the haunted cottage / booth house

Drove all over looking for it, finally found it, and it was closed :-( Would love to know if they ever re-open ... was very interested in seeing this.

Mrs Too and I spent two days in Harper's Ferry and Shepherdstown recently, and left some open time which we had planned to fill based upon local advice. Every single person we queried about Haunted Cottage responded with rolling eyes, uncomplimentary comments and shaking heads. Each ended by telling us that, thank goodness, the people who operated it split up, went their own ways, and that the attraction was, thankfully, completely closed.

This is a great time for those newly into ghost hunting. It was a great learning experience for my grandchildren. We were a group of experienced hunters that wanted to introduce ghost hunting to some newbies. There was great info given to adults and children in our group. Vince was willing to take the time to explain and answer questions. Anyone who has had any experience with ghost hunting knows most of the time you are dealing with really hot or cold conditions that's just part of ghost hunting. Often you are climbing and crawling into places you can't believe your are going into. The Haunted Cottage was cleaner than many places I've been too. Everyone was nice and polite to us as I hope we were in return. Remember people, most often you get out what you put into the experience. Did we see or hear anything, maybe? But we did have a good time. For those of you who complained about the price you need to check out what it costs to go on other hunts.

The reviews here are hogwash. I got in touch with Vince with my first phone call, and scheduled a tour for us for the very next night. Also, what people don't understand is that this is a 200 year old house (which is very hard to clean and maintain) run by and lived in by people who are truly knowledgeable and interested in the paranormal - so I expect that this is a sort of "hobby" for Vince in which he uses his talents to help provide entertainment. And it WAS entertaining, and very informative in the subject matter. I really enjoyed the educational part of the tour at the very beginning, though I admit I would have liked to have seen more investigation or experiments. But, we were only there for about two hours so I can understand. Vince did a great job at taking questions (and putting up with my constant observations and two cents' worth... but I got a lot of "gold stars" for the night!) and constantly asked for feedback. This is something I would do again, and would like to do an overnight investigation if the house were updated by the actual owners because it's extremely hot in there during the summer months. Overall, my husband and I enjoyed our time there. Thanks, Vince!

My husband and I, along with his siblings and their spouses, purchased a Groupon for The Haunted Cottage, and had a great time! The host is passionate about his work, and that shows throughout the roughly 2 hour experience. We enjoyed learning the history of the Jersey Devil and the story of the Mothman, and thoroughly enjoyed the seance at the end of the evening where we summoned the spirit of Jack the Ripper and were getting quite the noisy response until the host broke the circle saying that he felt an almost human touch on his right side, which seemed to concern him greatly. Some in our group believe in ghosts, and others were skeptics, but regardless of if the experience was real or for show, we had fun, and the night has provided us with a lot to laugh and talk about these past few days.

You were in a bad mood when you got there.Interesting to come to a 200 year old haunted farmhouse and complain about "dust". Oookay. I admit, it is a constant battle, but I do what I can. Your review was very emotional. You complained about the content of the lectures. That is problem we are going to have to live with. I can appease fans of the ghost hunting shows. I am sorry, but they are not accurate. I am sorry if this offended your perceived notions.As far as things you are wrong about:1. There was plenty of parking. You drove past and never even asked about it.2. NEVER EVER said John Wilkes Booth wasn't here or there was no proof. Were you really listening? You looked half asleep. Booth stayed here, the correction was, it was not a summer home.3. On wet or humid nights, you can smell the musky odor of the houses horse hair plaster. This came up later after you lied to us and left early.4. Nothing I speak about is found on the History Channel or SyFy. It stands apart from that.5. As was explained to you, we have no "public" bathroom. We can not allow the public to use it anymore since, unfortunately, others damaged it. Not our fault.6. You came on a nice windy Spring day at the height of pollen season and was surprised I was coughing? I was coughing when you called on the phone for your reservations.7. Yes, it was either answer your call or let you disturb my group even more since you called after 9:00 pm!8. Those folding chairs are not cheap. They are designed for comfort and can support 800 lbs each.9. You DID NOT call 3 times. Just once and we got it fixed.10. I did do a quick palm reading to kill time. I was trying to give the missing people time to show.11. DO NOT insult the curiosities room by trivializing them just because you are bitter. They ARE NOT Halloween props. They are expensive and original displays collected over years. Many of them can be found NO WHERE ELSE.12. There was nothing polite about how you behaved. The rest of group commented after you left they we glad you were gone.

Even thought all of our advertising recommends calling in advance for reservations, I still like to take people in if they show up at the door. If I remember correctly, the reviewer showed called literally 2 minutes before showing. I was sitting down and having lunch with my family. We had pepperoni and sausage pizza. I like to dip my crust in garlic, so sorry if I did not have time to run to the bathroom and brush my teeth for you immediate arrival after rushing my family and a large JUST DELIVERED UPS order out of the way. We offered her several options for that day. She did NOT chose one with ghost hunting. Not sure how she cold know how "ghost huntable" it was. Snow and wind storms had been tearing our front yard up and I apologize for the "filth" that only Spring can fix. It is also nice to be called nice and then have your knowledge of your chosen career insulted by someone who clearly got their entire education from ghost hunting shows on TV.

My husband and I went with a few friends a couple months back and had a great time!! He did a private tour for us which included stories and little tricks and Vince's own little "museum!" The mood was very light due to all the little jokes involved, but it was very fun nonetheless! We all sat at this big table and listened to Vince tell us stories of his ghost encounters and different myths he believed or didnt believe! We got to tour the house and see where I believe he said was the slave quarters! The one downside is you have to drive a block down the road to use the bathroom due to others ruining his. On the plus side though, you can get snacks!! I would definitely reccomend this for anyone who enjoys a good ghost story!

My wife wanted to stop in and check out the haunted cottage. Upon arriving, it appeared the place was closed, it was a holiday during the off season, so I would not have been surprised. My wife rings the doorbell, and Vince answers, when my wife asked if they where open, he said hang on a second, I'll straighten up and let you guys come in. Upon entering the house, Vince was very upfront, honest, and knowledgeable. He is not going to tell you to come in give me ten bucks and I'll show you a ghost, he will however educate you on the paranormal, and is quick to point out, a lot of what you se eon tv is just that, for tv. I would like to stop again sometime for an overnight, it's an interesting house and my wife did later on say she felt an uneasy sickness in the one room upstairs......

I visited the Haunted Cottage with my wife and 6 year old son.. When we turned up it was shut but when we knocked on the door Vince, the owner, said he would open up just for us! He gave us a thoroughly entertaining tour and for a great price. I'd highly recommend this place to anyone visiting Harpers Ferry with kids.

I think I expected more exhibits and artifacts, but pretty much it was just books and gaffs and ghost stories... It was fun, though, and the proprietor gave me a special one-person tour and conversation because we were unable to get there during normal business hours. He was impressed by my broad knowledge of the paranormal and cryptozoology, though I did not tell him that I am a raging skeptic. It was neat, and he gave me a meter and let me do a bit of solo ghost hunting (spoiler: the barber chair is haunted!!).

This was not what I expected, was not very good, but had some entertainment value. I hoped this would focus on the history of the cottage and the ghosts that may inhabit the cottage. I also expected the cottage to be an uninhabited, nicely preserved historical landmark. Instead, the host of the tour/workshop and his wife live in the cottage. The cottage is rather cluttered and is kind of dirty as one could expect from a rental property. The host, Vince, seems to be very knowledgeably in the realm of supernatural phenomena, but tends to ramble, lose his train of thought, and comes off (to me) as rather egotistical and condescending. The tour consisted of an initial lecture about ghosts and the super natural (approx. 45 mins), the oddities room (approx. 30 mins), a pendulum "ouija type" activity & "table tipping" (approx. 30 mins), library tour (approx. 15 mins), and back to the main room for a seance (approx 30 mins). Total of 2.5 hours, which was about an hour too long. The lecture was about ghosts in general and very little was mentioned about the house's history. The oddities room was basically a PT Barnum type display that consisted of, among other things, a shrunken head, chupa cabra fetus, vampire skelaton, Sasquatch footprint plaster cast. It was silly and had nothing to do with the history of the cottage or ghosts. The pendulum and table tipping to attempt to conjure the ghosts of the house was uneventful. The library was basically: here's my room of books, I have a lot of them, it's pretty sweet. For the "climactic" seance, we were given the option of contacting 5 different ghosts, none of which had anything to do with the house, Harpers Ferry, or the civil war. It was done in complete darkness . The ghost came and flipped a tambourine over that was on the table. According to VInce, complete darkness was "necessary" and he "didn't like it". However, the previous activities to contact the ghosts of the house were done in the light. The ghost hunting activities seemed like parlor tricks.Overall, the event was unprofessional, uneventful, and not very interesting. There was a little bit of entertainment value, and if it were shorter, I would feel better about going, but I feel like I wasted a lot of time. I would not recommend it.

My husband and I visited the Haunted Cottage on a Friday evening for the tour and séance, our group was rather large at 10 of us, but we had a great time. Vince was patient and informative, we were never rushed. It was very entertaining, I would be curious enough to try the overnight investigation.

Vince was a good host. He is full of knowledge about the house and was ready to show us his trade. I plan to go back again. :-)

The Haunted Cottage is a waste of money and poor management. Do NOT waste your time or money. No meal provided. Offered another night if we wanted to come back. The acting is so poor it isn't worth the trip back.