When the days get shorter and the Pine Barrens get darker, South Jersey trades its beach blanket for something a little more sinister. 

Grab a flashlight, bring a brave friend and try not to worry about that rustling in the trees. It’s probably nothing. Probably.

Get in touch with the spirits

In Cape May, evening trolley tours wind through Victorian streets before stopping at the 1879 Emlen Physick Estate, where staff and visitors have reported phantom footsteps, strange voices, ghostly dogs and other unexplained activity. The museum says paranormal investigators have captured audio and visual recordings there.

Farther north, the Harrison Township Historical Society’s annual Mullica Hill Ghost Walk leads visitors past historic homes and public buildings along Main Street. At Old Town Hall, paranormal investigators have even displayed live camera feeds from the supposedly haunted second floor.

Wander through a ghost town

South Jersey’s ghost towns come by the name honestly. Scattered through the Pine Barrens are the remains of communities once sustained by bog iron, glassmaking, paper mills and cranberry farming. When those industries disappeared, many of the villages followed.

Batsto Village offers the most accessible glimpse of that vanished world, with 33 surviving structures, including an ironmaster’s mansion, gristmill, sawmill and workers’ homes. Atsion preserves an imposing 1826 mansion and remnants of another former ironmaking community. Deeper in Wharton State Forest, the fenced ruins of Harrisville’s 19th-century paper mill slowly surrendered to the pines.

Cell service, especially in the Pine Barrens, can be unreliable, so download directions before leaving and tell someone where you are headed. Stay on marked trails and keep cars off sandy back roads, where loose sugar sand can leave even confident drivers thoroughly stuck. 

Explore only designated public areas, and leave every artifact exactly where you found it.

Brush up On local lore

Spooky nights need spooky stories, and none are as chilling as the legend of the Jersey Devil. South Jersey’s most iconic monster supposedly arrived in 1735, when, as legend has it, an overwhelmed Mother Leeds learned she was having her thirteenth child and cursed, “Let it be the devil!” Bad choice. The baby allegedly sprouted wings, hooves, claws and a tail before escaping up the chimney into the Pine Barrens. 

The story likely grew from hostility toward the real Leeds family, then exploded in 1909 after newspapers reported strange tracks and sightings across the region. Hoaxes and terrified imaginations helped. Nobody has proved the Jersey Devil exists, but that hardly matters. Three centuries later, the old winged troublemaker still owns the Pines.

Take a Lantern Into the Bog

By day, Whitesbog Historic Village tells the story of cranberry farming and the development of the first cultivated blueberry. After dark, the Browns Mills village takes on a different personality. Seasonal lantern walks lead visitors past old houses, trails and the general store while guides share stories about former residents, nocturnal wildlife and Pine Barrens legends. The experience combines two South Jersey specialties: agricultural history and wondering what just moved beyond the beam of your lantern.

Explore chilling history

The Burlington County Prison Museum has been holding onto inmates – and possibly a few spirits – since 1811. When it closed in 1965, it was the country’s oldest continuously operating jail. 

Today, visitors can explore its imposing architecture and stories of crime, punishment and civil rights. 

Naturally, the former lockup also has a paranormal record. Guests report hearing moans and clanking chains, while the smell of cigarette smoke supposedly drifts from the dungeon. Construction workers have even claimed their missing tools mysteriously reappeared inside locked cells.