The Hermitage

A National Historic Landmark, the Hermitage was the site of Aaron Burr's 1782 marriage to Theodosia Prevost. The property hosted George Washington, James Monroe, Lafayette, and Alexander Hamilton during the Revolutionary War.

The Hermitage's haunted reputation stretches back over a century. In 1917, when Mary Elizabeth "Bess" Rosencrantz opened a tea room in the front parlors, a local newspaper headline within the first month proclaimed "Hohokus Ghost House Becomes Tea Resort." Bess delighted guests with tales of spirits and unexplained occurrences, never imagining she would one day join their ranks.

The property's paranormal activity centers on the Rosencrantz family, who owned the estate from 1807 until 1970. Four generations lived and died within these Gothic Revival walls, and according to mediums and investigators, many never left. The most frequently encountered spirit is Mary Elizabeth Rosencrantz, the last family member to reside here. She was born in the house in 1885 and lived there her entire life until her death in March 1970, when she succumbed to an infection while recovering from severe burns sustained from the coal stove she used to heat the few rooms she could afford to warm.

Five days after Mary Elizabeth's death, her companion Kathryn "Katie" Zahner also passed away at a friend's home. The two had been inseparable for 25 years—Katie had come to live at the Hermitage in 1943 after her previous employer died—and they are buried together in Valleau Cemetery in Ridgewood. Locals reported hearing a woman's voice shouting from the upstairs windows in the years following their deaths, and the ghostly cast of the Hermitage only expanded.

When the Friends of the Hermitage took over the property in 1972 and began major renovations after fifty years of neglect, docents immediately reported strange phenomena. Phantom singing echoed through the empty halls. Piano music drifted from rooms where no piano stood—the original instrument had been shipped to Ringwood Manor. The master bedroom became known for heavy, oppressive energy and the sudden scent of old perfume.

In 2005, during a New Jersey Ghost Hunters Society investigation, a visitor captured what investigators identified as a full-body apparition of a little girl on the front lawn. L'Aura Hladik Hoffman, founder and director of the organization, identified the spirit as Mary Warner Rosencrantz based on a portrait that sometimes hung in the Hermitage showing a girl with shoulder-length curly hair.

Perhaps the most mysterious manifestation is the ghost of an African American woman holding a baby, witnessed emerging from the barn on the property. Her identity remains unknown, though the Hermitage's 163 years of Rosencrantz ownership and earlier history as a Revolutionary War-era plantation leaves many possibilities for who she might have been.

The three primary spirits believed to reside at the Hermitage are Elijah Rosencrantz II (who commissioned the Gothic Revival renovation in 1847), his wife Cornelia "Killie" Livingston Dayton, and their daughter Mary Elizabeth "Bess" Rosencrantz—the same Bess who told ghost stories to tea room patrons a century ago. Phantom footsteps echo in the attic. Objects move on their own. Cold spots appear without explanation.

Today, the Hermitage embraces its supernatural heritage. Medium Craig McManus hosts annual "Psychic Tea" events and ghost tours, particularly during the last week of October. Seances are held regularly, attempting to contact the Rosencrantz family spirits who apparently never stopped entertaining guests at their beloved home. The house that once hosted George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and the Marquis de Lafayette during the Revolutionary War now welcomes visitors seeking connection with its ghostly residents.