Tag Archives: New Jersey

“Clinton Road” Hellhounds

Main Piece: “So there’s this road in Jersey called Clinton road, it’s in west Milford, and this road that is haunted in multiple ways. But the biggest thing is that people that go down there, swear they see a giant black dog with glowing red eyes just roaming around the road. It’s said that this creature is supposed to be a hell hound or something, and that if you get too close it will try and attack you by ramming the side of your car, and then it will disappear. A bunch of people also say that if you see this hellhound, and it attacks you it means that you will have an untimely death in the near future, and it is even believed that this road may even be close to some entrance to hell because there are mad sightings of these hellhounds.”

Background: KC grew up in New Jersey, and he mentioned that this road was one that he and his friends were highly aware of growing up as it was always a topic of conversation. He said that he heard this from one of his friends, who also tried going to this road late at night in the hopes of seeing the famous hellhound, but he didn’t have any luck. Nonetheless, because he told KC that he heard some really strange noises and howling while he was there, he was convinced that something must be out there. KC said that because this was a fairly dangerous road, he doesn’t know if he believes the hellhounds but that he certainly thinks its some warning to people to be extra diligent and cautious on that road.

Context of the performance: KC told me this story in my apartment as we were talking about some of the spookiest places that we know from our hometowns. Me being from LA, I was not familiar with this story and he was eager to relay the information about one of the most infamous roads in New Jersey.

Analysis: I find this story to be incredibly fascinating and very eery, as I feel that it must have some role in trying to ensure drivers are paying attention on the road while they are driving at night. KC mentioned that this road is kind of notorious for accidents happening and because of that, I think its safe to assume that while this story may certainly be a product of someone seeing a creature in the night, I think it most certainly has an extra layer to it.This extra layer of course being that cautionary aspect, pleading drivers to pay extra attention so as not to get into another accident.

New Jersey Bridge Ghost Story

Main Piece: “On this stretch of road theres a long and old looking bridge. Apparently back in the early 1900’s this was a place where some kids would constantly play on and such. One day a little boy was playing on the bridge, and a car came across the bridge going mad fast, and it didn’t see the boy until the last minute. The car tried to steer out of the way but it hit the kid and sent him flying off the bridge and into the river below. It is said that to this day that bridge is haunted by the little boy, and sometimes people have said that they see him at the edge of the bridge, however the most common story is that if a person goes to the bridge and throws something into the water, like a coin or a rock… the item gets thrown right back at you.”

Background: KC doesn’t necessarily like this piece, but he said that it is so popular in his community and in the people that he is close with that it is a story that he heard all the time. He mentioned that one time his friends went to the bridge and were trying to see if they could see any weird happenings, and that they didn’t see anything in the water but at the far end of the bridge they thought they saw the shape of a small boy walking down towards the river below the bridge. KC also talked about how his friends would try and get him to go and check out the bridge with them, but he never wanted any part of that, but he admits that to this day he is still wildly curious about the bridge, albeit very hesitant to visit it.

Context of the Performance: KC told me this story while we were talking about some of our favorite ghost stories. After we had talked about there being some very questionable drivers on the road in LA, he remembered this story about the bridge and felt that he had to tell me, especially cause he know that I liked scary stories.

Analysis: This is a super creepy ghost story and one that I found to be very tragic and dark as well. Seeing as how this revolves around a careless driver killing a child, in an area where children have been known to play, it seems to function as a warning for two very different types of people. Firstly it seems to be a warning for careless drivers to make sure that they stay paying attention while they are driving on the road. And secondly, it appears to be somewhat of a cautionary tale for children as it displays the consequences of playing in dangerous areas. KC mentioned that in New Jersey, there isn’t always the most parental supervision, at least where he was from, so I think that its very possible that this ghost story can double as that cautionary tale in order to try and keep children and young adults safe.

Pineys and the Jersey Devil

“So I grew up in NJ, but not in the part of NJ that’s near new York. I grew up in the part of New Jersey near Philadelphia, and that’s considered South Jersey. In South Jersey, toward the Jersey Shore, there’s an area called the Pine Barrens, and the people who live there are referred to as Pineys. They’re described as not having running water or electricity. They live in a very primitive way, and live in shacks. Their families have lived in the Pine Barrens for generations. And there’s a legend that in the Pine Barrens lives a creature called the Jersey Devil, and if anything unexplained or violent or weird happened, it would be in South Jersey in the Pine Barrens. So people would say it had to do with these people who are not very sophisticated and live just among themselves and don’t mix with others combined with the evil that is the Jersey Devil. People in South Jersey really believe that there is this phantom Jersey Devil.”

Context: The informant was raised in Cherry Hill, South New Jersey.

Interpretation: It seems clear that the Pineys and the Jersey Devil are both used as a scapegoat for New Jerseyans’ anger and sadness in response to tragic and/or unexplained events. The Jersey Devil could also be viewed as the embodiment of New Jerseyans’ negative feelings toward Pineys. Instead of explicitly citing the elusive, exclusive Pineys as the root of evil, they can veil their hatred in a more fantastical being and dehumanize whoever is being blamed for such events. For another interpretation of the Jersey Devil, see the “Jersey Devil & Folklore” page of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance website.

Clinton Road

Item (direct transcription):

In New Jersey, one of the few things New Jersey has is… um… New Jersey has the most haunted road in the United States: Clinton Road. It’s a haunted road, and it goes really long.

The reason it was haunted and that hype started up was because of just the terrain and how, just, like, rural it is. That’s where a lot of murderers go and bury the bodies of their victims. So, like, there’s a lot of, like, lost souls there that haunt the road.

I remember going on it. Like, my friends and I. There was a couple of us, and we were going down it. And then, we were just like… okay. And you have to go at night, because that’s the full experience. We went at night. And it fogs up there a lot, and the reason is because there’s a lot of trees and apparently, like, throughout the day there’s a lot of sun out, but all the shade makes the ground stay cool. So it cools down a lot quicker, so the dew point’s a lot lower… or some shit like that. So it like, fogs up easier that normally.

And, umm, we went through it once. It was our senior year. And uh, frickin’… nothing like scary happened. It was just, like, our paranoia. It’s like, “What was that!?!” “What was that!?” “What was that?!” But then one incident… one incident… we were going down the road, and we come across an intersection. With a stop light, alright? And when we approached it, it was red. So we stopped. And then we were just like, “This is a trap!” Cause, like, we thought it was just jammed. That light was long. Or maybe it just appeared long to us. But like, at least from our perspective it was really long. So we were just like, “Nah… nah… this can’t be. It can’t be.”

So we kept looking around, and then Matt—fucking Matt—Matt opens his door, and we were just like, “What!!” But he’s just like, “Nah, I’m just gonna check it out, you know?” So he opens up the door and he walks—there’s no other cars around us—so he opens up the door and he kinda just like walks around. And we’re just like, none of us wanted to get out of the car. I still had my seat belt on. That shit was not coming off. And we’re just like, “Matt! Matt! Get back in the car! This could turn green any second! Matt!” And then umm, at one point, Shabab [the driver] was just like, “Fuck this.” ‘Cause the light had turned green. Matt was still outside the car. I think he was just fucking with us. But then Shabab just started driving away, and Matt was like, “What!?!” [Laughing.] Oh my god! [More laughing.] He didn’t go far. He wasn’t that mean. And then he backed up. And that scared the fuck out of me, too, you know. I’m like, “No, no, Shabab, we can’t leave him. No, no, we have to explain this to his parents!” [Laughs.]

Background Information:

The informant says that Clinton Road is a very well-known “touristy spot” within New Jersey. However, he believes that no one outside of New Jersey really knows about it.

At the very least, he believes that there really are dead bodies of murder victims buried there.

Contextual Information:

The informant treats this story as a cherished memory and hilarious story to tell to friends.

Analysis:

The legend of Clinton Road’s haunting is clearly connected to semi-ritualized visits to the road by high school students. The informant himself participated in such a visit, as well as the practical jokes that accompanied it. This pattern (i.e. a legend, a ritual, and a practical joke) matches typical traditions surrounding American haunting legends.

Also, the informant directly associates his knowledge of and participation in this legend with his identity as someone who grew up in New Jersey. He believes that the legend is something shared only within the state.

Apple Pie Hill

Item (direct transcription):

There’s a hiking trail [in New Jersey] that I went on a couple times with a group of friends. It was about eight of us. And there’s a place called Apple Pie Hill. And it’s along the Appalachian Mountains. Like, the very beginning of it. And the trail that’s like the biggest trail that’s most popular and closest to where we live… when you go up it—it’s a couple of miles—um, when you go up on it, at the very, very top—at the top of Apple Pie Hill—there’s like a tower. And, uh, it’s abandoned. But there’s like a bunch of writing on it. People visit it all the time. They would leave like locks on it, or whatever, like “I love you” locks and stuff. People write on it a lot. I wrote down “USC Fight on! Class of 2019” on it.

There’s a story, though, behind that tower. That tower, you can go up on it—you can spiral up. Um, it’s like, it’s like a metal tower, but then there’s like a little box—like a room—on the very top. And the only way that you can get in is up a ladder there’s a little latch. Kinda like how you would get into an attic. But it’s locked. And there’s a story on why. And it’s because that tower, that place, that certain area is haunted. Because that tower is a… back in the old days—you know, when they didn’t have satellites and just didn’t have the technology that we have today—the way, uh, they would, uh, look out for wildfires was there was literally a guy watching from a tower like that. It’s a really old tower. Like, it looked really unsteady.

But, um, there’s a legend saying that the place is haunted by this one guy, ’cause he was a park ranger and there was a forest fire going on. But he was sleeping on that tower. So by the time he saw the fire and he wanted to, like, alert people, uh, the fire was, like, engulfing the mountain around him. He died there. He was burnt to death in those mountains. So they think his ghost still wanders around those mountains to this day.

Background Information:

The informant was told the story by his friend’s mother. He suspects that she was embellishing the story.

He’s not sure whether it’s true that a park ranger died on Apple Pie Hill, but he thinks it’s possible. He says he would be scared to visit the tower at night.

Contextual Information:

The informant treats this story as a cherished memory. Evidently, his visit to the tower and the story associated with it had a significant impact on him, as he was eager to share photos of him and his friends at the tower.