The Elco Naval Division was a boat-building factory that churned out nearly 400 PT boats for World War II. It is long gone, located where the Richard A. Rutkowski Park currently stands. A historical marker is all that’s left now to commemorate the efforts that went on there.
It is said that there was an accident one day at the factory, and a boat fell off its railings, crushing two men to death. Strangely enough, its not the men themselves who are said to now haunt this location, but one of their daughters – a little ghost girl is seen hovering around this area, constantly yelling for her daddy.
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Geographic Information
- Address:
- Hackensack RiverWalk
Bayonne, NJ 07002
United States
Get Directions » - GPS:
- 40.689762576903675, -74.11282215264691
- County:
- Hudson County, New Jersey
- Nearest Towns:
- Bayonne, NJ (1.5 mi.)
Jersey City, NJ (3.2 mi.)
Newark, NJ (4.4 mi.)
Harrison, NJ (4.5 mi.)
East Newark, NJ (4.8 mi.)
Elizabeth, NJ (5.4 mi.)
Hoboken, NJ (5.6 mi.)
Kearny, NJ (5.7 mi.)
New York City, NY (5.8 mi.)
Hillside, NJ (6.2 mi.)
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No sightings to report (I;m not a ghost hunter) but my father worked at Elco Bayonne in 1938-39. He was just out of high school and felt his calling, so he went to work to support thr war effort — and yes, he built those PT boats. He reported they were built of lapstrake mahogany construction, not plywood as is popularly thought and built upside down, flipping them over at lunchtime when most of the work gangs were out of the shop on lunch.
He asked his bosses for permission to attend the sea trials of one of ‘his’ boats and to his surprise the naval commander agreed, allowing him to accompany the crew for the trial. This fell on Thanksgiving day and he reported they served a smallish turkey and mashed potatos to those present. It was one of his favorite stories. And in case you’re wondering, he DID mention an accident involving fatalities. I was a kid so he didn’t go into too much detail about it.
Later, he served in the US Army Signal Corps (Philippines) during WW2, where a lot of these boats wound up.
Dad’s boyhood home was close to the park (they used to have a surplus tank on the park grounds that I actually got to explore as a child, before it got too covered in graffiti, eventually becoming an eyesore). Nothing’s there now . . . except the ghosts. Maybe even dad. ; )) I love you, Dad.
That’s a nice story about your dad 🙂
MY GIRLFRIENDS AND GUY FRIENDS USED TO GO INTO THIS BUILDING IN THE EARLY 90’S WE HAVE SEEN GHOSTS AND PARANORMAL ACTIVITY HERE BEFORE IT GOT BURNED DOWN IT WAS VERY SCAREY THERE WAS ONE ROOM THAT HAD SHELVES YOU CLIMB UP WHERE THERE WAS SATANIC SYMBOLS EVERYWHERE. ONE NITE WE WENT IN THROUGH THE SMALL BROKEN GLASS SQUARE WINDOWS AND ENCOUNTERED A GHOST WHICH LOOKED LIKE A GLOWING LIGHT WALKING TOWARDS US. ONE FRIEND NAME KEITH AND THE OTHER jEFF THE ONLY ONES WEARING CRUCIFIXES BOTH WERE BLEEDING ONE ON HIS FOREHEAD OTHER ON HIS ARM WITH NO EXPLANATION. WE WOULD LOOK DOWN FROM THE 3RD FLOOR ANS SEEN SOMEONE RUNNING FROM PILAR TO PILAR THE CLUMNS THAT WERE CONNECTED TO THE CEILING . WE MOST DEFINTLY ALL SEEN AND DESCRIV=BED THE SAME THINGS IN HERE . IT WAS VERY EERY
This is incorrect and is not where the Elco boatworks stood!
This is just plain ridiculous.