Brigantine Castle Online: Emails 2011

If you would like your memory of the castle posted on our page, please email it to us at webmaster@darkinthepark.com

FROM/DATE	CONTENT
10/29/11	The castle left a lasting impression on me!! It was definitely scary. I remember getting to the top and the actor tells the group to go into the pitch dark, narrow but long room and you hear rat notices and all these rubber hoses were hitting your legs. I will never forget the Castle!
10/15/11	My family and I relocated to Brigantine in 1980. My dad was a traveling master electrician so we moved around a lot. We all LOVED living in Brigantine for the 2 years we were there. One weekend our family went to The Brigantine Castle. I was 10 years old at the time. I remember being ushered into a dimly lit room full of other visitors. I dont recal there being any furniture but I was shorter than most. All I could see were the large old timey pictures on the wall. They were spooky looking. Then they shut the doors behind us and I hung onto my dad with all my might. After waiting a few moments, the room grew quiet as we wondered what was about to happen. So here we are in a dark room, quiet and I can't see anything except the bodies of the other people and the pictures on the wall. I swore I could have seen the largest picture of what appeared to be a vampire, move. As I started to tell my dad the man in the picture jumped out!!!
10/8/11 Bob Keubler Tabernacle, NJ	Somehow I stumbled across this site... Wow, brings back a lot of childhood memories. My grandmother had a house in Brigantine and every summer, when we were down, we would go to the castle after a great beach day. I remember being so scared going through the haunted house, walking over people under glass, the rat tails against your legs, crooked rooms, just being scared to death. I remember holding onto my sister's shirt at the start of the haunted house, closing my eyes because I was so scared. I remember this huge whale bone on the pier, the games, and just thinking that it was so cool to walk that far out over the water. The Castle was the highlight of my Brigantine visits, and just could not wait to get there.
9/23/11	I don’t remember what year it was that my ex-husband and I were there, but it was pretty scary for me. I didn’t like haunted houses anymore then than I do now, but my ex and I went to visit some friends in Philadelphia. They all wanted to go to the castle, so off we went. We got to the Island and to me the castle at the beginning of the pier was bad enough, but to go in, that was even worse. I remember standing in line and the mirrors talking to us while we waited to buy the tickets. Then when we went into the portrait room, the main thing you see is the portrait of Dracula over the fireplace. I stood behind my ex-husband, hiding, and told those I was with that that was not a portrait, but a real person. They told me I was wrong, but I insisted. We waited until the door was closed, then there was a loud bang when Dracula stepped out of the picture and onto the mantel of the fireplace. I said to them, “I told you.” Before Dracula started with his usual talk, he looked at me and told me to come around in front of my ex. I shook my head no, and he said, “Would you like me to come down there and put you in front of him.” I really quickly moved in front of my ex, and Dracula went on and told us what he was supposed to. Some of the other things I remember is the Hall of Rats, the person you had to walk over that was dead under the floor, the bottomless cavern you had to walk across, the nagging wife that had her head cut off and carried to the fence post, the woman or man that walked around with the big knife and slammed it into the wall above a person’s head, trying to scare them. There was other things also, but those are the main things that I remember. There was another story that I remember, that is in the hall just before all the rats, it was pitch black, there were three French girls just in front of my ex-husband. While they were scrunched really close together, my ex bent down and touched the calf of the girl just in front of him. She jumped so bad we thought she was going to climb over everyone in front of her to get out of there. It was funny, but I still didn’t like going through the castle.
9/22/11 Nancy Wright	I used to go to Sea Horse Pier on Fri or Sat nights when the band “No Strings Attached” were playing there on the boardwalk. My brother, Carl Wright, guitarist in the band let me ride with him and I often drove home, I was only 14 at the time and learned then how to navigate the Cardiff and Race Track circles. I still have a pic of the band playing there. The other members were Frank Barbetto, Joe Siccone and Joe Barbragallo. I spent many Sat nights chatting with the palm reader on the little boardwalk while my brother’s band was playing. It was safe back then, I was completely alone and never had a worry for safety. Those were the days!!!
8/30/11 Lou	brings back many memories... My sister and brother used to walk to the castle when we were small. My dad lived a few blocks down and I have many memories still to this day. I was about ten years old. I remember a pretty witch would try to put me on ritz crackers... like eat me alive. She was at the entrance and there was a gypsy that told your fortune and I think her eyes lit and lips chattered. It was a nickel or quarter and behind a glass display. Does any one remember this? I would love more info or pictures of the most famous haunted castle of all time.
8/18/11 Craig	My family used to vacation here every summer. The pier and castle were the highlights. Very cool picture of south side of castle. THE PICTURE IS ME AND MY OLDER BROTHER. It blew us away when we saw us and my dad's station wagon.
8/11/11 Ed Cacace	I lived in Toms River, New Jersey from 1970 to 1983 and I remember the commercials on TV. for the Brigantine Castle. My brother and I always wanted to go but our parents would never take us there. Our older half brothers and sister were able to drive themselves up to Brigantine and they would come back with cool stories about the trek through the castle and the parties they went to afterwards with the locals. Eventually we moved out of state but I always meant to go back to at least get through the castle once but never got the chance. I was sad to hear a few years ago that the Castle was closed down only a year or so after we moved and eventually burnt up in a fire. Oh well...it's a missed opportunity for me and a shame for the owners of the castle and the town of Brigantine. I'm sure with the castle being as popular as it was back in the day, must of brought some good revenue to that area of the Jersey shore. Revenue they are surely missing now.
7/18/11 Jim	Where can I begin? No air conditioning inside, the greasiest pizza I ever ate and the green-heads were torture, but the place instilled in me a sense of belonging. Creepy as that may sound, it’s where I needed to be. Made many friends while I worked there in the early 80’s, a few of which I still keep in touch, some of which I know not where and those who have passed on sometimes meet me in my dreams. Standing on the top floor of the castle you could feel the building slightly swaying when hit by wind and waves crashing against the pier, interrupted by fellow ghouls chasing a group of frightened girls up the stairs and in to the sacrifice room. Most every night we would hit the Beach Bar and carry on for a few more hours afterwards, then back to the castle the next day for another round of double shifts and mayhem. Such good memories and so much fun! I would do it again in a heartbeat!
5/31/11 Mark	...just a quick note to say thanks for preserving the memory of the castle. Brigantine and AC were a big part of my life as a kid. We lived in Philly, but my dad bought a shore home on 45th Cove, and and every chance I had, I rode my bike to the north end. Awesome pics, movies and sounds. Thanks again for the stroll down memory lane :)
5/26/11	Hey, thanks for your site...that place is a very fond childhood memory of mine. We would vacation in Avalon and I was always dying to go. It scared the living hell out of me- I'm embarrassed to say I actually had to bail out! My dad took me out of a side exit or something. (I was very small.) Thanks again!
3/28/11	I grew up in Brigantine, NJ as a child and the Brigantine castle was a vivid memory in my childhood!! I went there all the time and it was soooo much fun...I will never forget it, I only wish my kids could have gone through it and had as much fun as I did when I was young!!
2/17/11 Gerald	I absolutely LOVE your web page & just wanted to thank you for making it. It really brings back a flood of memories from a time I consider to be among the most special in my life. As a 10 year old kid, my father worked in a lounge band at then Resorts International in AC, NJ. I spent my summers there from 1981 to 1983. On his days off we'd cruise around/do stuff. I visited Brigantine Castle just once, but it left a lasting impression. When I reached legal gambling age in 1992 & revisited AC, I was disappointed to see not only how much things had changed, (because everything changes) but I rented a car specifically to visit Brigantine and was sad to learn the castle was totally gone. Your web page is one of the only I can find covering 1980's AC area history. I can't find anything about the Boardwalk in the early 80's, all the video game arcades, various restaurants, shops, etc. Your web page is a real treasure, PLEASE, never take it down! Thanks!