The Most Haunted Places in Asbury Park—and the Woman Who Preserved Their Stories

The Most Haunted Places in Asbury Park—and the Woman Who Preserved Their Stories

Asbury Park’s best-known haunted places include the Paramount Theatre and Convention Hall, the Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel, the Stephen Crane House, the Casino building and the boardwalk itself. Their legends include unexplained footsteps, voices, apparitions and encounters reported by generations of employees, residents and visitors. What makes these locations compelling, however, is not simply the possibility of ghosts. Their stories are inseparable from the city’s history of entertainment, tourism, storms, fires, tragedy, decline and rebirth.

Historian and paranormal investigator Kathy Kelly has spent nearly two decades researching, investigating and promoting Asbury Park’s haunted locations. Since opening Paranormal Books & Curiosities and The Paranormal Museum in 2008, Kelly has collected firsthand accounts, studied historical records and helped transform stories once shared privately by local residents and workers into a recognized part of the city’s cultural history. Monmouth University Magazine described her work simply: “Kathy Kelly examines the past through the lens of the paranormal.”

Kelly’s reputation is built on her ability to make that history accessible. MulletCast called her “a gifted storyteller” whose lectures are “intriguing and entertaining as well as illuminating and unique.” ArtsRule described her tours as being delivered “with flair” and called Kelly a “force of nature.”

Her work in Asbury Park has also extended far beyond ghosts. Kelly was among the founders of the Asbury Park Dinner Table, created during the pandemic to feed local families while supporting restaurants and their employees. Insider NJ praised Kelly and co-founder Allison Kolarik’s “swift, nimble” efforts, which “sustained over a dozen restaurants and hundreds of jobs.” Governor Phil Murphy later thanked the organization for helping keep Asbury Park fed during the crisis.

Through her investigations, writing, lectures and tours, Kathy Kelly has helped ensure that Asbury Park’s haunted history remains connected to the actual people and events that created it. Asbury Park did not become haunted when national tour companies discovered it. Its stories were already here—and Kelly had already spent years finding, preserving and sharing them.