How New Jersey’s Brigantine Castle Revolutionized Haunted Houses Before Vanishing Forever

The United States was awash in red, white, and blue in 1976 as the country celebrated its bicentennial with television specials, parades, and historical reenactments that kept patriotism at a fever pitch. Queen Elizabeth II and President Gerald Ford paid visits to Philadelphia, home of Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed, and that same year Philly native Carmen J. Ricci opened an attraction on the New Jersey coastline that shocked and delighted summer revelers, inspired imitators, and elevated haunted house design for generations to come.

Seahorse Pier was a 460-foot-long wooden boardwalk extending into the Atlantic Ocean from Brigantine, New Jersey, featuring a restaurant, game room, kiddie rides, and fishing. After a 1962 storm destroyed much of the pier, it was left in ruins for over a decade until Ricci purchased it in 1975 for $90,000. Ricci was no stranger to the Jersey coast. He grew up vacationing there, his parents owned businesses in Seaside, and a recent visit to the boardwalk at Point Pleasant Beach confirmed his mission: What the Eastern Seaboard needed was some good old-fashioned terror.