Haunted Hotels in Cape May: 5 Haunted Places to Stay
America’s oldest seaside resort is also the haunted capital of the Jersey Shore. These are five Cape May hotels and inns where guests report something they cannot explain, and the rooms to ask for.
Cape May has been welcoming summer visitors since the early 1800s, and after the Great Fire of 1878 the town rebuilt itself in the Victorian style that made the whole place a National Historic Landmark. A century and a half of guests have left plenty of stories in its hotels: a steamer-trunk regular who never stopped coming back, the last of a Philadelphia family still enjoying her mansion, a college student who fell from a window and a builder’s son who died the summer his family’s house was finished. This guide covers the Cape May hotels we could verify that take overnight guests and have ghost stories told by staff, guests or local historians. Each one has been checked against current sources. For the rest of the state, see our guide to haunted hotels in New Jersey.
$$ · $150 to $300Haunted room bookableGhost tours or events
Address 727 Beach Avenue, Cape May, NJ 08204
Where to look Room 10 on the first floor, the Union Park dining room and kitchen, the basement
Reported ghosts Miss Irene Wright, the "Trunk Lady" of Room 10; a waitress in an old-fashioned dress; the basement "Growler"
Booking the haunted room Room 10 is a regular guest room: call the hotel (609-884-3020) to request it
Hotel Macomber is the big shingle-style hotel on Beach Avenue, across the road from the ocean in Cape May. Built in 1916, it was the largest frame structure of its day east of the Mississippi, and it is described as the last landmark building erected in the town’s historic district. The Union Park restaurant is on the ground floor, the rooms sit on the top three floors (stairs only), guests must be 16 or older and the season runs mid-April to mid-December.
Room 10 is one of the best-known haunted rooms in New Jersey. Guests describe knocking and banging on the door, doors slamming down the corridor and the sound of something heavy dragged across the floor, which local medium Craig McManus links to Miss Irene Wright, a longtime summer guest who arrived each year with a huge steamer trunk. Staff also tell of a woman in an old-fashioned dress who walks into the kitchen.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book Room 10 directly by phone; McManus says activity peaks in June and November, so the shoulder season is the time to go.
$$$ · Over $300Haunted room bookableHotel embraces its ghosts
Address 720 Washington Street, Cape May, NJ 08204
Where to look Room 14 and Rooms 9, 10 and 12, the ballroom and kitchen
Reported ghosts Ester Mercur, the last of the Allen family; a man in military uniform; a talking couple in Room 14
Booking the haunted room Book a stay and ask for Room 14 (or 9, 10 or 12) by phone; not guaranteed
The Southern Mansion is an Italianate villa set in gardens on Washington Street. Philadelphia industrialist George Allen built it in 1863 to a design by Samuel Sloan, and his family kept it for 83 years. After Ester Mercur, the last of the line, died in 1946 it became a run-down boarding house; a Philadelphia family bought and restored it in 1994, reopening it as an inn in 1996 and adding a South Wing with ten suites in 1997.
The inn’s own blog calls Ester a happy ghost who enjoys the restored house, and guests describe a strong smell of perfume, laughter and cold spots. Older reports place a murmured conversation between a man and a woman in Room 14, while other writers name Rooms 9, 10 and 12. A chef has told of a man in military uniform in the ballroom and kitchen.
Haunted Rooms tip: The inn talks about Ester on its own blog, so it is fine to ask staff which rooms guests mention most.
Where to look Upstairs hallways, especially the third floor; empty guest rooms
Reported ghosts A woman in old-fashioned dress in the halls; children heard playing
Congress Hall is Cape May’s oldest big hotel, a long yellow building with a tall white colonnade facing the beach. Thomas Hughes opened it in 1816 as a wooden boarding house locals called “Tommy’s Folly”, renamed it when he went to Congress, and after the Great Fire of 1878 it was rebuilt in brick. Presidents Pierce, Buchanan, Grant and Benjamin Harrison stayed here; Harrison made it his Summer White House. A $22 million restoration reopened it in 2002.
Housekeepers describe radios, televisions and voices behind closed doors on the third floor, with no one inside when they knock, and guests tell of a woman in old-fashioned dress who walks down an upstairs corridor and disappears around the corner. Children are sometimes heard playing when none are staying, which local ghost tours connect to a boy who drowned off the beach in 1876.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for a third-floor room and have a drink in the Brown Room, then join a Cape May ghost walk outside.
Where to look The upper floors of the second building, the stairs, guest rooms including Room 17
Reported ghosts A young woman who fell from a window in the 1960s, often called Miss Brown; a girl looking out to sea
Angel of the Sea is the pink Victorian with the twin towers half a block from the beach on Trenton Avenue. It began around 1850 as the summer cottage of Philadelphia chemist William Weightman Sr., was cut in half to be dragged closer to the ocean in 1881, and was rescued after the 1962 storm, when Reverend Carl McIntire moved both halves here. It reopened as a 27-room bed and breakfast in 1989 and 1990 and is run today by the Stanton family.
The ghost story dates from the 1960s and 1970s, when the houses were a dormitory for Shelton College. A young woman, usually called Miss Brown, is said to have locked herself out and fallen while climbing through a window. Guests describe beds that shake, footsteps on the stairs, flickering lights, coughing and an alarm clock in Room 17 going off by itself at 2:30 in the morning.
Haunted Rooms tip: Breakfast, afternoon tea and evening wine and cheese are included, and the porches are the place to watch the sea at dusk.
Where to look The third floor and its cedar-lined room, the attic ladder, the grand staircase, the old basement bar
Reported ghosts Earle Shields, the builder's 15-year-old son, once called "Ernest" by staff
The Peter Shields Inn is the white 1907 Georgian Revival mansion at the quiet east end of Beach Avenue, across the road from the ocean. Peter Shields, the Pittsburgh businessman who helped found East Cape May, built it as his family’s summer home, and Philadelphia architect Lloyd Titus designed it. It became a bed and breakfast in the 1980s and today has nine guest rooms above a well-known oceanfront restaurant.
Its ghost is a boy. In 1907, fifteen-year-old Earle Shields was fatally wounded in a hunting accident on a boat off Cape May, and the family left town a few years later. Earlier owners and staff called the presence on the stairs “Ernest”, and Cape May medium Craig McManus believes that was Earle, who he says haunts the third floor and the attic.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for a room on the third floor, and book dinner downstairs: the restaurant is a destination in its own right.
About this guide: This is our first Cape May hotel guide. We added the Peter Shields Inn, whose ghost story comes from Cape May medium Craig McManus. We looked at the Chalfonte Hotel, the Inn of Cape May and several smaller B&Bs that appear on ghost tours, but could not yet find enough detailed published accounts to include them.
Stayed in one of these hotels? Tell us what happened
We collect first-hand accounts from guests and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your stay. We read every story before it’s published.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most haunted hotel in Cape May?
Hotel Macomber on Beach Avenue is the one named most often. Its Room 10 is linked to Miss Irene Wright, a longtime summer guest known as the Trunk Lady, and guests describe knocking, slamming doors and the sound of something heavy dragged across the floor.
Can you book a haunted room in Cape May?
Yes. Room 10 at Hotel Macomber can be requested by phone, and Room 14 at the Southern Mansion is the room most often asked for there. At Congress Hall guests ask for the third floor, and at the Peter Shields Inn the stories center on the third floor too.
Why is Cape May so haunted?
It is America’s oldest seaside resort, rebuilt in Victorian style after the 1878 fire, and many of its hotels are well over a century old. Shipwrecks, storms and a long line of summer regulars have given its buildings plenty of stories, and local ghost tours run most of the year.
Are there ghost tours in Cape May?
Yes. Walking and trolley ghost tours run through the historic district, and several pass the hotels in this guide. The Emlen Physick Estate, an 1879 mansion museum, is a regular stop.
Can you walk between Cape May's haunted hotels?
Yes. All five are within about a mile of each other on or near Beach Avenue, from Congress Hall near the Washington Street Mall to the Peter Shields Inn at the east end, so you can stay at one and visit the others on foot.
Is the Chalfonte Hotel haunted?
The Chalfonte, Cape May’s oldest hotel still in use, built in 1876, appears on local ghost tours, with stories about a handyman and the builder, Henry Sawyer. We could not find enough detailed published accounts to give it a full listing yet.
Can you go on a ghost hunt near Cape May?
Yes. Haunted Rooms runs ghost hunts at Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia, about 90 minutes away, and overnight hunts at Linville Manor in Maryland. See all New Jersey ghost hunts for current dates.
Sources and how we research
Every hotel in this guide is checked against the hotel’s own website, historic register listings and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as the hotels, guests and local historians tell them; we note where a story can’t be confirmed. Read how we rate haunted hotels.
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
Booking links on this page are affiliate links. If you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It never affects which hotels we include or how we score them.
