Castle Dracula was the best haunted house EVER...even though I was too scared to go in as a kid. The year I wanted to go in was the year it burned down.
Sean Gallagher if you ever went through brigantine, I’m sure you change your mind ! It was the only one I knew where you got to go to the top, and back down again! Castle Dracula was good, but no match for brigantine..
Here’s a Fun Fact for Castle Dracula! The audio track for the Dracula animatronic was made by Creative Engineering, the ones who produces animated shows like Reginald J. Flootsnoot, The Wizard of Oz (features Tin Man, Scarecrow and the Bad Tree) and The Rock-afire Explosion for ShowBiz Pizza Place!
In NJ there was also the infamous Haunted House at Long Branch which had some of the spookiest tv commercials I remember. Like Brigantine Castle and Dracula's Castle it was also a haunted house that was by the beach on a boardwalk and unfortunately, just like Brigantine and Dracula's Castle, it also burned down. Some kind of spooky coincidence or are haunted houses on the boardwalk just cursed in the garden state ? It's a real shame. Now the only haunted attractions left in the NY/NJ area the seasonal Halloween-time big productions that happen in NYC like Bane, Blood Manor, and I Cant See. If you live closer to the Philly area there's Terror Behind the Walls at the abandoned Eastern St Penitentiary. And of course, i cant forget to also mention Headless Horseman Haunted Hayrides, annually one of the best haunted attractions in the NY/NJ area! But that is strictly if you don't mind a very long drive getting there and also coming back, since it's in upstate NY past Poughkeepsie. You have to plan your whole day around going there and most likely get a reservation at a nearby hotel or motel to sleep overnight. But no matter how all those aforementioned fall attractions are, they'll never be able to compare to spending a pleasant summer along the boardwalk by the NJ shore with family or with your significant other and getting your pants scared off by walking into one of those big boardwalk haunted houses.
It's a real shame that non-seasonal scare attractions are basically a thing of the past. My guess is that it wasn't cost effective enough to have a hired cast of actors working all year. I did get to go to some of them as a kid in the 90s, most notably dracula's castle and skull kingdom and i remember thinking they werent pulling in as many guests as you'd think they'd need to. I think the general public just wasnt interested enough in doing something in the summer that is generally associated with the halloween season, because scare attractions are everywhere then and people have so many options if they wait until the prime season. Just my guess as to why its not much of a thing anymore. There are still a handful of year-round haunted walkthroughs in big tourist areas like pigeon forge and obviously at some amusement piers and theme parks but none of them are focused on live actors or high level scares. Its unfortunate, but even these i feel are endangered now due to the pandemic. Let's hope the nightmare is over soon so we can preserve whats left and also keep having the scare seasons every fall!
Wildwood has two - TWO - haunted houses now. Dante’s Dungeon and Ignus Fatuus. They have a boat ride - The Pirates of Wildwood. In the early 80s, each pier had like two of them!
@@ElleCee62978 Yeah, Wildwood was once THE haven of classic dark rides even up to the late 90s. Pirates of Wildwood was wayy better as Dark River, and Morey's also had Jersey Junkyard, Casa Macabra, that mummy walkthrough, and Chamber of Checkers or w/e it was called and other stuff. Then you also had Castle Dracula and the Dungeon Boat Ride, and the dark rides that were right on the boardwalk such as Den of Lost Thieves and Zombie World even if those were the worst ones 😂 But its crazy to think just how many there once was, and now there are two/three..
@@RoadsideExplorers Den of Lost Thieves was pretty good. Casa Macabra and Jersey Junkyard were meh, so were the others that you mentioned on Wild Wheels (now Adventure Pier). I never did Zombie World. Dante’s Inferno was great (at least the artwork was). The Wacky Shack on Hunt’s was phenomenal as was The Skua, Golden Nugget, Keystone Kops, and even Jungleland. The Lost World on Fun was meh, but my parents raved about the Crazy House. I was too little for them. Sportland had Dr. Blood’s House of Horrors - again, I was only 5 when Sportland shut down, 31 when they finally tore it down. Casino had Mars, which tragically killed 3 kids.
@@ElleCee62978 I got to at least experience Hunt's when it was Dinosaur Beach in '98 and Castle Dracula which was one of the best haunted attractions ever, along with the boat ride. I remember how that section of the boardwalk with Nickel's Pier, the looming castle and Mariner's across from it had a magical unique feeling about it that stuck out in my mind and it was the first thing that comes to mind when I think about the memories of my handful of trips to Wildwood in the 90s. I can only imagine what it was like the 80s and earlier when you had all that and Hunt's Pier and Morey's at it's peak..
@@RoadsideExplorers Hunt’s was by far the better experience then. I was only 10 in ‘88, but Hunt’s had imagination. Castle Dracula and its Dungeon was incredible. I hate that it burned.
I could of sworn that there was a Frankenstein Castle at the Jersey shore. In the front sat a giant Frankenstein monster. I believe the attraction was a ride. Never heard what happened to it.
They are grown men now and probably moved on from their mistake. But they forever destroyed a classic haunted attraction and robbed all future generations and visitors of it.
It was torn down for freaking timeshares. Now I believe there is only one haunted attraction left in Orlando/Kissimmee area outside of Walt Disney World, the former Grimm House in Old Town, now Mortem Manor. Terror on Church Street in Orlando closed down as well.
COLEY FOLEY REMEMBERS: THAT "MINI-GOLF" AT "BRIGANTINE"... HAHAHA! (AND ONCE TOTALLY FUCKIN FELL ASLEEP DURING THAT FUCKIN BORING-ASS BOAT RIDE UNDER "CASTLE DRACULA"... HAHAHA!)
Castle Dracula was the best haunted house EVER...even though I was too scared to go in as a kid. The year I wanted to go in was the year it burned down.
Sean Gallagher if you ever went through brigantine, I’m sure you change your mind ! It was the only one I knew where you got to go to the top, and back down again! Castle Dracula was good, but no match for brigantine..
Sean Gallagher Every year we went to Wildwood I was there. I love the castle and I love the dungeon. I wish it was still there.
I waited all year to go on vacation to go to Dracula’s Castle. I love it
Wildwood isn't the same without castle dracula. I miss the castle.
Here’s a Fun Fact for Castle Dracula! The audio track for the Dracula animatronic was made by Creative Engineering, the ones who produces animated shows like Reginald J. Flootsnoot, The Wizard of Oz (features Tin Man, Scarecrow and the Bad Tree) and The Rock-afire Explosion for ShowBiz Pizza Place!
Thank you, for the part on castle Dracula. Wildwood sucks without it.
49:26 is when the walked to Mack's Pizza- the best slice on the Wildwood Boardwalk still to this day.
In NJ there was also the infamous Haunted House at Long Branch which had some of the spookiest tv commercials I remember. Like Brigantine Castle and Dracula's Castle it was also a haunted house that was by the beach on a boardwalk and unfortunately, just like Brigantine and Dracula's Castle, it also burned down. Some kind of spooky coincidence or are haunted houses on the boardwalk just cursed in the garden state ? It's a real shame.
Now the only haunted attractions left in the NY/NJ area the seasonal Halloween-time big productions that happen in NYC like Bane, Blood Manor, and I Cant See. If you live closer to the Philly area there's Terror Behind the Walls at the abandoned Eastern St Penitentiary. And of course, i cant forget to also mention Headless Horseman Haunted Hayrides, annually one of the best haunted attractions in the NY/NJ area! But that is strictly if you don't mind a very long drive getting there and also coming back, since it's in upstate NY past Poughkeepsie. You have to plan your whole day around going there and most likely get a reservation at a nearby hotel or motel to sleep overnight.
But no matter how all those aforementioned fall attractions are, they'll never be able to compare to spending a pleasant summer along the boardwalk by the NJ shore with family or with your significant other and getting your pants scared off by walking into one of those big boardwalk haunted houses.
It's a real shame that non-seasonal scare attractions are basically a thing of the past. My guess is that it wasn't cost effective enough to have a hired cast of actors working all year. I did get to go to some of them as a kid in the 90s, most notably dracula's castle and skull kingdom and i remember thinking they werent pulling in as many guests as you'd think they'd need to. I think the general public just wasnt interested enough in doing something in the summer that is generally associated with the halloween season, because scare attractions are everywhere then and people have so many options if they wait until the prime season. Just my guess as to why its not much of a thing anymore. There are still a handful of year-round haunted walkthroughs in big tourist areas like pigeon forge and obviously at some amusement piers and theme parks but none of them are focused on live actors or high level scares. Its unfortunate, but even these i feel are endangered now due to the pandemic. Let's hope the nightmare is over soon so we can preserve whats left and also keep having the scare seasons every fall!
Yes, you are right.
Wildwood has two - TWO - haunted houses now. Dante’s Dungeon and Ignus Fatuus. They have a boat ride - The Pirates of Wildwood. In the early 80s, each pier had like two of them!
@@ElleCee62978 Yeah, Wildwood was once THE haven of classic dark rides even up to the late 90s. Pirates of Wildwood was wayy better as Dark River, and Morey's also had Jersey Junkyard, Casa Macabra, that mummy walkthrough, and Chamber of Checkers or w/e it was called and other stuff. Then you also had Castle Dracula and the Dungeon Boat Ride, and the dark rides that were right on the boardwalk such as Den of Lost Thieves and Zombie World even if those were the worst ones 😂 But its crazy to think just how many there once was, and now there are two/three..
@@RoadsideExplorers Den of Lost Thieves was pretty good. Casa Macabra and Jersey Junkyard were meh, so were the others that you mentioned on Wild Wheels (now Adventure Pier). I never did Zombie World.
Dante’s Inferno was great (at least the artwork was). The Wacky Shack on Hunt’s was phenomenal as was The Skua, Golden Nugget, Keystone Kops, and even Jungleland. The Lost World on Fun was meh, but my parents raved about the Crazy House. I was too little for them.
Sportland had Dr. Blood’s House of Horrors - again, I was only 5 when Sportland shut down, 31 when they finally tore it down.
Casino had Mars, which tragically killed 3 kids.
@@ElleCee62978 I got to at least experience Hunt's when it was Dinosaur Beach in '98 and Castle Dracula which was one of the best haunted attractions ever, along with the boat ride. I remember how that section of the boardwalk with Nickel's Pier, the looming castle and Mariner's across from it had a magical unique feeling about it that stuck out in my mind and it was the first thing that comes to mind when I think about the memories of my handful of trips to Wildwood in the 90s. I can only imagine what it was like the 80s and earlier when you had all that and Hunt's Pier and Morey's at it's peak..
@@RoadsideExplorers Hunt’s was by far the better experience then. I was only 10 in ‘88, but Hunt’s had imagination. Castle Dracula and its Dungeon was incredible. I hate that it burned.
I could of sworn that there was a Frankenstein Castle at the Jersey shore. In the front sat a giant Frankenstein monster. I believe the attraction was a ride. Never heard what happened to it.
Yes, your right. I don't know what happened to it either. I believe it was in wildwood also.
Frankenstein castle was down the boardwalk from castle dracula on fun peir it burned down in the early 80,s
Yes in wildwood I believe it also burnt down
It was on Fun Pier. It burned down August 13. 1984.
@@ElleCee62978 so sad , I was hoping it just closed down not burn down like all the others.
Spooky world Berlin mass America's first Halloween theme park such amazing place r.i p Berlin mass
Wonder where those 2 punks who.burned down Dracula's Castle are now. Did they have to pay for damages? What a waste.
They are grown men now and probably moved on from their mistake. But they forever destroyed a classic haunted attraction and robbed all future generations and visitors of it.
So sad. The same family owned that since it opened. It would still be open today I bet.
The NEW Spooky World is in Lichfield, NH! Just outside Manchester NH
The Brigantine Castle was closed in 1984 but wasn't burned down until 1987.
The Brigantine Castle SFX sounded like something……else……..let’s just say that it
I miss draculas castle in wildwood
Skull kingdom was awesome ,💀💀🦴🦴☠️☠️
It was torn down for freaking timeshares. Now I believe there is only one haunted attraction left in Orlando/Kissimmee area outside of Walt Disney World, the former Grimm House in Old Town, now Mortem Manor. Terror on Church Street in Orlando closed down as well.
COLEY FOLEY REMEMBERS: THAT "MINI-GOLF" AT "BRIGANTINE"... HAHAHA! (AND ONCE TOTALLY FUCKIN FELL ASLEEP DURING THAT FUCKIN BORING-ASS BOAT RIDE UNDER "CASTLE DRACULA"... HAHAHA!)