31 Creepy New Jersey Facts for Halloween

October 29, 2020 newjerseyisntboring

It’s Halloween (tomorrow)! And as one of the oldest states in the USA, New Jersey has lots of fun, scary facts, and lore going back to its conception. From the Jersey Devil, to the filming of the original Friday the 13th, ghost stories, and more there’s plenty of creepy and kooky facts about New Jersey!

31 Creepy New Jersey Facts for Halloween:

1. Of course we need to start off with the Jersey Devil aka the Leeds Devil! The Jersey Devil is a legendary creature that haunts the Pine Barrens of South Jersey. Described as a flying biped with hooves (among many variations), the folklore originated with a Pine Barrens resident named Jane Leeds, known as Mother Leeds in 1735. The legend states that Mother Leeds had 12 children and, after finding she was pregnant for the 13th time, cursed the child in frustration, crying that the child would be the devil. People claim to have sights and encounters of the JD in the Pine Barrens. The legend has inspired the name for the NJ Devils Hockey Team, Devil’s Creek Brewery in Collingswood, and 13th Child Brewery in Williamstown to name a few.

2. Also on the historical side, the famous duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr took place on July 11, 1804 in Weehawken. You can visit the duel site and even see the rock where Hamilton drew his last breath. Creepy.

3. If you’re looking for something haunted, Clinton Road in West Milford is one of the most haunted roads in America! This secluded road running through West Milford from Route 23 to Upper Greenwood Lake is a 10-mile stretch of road that is pitch black at night. Legends claim that the road has been host to ghosts, witches, unearthly animals, and earthly Klansmen. You can read more stories about Clinton Rd on Weird NJ.

4. One of America’s most prolific serial killers was Charles Cullen, a New Jersey hospital nurse who killed as many as 40 patients in his 16-year career. He was sentenced and arrested in 2003.

5. Charles Addams was inspired by a house in his hometown of Westfield to create the Addams Family Mansion! To celebrate the town’s Addams Family history, Westfield puts on AddamsFest in October, has an Addams Family inspired bar and restaurant called the Addams Tavern, and has the famous family featured in their Trader Joe’s.

6. Speaking of Westfield, you may remember the story of The Watcher or The Haunting of 657 Boulevard. As recently at 2014, new homeowners were harassed by letters sent from “The Watcher” who was stalking the family’s new renovations. The Watcher became more and more unhinged and the letters started addressing the family by names. Unfortunately spy cameras and alarm systems did not help the police solve the case and the family was forced to sell their home.

7. The original Friday the 13th was filmed in Blairstown, NJ! The town screens the movie every Friday the 13th and occasionally allow tours of the campsite where the movie was primarily filmed. You can find more information here.

8. Friday the 13th wasn’t the only big NJ movie in the 80s! In 1984 Lloyd Kaufman introduced us to the cult classic “The Toxic Avenger”. Born in the fictional town of Tromaville, Melvin Ferd is 98-pound weakling who works as a janitor who lands in a drum of toxic waste causing him to transform into a hideously deformed creature with superhuman size and strength. The movie is a gruesome and bloody as it gets.

9. Fun Fact: There may be a gravestone in the back of your local movie theater! The Mary Ellis grave is marked by an 1828 gravestone located in the parking lot of an AMC movie theater in New Brunswick.

10. Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in Morris Plains/Parsippany opened in 1876 when it was originally known as New Jersey Lunatic Asylum. Of course, it’s haunted! Although the hospital was demolished in 2008, people frequently see ghost sightings on the former grounds. Fun Fact: One of the hospital’s more famous patients was folk singer/songwriter Woody Guthrie, who spend a stint at Greystone from 1956 to 1961.

11. The Asbury Park Zombie Walk was the first zombie walk in NJ and has been operating for over 10 years! The NJZW took has set the Guinness World Record for the “Largest gathering of zombies” two separate times. In 2010 the record was claimed with 4,093 undead counted on the Asbury Park Boardwalk. The record was later reclaimed in 2013 with 9,592 participants.

12. NJ’s most popular produce, the tomato, was put “on trial” on September 25, 1820 in Salem, NJ. Farmer Robert Johnson ate a basket of tomatoes to prove they were not poisonous. The crowd waited for him to keel over dead. (Spoiler Alert: He didn’t).

13. The Legend of Devil’s Tower in Alpine is one of love gone wrong. The tower which stands around homes in Rio Vista neighborhood was built in the 1900s for Manuel Rionda, a sugar baron The legend says in 1910 while observing the grounds from the tower, Rionda’s wife spotted him with another woman threw herself from the tower and died. Current hauntings told by urban legend enthusiasts mention Rionda’s wife’s ghost appearing in the tower window, screams being heard as Rionda’s wife’s ghost jumps once again, and the scent of perfume. Another legend says those who drive or walk backward around the tower several times may see the wife’s ghost or the Devil himself.

14. Burlington County Prison in Mount Holly closed in 1965. Originally built in 1811 it was the oldest operating prison in the United States. It is reportedly haunted by a tall male in a uniform in the basement, and the third floor is claimed to have a flurry of paranormal activity. It now operates as a prison and offers paranormal investigations for a fee.

15. Did you know “Jaws” was based on a true event? And it occurred in 1916 known as the Jersey Shore shark attacks that left four dead and one severely injured. The first attack happened in July at Beach Haven. Five days later, and 45 miles to the north, in Spring Lake, Charles Bruder, a young bellhop at a local hotel met a similar fate. The shark was eventually caught and identified with body parts of two of the victims from Matawan Creek inside.

16. Do you know Calico aka “The Evil Clown of Middletown”? He’s a very strange 22-foot roadside attraction roadside for a nearby Spirits Liquor. He even made a small cameo in Clerks 2!

17. Shades of Death Road aka “The Shades” is a two-lane rural road of about 7 miles in central Warren County. There has been reported paranormal activity at a location along with the road at Ghost Lake, The Fairy Hole, and Lenape Lane.

18. Local Legend says The Devil’s Tree in Bernards Township Local is cursed! Those who damage or disrespect the tree physically or verbally will soon thereafter come to some sort of harm, often in the form of a car accident or major breakdown as they leave. Yikes.

19. From the outside, the Gates of Hell, located behind the old Black Prince Distillery in Clifton, New Jersey, looks like any other collection of drains. But once you climb inside you’ll see that the drains,—the home of the devil according to an old urban legend—are covered with satanic graffiti and murals from generations of those who have dared to enter.

20. Trenton Psychiatric Hospital has a dark past marred by allegations of torture and other terrors. It is said that the hospital director, Dr. Henry Cotton, believed that he could cure mental illness by removing organs and teeth. He very often experimented with such procedures without the use of anesthesia and dozens of patients died under his care. Many spirits of his victims are still trapped in the building and can be heard screaming or even manifesting as shadow figures.

21. Mischief Night may be a common event on October 30th, but did you know that most people out of NJ have never heard of it? Known as a night when people do mischief to their neighbors ie toilet papering houses and smashing pumpkins, it is simply a “Jersey thing”.

22. NJ is home to its own Paranormal Books and Curiosities Museum and Store in Asbury Park! They host seances, ghost tours, paranormal investigations, and tours of the museum.

23. Speaking of Asbury Park, the SS Morro Castle was an ocean liner that caught fire and burned the morning of September 8, 1934, en route from Havana to New York killing 137 passengers and crew members. The ship eventually beached near Asbury Park, New Jersey, and remained for several months until it was towed off and scrapped. Ghosts are said to be seen in the ocean near the fire as well as images of the SS Morro Castle itself.

24. “The War of the Worlds” was originally broadcast Sunday, October 30, 1938 based on H. G. Wells’ original novel of a Martian invasion of Earth. The novel was adapted for radio and changed to the contemporary United States with the landing point in rural Grover’s Mill. The residents of Grover’s Mill did not know this was a work of fiction and were reading to take on their martian attackers. This has been portrayed in the movie Brave New Jersey starring Tony Hale and Anna Camp in 2016. You can also see a monument of the “attack” in Grovers Mills.

25. The Newark Ghost Train is local lore about a ghost train passes through Broad Street Station at midnight on the 10th of every month. The train is said to be driven by an engineer who was killed on the tracks back in 1868.

26. n 1842, Edgar Allan Poe wrote “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt,” a sequel to “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” the first detective story. The Mystery of Marie Rogêt has Poe’s detective C. Auguste Dupin solving the murder of the titular calendar, which in Law & Order parlance was ripped from the headlines. Poe potentially learned about the murder while visiting John Jacob Astor’s Villa, located in Hoboken.

27. The Hindenburg disaster occurred on May 6, 1937, in Manchester Township. The German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst. Onboard were 97 people; there were 36 fatalities.

28. The Loch Ness Monster isn’t the only popular sea serpent that can be seen! We have our own legend known as the Sussex Sea Serpent aka Hoppie. She seems to be a friendly sea serpent, but there was widespread panic upon her first sighting in 1894. Jersey’s own sea monster is described as being 40 feet long, with the head of a canine and the body of a snake.

29. Probably one of our more popular urban legends, the Atco Ghost is said to appear when drivers honk three times on Burnt Mill Road in the Pine Barrens. Legend has it that the ghost boy haunts the site where he was struck by a drunk driver.

30. Famous magician Harry Houdini had a New Jersey workshop located at 216 19th St, Union City, New Jersey! Today it is a rental space managed by Union City Studios.