Ghosts on the Coast

Ghosts on the Coast 🔎 Investigating and documenting creepy history, cemeteries, ghosts, myths, legends, & true crime.
📌 Based in New Jersey. Est. 2015.

Ghosts on the Coast is a New Jersey-based paranormal investigating team and web-series, and also a fundraising partner with the Strauss Mansion Museum. Episodes can be found on YouTube. The group has close connections to history and historic sites-- the founder is a historian and lecturer at Brookdale Community College, while the entire team volunteers or serves on the Board of Directors of the At

lantic Highlands Historical Society, which is housed at the 1893 Strauss Mansion Museum. The group is available for investigations at your location as well as paranormal workshops and lectures.

05/28/2026

Fans of the macabre and bizarre definitely need to check out the Mutter Museum at the College of Physicians in Philadelphia. Established in 1858, this massive collection of human specimens was originally used for teaching at the college. ⬇️

At first, only students and fellows were admitted, but it later opened to the public and became one of Philadelphia’s most unique attractions.

The museum contains hundreds of skulls, numerous skeletons including the world’s tallest, and samples of human organs and body parts relating to all manner of illnesses and deformities, such as the world’s largest colon. There is an entire body that turned to a soap-like substance rather than decompose.

This museum is not for everyone, though the exhibits are tasteful and educational, not assembled for shock value. Out of respect to the human remains on display, no photography is allowed in the exhibit areas. Visitors may film or take pictures in several other rooms which are expansive and beautiful.

Depending on how crowded it is, allow at least an hour to walk through and take it all in. There is also an outdoor garden but it was raining so we did not explore that.

05/28/2026

"On the Trail of the Bootleggers" continues with a look at a very important neighborhood in pre-Prohibition Era Red Bank, New Jersey. ⬇️

Before it became the town we know today, Red Bank was a transportation hub. Multiple railroads moved in and out, including the Central Rail Line that once ran along Morford Place toward the river, Oyster Point, and Middletown. It passed right by the old West End Hotel, now Brother's Pizza.

The original Setaro safe house also sat right here, directly behind the passenger and freight depot. People, goods, information, and eventually liquor, could move in and out quickly.

When you understand the rail lines, docks, and the streets, you begin to understand why this block mattered so much. This was not just a neighborhood so much as it was a network.

🎬 "On the Trail of the Bootleggers" is an ongoing collaboration between Ghosts on the Coast and Setaro House. All the videos can be found on our Instagram-- we have selected the most important ones for re-sharing on Facebook.

05/27/2026

We see nothing but old black and white photos, and sometimes lose the connection to just how recent most American history is. In the grand scheme of things, nothing was that long ago. ⬇️

President John Tyler, who was born in 1790, had a grandson who died in May 2025 at age 96. The last surviving Confederate veteran, Pleasant Briggs Crump, died in 1951. Albert Woolson was the oldest Union veteran, dying in 1956 at age 106.

The last person to receive a Civil War pension, Irene Triplett, died in 2020. John Gray, the last verifiable American to fight during the Revolutionary War, lived to see the end of the American Civil War, dying in 1868.

“The past is never dead. It's not even past.”- William Faulkner

05/26/2026

As our paranormal investigation of the 1894 Spermaceti Cove Lifesaving Station on Sandy Hook progressed, responses became more specific. This video opens with Greg asking, “How do you feel that this country is going to be 250 years old?” The answer made us think we were talking to a Loyalist. ⬇️

First he gets interrupted with a voice seemingly repeating the word “feel”. Then another voice answered “hate it” as a direct response. Other utterances include “You talk” and a clear “No” after Greg asked if they can sit in the chair and make the EMF sensors go off.

Part three ends with perhaps our best audio recording of the night. We had stopped filming because it grew quiet, and asked, “Do you want us to leave?” Patty’s digital recorder picked up a male voice response of “not to leave”.

There will be a fourth and final part of this investigation coming later in the week. For all of our videos on Sandy Hook, both history and paranormal, please scroll through our feed or visit the “Sandy Hook ‘26” playlist on Instagram. Videos are posted there, Facebook, and YouTube.

05/26/2026

Did you know that John Tyler was the only US president whose death was not recognized in Washington? That’s because he died a member of the Confederate government. ⬇️

While initially hoping for peace between north and south, the former 10th president enthusiastically called for secession and ran for a Confederate congressional position, which he won in 1861. The aristocratic planter and slave owner was unabashedly pro-states rights and defended slavery and the southern cause with more passion than his own presidency (1841-1845).

Tyler died of a stroke in January 1862 before he could participate in his first session. On his death bed when realizing the end was near, he told his doctor, “Perhaps it is best”.

At his funeral in Virginia, his coffin was draped in a Confederate flag. He had requested a simple ceremony but Jefferson Davis saw this as an opportunity to lionize Tyler and create a new hero. His first lady, Julia Gardiner Tyler, was also pro-Confederate and a strong supporter of slavery despite being born in New York. She had to fight for -- and successfully won -- a federal pension, despite her husband’s decisions. She was awarded this in 1880.

If anything, this tale illustrates just how deep divisions ran in the antebellum United States-- that even a former president could turn his back on his country and side with rebellion.

05/25/2026

This is the staircase where Margaret Burrowes famously stood up to invading loyalists on May 27, 1778 at her home in Matawan, New Jersey. They stormed in through the front door in search of her patriot husband, John Burrowes Jr. ⬇️

Margaret held them at bay by refusing to move off the stairs. They demanded she give them the shawl she was wearing to wrap the wounds of one of their men. She replied that they would not get her clothing or anything else in the house.

The loyalists thought he was hiding upstairs and fired their muskets in that direction while he was actually escaping out the back. Holes caused by musket balls are visible today and protected behind glass. Margaret was struck by an officer with the hilt of his sword. She survived, though the wound plagued her until she died.

The invaders tried but were unsuccessful in burning the house down. They did drag out many pieces of furniture which were also set on fire. John Burrowes Sr.’s mills and warehouses were also destroyed.

05/24/2026

Did you know there are more than 700 shipwrecks in the vicinity of Sandy Hook? The entire Jersey Shore claims over 5,000. ⬇️

These waters have been treacherous ever since the first European ships explored the area. Numerous wrecks and losses of life and property eventually led to the construction of a lighthouse (1764), two lifesaving stations (1848 and 1894), and Navesink Twin Lights (1862 with previous lights at the site since 1828).

While everyone has heard of the Morro Castle, near Asbury Park, the Castle Del Ray which ran aground on Sandy Hook in December 1705 was nearly just as devastating. It sailed into the east bank during an intense winter storm. Over the course of two days, 133 of the 145 sailors on board either froze to death or drowned attempting to escape.

A similar fate befell Lt. Hamilton Douglas-Halyburton in 1783, when a barge he commanded while pursuing British Army deserters got stuck in a sandbar and was enveloped by a storm. The entire crew of 14 perished. A monument to them stands today near Horseshoe Cove where they were once interred in a mass grave.

Over the years, many victims have been buried on Sandy Hook. Some have been exhumed and reinterred elsewhere, such as Halyburton and his men, while others still remain. A now unmarked burial ground exists 40 rods, or 600 feet, northeast of the Lighthouse and contains at least six sailors who died at sea and presumably washed up on the beach.

Since the area is off-limits, we only have a 19th century Harper's Weekly sketch of the headstones, one of the last times the site was documented publicly. The exact number of burials on Sandy Hook may never be fully known.

📊 New Jersey Maritime Museum shipwreck database. NJMaritimeMuseum.Org.

05/21/2026

The Presbyterian Burial Ground in Middletown, New Jersey has a tumultuous history. Like Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Matawan, this too had a small church that was burned during the American Revolution. ⬇️

The charred remnants of the log cabin that was set on fire by a joint force of Hessians and Loyalists in 1777 were last noted in the mid-1990’s as having been pushed to the outskirts of the property. They are no longer present. As far back as 1920, the scene was noted as deplorable. Members of the Stillwell Family moved the remains of at least four individuals to Fair View in 1917. The land is now much better and there is an information board present, but many stones have cracked or fallen with age,

A stack of headstones can also be seen resting on a tree stump. If someone was trying to reset them, they never finished the job, and the exact locations they came from will probably never be known.

There are burials dating to 1684 (Captain John Bowne), though the older stones were lost to time or moved. There are members of many prominent early families in Monmouth County including the Seabrooks, Stouts, Bownes, and Burrowes-- John, the “Corn King” himself, is buried here.

Headstones offer an array of decorations including multiple varieties of Death’s Heads and cherubic effigies. This location is conveniently located on Kings Highway and is easily walkable for a quick visit. A second cemetery, for the Hendrickson family, is also on the property.

📖 “The Story of Middletown” (1920) by Ernest Mandeville and “Old Burial Grounds of New Jersey: A Guide” (1994) by Janice Sarapin.

Address

27 Prospect Circle
Atlantic Highlands, NJ
07716

Website

https://www.amazon.com/Legends-Hauntings-Jersey-Bayshore-Americana/dp/162545136

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