Numerous Customers & Employees Report Ghostly Paranormal Activity In Historic 18th Century Hotel — Subscribe To Our RSS News Feed
Thursday, April 24th, 2014
Article By: Phillip Brunelle
www.HauntedSociety.com
SOMERVILLE, NEW JERSEY — Established in 1748, the historic Hotel Somerset in Somerville, NJ is being recognized these days for being more than just a nearly three century old landmark, several customers of McCormick’s Pub, guests staying at the Somerset Hotel, and even the employees and owners of the hotel and pub are saying there have been numerous experiences with paranormal activity throughout the 266-year-old building.
Third generation owner Tom McCormick says customers and residents have reported unexplainable experiences and detailed paranormal activity for many years. “You have to experience it to believe it,” said Tom McCormick, who was once skeptical of ghosts. “You could’ve told me any ghost story imaginable, and I wouldn’t ever believe it,” Tom McCormick continued “But after seeing paranormal activity first-hand, there’s no doubt… it’s haunted.”
People have reported doors opening and slamming shut, hearing footsteps and voices with nobody there, and the ghosts haunting the Somerset Hotel have even known to get up close and personal whispering into people’s ears, many people say they’ve been touched, and some residents and guests staying at this haunted hotel said they’ve been awoken in the middle of the night feeling their feet being tickled.
Another McCormick family member and operator of the family owned business, Shannon McCormick said “One day I was in the back room of the pub changing the soda syrup and I heard someone whisper directly into my ear, saying ‘help me’, and my ear went numb.” Shannon McCormick went onto explain that two hours after this ghostly whisper, her 5-year-old son was interacting with a girl nobody else could see, “it was the ghost of a little girl.”
As the oldest and most continuous running hotel in the United States, you might wonder whose spirit, or spirits, are haunting the Somerset Hotel, and while the possibilities are endless, Tom and Shannon McCormick say they know for sure the spirits of at least three children are haunting the pub and hotel, along with many adult spirits. Shannon McCormick believes the ghosts of two boys, and the ghost of a young girl regularly haunt the hotel. While the exact identities of the ghosts remain a mystery, this 18th century hotel is rich in history and is said to have hosted some historically famous people.
The local history for Somerville, New Jersey indicates that the first President of the United States of America, General George Washington, ate and slept at the Somerset Hotel with his soldiers many times between 1775–1783 while George Washington was serving as Commander-In-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Could it be possible that President Washington and/or his soldiers still exist as spirits and might be responsible for some paranormal activity happening to this day in the haunted Somerset Hotel.? No, Mr. President.. Don’t Tickle My Feet.
The subject of death filled the historically haunted Somerset Hotel in 1926 after the bodies of Eleanor Reinhardt Mills and Edward Wheeler Hall were found murdered, shot to death. The murders didn’t take place in the hotel… But the Hotel Somerset hosted the sequestered jury members during the high profile Hall – Mills murder trial, which ultimately resulted in an acquittal, leaving the murders unsolved to this day… Maybe the frustrated spirits of murder victims Eleanor Mills and Edward Hall spent some time haunting the jurors while they were sequestered in the hotel, and with the case being unresolved, maybe the spirits of Mills and Hall still linger inside the haunted Somerset Hotel today.
Curtis Jones, a long-term resident of the Somerset Hotel in Somerville, New Jersey, says that he’s witnessed many strange things, and experiences paranormal activity nearly every day. “Closet doors are always opening and closing.” Curtis Jones said, “I’ve heard footsteps and strange noises.” At times the ghosts and paranormal activity can seem like a child’s nightmare, and can make you question your sanity, as Curtis Jones also said “There have been times that I’ve seen shadows of people that aren’t there, and I saw some kind of figures or arms that reached up from underneath my bed.”
Turning skeptic-to-believer, the third generation owner of the family business, Tom McCormick began researching the property of the Somerset Hotel. McCormick, uncovered at least six deaths that occurred in the hotel during the 40-years his parents owned and operated the Hotel Somerset.. which includes at least one known suicide, when someone jumped to their death from the top of the hotel many years ago.
Whoever, or whatever, the ghosts and spirits are haunting this old building, the reports of paranormal activity in McCormick’s Pub and the Somerset Hotel appear to suggest playful and attention seeking actions. Maybe they are children’s spirits as Tom and Shannon McCormick believe, or perhaps they’re spirits who have been around for years, desperately attempting to communicate with the living… with one or more spirits looking for help… Just like the whisper that Shannon McCormick heard asking for.
It took 266 years to establish the history of the Somerset Hotel and the mysteries that we call paranormal, and many questions will be answered in time.Until then, may all those who enter this haunted New Jersey hotel bring it’s historic mysteries to life, while making new history by helping these spirits… Leave the closet door open a crack, making it easy for them to slam shut… offer the ghosts a welcoming ear to whisper in… and remember to leave a foot out from under your blankets at night for the children to tickle… or could it be the ghost of a Fondling Foot Fetish Founding Father.?!