By John Gibbons
If you’re a child of the 70’s, you probably remember the TV commercial. Flashed across your screen was a vampire that sprung to life from a casket, a headless woman, monsters and other assorted ghouls. Creepy pipe organ music blared with the narrator an-nouncing “It’s Alive!”
As a kid arriving to the scene, intima-tion quickly set in. Towering 5 stories high and 200 feet out over the Atlantic was The Brigantine Castle. Maybe it was how the waves seemed angry around the pier. Under it, the water seemed deep, dark and cold. The seagulls didn’t squawk, they shrieked.
Admission was $3.75 and the av-erage tour took 22 minutes through the fi ve-story citadel, if you weren’t running for your life by an axe wielding demon. The “demons” were mostly young college students, a perfect role for a drama major. Dressed as vampires, witches and werewolves with green glow makeup, fake blood and tattered costumes, the actors chased the guests through a dark maze of spe-cial eff ects. Before the season, they spent countless hours preparing new acts, sets and costumes. They kept the guests returning by changing the performances each summer. Success was measured by how many guests could be frightened out of their wits. Among the castle’s most memorable attractions was the rat room, a pitch-black hallway where “man-eating rats” scurried about the fl oor. The rodents were actually garden hoses pushed through holes in the wall with record-ings of shrill squealing and scratching piped in.
Attendance was tremendous when it opened in 1976. The castle was drawing nearly a million tourists annually. This was largely due to the extensive advertising in Philadelphia, North jersey and New York. Charter buses brought visitors by the thousand. While business was good for the castle and nearby businesses like the arcade across the street, island residents soon got tired of the traffi c, vandalism and unruly tourists. The castle facilities were not adequate to handle so many. Kids were knocking on doors asking to use their bathroom. This led to a law suit. Then, in 1984, a fi re at Six Flags Great Adventure hunted house killed 8 children. This brought the castle’s safety to attention. Stricter regulations were imposed and an engineering study found many building code violations. The at-traction was shut down in late 1984. It remained vacant for 3 years. In 1987, the castle was sold for $1 million to a new owner that planned on demolishing the structure and building a recreation facility. Right before it was about to be dismantled, a massive blaze destroyed it, burning The Brigantine Castle to the ground. The new owner could not build on the damaged pier foundation. All that remained on the North 14th street beach were the burnt pilings, which were even-tually removed or covered with sand. Perhaps it’s the demise of the castle that adds to the legend.
