Dr. Emlen Physick (pictured right) may be long dead, but that doesn’t stop him from roaming freely around his mansion and grounds. In fact, his estate is now a public museum and everyone, living or dead, is welcome to come for a visit.
The Physick House has been the headquarters for The Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts (MAC) since the group saved the old mansion (and her ghosts) from the wrecking ball in the early 1970s. The house really was home to only one family, the Physicks. Built in 1879 for Dr. Emlen Physick and his mother, Mrs. Frances Ralsten and her maiden sisters Isabella and Emilie Parmentier, and designed by eccentric Philadelphia architect Frank Furness, the Physick Estate was a showplace when it was built (see picture below.)
Frances Ralston died in 1915, followed by Dr. Emlen Physick a year later on March 21, 1916 at the age of 58. Aunt Emilie was the last to go, surviving until May 20, 1935. After the family passed (they died as opposed to leaving) the house was willed to a neighbor, Frances Brooks, who had been taking care of Aunt Emilie in her later years.
Dr. Harry Sidney Newcomer and his wife Dr. Marian Newcomer purchased the house around 1946 from Frances Brooks. Dr. Marian died in 1949 and Dr. Sidney married his assistant (or secretary) Pauline Van Leight in 1955. They lived in the house for a couple of years when, according to people who had known Dr. Sidney Newcomer, the couple moved into an apartment downtown because the new Mrs. Newcomer was afraid to live in the house because it was haunted. The Newcomers lived in town until moving to California in 1964. They sold the house to Cape May Inns, Inc. in 1967.
When I spoke with a woman recently in Cape May whose parents were going to buy the house from Dr. Newcomer, she recalled the good doctor explaining to them that as a man of science, he was baffled to explain how something (ghosts) that should not exist and could not be proven under scientific conditions, truly did exist in his home. He heard the footsteps and noises every night and eventually gave up the notion of investigating the noises after finding anyone else (living) in the house became a futile effort.
Just who is haunting the old Physick Mansion? That question is partially answered in The Ghosts of Cape May, Book 1 and The Ghosts of Cape May, Book 3 picks up where Book 1 leaves off. The house is haunted, that’s for sure, and there is more than one ghost doing the haunting! MAC runs various tours of the house year-around and our Historic Haunts Combination Tour will take you in for a close up.
Phantom footsteps walking around the bedrooms above you… ghostly voices chattering about their ghostly goings on… a cold hand grabbing your arm… If you are one of the lucky ticket holders for one of this year’s Midnight at The Physick Estate tour, you will get an up close and personal look at the haunting of the Emlen Physick Mansion, one of America’s truly haunted houses.
Visit the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts website for tour tickets and times. If you did not get one of the 75 Midnight tickets this year, I highly suggest you try our Historic Haunts Trolley Tour for a ride around haunted Cape May and a stop at America’s real haunted mansion!
Historic photographs of the Physick Mansion and Dr. Emlen Physick courtesy of MAC.
Visited the Physick Estate and had paranormal experiences? Please tell us about them below!
I’ve always wanted to visit this place. The outside of the house looks haunted! Hopefully I will be able to take part at Midnight at the Physick Estate this year.
My family and I toured the estate in the summer of 2007. It is a remarkable and magical place to see. As the tour moved along, I had to step back and look into the dining room for some reason. I saw a black shadow? figure? seated at the head of the dining room table as we passed through the foyer to ascend the staircase. Maybe I did see this or it was wishful thinking on my part.
I hope to be one of the lucky people to purchase tickets for the midnight tour.
Shadows are often how we see a ghost. It is rare to see a full-formed apparition. While I have not seen ghosts in a shodwy form at the Physick Estate, others have spotted “something” that resembled a shadow that moved past them. The Physick Estate is truly one of America’s original haunted houses!
I toured this house years ago in the early evening. I felt a presence as soon as I walked in there. To tell you the truth the place gave me the creeps. I toured the whole house but I never went back. Two women who were in back of me during the tour said “what is it with this place” ; they too felt it.