Location: Barnegat, New Jersey
When built: 1856-1859
The haunting: There are, they say, two ghosts who haunt Barnegat Lighthouse, that of a man and his wife. "They had been on a ship just off the coast when a storm struck," a reader tells me. "The ship was evacuated, but the husband chose to stay. I'm not sure if he was the owner of the ship or had invested money in it or felt that the scrap from a wrecked ship would be lucrative, but he stayed for monetary reasons. He felt that the ship was strong enough to stay afloat. His wife chose to stay with him, although they did send their infant daughter to safety with one of the mates. The ship did survive the storm, but the husband and wife froze to death.
"The ghosts often appear on clear, cold days in January and February. On such days, when a parent takes their baby for a walk in a stroller or carriage, the ghosts will approach them, compliment them on their beautiful baby, and then, realizing that the baby is not their daughter, disappear."
