Commerical for Brigantine Castle--Seaside Haunted House Attraction in Brigantine, N.J.

Brigantine Castle burned down in 1987.

Cardboard masonry is not recommended if you are going to build a castle.

Even if that castle is in New Jersey.

I used to be so tortured by this commercial, which used to run (if memory serves) on the New York channels (11 and 9 in the Harrisburg area). Because I wanted to go here. I was a kid, not yet a teenager, when these commercials were run the most frequently. By 1987, the date of the castle's demise, it was long out of my mind of course.

I never got there, but my friend Chris did. So I made him relive the whole experience for me step by step. And it sucked. Because Chris wasn't a great storyteller. I think you had to be there. If Chris was your "eyes and ears." Because, otherwise, you were getting a crap story. Good thing Chris didn't live in Bibical times and witness Jesus. Or it would be something like "Some guy said some things. I forget."

At one point, Channel 11's logo was the WTC towers (which could easily be seen as the number 11).

Yes, these commercials are totally corny.

But this was before MTV, and--if I'm recalling correctly--before virtually every town in America began having those annual walk-through haunted houses.

So it was competing with fair and amusement park haunted attractions, which were often nothing more than a bunch of Halloween masks on mannequins and plywood painted with blacklight-reactive monsters.

So real actors and a large structure---that held promise for the young fans of scary movies and the rest.

Here's another commercial. Which is probably an earlier one.



And here's a video for another NJ haunted attraction.





I found the comment chain on this video very informative...

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Great Adventure had the Haunted Castle which burned May 11, 1984. It was a one story attraction with trailers but quite large. That incident is what caused many dark rides to close including Brigantine Castle. However, the Haunted Mansion operated through 1986 and the Castle Dracula at Nickels Midway Pier, Wildwood through 2001. They both burned, in June 1987, and Jan 2002.
rwk360 2 years ago
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Hmmm...I wonder why these awesome attractions burned to the ground? Brigantine Castle was awesome. But today, all we have in our areas are Haunted castle attractions that are open during the Halloween season only such as Eastern State Penitentiary. They should bring Brigantine castle, The Haunted Mansion in Long Branch, and the rest that we loved years ago WITH FIRE EXITS AND EXTINGUISHERS...what a shame!
mrmoore1970 2 years ago
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Wow. I totally forgot about this. I always wanted to go, but if the family was going to take a trip to NJ from Long Island when I was a kid, it would be to Great Adventure instead (which was fine by me). My parents are not haunted mansion types. :-)
EarlSnohomish 3 years ago 3
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LOL! My cousins and younger sisters were wimps, so few of my family members who had some backbone went to the Haunted Mansion and Brigantine Castle (near Atlantic City, NJ). They should bring back tourists attraction like this, and not just for Halloween!
mrmoore1970 3 years ago

Top Comments

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Hi, I was one of the actors from the Haunted Mansion and played many different roles however I did Norman Bates more then most. I totally enjoyed having the opportunity of having a professional paid actors job. I enjoyed my exhibit and would keep totally still. customers would come by in packs saying "aww he ain't real" He is a wax figure. And just when they all breathed a sigh of relied I would scare the shit out of them all. lmao..Those were the days man!
hugatag 1 year ago 8


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@mrmoore1970 most likely " Insurance Jobs" due to failing business..seems like there is always a FIRE that wrecks a number of boardwalk places in NJ every year..usually in September or October when business is off and nobody is around
captmunson 2 months ago
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This commercial used to scare the HELL outta me when I was 10 (summer of '78).
Krazy3912 4 months ago
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What a shame we don't have stuff like this anymore. We live in such an awful time where everyone is living in their cellphone world, unaware of anyone or anything around them.
73dodge 4 months ago
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WOW thanks for the post damn that brings back memories.my parents had to drag me by both arms into that place i was about 7 they got off on torturing me it was a fun time for all.since the loss of the pier long branch was never the same. i always thought the soundtrack that played outside of it was creepy as shit i believe that music was from the classic movie fantastic island
tasteegold777 6 months ago
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was at great adventure that day of fire went to see golden earing concert cancelled concert but gave out free passes to come back
BIGMAN201939 8 months ago
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i went there , it was fun.Thank you for posting this clip.
gocal777 10 months ago
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@rwk360 I remember this attraction when I was a kid! I also remember Great Adventures' Haunted Castle burning in the 80s myself. Ironically I was there approximately two years before the incident.
memyself2k 1 year ago

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I was there in 1979 and it was so scary I walked out. Now I wish I had stayed on for the rest of the tour, Now I'll never know what the rest of it was like?
shibainuwalker 1 year ago
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@mrmoore1970 i was on my way in to the great adventure house when we saw the flames if i was ten mins sooner i dont think id be here now
eubanky2112 1 year ago
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@rwk360 I went through it, I remember exit signs every 10 feet, how did those kids die?
vgyu8gf68 1 year ago