The ghosts of Atlantic City's Resorts Hotel

There are some psychic researchers who believe that ghosts are house specific as opposed to land specific. They maintain that a stretch of land that houses so many new buildings, a stretch such as the Atlantic City Boardwalk casino area, just doesn't have the necessary ingredients for entertaining ghosts or entertaining ghost tales.

Well, behind the exterior walls of some of our beautiful casinos are buildings with real histories - and interesting ghost stories as well. Obviously I can't vouch for the validity of the tales I am about to share with you, but if you like fun ghost stories, hang onto your lantern and enter the dark world of Atlantic City's spirits.

The very first casino to open in Atlantic City was Resorts International. But the building Resorts used to gain a foothold in the land of Lady Luck, was actually built in the 1868 as the Chalfonte Hotel. This hotel was moved twice to get it closer to the water.

In 1903, the Chalfonte merged with the Haddon-Hall building to form the Chalfonte-Haddon-Hall Hotel. And that was when the first ghosts were recorded.

This one thousand room hotel was 15 stories high and the top floors were constantly felt by the guests to have areas of supreme cold — a signal of the presence of ghosts. Although the building was brick and steel, it seemed to move with the wind, which also was heard to howl through the halls.

Some psychic researchers, who would not allow me to name them, say that those winds and howls can be heard to this day. If you ride the elevators you will sometimes hear knocks and pings of — as one ghoulish expert stated — "that sound like the knocks and pings of a disincarnate spirit trying to escape." What is this spirit trying to escape? I have no idea, nor does anyone else.

During World War II soldiers were quartered in the building, which had become a hospital as well. There is talk that many a night ghosts of hospitalized air corps men have been seen walking the hallways of Resorts and some have even entered the hotel-registration areas. Although some areas of Resorts were knocked down in 1980 to make room for a parking lot, enough of the old building remains to make a good environment for many spirits and infernal nocturnal manifestations.

The casino has also had its share of spectral anomalies, like the wraith in the Charlie Chaplin "Little Hobo" costume who hangs around the darkest area of the casino, flipping his hat at passers-by. Only a fraction of a percent of passers-by catch a glimpse of the movement and an even smaller number really see the ghost.

One former Resorts dealer stated, "I saw him. He seemed to notice people but only a few of the people ever noticed him. Some people just thought he was an entertainer and many smiled and just walked by him."

There are also a spectral bride and groom who are occasionally seen on the second floor where Resorts restaurants can be found. These two only have eyes for each other and they walk through walls strolling arm-in-arm smiling into each others' pale faces. Who are they? Why are they walking the property? Again no one seems to know.

On the beach outside of the casino are many cats and early in morning, as the sun is coming up over the horizon to herald the start of day, a woman all in black walks the sand just beyond the Boardwalk and you know she is there when you hear a multitude of cats meowing. She looks as if she is feeding the cats.

Perhaps the strangest visions in the Resorts area are those of children, some very young. Glowing nurses can be seen wheeling children in ghostly carriages and wheel chairs. Young boys and girls slowly walk outside the front of the hotel, many being helped by nurses in uniform. This seems to have its zenith near the valet parking. These spectral children will often just disappear in a puff of pale light. Some of these children look dazed and confused; others look sad; some look hostile and angry. Where do they come from and why are they there? Who are these children?

Are these ghosts really real? Does Resorts have a lingering population of the spirits of the dead who have not gone to their eternal rewards? Or are these but "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury / signifying nothing" as Shakespeare's Macbeth said?

Real or imagined? True or fictional? You'll have to make that decision.