Scotch-Plains Fanwood is rich in history with over 40 historic sites throughout the town. Structures that are visited today have been around since the 1700s. Almost all residents know of the Osborn Cannonball House and the Stage House, but there are hidden gems all around. One of these houses is The Haunted House.
The Haunted House is located at 2215 Pine Terrace, Scotch Plains. It was built during the Civil War on Amos Swan’s plantation. The original owner was William Rice, and the house was also known as “The Rice House.”
The house was originally constructed as a two-story mansion with yellow stucco and large windows. The home was embedded in nature, with trees surrounding the structure and vines gathering around it. There was a large green lawn and lots of shrubbery, along with a fence of brick, but it was never high enough to prevent villagers from peaking over.
The original use of the structure is thought to be used as stables or a kitchen garden since it is located near Swan’s cottage, at 215 Westfield Road.
Villagers of the town began to know the house as The Haunted House when ghostly entities could be seen from the street.
“From the road, the passer-by would stop affrighted at the sight of a poor wraith of a lady moving around in the cupola carrying a lighted candle in her hand and making the rounds of the windows,” Marion Nicholl Rawson describes the house in her book “Under the Blue Hills.”
Moreover, some said the lady’s candle could be seen along the side of the house.
Around the turn of the century during Prohibition, the house was rumored to have been a speakeasy for the locals.
Many families have lived in the house, most of them being large to match the size of the property. Likewise, Julian Hawthorne’s family owned the house, son of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Julian was a writer like his father, creating novels, short stories, and detective fiction.
Julian and his wife Minne Amelung arrived with their seven children. Hildegarde, John, Henry, Fred, Beatrix, Gwendolen, and Imogene. Below is an excerpt from Poems of Childhood by Eugene Field.
“The Hawthorne children, seven in all
Are famous friends of mine,
and with what pleasure I recall,
How years ago, one gloomy fall
I took a tedious railway line…..
Where Hidegarde, John, Henry, Fred,
and Beatrix and Gwendolen,
And she that was the baby then
These famous seven, as aforesaid,
Lived, moved, and had their being.
The Hawthorne children all were smart,
The girls, as I recall,
Had comprehended every art,
Appealing to the head and heart;
The boys were gifted all.
It was Hildegarde who showed me how
To hitch a horse and milk a cow
And cook the best of suppers;…..
While Henry stumped me to the feat
Of walking round upon my hands
Instead of on my ‘uppers’,”
Families have moved in and out of the house throughout the decades. The house was last sold in 2020 and currently, a family occupies the residence. No recent reports of ghosts have been shared, but who knows? Beware, because maybe the woman with the candle is still lurking on the property today.
