Brigantine Castle: A Legend in Haunting

Hal Rappaport

"Once you worked at a place like the Brigantine Castle you never lose the 'need' to frighten the hell out of people. So Beware, we're still out there!!” Stu Shames

Just north of Atlantic City, New Jersey, on a wooden pier that stretched 460 feet into the Atlantic Ocean, was one of the scariest places I have ever been. I am speaking, of course, of the now legendary Brigantine Castle in Brigantine, New Jersey. One of several pier mounted summer seasonal Haunted Houses that once dotted the East Coast, Brigantine was among the largest Haunted Attractions of its time, and at 110 feet tall with 5 full working stories, it held the distinction of being the “largest free standing wooden structure in the United States.” Brigantine had many innovative "frights" for its day, and hosted a large collection of young and very talented actors. My strongest memories are of the sheer chill value of the attraction.

Where even walking down a flight of stairs became foreboding. We all stayed to the right in a single file line, because on the left, a hooded robed figure carrying a human skull, walked slowly up. I still have scars on the palms of my hand where my sister dug her nails into, as a figure with the skull leapt at her during my first visit.

Of course, no one could forget the Count (or Countess depending on when you went) who emerged from the painting above the fireplace mantel. The actor would sit so still that your eyes did not register that a person was up there until they leapt out at you. Many attractions I have been to since tried to duplicate this effect, but none have succeeded so effectively.

You were greeted by an evil Jester who would introduce you to "The King and Queen" of Brigantine Castle (every castle needs a king and queen), they were two rotting corpses propped up on thrones in royal finery.

There was an "insane room" where the floor was inclined at an uncomfortably steep angle (20-25 degrees) to one corner, and the walls were painted in such a way that the room appeared to be at an even steeper angle (a very effective optical illusion). Greeting you in the room was a ‘mental patient.’ She wanted to know if you wanted to play with the dead rat or severed head that she said she had ‘found.’

The rat room, where a "doctor of ratology" described the collection of vermin, including her favorites and few feature rats. A prop in this room was in the form of a person with a wire cage full of rats strapped to his face. As you left the room, the mental suggestion was so complete, that you could swear you feel the furry creatures scurry over your feet. Actually, it was mostly a darkened hallway with rubber hoses cut down to size and attached to the wall via a 1x4.

There was a haunted forest that patrons traversed via an ‘S’ shaped bridge as a host of actors jumped out of the onyx black foliage. In the middle of the bridge was a ‘drowning girl’ illusion. As patrons walked over a Plexiglas walkway, a live actress pounded on the clear floor from underneath. This unenviable job boasted a 100 degree plus temperature in the cramped, plastic sealed space, but the effect of having someone scare you from below was both unexpected and terrifying.

Several sideshow optical illusions were used in the castle including the ‘headless woman.’ In this room, the body of a live woman sat in a chair. Tubes protruded from her neck, which hid two mirrors, creating the illusion that she had no head. She would constantly reach at the ‘doctor’ tending her.  The doctor would constantly push the head away, behaving as if this was nothing but an annoyance that this headless woman kept grabbing at her.

Another great illusion was in the execution room where a rather realistic guillotine stood. A hapless victim was placed in the contraption and executed when the large blade severed the man's head.  Underneath the "victim's" neck the bottom of the hole slid down.  This was concealed by a head basket in front of the guillotine.  The "victim" would slide their head downward with the blade.  The resulting illusion was the "victim's" head falling into the basket.

The unique design of the show added to the foreboding mood of the attraction. You did not just walk through one floor and move on. You were constantly going up and down stairs. This non-linear path through the castle, with ‘S’ curves and ‘U’ turns added suspense to the entire journey and increased the length of the experience. The average time it took to walk through the entire castle was twenty-two minutes.

“The one thing that always impressed me,” raved Stu Shames about Brigantine Castle, “was the quality of the scenery. It was outstanding.” The attention to quality made everything in the attraction believable. While the actors worried that the structure could fail any minute, everything that the patron saw looked first class. The castle's appearance was meticulously created and maintained.  The staff worked together to maintain the castle's appearance and general maintenance.

Created in the later years of the attraction, the mausoleum room had secrets of its own. A cramped space filled with standing coffins. Out of one of the coffins, an actor would jump out and scare the patrons as they walked past. If you ever walked through this room you might notice an unusual smell. These coffins were actually used and were heavy with the odor of embalming fluid. I asked how they were to come across actual used coffins, and I was told simply that I did not want to know. What I cannot imagine, is being an actor, laying in one of these used coffins, alone, smelling the embalming fluid and waiting for a group of patrons to round the corner.

When I decided to write this article, I did an Internet search for information or people that remembered the castle. The response was staggering. I received dozens of messages from people, talking fondly about Brigantine Castle, sharing stories, and inquiring if there was still anything like it in existence. It has been over fifteen years since the fall of this wonderful attraction of terror, yet it is spoken of with a certain reverence to this day.

In my search I managed to locate several people who actually worked at both Brigantine Castle and its sister attraction, the Haunted Mansion.  The Haunted Mansion resided 84 miles north along the coast in Long Branch, New Jersey, though slightly smaller, it too featured 5 enormous floors of delightful horror. Lil Grauman, who managed both attractions from 1978 through 1985, still lives in New Jersey. She used to be the Director of Operations for the Garden State Arts Center (before it became the PNC Bank Arts Center). She still works with the Garden State Parkway and is the Director of Operations for a concert promoter. She also consults for the Architectural industry on ADA (American with Disabilities Act) compliance.

Over all there was a real feeling of camaraderie and family among the actors, who made a game of trying to scare the manager Lil Grauman. However, according to her, the only thing that EVER scared her was the original movie "Night of the Living Dead."

Eric Princz, of Creative Design and Engeneering, also still lives in New Jersey, and is the only one still in the haunting business. He has a successful operation creating realistic robotic horror props for haunted attractions. Eric’s work is truly excellent, innovative and very creepy. He has quite a collection of antique dark ride props, including some original pieces of the Brigantine Castle.

Stu Shames, a Brigantine actor from 1978 to 1979, who played everything from the Count jumping from the picture, the rat professor, and "Lester" Borden  to a very eager, axe-wielding Lizzie, lived in California for eleven years and now has moved back to Philadelphia where he is doing well, working as a musician.

Carla Di Paola, who often played the Countess who jumped out of the picture, moved to Las Vegas where she has a successful computer consulting business Carlotta Inc. Carla still professes to be a vampiress, (in role playing anyway), and she has a web page at http://www.coam.net/~carladip/vampire.html.

Safety was a main concern at the castle, and there were plenty of special training provided for the actors. The strictest rules were "Not getting too close to the patron, and never touching a patron for any reason," recalls Shames who actually had a finger broken by a patron who got too scared when he jumped out, his fingers curled like claws as the Wolf-man. When an employee started they were trained for a few days. They were taught to be effective without putting themselves in danger. "Patrons entering the building were already convinced they would be scared. So it did not take much to be effective," recalls Grauman.

The actors worked vary effectively as a team and all carried 2-way radios. They could coordinate with each other in special circumstances. They often had to escort, gibbering patrons too afraid to continue, (adult patrons mind you) out through alternate, premature, exits. This was also effective in handling security risks like drunk, unruly patrons, or just someone intent on creating a bad situation.

When I asked what made the place so special, the sheer size of the attraction topped the list. The patrons really felt like they got a lot of entertainment for their dollar (The admission price never exceeded $3.00). Followed by the quality of the acting staff and first class special effects. The combination of these two elements really made the place frighteningly "believable." The ominous building alone was enough to frighten many people. Its wooden structure was coated with a painted foam outer layer that really looked believable. As the years went by the weather took its toll on the outer layer, which actually turned out to be a bonus, providing an even creepier ‘weathered’ look. They soon learned that the building, whose wooden superstructure being mostly covered in the greenish foam, turned out to be a natural haven for real bats. Most people try to rid themselves of bats with a pest control service, but in this case, it turned out to be the ultimate real prop. Anything that happened to the building they tried to turn into an advantage. There was one place where, through an accident a hole was made in an inner wall. Rather than simply patching the hole, they added a "tentacle" plant monster that would grab at one of the patrons.

Even though the both Brigantine Castle and Long Branch's Haunted Mansion have become contemporary legends, as businesses they were ill fated. It is believed by the actors, that a large contributing factor to the failure of both attractions was in not putting more of the profits back into the shows.

Like any legend, there were a number of rumors as to the demise of Brigantine Castle. To set the record straight, the roof did not cave in or get blown off, and the building was set on fire for the insurance. The ownership was starting to make repairs to the structure in 1985 when the pier itself started to buckle. Rather than make the expensive repairs to the pier, the owner, Carmen Ricci, decided not to open for the following season. The pier was sold to the township of Brigantine, (who felt that the pier was an eyesore) one-year later. The structure was in the process of being torn down in September of 1987 when a fire started and completed what the demolition team had begun. Brigantine’s sister attraction, the Long Branch met its fate the previous year, when a fire claimed the pier it was situated on in June of 1986.

While you can still find props and set pieces from Brigantine Castle all over New Jersey (Some in Dracula's Castle, Wildwood, New Jersey), there was absolutely nothing left of the Long Branch Haunted Mansion after its fiery end.

Thus, the makings of a Haunting legend.

Hal Rappaport is the owner of FrightScape, a website devoted to all things scary at www.frightscape.com He cam be contacted via Email at Frightmaster@frightscape.com.