There’s Something Strange in Your Neighborhood: Hauntings Near Campus

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The first stop on the train ride around haunted spots near campus is the Chancellor’s Office. Located at 303 Cooper Street, this office was built in 1867 and is the former home of South Jersey statesman Isaiah Woolston. The building’s charming vintage facade hides the inconspicuous grave markers lying just behind. With ghostly whispers echoing down its halls and possessed, moving objects, the infamous third floor is considered to be one of our campus’s most haunted places. Stories from the early 2000s about this office range from minor to terrifyingly creepy, but no new updates have since been reported.

Our next stop, right next to our nursing building, is the Camden City Hall Jail on 530 Federal Street. As frighteningly early as 2014, the Philadelphia Inquirer covered a haunting and invited the all-volunteer South Jersey Ghost Researchers to investigate. The sixth floor raised many red flags, with the researchers’ equipment signaling a presence lurking nearby. This presence was later identified as Ed. The chilling discovery somewhat relieved the staff, whose suspicions had been roused while working there.

Perched on the Delaware River is our next stop, the Battleship New Jersey. Now a museum, the famed warship sits on the Camden Waterfront, right across from Philadelphia. Previously investigated on the popular TV show “Ghost Hunters,” this ship has been rumored to house the wandering ghosts of soldiers on her top deck. Itching to see if this rumor is true? Take a tour of the ship this season and see for yourselves. For more information on tickets, go to https://www.battleshipnewjersey.org/

Schools are not spared such horrors. Visitors to H. H. Davis Elementary School on 3425 Cramer Street have claimed to hear chains rattling and see a tall, dark figure lurking behind the school’s auditorium curtains. One has even heard through the grapevine that three people have died on the premises.

Start the spooky season off right by touring these sites and enjoying different parts of Camden. Our sister city, one of the oldest in the U.S., has a boatload of history attached to it, and you can access it all just by crossing the Delaware River.

Per CBS News, the Eastern State Penitentiary is considered one of the world’s most haunted places. With over 500 testaments to its capacity to petrify, one of the oldest prisons in the U.S. is a hub for hauntings and a literal graveyard—there have been documented suicides and murders on its premises. Day tours are offered from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., as well as their famous Halloween Nights, which feature five different haunted houses inside the prison alongside themed bars and harrowing tours.

Excited (maybe a little scared) to visit these sites? The Paul Robeson Library is offering students a chance to visit the Penitentiary and other museums for free with free museum passes for students, faculty, and staff. Go with a group to visit the historic Eastern State Penitentiary if you’re scared to go by yourself. For more information on the passes, visit https://engage.camden.rutgers.edu/news/288598.