A ‘ghost’ is captured at the house in the vicinity of 26 Cottage Court
4/10/1845
Journal entries by Daniel M Tredwell refer to much hearsay about white vapory specters that appear in this area. The gaping abandoned house stands two hundred feet to the south of Merrick Road and the cemetery is on the north side. The area is desolate and overgrown. The next houses on the way home for Tredwell at that time would be the Carman homestead south of the road near present Long Beach Avenue and then Benedict’s poor house at Coe’s Neck Road (Bayview Avenue).
After an active winter of ghost demonstrations that become so frequent and fragrant, Jim Raynor and Tom Southard lay in ambush several times before finally entrapping a simple fellow well known in the neighborhood. The man is put on exhibition in his ghost toggery upstairs at the store of Riley Raynor, where Justice Squire Smith holds court, and he is charged with disturbing the peace.