SOMERS POINT - Every day is Halloween at the home of Gregory Young of Somers Point. Acts of the paranormal have been occurring since 2004.
Young, a fourth-grade teacher in Cape May, became obsessed with the apparitions inside his home, and he began to compile evidence and information he had collected over a four-year period.
As his folder became increasingly thicker, Young decided to put it all together and write a book about his haunted home.
His book, “A Father, A Son and A House Full of Ghosts,” is the account that chronicles the paranormal activities that have taken place in his home.
According to Young, objects appear and disappear inside the house, lights turn on and off, and white orbs have appeared in pictures he has taken using a digital camera. But Young insists that there is nothing to be afraid of.
“In the beginning, I was the one who was a mess, and my son was calm about the whole situation. There is no feeling that these ghosts want us to leave. I have experienced nothing that is fear-based or of a mean nature,” he said.
Young’s ex-wife was actually the one to notice that there was some other force inside the house. She told him, “There is something in this house, and it doesn’t like me.” From that point, Young says their marriage began to fall apart.
Shortly after his wife expressed her concerns, a strange smell appeared in the dining room of the home. Young likened the smell to vomit.
Psychic channeler Sharon Dvorak of Cape May, who says she has been able to speak with ghosts and spirits since she was 9 years old, later said that the smell was actually a dark spirit that was inside the house.
Young said that the smell of vomit disappeared after his divorce.
“Sharon had explained that this dark spirit was enjoying the turmoil that was going on inside the house at the time of my separation and divorce. I guess misery loves company. As soon as my ex-wife moved out, the smell was gone,” he said.
It wasn’t long after his divorce that another woman moved into Young’s home and life. Her name is Agnes, and she is a 78 year-old ghost.
Young said he has actually seen Agnes. He described her as a figure who is wearing clothes, but he did not see a face, hands or feet. Agnes wears a blue dress with white braided trim on the train and cuffs on her sleeves. She stays in the kitchen. Dvorak explained to Young that she has discovered Agnes had died of natural causes and was there to help young.
“I found out that in her previous life, Agnes had trouble with her relationships like I do. We both have a hard time getting close to people in relationships, and I found out that Agnes actually pushed her husband away. I believe she is here to help me not to do that in my future relationships. I get positive energy from her,” said Young.
The ghosts in Young’s home also include two children - Jonathan, 10 years old, and Sarah, 4. According to Young, these child ghosts mostly stay on the second floor, and he has had contact with them through disruption of the home’s electricity and objects that have been moved. Although Young has never seen the children’s spirits, Dvorak, who has visited the home on numerous occasions, has supplied him with information about the ghosts.
According to Young, Dvorak told him that Jonathan came down with the measles in the mid-1800's, and he also cut himself across the thighs of his legs with an ax in an accident.
The wound never healed, and in addition to the boy’s affliction with the measles, he eventually died.
Sarah is a ghost who lived during the 1920s and died from scarlet fever. Dvorak said the girl wears a dress and shoes with buckles and has big bows in her hair.
“The channeler has told me to call out to them and acknowledge their presence when they are moving things around or I feel their presence. The ghosts just want me to recognize that they are there,” Young said.
Interestingly, none of the ghosts had ever lived in Young’s home even though at least three funerals were held in the home during the 1930s, and in 1932 a 2- year-old girl died in the upstairs bedroom from polio.
“Ghosts and spirits are attracted to three things: people, objects and places,” Young said.
“In this instance, they are not attached to this house in any way, but are attached to the person living in the house. I have always been spiritual and believed in the spiritual world. I just with I was able to really communicate with the spirits in my home like Sharon,” Young said.
