Metlar House Museum
PISCATAWAY, NJ - The Metlar-Bodine House, circa 1728, has kept watch over the Raritan River for more than two and a half centuries. It is one of the last remaining survivors of a river front commercial village known then as Raritan Landing. Jane first encountered the ghosts of the Metlar-Bodine House in front of a television crew and the TODAY SHOW anchor, Jody Applegate. The TODAY SHOW contacted Jane to film a segment investigating a haunted house.
Jane entered the house without any knowledge
of the history or any information on the ghost experiences of the
house. When ghost activity is present, Jane's stomach gives a rather
unusual, yet profound, reaction. The diameter of her stomach expands
about six inches from her resting state and remains enlarged until
the activity ceases. This is how Jane knows that she is in the
presence of a spirit, she has involuntarily developed this ability
it is how her sensitivity to ghostly presences is expressed. The
doctors that she has consulted on how and why this occurs have no
medical explanation for this unique reaction.
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| Front of the Metlar House | |
Apparently, a spirit had thrown it, since the curator was the only person in the house at the time. Jane determined that it was the spirit of the previous owner who did not want the picture of someone(who wasn't of his family)on his mantelpiece. According to rumors, Mr. Metlar did not get along with his neighbor, John Field, and often feuded with him. Can you imagine the reaction of a spirit who did not like the person when he was alive to find his image displayed in his house after his death? If you were him, you would have probably thrown the picture as well!
The other spirit activity in this room centers on an old tombstone of Piscataway resident, John Martin. Piscataway residents were driving by the construction site of the Middlesex Mall and saw the gravestone knocked down, apparently having been bulldozed during the construction of the Middlesex Mall. There must have been a family graveyard on the property. After they picked it up, the Piscataway residents brought the tombstone home. From time to time the smell of a burning pipe emanated from the stone. When the Metlar-Bodine museum opened, they brought the gravestone over and donated it to the museum. At times, people visiting the Metlar-Bodine house still smell thepipe tobacco smoke around the old tombstone.
Jane walked in the path of a spirit in the center hallway feeling the presence of a male spirit as her stomach expanded. A member of the Fellowship who was sitting in the parlor during a monthly meeting saw a figure walking down this hallway. When other members went to investigate, no one was found in the hallway. The door to the house at the end of the hallway, which is presently closed off, was still bolted shut.Former occupants going to the barns, shed and other outbuildings at the back of the property used this door at one time.
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| Hallway | |
The Fellowship member who had the otherworldly sighting described the figure as a man wearing a bowler hat. He came from the backdoor and walked down the hallway before disappearing. In this room Jane located the path of a male spirit near the fireplace. He paces the room from the back window to the front of the room with his hands behind his back. As if he is waiting for someone or is waiting to hear some news. He seems frantic and anxious as though he is waiting for something major to happen. Jane described the man as sporting a beard and wearing a coat jacket with tails.
Jane also sensed a woman spirit present also in the room. She is not as strong in demeanor as the man. The man tries to shush the woman from talking and tells her to go do something so he can concentrate and figure some things out. (Samuel Knapp built this section of the house circa 1870; Samuel Knapp purchased the house around 1853.) In this room Jane sees a woman in a long dress with a bustle and a high neck. Her hair is worn up with tendrils of curls hanging down along her face. She is moving about the room seemingly getting ready to entertain someone. She holds a fan in front of her face. (John Mason's wife ?) The name Elizabeth is heard and presumed to be her name.
There is also spirit activity on the sofa, which belonged to Joyce Kilmer's neighbor. Reportedly Joyce Kilmer of ten visited this neighbor for afternoon tea and probably sat on that very sofa. There is the presence of a male spirit with a beard and tailcoat similarly described as the male spirit in the back parlor. This spirit appears to be in his thirty's and stays around the area near the window. In the early to mid eighties two members of the Fellowship were across River Road trying to take a photograph of the museum after closing the doors of the museum for the night. A man with a beard appeared in the upstairs front bedroom window and waived to them. There was no one in the museum at the time. Others over the years have reported seeing a man appear in that same window.
In that same bedroom former care- takers were awakened from their sleep to hear limericks or rhythmical songs heard behind the fireplace area. The singing was coming from the attic area above the bedroom. The songs sounded like sea chanty e.g. "There was an old woman….." Mrs. Metlar has been known to write and sing limerick's when she was alive.
A woman was seen sitting at a dressing table writing a letter, seen from center room, now a hallway. In this room a former tenant encountered a spirit. While changing a light bulb in the light fixture in the ceiling, he had the lightbulb pulled out of his hands and thrown across the room. The tenant who had the light bulb taken out of his hand also saw this spirit. On the landing very gentle spirit energy was experienced. She is described as a pretty woman fashionably dressed in a long gown, She has a fan in her hand and is fanning herself. She seems to be waiting for someone as she looks out the door. She then leaves the house by carriage. The names "Katherine" and "Lucille" are heard.
Jane interpreted that someone named Katherine had experiences with the spirit. (One of Metlar's daughters was named Katherine) "Lucille" attached herself to this area of the house and lived her spirit life through Katherine. She may attach herself to another female in the future. The spirit of a woman who looks like a domestic is doing chores, preparing food, etc. There was a summer kitchen in the basement. Prior owners of the house had servants.
When walking towards the judge's robe in the dining room, Jane experienced her stomach expanding which indicated a spirit was present. As she entered the psychic mode, she sensed two females were arguing and there was also a male presence. She walked in front of the window and her stomach again indicated spirit activity.
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| The robe of Judge Parker | |