Robert Richard Randall was a philanthropic sailor who donated Snug Harbor to the city to provide housing and services to retired sailors in the 1800s. While there are no sailors there today, there certainly are some apparitions. In the matron's cottage, the matron's young mentally ill son had been chained in the basement. He escaped and murdered his mother, and was later hanged for his crime. Her ghost has been spotted in several locations across the campus.

Other claims include a steeple bell ringing unexpectedly and a woman dancing in the chapel, plus doors slamming and apparitions in the music hall- one was even captured in a photograph! Could it be the ghost of the matron?