“North Plainfield Fire Department,” I said into the phone, expecting the dispatcher’s voice, calling us to a fire. Instead, a frantic woman’s voice rang over the connection: “We need you to come at once. There is a terrible ghost in our house and we want you to remove it!”
“Public Assist” from Spooky New Jersey
Pull up a chair or gather round the campfire and get ready for 40 creepy tales of ghostly hauntings, eerie happenings, and other strange occurrences from times past. Set deep in the Pinelands and Ramapo Mountains, along the Atlantic coast, and in historic towns like Burlington and Springfield, the stories in this entertaining and compelling collection will have you looking over your shoulder again and again.
New Jersey folklore traditions are kept alive in these expert retellings by master storyteller S. E. Schlosser and in artist Paul Hoffman’s evocative illustrations. You’ll meet ghosts and witches, hear things that go bump in the night, and feel an icy wind on the back of your neck on a warm summer evening. Whether read around the campfire on a dark and stormy night or from the backseat of the family van on the way to grandma’s, this is a collection to treasure.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part One: Ghost Stories
1. Public Assist – North Plainfield
2. The Blue Lantern – Ringwood
3. In the Fog – Jersey City
4. The Mark of the Spirit Hand – Andover
5. The Searcher – Long Beach Island
6. Haunted House – Pompton Lakes
7. The Figure in the Window – Peapack
8. Brotherly Love – Springfield
9. The Face in the Mirror – Cape May
10. The Sweet By and By – Barnegat Light
11. The Ghost in the Storm – Summit
12. Turnabout is Fair Play – Branchville
13. Apples and Oranges – Bordentown
14. Father and Son – Princeton
15. Shades of Death – Warren County
Part Two: Powers of Darkness and Light
16. The Devil on Washington Rock – Washington Rock State Park, Greenbrook
17. The Miller and the Topielec – Newark
18. The Express Train to Hell – Newark
19. The White Stag – Shamong, Burlington County
20. Blackbeard’s Treasure – Burlington
21. The Devil’s Duets – New Gretna
22. The Jersey Devil – Camden
23. The Grim – West Milford
24. Gully Road – Newark
25. Just One Sip – Atlantic City
26. Death of a Wizard – Hanover Furnace
27. Stolen Gold – Red Oak Grove
28. Dem Bones – Sandy Hook
29. The Treasure Trove – Schooley’s Mountain
30. Rival Witches – Ringwood
