Mystery 1: The Case of the Midnight Knitters. Under the cover of night, a few renegade knitters (yes, knitters) in West Cape May have been putting cozies on payphone cords, sweaters around trees, and wraps on stop-sign posts. A group called the Salty Knits has taken credit for the handiwork, but the members won’t identify themselves.
West Cape May police are investigating the nasty needlework. I dug around the Salty Knits website to no avail. They do have a Facebook page and seem to hang out a lot at the Higher Grounds Coffee Shop and Flying Fish Studio. They did an interview with the local CBS affiliate, but only while wearing knitted masks.
West Cape May is a small town, and this story has garnered a lot of media attention, from local publications to NPR. Copycat midnight knitters have shown up in South Carolina. In West Cape May, as fast as people take down the knitted creations, someone puts them right up again. Not a bad way to add a little color to West Cape May after a long gray winter.
Mystery 2: The Case of the Secret Ride. Jack Morey is a quirky guy. High energy, quick witted, and bursting with ideas for rides, rides, and more rides, Morey—along with his brother Will—has made Morey’s Piers in Wildwood into one of the top amusement park operators in the country.
But Morey is keeping his latest and presumably greatest creation, which will open this summer, under wraps. The Moreys’ website and billboards show something called Ignis Fatuus written in white script over a black background with a green glowing light. (The term ignis fatuss describes a phosphorescent light that shows up over swampy ground, usually due to rotting materials.)
Employees and contractors working on the project signed confidentiality agreements, but that hasn’t stopped one group from launching a website, 5292010.com. The number is the project’s code name.
Last winter, Morey told me he was developing a pirate ghost ship ride, complete with a kitchen scene that would include a live actor making sea gull-based dishes. Norris Clark, director of sales and marketing, says, “there have been some twists and turns” since that conversation, but the pirate rumors won’t die.
It won’t stay secret for long: the Ignis Fatuus project will be unveiled at midnight on May 29.