The 1930 Warren and Wetmore boardwalk complex that served as morgue and staging area when the SS Morro Castle burned offshore in 1934, killing 137
1300 Ocean Ave, Asbury Park, NJ 07712
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Ghost tours through Paranormal Books and Curiosities start at $25 per adult, $20 for children under 12. Convention Hall and boardwalk exterior are publicly accessible at no charge.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Boardwalk-level entry; paved interior corridors in Convention Hall
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1930 · National Register of Historic Places · Warren and Wetmore architecture · SS Morro Castle disaster (1934) · Art Deco boardwalk landmark
The Asbury Park Convention Hall and connected Paramount Theatre were built between 1928 and 1930 to a design by the New York firm of Warren and Wetmore, architects of Grand Central Terminal and the Biltmore Hotel. The building is organized in an Italian-French style with nautical decorative themes. It occupies the Asbury Park boardwalk at 1300 Ocean Avenue and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The building's most consequential historical moment arrived on September 8, 1934. The Ward Line cruise ship SS Morro Castle, returning from Havana with approximately 550 passengers and crew, caught fire while the vessel was still under way. The captain had died the night before under suspicious circumstances. As the fire spread and the ship lost power, a nor'easter snapped the towline being used to bring the vessel into New York. The burning ship drifted toward the New Jersey shore and came to rest on a sandbar in front of Convention Hall — so close that a radio announcer broadcasting from the hall's second-floor studio reportedly exclaimed on air: 'She's here! The Morro Castle is coming right toward our studio.' A total of 137 passengers and crew died in the disaster.
Convention Hall was pressed into service as a combination morgue, identification facility, and staging area for the recovery effort. Bodies and survivors were brought ashore through the boardwalk complex. The Morro Castle wreck remained visible from the boardwalk throughout the fall and winter of 1934, drawing visitors despite the Great Depression, and was finally towed away for scrapping on March 14, 1935.
Sources
The paranormal claims at Convention Hall are rooted directly in the building's role during the Morro Castle disaster. Bodies of the 137 victims were brought through the complex, identified, and in some cases held there for extended periods before being claimed by families. The specific spatial concentration of mass death in a building that was also a public entertainment venue has made it a consistent subject of paranormal investigation.
The Paramount Theatre generates the most specific accounts. Two girls are repeatedly reported in the balcony — sitting together and visible from below before disappearing on approach. Electronic Voice Phenomena have been recorded in the projection booth and in the backstage dressing rooms by multiple investigation teams, with the dressing room sessions producing the most consistent results. An infant is reported to leave small footprints in areas of the theatre where dust accumulates, an account that has circulated among investigators associated with Paranormal Books and Curiosities, which operates the standing ghost tour in Asbury Park.
Paranormal Books and Curiosities has operated out of Asbury Park since 2008 and is cited by Ripley's Believe It or Not! and Atlas Obscura as a primary source on the city's haunted history. The Morro Castle disaster is explicitly incorporated into their tour narrative as the historical event underlying the Convention Hall claims.
A 60–75 minute walking tour covering roughly half a mile of the downtown and boardwalk, including stops at Convention Hall and the Paramount Theatre. Led by Paranormal Books and Curiosities, which has operated in Asbury Park since 2008. Tours cover the Morro Castle disaster, documented paranormal activity in the hall, and broader Asbury Park history. Runs rain or shine.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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