breeze on the tape and right after that a woman’s muffled voice is heard on the tape yelling at a child. The child seems to reply, “Help me…I want to go home!”
“Orphaned children” is a recurring theme in the ghostly world of Cape May. Nowhere is it more prevalent then around the old light. The main ghost here seems to be either a former lady keeper (there was one, Arabelle Palmer) or the wife of a former keeper (there were many.) From what I could psychically sense, this lady ghost acts like a rather strict school teacher, watching over several ghostly kids who roam the grounds. Several EVPs showed evidence of children in the paranormal mix. The entire batch of EVPs I recorded at the lighthouse did not yield anything I could call a “direct response” to my questions. Instead, I was picking up ambient conversation between ghosts. They may have not even known I was present, although I think they could sense me. In one case a man on the tape says, “Did you hear someone?” Was I a ghost to the ghosts?
Here are some of the EVPs captured in the light. The first version is the raw, unedited track. The second version is cleaned up. With EVPs what a person hears is very subjective. I am telling you what I hear, you may disagree.
EVP#1 – I was asking if anyone was on the stairs with me. I asked the ghosts to come and talk to me. Right after a low, whispy voice is heard.
Cleaning up the track, I realized the voice was actually just slowed down. Ghost voices sometimes come in fast and other times come in slow. There energy comes from a dimension that does not match our dimensional energy and many EVPs are out of sync when it comes to speed. When I sped up the track, a young boy’s voice can be heard saying, “I’ll tell her.” I think he was trying to tell me he would get the lady of the light. As I mentioned above, I think she is like a guardian of these ghostly kids. Listen now to the cleaned up track. Headphones will help, as will playing it over and over or looping the track.
Here’s the same track of the boy looped five times so you can hear it better.
There are many ghosts coming and going near the light and on the grounds. I was fortunate enough to capture some of them on tape.
EVP#2 – On this track, also recorded inside the lighthouse after dark when no one was in the nearby area, I ask on the ground floor if it was one of the old light keepers haunting the house. The response was, “Y’ all know this one.” I think they were referring to recognizing the fact that I have been psychically snooping around their domaine for several years. At least that’s my take. They may have been referring to something completely different, unseen by human eyes. As with all EVPs, the meaning is in the ear of the beholder!
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Here’s a cleaned up version.
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Here’s the same version looped five times. It is easier to hear EVPs when they are looped. Listen for a man’s voice.
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An older male presence was not someone that I had sensed when I was in the lighthouse. It seems that some ghosts appear on my psychic radar while others fly under it. I was also constantly moving, instead of stopping and meditating to try to contact the ghosts. As with many historic sites, someone is usually along representing the site to open and close the doors and answer any questions. Since one of MAC’s guides was with us, I did not want to take up his time by stopping and going into a trance. As with any ghost investigation, a final analysis of the haunt should be based on all types of evidence present; psychic, EVP and other.
Since it’s beginning, the 1859 light has been a place people work or visit. They never lived in the light. With the ghosts of the light, that still applies today. They visit or work and then they leave. The ghostly children may have been victims of local drownings, shipwrecks or even children who died at Cape May Point of childhood diseases. I have sensed quite a few children near and in the lighthouse over the years. It does make sense that even as ghosts, children would be drawn to a lighthouse to play and congregate.
EVP#3 – One of the more eerie EVPs I recorded was also in the light, about half way up the winding staircase. I stopped for a moment because I thought I felt something pull on my shirt. I turned and listens, with my cassette tape recorder running all the time. When I later listened to the tape I heard a child’s voice cry out, “Let me out of here!” The feeling I got was that someone or something was keeping the boy in the lighthouse against his will. Whether it was another ghostly child, or an adult ghost, trying to keep order by holding the boy hostage, I do not know. My feeling is that the boy wanted to leave the Earth Plane all together and return to his family, wherever they were now. Listen to the EVP yourself and see what you hear.
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I highly suggest you take the Ghosts of the Lighthouse Tour that MAC offers several times a week. Tickets can be purchased online at MAC’s Website or at the ticket booth on Ocean Street at the beginning of the Washington Street Mall. The lighthouse is also featured in The Ghosts of Cape May Book 3 and 400 Years of the Ghosts of Cape May. Seeing the light at night is really magnificent and checking for ghosts is always an added plus. If you run into anyone I know, let me know, but only if they are dead.
