Haunted Mansion at Long Branch - World's Largest Haunted Attraction - Opens to the Public (1978)

The Haunted Mansion was located on the Long Branch Pier at 65 Ocean Avenue in Long Branch, New Jersey. The concept of the mansion began with entrepreneur Pat Cicalese, who owned a water slide and beach club across from the Pier. A friend of Cicalese named Carmen Ricci was developing Brigantine Castle in nearby Brigantine, and went to Pat for financial support. After the Castle’s hugely successful opening in the summer of 1976, Cicalese paid a visit to the new Brigantine attraction to get ideas for Long Branch.

After visiting Brigantine Castle, Cicalese asked Ricci to come to Long Branch and help him build a similar attraction at the Long Branch Pier. The men formed a partnership called Ric-Cic Incorporated. In 1977, Cicalese and Ricci leased the pier from its owners, the Sowul Family, with an option to buy it. Ric-Cic spent one million dollars building the three story mansion and renovating other parts of the pier.

Memorial Day Weekend 1978, the completed 10,000 square feet mansion successfully opened to the public, consisting of The Haunted Mansion, an arcade, a fishing pier, along with 50 concession stands. Ric-Cic purchased the pier from the Sowul family in May of 1979. The Haunted Mansion was advertised heavily as the world’s largest haunted attraction. The heavy advertising lured crowds of up to 100,000 a week to the Long Branch, New Jersey boardwalk.

In 1985, Pat re-themed the Long Branch pier as “Kid’s World” after the success of Sesame Place in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, starting a pay-once system now common at most amusement parks. Since the re-themed pier was geared toward younger children, the scare-factor of the mansion had to be scaled down. The Haunted Mansion continued to employ live actors, but the scenes became more “family friendly.”

After years of declining attendance, The Haunted Mansion and the entire Long Branch Pier met its demise on June 8th, 1987 when a fire destroyed it and the surrounding businesses. It was later determined that the fire was started by a gas leak and electrical arching under the boardwalk.