Middletown Is Home To One Of NJ's Spookiest Haunted Houses

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Did you know the "most haunted house" in America is located in Middletown?

In this 2014 article, Weird NJ declared that the Seabrook-Wilson House, also known as the Spy House, on the Port Monmouth beachfront may just be the most haunted house in America.

The Seabrook-Wilson House is a two-story, white clapboard historic building that was built in the early 1700s. It is is located right off the windswept shoreline of the Port Monmouth beach and, considering its age, it's remarkable the house is still standing, in perfect condition today.

Despite the fact that it is located right off the beach, the Seabrook-Wilson House never floods, even during Sandy. It is one of the last surviving homes of the Colonial period in Middletown.

The house was built as a private home, but during the Revolutionary War it functioned as a tavern that was popular among the British troops occupying Monmouth County at the time. Remember: New Jersey was not a victorious land for American patriots in the Revolution. After the British seized control of New York City, Central Jersey (the Battle of Princeton) and Monmouth County quickly fell to the British, as well. In the 1770s, there were said to be "redcoats" all over this area, and the English used Sandy Hook as a key naval base to bring in supplies and guns.

According to Weird NJ, the nickname Spy House comes from the lore that the local tavern owner at the time used to get the British soldiers drunk, who would then spill military secrets that he would pass on to Colonial American troops. The tavern also used to keep an eye on which British ships were sailing in and out of Sandy Hook.

The Seabrook House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and is currently owned by the Monmouth County Parks System. It is open during the week for tours.

"There's one story of a couple, a man and a woman, who came in for a tour of the house," said Monmouth County Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger, who knows the history of this area well. "They were met with a docent (guide) fully dressed in colonial period garb who gave them the most extensive tour of the house, I mean really showing them all the rooms and this person knew so many impressive facts about the time period.

"Well, the next day the man realized he had left his wallet behind and he returned to the Seabrook-Wilson House. When he got there, the guide on duty told him it was impossible, the house had been closed to tours yesterday and nobody had been on the property."

And Scharfenberger has more: "There were so many incidents of vandalism and weird stuff going on at the Seabrook-Wilson House that the Middletown Police Department at one point had to station a police officer outside the building. He was there all night, standing outside, and swore that nobody went into the house. Except the next morning, people went inside and found all types of furniture moved, a hammer had been shoved into the dry wall."

Other Internet sites tell stories of a woman in white who is said to be the widow of a dead American Continental soldier. There are also stories of her son, who she raised from an infant in the Seabrook-Wilson House, but when he was a young boy went to play in the ocean across the street and tragically drowned. He now appears as a ghostly boy peering down from windows.

Truth or fiction? We'll let you decide. But this Patch reporter has been outside the Spy House on a gloomy, dark November day. With the wind and waves blowing in off Raritan Bay, she felt ... unsettled and almost like someone was watching from the dark windows above.

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