Over the years, the Proprietary House has garnered a reputation across Central Jersey for its numerous inhabitants — all of whom happen to be dead.Now, a cable television show is taking those tales national. Prompted by stories of apparitions and things that go bump in the night — and day — the hit SCI FI program "Ghost Hunters" visited Perth Amboy in April to conduct a paranormal investigation of the property. The results will be revealed in an episode entitled "Garden State Ghosts," which airs at 9 tonight and also features an investigation of Clinton Town's Red Mill Museum.
One need only glance at the Proprietary House, an imposing building at 149 Kearny Ave., to imagine what spirits might live inside.
"Our house has been reputed to have ghosts for a very long time now," explained docent and administrative assistant Linda Blomquist. The house was built in 1764 as the official residence of Royal Governor William Franklin, son of Benjamin Franklin.
Blomquist said that Bruce Tango, father of The Atlantic Paranormal Society, or TAPS, member Dave Tango, heard about the building's ghostly past and decided to investigate. It was upon his recommendation that the Rhode Island-based group came to film there.
"They were very professional," said Blomquist of the TAPS crew, which includes founders Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, as well as Tango, Kris Williams, Steve Gonsalves and others. "They were very interested in not only the spiritual part of the house, but the history of the house. That was really nice."
Blomquist said TAPS brought along their usual investigational equipment, including thermometers, electromagnetic field scanners, infrared and night vision cameras, computers, digital video cameras and audio recorders.
"They were diligent in their pursuit of the spirits," she said.
Blomquist guided the team through the house, pointing out specific areas where individuals had experienced encounters with unexplained phenomena.
"It was an elaborate process" that took many hours to complete, she said. On the first night of the investigation, the team was there until 4 a.m. Additional work was completed over several days. Although the schedule was grueling, the TAPS investigators always took their job seriously.
"They put people at ease, and they were very nice," Blomquist said. "We were really happy that they came to the house and that they chose us."
In addition to Blomquist, several other Central Jersey residents were interviewed for the program, including historian Jeff Huber, JoAnne Xidias, Dot Mushinski, Irene Andrechick and Michael MacEwan, all of whom are affiliated with the Proprietary House, and Judy Goldberg, who works with the Jewish Renaissance Foundation, the office of which is located in the building.
"They told anecdotes about what happened to them" inside the house, explained Blomquist.
While she was not at liberty to divulge specific details of the episode, the Proprietary House has a long history of ghost sightings. Among them:
A man said he saw a pair of legs and feet walking up the back staircase to the third floor. When he chased after it and turned the corner to a third-floor landing — where the stairs hit a wall — no one was there. A messenger delivering a package at 5 a.m. claimed that a "little boy in blue" let him into the locked building and showed him to the elevator before heading in the opposite direction.Regardless of which stories and footage are actually shown in the "Ghost Hunters" episode, Blomquist is confident that viewers will not be disappointed.
"You can see it on TV and make your own decisions about it," she said. "(But) the show's story producer says it's going to be a really good episode."