A 1717 congregation whose building was stripped to a British hospital and stable in 1776-77, later filmed by Ghost Hunters for reports of footsteps and an organ that plays itself.
160 Neilson Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
No charge to attend services or visit; donations welcome.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Downtown sidewalk and church interior; flat.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1717 · Congregation founded in 1717 · Seized by British troops and used as a hospital and stable, winter 1776-77 · National Register of Historic Places (1988) · Active Reformed congregation in downtown New Brunswick
The First Reformed Church of New Brunswick traces its congregation to 1717, making it one of the older Reformed congregations in central New Jersey. Its roots lie in the Dutch Reformed tradition that the region's early settlers carried with them, and for much of the eighteenth century it anchored religious life in the small port town on the Raritan River.
The church's hardest period came with the Revolution. After the fall of New York in late 1776, British forces moved across New Jersey and occupied New Brunswick through the winter of 1776-77. According to the church's own history, the troops seized the public buildings of the town, including the First Reformed Church. They removed all of the pews, converted the interior into a hospital, and later used it as a stable. Worship was suspended from December 1776 through July 1777. After the war the damaged building was temporarily repaired, and for a time the Presbyterian congregation shared the space on alternating Sundays.
The congregation rebuilt and continued through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The present church on Neilson Street was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 27, 1988. It remains an active Reformed congregation today, and its Revolutionary-era story is a regular stop on New Brunswick history and ghost walking tours.
The building's wartime use as a field hospital, where wounded and sick soldiers were treated and some died, is the documented backdrop that local lore connects to its reputation as a haunted site.
Sources
The First Reformed Church's reputation as a haunted building rests on its Revolutionary War service as a makeshift hospital, where sick and wounded soldiers were housed after the British stripped the interior in 1776-77. Local accounts hold that some of the activity reported inside traces to that period.
Reported phenomena collected by New Jersey paranormal writers and tour operators include apparitions, footsteps and disembodied voices, a sensation of being watched, framed pictures that fall from the walls, and an organ said to play by itself when no one is at the keyboard. These reports are the kind of low-key, repeated claims that attach to many old church buildings rather than a single dramatic event.
The church drew wider attention when it was featured in an investigation by the television series Ghost Hunters, which placed it among the better-known haunted stops in the New Brunswick area. The congregation does not market itself on the paranormal, and the lore circulates mainly through local media coverage and the city's ghost walking tours. No specific named spirit is tied to the building; the tradition centers on the wartime hospital use and the ordinary unease of a very old room.
Media Appearances
View the exterior of the 1717-founded congregation's church in downtown New Brunswick and attend a service or church event to see the interior. The site is a stop on local New Brunswick history and ghost walking tours.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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