What do you think?
Rate this book
America's Haunted Road Trip
Ghosthunting New Jersey
On this leg of the journey you’ll explore the scariest spots in the Garden State. Author L'Aura Hladik visits 34 legendary haunted places, all of which are open to the public—so you can test your own ghosthunting skills, if you dare.
Join L'Aura as she personally visits each site, snooping around eerie rooms and dark corners, talking to people who swear to their paranormal experiences, and giving you a first-hand account. You’ll go to:
The Spy House—one of the most haunted sites on the Eastern Seaboard, which is home to several ghosts
The Proprietary House—haunted by the ghost of a little boy, a Revolutionary War soldier, and others who occupy the ladies’ room
Centenary College—where a ghost known as Tillie Smith has been seen on the campus grounds and in her old dormitory, as well as Union Cemetery in Hackettstown
Enjoy Ghosthunting New Jersey from the safety of your armchair or hit the road, using the maps, “Haunted Places” travel guide, and “Ghostly Resources.” Buckle up and get ready for the spookiest ride of your life.
Join L'Aura as she personally visits each site, snooping around eerie rooms and dark corners, talking to people who swear to their paranormal experiences, and giving you a first-hand account. You’ll go to:
The Spy House—one of the most haunted sites on the Eastern Seaboard, which is home to several ghosts
The Proprietary House—haunted by the ghost of a little boy, a Revolutionary War soldier, and others who occupy the ladies’ room
Centenary College—where a ghost known as Tillie Smith has been seen on the campus grounds and in her old dormitory, as well as Union Cemetery in Hackettstown
Enjoy Ghosthunting New Jersey from the safety of your armchair or hit the road, using the maps, “Haunted Places” travel guide, and “Ghostly Resources.” Buckle up and get ready for the spookiest ride of your life.
- GenresParanormalNonfiction
264 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2008
2 people are currently reading
21 people want to read
About the author
L'Aura Hladik
2 books1 follower L’Aura Hladik, author of "Ghosthunting: New Jersey" (published by Clerisy Press) and the upcoming “Ghosthunting: New York City”, has been officially ghost hunting since 1993 and founded the NJ Ghost Hunters Society in 1998, which to date is the largest paranormal investigating organization in New Jersey.
As a paranormal investigator, L’Aura has stayed at the famously haunted Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, LA. Other ghost hunting explorations have taken her to Chicago, Savannah, and New Orleans. Internationally, she’s investigated several Irish haunted castles, most notably Leap Castle (County Offaly, Ireland).
L’Aura has appeared on the nationally syndicated television show "Montel Williams" (UPN Network) for the Sylvia Browne Halloween special on October 31, 2006, and “The Morning Show with Mike & Juliet” (Fox Network) in September, 2008. In addition to local cable TV program appearances, L’Aura and the NJGHS were the focus of the Treasure HD Dish Network TV show, “Magnificent Obsessions” in March 2007. She also was interviewed via phone by the BBC (UK network) in July 2007 regarding the "Ghost World" conference she helped organize. She has been a guest on countless AM, FM and Internet radio shows, and local newspapers and E-Zines. L’Aura has worked with paranormal “heavy hitters” Jeff Belanger, John Zaffis, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, and Troy Taylor in the production of various ghost conferences both in New Jersey and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In fact, Belanger decided to do a series of articles for his monthly Ghost Village.com e-newsletter entitled “Women in the Paranormal.” He included L’Aura along with Lorraine Warren, of the ghost hunting duo Ed & Lorraine Warren from Monroe, CT and Donna LaCroix, of the original cast of “Ghost Hunters” on SciFi (now SyFy).
As a paranormal investigator, L’Aura has stayed at the famously haunted Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, LA. Other ghost hunting explorations have taken her to Chicago, Savannah, and New Orleans. Internationally, she’s investigated several Irish haunted castles, most notably Leap Castle (County Offaly, Ireland).
L’Aura has appeared on the nationally syndicated television show "Montel Williams" (UPN Network) for the Sylvia Browne Halloween special on October 31, 2006, and “The Morning Show with Mike & Juliet” (Fox Network) in September, 2008. In addition to local cable TV program appearances, L’Aura and the NJGHS were the focus of the Treasure HD Dish Network TV show, “Magnificent Obsessions” in March 2007. She also was interviewed via phone by the BBC (UK network) in July 2007 regarding the "Ghost World" conference she helped organize. She has been a guest on countless AM, FM and Internet radio shows, and local newspapers and E-Zines. L’Aura has worked with paranormal “heavy hitters” Jeff Belanger, John Zaffis, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, and Troy Taylor in the production of various ghost conferences both in New Jersey and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In fact, Belanger decided to do a series of articles for his monthly Ghost Village.com e-newsletter entitled “Women in the Paranormal.” He included L’Aura along with Lorraine Warren, of the ghost hunting duo Ed & Lorraine Warren from Monroe, CT and Donna LaCroix, of the original cast of “Ghost Hunters” on SciFi (now SyFy).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 24, 2019
I was pretty excited about this one, and then I felt disappointed at the end. I picked this book up at a library book sale because I live in New Jersey, I'm a history nerd, and I love a good ghost story. The book ended up being more like a written out version of Ghost Hunters, which wasn't that bad, really. I had hoped for a little more actual history about each location, but it was an enjoyable read nonetheless. My real complain is that the locations discussed in this book are heavily centered on north Jersey, which I believe is where the author is from, and I'm from south Jersey. I didn't mind hearing about other haunted locations in my state, I was just incredibly disappointed in that there were only two locations discussed in all of south Jersey; the Burlington Prison, and the Cape May Historical Museum. There are sooooo many more places that I can name that are purported to be haunted in south Jersey that deserve attention. Like the Physick Estate in Cape May, which was supposedly so haunted that after the only living relation of the owners passed away, no one was able to live in the house there after and it was turned into a museum, also it has ghost dogs. And the Absecon Lighthouse in Atlantic City. What about the hanger in Lakehurst where the Hindenburg went down? And that's not even touching on all the ghost towns in the Pine Barrens, just google 'new jersey ghost towns'! There's even a wikipedia page dedicated to it. Hell, my father worked out of a haunted building for years in Haddofield. If the author ever revisits this book, I really hope she considers visiting more locations in south Jersey, to provide a more well-rounded book.
December 16, 2017
3.5 stars, rounded down.
Essays on "haunted" places the author has been in New Jersey along with random history of the location, people who live there (past and present), and the people the author visited with.
I was not impressed with the writing and found some sloppy editing. Items would be tossed in without clarification or segue in or out and photographs are sometimes placed randomly.
Central and South New Jersey are woefully under represented.
However, having said all that, I do now want to visit every place mentioned in the book - at least the buildings.
Read: 10/23-27/2017
Essays on "haunted" places the author has been in New Jersey along with random history of the location, people who live there (past and present), and the people the author visited with.
I was not impressed with the writing and found some sloppy editing. Items would be tossed in without clarification or segue in or out and photographs are sometimes placed randomly.
Central and South New Jersey are woefully under represented.
However, having said all that, I do now want to visit every place mentioned in the book - at least the buildings.
Read: 10/23-27/2017
September 21, 2020
It was an interesting read about ghost investigations and haunted houses in New Jersey. I was a bit disappointed in several of the investigations that found no paranormal activity. However, the lack of finding paranormal activities also added to the author’s credibility, as she called it as she saw it and wasn’t making things up. There was also a lot of interesting local history about the buildings being investigated. Many of which were quite old.
August 17, 2022
Some cool ghost stories, but far too much of the author egotistically blathering on about her life and fruitlessly investigating.
July 25, 2011
This is what I read when, after a move, I can't find my unread books and grab one I gave my wife since she loves those ghost hunting type shows. For the record, I'd like to think I am open-minded and not ready to dismiss the concept of ghosts out of hand. That said, I also teach logic (among other things) and this book was a little bothersome. What I would have liked would be a book chronicling various ghost stories, supposedly true, from around my home state. What I got instead was a book where you got a little of that but mostly the minutiae of actual ghost hunting, and even that would be more interesting if it came with better results. The author rarely sees anything except pictures of orbs, which might be more impressive if the glossary in the very beginning of the book didn't say how easy it was for orbs to appear in digital photography and what mundane things they can be and often are (dust, pollen insects, infrared beams from other cameras). So, really, this undermines the whole narrative. Also, rarely are such photos actually included, and none of the more impressive-sounding "full apparition" photos included for some reason, possibly because of a late-mentioned flood in the author's basement. I've seen a really impressive full apparition photo from a friend, and there was nothing like that here.
From there, she managed to hit all my pet peeves about many ghost hunting narratives. If the author fails to find something, then it must be because the ghosts were hiding or something, not because the place might not actually be haunted. If the facts of the historic records don't match the local legend, then the author will stretch things to explain how it could still be true, which is what David Aaronovitch says conspiracy theorists always do in his excellent Voodoo Histories, instead of wonder if something else, even a mundane thing, could be the source of whatever is going on. Psychics are always reliable, even if their findings sound more convenient than anything else. In fact, the author herself claims at one point to be psychic since she once thought to ask if anyone was lactose intolerant before serving dinner to a group of TV producers. If the stories themselves were interesting, and some actually are, this would make up for the fact we mostly get a lot of mundane details that don't seem to have much to do with the supernatural, while always assuming the friend-of-a-friend story is true, with a bad, well, not quite a pun, but some one-liner type thing to end each chapter. There may be a good book about the weird ghost stories in New Jersey, but this one doesn't seem to be it.
From there, she managed to hit all my pet peeves about many ghost hunting narratives. If the author fails to find something, then it must be because the ghosts were hiding or something, not because the place might not actually be haunted. If the facts of the historic records don't match the local legend, then the author will stretch things to explain how it could still be true, which is what David Aaronovitch says conspiracy theorists always do in his excellent Voodoo Histories, instead of wonder if something else, even a mundane thing, could be the source of whatever is going on. Psychics are always reliable, even if their findings sound more convenient than anything else. In fact, the author herself claims at one point to be psychic since she once thought to ask if anyone was lactose intolerant before serving dinner to a group of TV producers. If the stories themselves were interesting, and some actually are, this would make up for the fact we mostly get a lot of mundane details that don't seem to have much to do with the supernatural, while always assuming the friend-of-a-friend story is true, with a bad, well, not quite a pun, but some one-liner type thing to end each chapter. There may be a good book about the weird ghost stories in New Jersey, but this one doesn't seem to be it.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews