Burnt Mill Road Ghost

For over fifty years in Atco, New Jersey there is a rite of passage that many of the teens in this small town have participated in. It involves a haunted road that dead ends at the Pine Barrens. *

The following story like most ghost lore is part rumor and part true haunting.

Burnt Mills Road

For decades Burnt Mill Road has been considered haunted by a pale little boy dribbling a basketball. It is said that one Christmas night many decades ago this boy was playing with his new ball when it rolled out into the middle of the road.

A drunk driver not seeing him struck him. This driver then headed toward a dead end, he was forced to turn around and head back passing the small body of the boy he had just killed.

Since many witnesses have seen the apparition of this boy along this road. The youth of the town, since the 1950s drive out to Burnt Mill in hopes of catching a glimpse of this sad ghost.

From the way, this apparition behaves when cars drive along this road the locals feel he is trying to find the man who hit him. As a result, there are several rules that people are encouraged to follow to increase their chances of seeing this ghost.

One must drive to the end of the road and turn their car around as if they are about to head back. They then must turn off their car engine and lights and exit their car. It is said this is when the ghost will appear.

Most witness sightings have happened after dark for this is when the accident occurred.

Burnt Mills Road Dead End

After one young man exited his car, he spotted the apparition walking toward him, but it was if the boy was, “walking in place” for the ghost never reached where he stood. Another account states this ghost just sat down next to the witnesses’ car and didn’t move—as if dejected that they weren’t who he was looking for.

A common description of this ghost includes the fact this boy is still seen dribbling his basketball.

One group that went out looking on a misty night gave up when nothing happened but when they reentered their car and turned on the ignition a figure of a small child broke through the fog. As they left in a panic, this low-lying fog swirled around behind them faster and faster.

Most witnesses who have seen this ghost are not ashamed to admit they were frightened and left Burnt Mill Road quickly.

*  The Pine Barrens are known for the Jersey Devil and other specters.

Ghost with a Sweet Tooth

Reader’s Digest has some wonderful first-person accounts of people who have encountered ghosts. Two female neighbors shared the following story.

These two women had something in common—their homes shared a poltergeist. This type of entity is known to move objects around, and these neighbors experienced this on a daily basis.

This poltergeist was very playful, and the two women named him Billy.

They often came home to find items in weird places. Milk cartons were moved to cupboards, toilet paper was found in the refrigerator, and laundry detergent was found dissolved in the bathtub.

One day the two women greeted each other on their back porches. Both were hunting for their lost milk. They discovered the gallons on the steps by their feet.

Both women joked Billy had a “sweet tooth,” for every morning they found their sugar bowls empty.

The two women would talk to Billy. When one would become frustrated, they would demand he go bother their neighbor for a while. This worked for the two would call each other to say, “Thanks a lot” because Billy had pulled some new mischief in their home.

Billy was active the whole time these two women were neighbors. No one believed them when they mentioned Billy—not even their husbands.

Their relatives and friends would often see the result of Billy’s impish ways, but they always made excuses—it couldn’t possibly be the ghost the two women knew shared their homes.

Reader’s Digest shared this story from a Reddit thread.

Doherty Hotel: Speakeasy Murder

Doherty Hotel

Located in Clare, Michigan the Doherty opened in 1924. During prohibition, this hotel was the place to be, it offered alcohol, loose women, and gambling.

With this illegal activity came two competing gangs for the profit it offered. 

Michigan’s notorious Purple Gang ran illegal booze across the Canadian border, and Carl Jack Livingston, a business associate of this organized crime family, lived in the hotel.

His cousin, Isaiah Leebove, was the attorney for the gang. These two men owned Mammoth Oil Company together. The group used this business to launder their ill-gotten profits.

The two men got in a dispute over land Leebove owned. The cousins quarreled over whether they would drill for oil or not on this 45-acre lot.

As this disagreement escalated, Livingston became paranoid that Leebove had aligned himself with the competing New York crime syndicate, headed by Meyer Lansky. He believed his cousin was working with Lansky to put a contract out to kill him.

On the night of May 16, 1938, Livingston approached the table where Leebove and his girlfriend were eating dinner in the hotel. He shot and killed his cousin in cold blood.

A newspaper report about murder.

Livingston pled “temporary insanity” at his trial, and the jury acquitted him. Despite this, he did land in a northern Michigan institution where he died of a drug overdose in 1948.

One ghost that haunts the Doherty Hotel is Isaiah Leebove. His dark entity is seen from the hotel lobby to the upper floors, he is also seen in the Tap Room where he was murdered so heartlessly.

The owners, their guests, visitors, and hotel employees all report unusual encounters. A dark figure is seen in the hallways, and guests hear knocking on their bedroom doors. When they open it, no one is there. As well as many witnesses reporting hearing unexplained noises.

Pitt Union’s Prima Ballerina

Schenley Hotel 1900

Several ghosts haunt the University of Pittsburgh located in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of these stories I find especially compelling, it is about a Russian ballerina.

Today the student union, William Pitt Union, is located in once was a former hotel called the Schenley. The ghost that resides in this building is connected to the Tansky Family Lounge or the Red Room, which is located on the first floor just to the left of the entrance—at one time it was the hotel lobby.

The Red Room is still used today as a lounge with comfortable couches and chairs. Legend states early in the 20^th century this space was connected to a tragedy.

Tansky Family Lounge once hotel lobby.

The Schenley Hotel, being one of Pittsburgh’s finest, hosted the Russian National Ballet when they kicked off their American tour in this northeastern city.

The troops prima ballerina exhausted from all the travel fell asleep in the lobby and missed the premiere performance. The furious company director announced that for the rest of the tour the young understudy whom had performed that night in her stead would have the role for the rest of the tour.

The devastated prima ballerina then took her own life in the area near the lounge. Even though this tale is tragic the spirit of this ballerina, which still resides in the Red Room is fondly known as a “helping ghost.”

If a student falls asleep in the Red Room it is stated the prima ballerina wakes them up—it is as if she knows they will be late for something important. Students state she prevented them from being late for exams, classes, meetings, appointments etc.

Now that is my kind of ghost . . .

Forbes Avenue side of William Pitt Union