Stop 1: The Deserted Village of Feltville

Nestled within the Watchung Reservation, Feltville is a ghost town with a history of sorrow and failed ventures. Once a utopian mill town founded in 1845 by businessman David Felt, it earned its “Deserted Village” moniker after a series of failed businesses led to its repeated abandonment.1 The village’s ghostly legends reflect its tragic past. Stories persist of three sisters who vanished while camping in the woods in 1912, with searchers only finding their bonnets.3 A young girl’s spirit is also said to wander aimlessly from home to home.3 Today, the site is a well-maintained park where visitors can walk through the preserved ruins.2

• Location: 2 Cataract Hollow Road, Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922 ⁴
• Notes for the Paranormal Investigator: The grounds are open from dawn to dusk. It’s an ideal location for walking and taking photographs. A self-guided walking tour pamphlet is available at kiosks in the parking lot.²

Stop 2: Waterloo Village

Once a thriving 19th-century port along the Morris Canal, Waterloo Village in Stanhope was abandoned after the advent of the railroad.5 It was later restored as an open-air museum, but many claim the spirits of its past residents remain. The most haunted building is the Stagecoach Inn, where a woman was reportedly murdered and is said to still wait for her lover.7 The inn’s kitchen is also home to the spirit of an angry servant.7

• Location: Waterloo & Waterloo Valley Roads, Stanhope, NJ 07874 ⁸
• Notes for the Paranormal Investigator: The village grounds are open from dawn to dusk. Guided tours are available on weekends from June through September.⁹

Stop 3: Shades of Death Road and Ghost Lake

This seven-mile, two-lane road in Warren County is one of New Jersey’s most notoriously named locations.10 It’s a place steeped in local lore, including legends of highwaymen who still haunt the trees where they were lynched.10 The road runs alongside Ghost Lake, which is rumored to be an old Native American burial ground.10 Visitors have reported seeing ghostly apparitions rise from the water and walk across its surface.10

• Location: Shades of Death Road, Allamuchy Township, NJ ¹¹
• Notes for the Paranormal Investigator: The road is a public thoroughfare and can be driven or hiked. The name of the lake may have been inspired by the wispy, ghostly fog that can form on the water under the right conditions.¹³

Stop 4: The Devil’s Tree

Tucked away in Bernards Township is a solitary oak tree with a sinister reputation.14 According to legend, a farmer murdered his family and then hanged himself from this very tree.16 The tree is said to be cursed, with a local belief that anyone who disrespects it will meet with a car accident or other misfortune.14 Bizarrely, the ground beneath the tree is rumored to be free of snow even in the coldest winter months.16

• Location: Mountain Road, Martinsville, NJ 08836 ¹⁵
• Notes for the Paranormal Investigator: The tree is located across from a private housing development.¹⁴ A chain-link fence has been installed to protect the tree from vandalism.¹⁴

The Urban and Southern Edge: Cryptids, Cursed Waters, and Alien Encounters

Stop 5: The Pine Barrens and Batsto Village

A vast and mysterious forest, the Pine Barrens is most famously home to the Jersey Devil, a winged biped with hooves and a forked tail.18 The creature, New Jersey’s official state demon, is said to have been the cursed 13th child of a woman named Mother Leeds.18 The Pine Barrens are also home to other legends, including the spirit of “Bloody John Bacon,” a Revolutionary War-era outlaw.20 Within the Pines, you can visit Batsto Village, a ghost town that once produced supplies for the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.20

• Location: 31 Batsto Road, Hammonton, NJ 08037 ²²
• Notes for the Paranormal Investigator: Batsto Village is a historic site. The grounds are open from dawn to dusk, and there are fees for tours of the historic mansion.²²

Stop 6: The Emlen Physick Estate

This beautiful Victorian mansion in Cape May has a ghostly reputation.23 Dr. Emlen Physick, his mother, and his sister lived and died in the home, and their spirits are said to have driven out subsequent owners.25 The museum staff has leaned into these claims, using paranormal research equipment to capture dozens of audio and visual recordings of unexplained presences.23

• Location: 1048 Washington St, Cape May, NJ 08204 ²⁴
• Notes for the Paranormal Investigator: The Emlen Physick Estate offers “Voices from Beyond” and “Historic Haunts” tours that specifically focus on its paranormal history and modern paranormal investigation techniques.²⁷

Stop 7: The White Hill Mansion

This 18th-century mansion in Fieldsboro has a dark history, with ties to the American Revolution and a rumored past as a bordello during Prohibition.28 The mansion is now a popular destination for paranormal investigators, offering public and private ghost hunts.29 The most frequently reported phenomenon is the sound of a body being dragged across an upstairs floor.28

• Location: 217 Burlington St., Fieldsboro, NJ ³⁰
• Notes for the Paranormal Investigator: The mansion offers private overnight investigations for experienced paranormal teams and public hunts for enthusiasts.²⁹ Bookings are required for all investigations.²⁹

Stop 8: Round Valley Reservoir

The serene and inviting blue waters of Round Valley Reservoir hide a dark and tragic history, earning it the grim nickname “The Bermuda Triangle of New Jersey”.35 Since its creation, there have been over 26 reported drownings, and in at least six of those cases, the bodies were never recovered.36 The reservoir was created in the 1960s to serve as a water supply, but it was built by flooding a small farming community whose residents were forced to relocate.35 The history of this displacement has led to local legends that the lake is cursed and haunted by the spirits of the displaced families.36 The foundations of the old buildings, including a school and a church, are still at the bottom of the lake, in depths of up to 180 feet.35 Some visitors claim they can still hear the “echoes of the past” on quiet nights.43 In December 2024, the reservoir became a focal point for the widespread drone sightings across New Jersey, adding another layer to its mysterious reputation.35

• Location: 1220 Stanton-Lebanon Road, Lebanon, NJ 08833 ⁴⁵
• Notes for the Paranormal Investigator: While swimming is permitted in a designated, lifeguarded area, the waters are dangerously cold at a depth of about 30 feet, even in summer months.⁴⁸

Stop 9: North Hudson Park

On January 12, 1975, this park in North Bergen was the site of a classic, credible UFO sighting.31 A man driving through the park witnessed a round, humming object hover over a field, from which ten small, identically dressed figures emerged to collect soil samples.31 A second, independent witness—a doorman at a nearby apartment—also saw the brightly lit UFO and reported a high-pitched vibration that broke a lobby window as it departed.31

• Location: 9003 Bergenline Ave, North Bergen, NJ 07047 ³²
• Notes for the Paranormal Investigator: While the exact location of the sighting is not marked, the park is open 24 hours a day ³³ and provides a backdrop for a well-documented case of unexplained phenomena.³¹

Stop 10: Morristown UFO Hoax

This site is a cautionary tale for all paranormal enthusiasts. On five nights in 2009, mysterious red lights were reported in the skies above Morris County, sparking widespread media attention and an official investigation.34 It was later revealed to be a hoax perpetrated by two men who released flares on helium balloons as a “social experiment” to expose the unreliability of eyewitness testimony.34

• Location: Morris County, particularly the Hanover Township area ³⁴
• Notes for the Paranormal Investigator: While not a site of a genuine paranormal event, its history offers a critical lesson on the importance of skepticism and verifying evidence. The perpetrators of the hoax were ultimately charged and fined.³⁴

New Jersey Paranormal

The history of New Jersey is a narrative woven with industrial innovation, Revolutionary War heroism, and suburban development. Yet, beneath this familiar tapestry lies a darker, more mysterious thread—a vibrant and enduring paranormal legacy. From eerie forests said to harbor mythical beasts to the silent echoes of forgotten towns, the Garden State has earned its reputation as a hotbed for the unexplained. This essay will delve into the multifaceted paranormal history of New Jersey, examining key sites, recurring phenomena, and the cultural context that has allowed these spectral tales to persist. By exploring the haunting of its abandoned places, the legendary cryptids of its wilderness, and the mysteries of its waters, one can come to understand how New Jersey’s unique landscape and tumultuous past have shaped a supernatural folklore as diverse and resilient as its people.

The most prominent feature of New Jersey’s paranormal landscape is its collection of haunted, historical sites. These locations are not merely old buildings; they are focal points for stories of tragedy, unresolved conflicts, and lingering emotions. The Deserted Village of Feltville, nestled within the Watchung Reservation, serves as a prime example. Once a bustling mill town in the mid-19th century, it was later repurposed as a summer resort before ultimately being abandoned. Today, the village consists of a handful of preserved buildings, their vacant windows staring out into the forest. Local lore speaks of the ghost of a young bride who hanged herself in a bedroom, and the spirits of three sisters who died mysteriously after playing a forbidden game. Visitors and paranormal investigators report hearing disembodied whispers, feeling unexplained cold spots, and seeing fleeting shadows in the surrounding woods. Feltville’s isolation and the palpable sense of a time left behind give these tales a chilling authenticity, suggesting that the past is not merely a memory but an active, spectral presence.

Similarly, the ruins of Waterloo Village in Sussex County and Walpack Center in the Delaware Water Gap evoke a sense of arrested time. Waterloo Village, a once-thriving 19th-century canal town, has been the subject of numerous paranormal investigations. Apparitions of its former residents, including the ghost of a young girl who is said to have drowned in the canal, are frequently reported. The echoes of ghostly music and the phantom sounds of a bygone era are said to drift through the village, a mournful soundtrack to its preserved-but-lifeless buildings. Walpack Center, a “living ghost town,” was acquired by the government in the 1960s for a dam project that was never completed. A handful of residents still live there, but the empty schoolhouse, church, and other structures stand as silent witnesses to a community that was forced to leave. Visitors claim to hear footsteps in the deserted church and feel a constant sense of being watched, an unnerving feeling that the spirits of the displaced community are still present. These historical sites are more than just tourist attractions; they are portals to the state’s industrial and social past, acting as conduits for the unresolved energies of those who once lived and worked there.

Beyond its ghostly residents, New Jersey is also home to a diverse array of cryptids and strange creatures. The most famous, and perhaps most feared, is the Jersey Devil. Legend has it that the creature, also known as the Leeds Devil, was the 13th child of a woman known only as Mother Leeds in the Pine Barrens during the 18th century. Born a monstrous, winged creature with a horse-like head and bat-like wings, it escaped into the wilderness and has been sighted countless times since. The dense, sprawling Pine Barrens serve as the perfect backdrop for this legend, its remote, sandy terrain and thick forests providing a secluded sanctuary for a creature to thrive, or at least for a legend to grow. The sheer number of reported sightings, particularly a series of widely publicized encounters in 1909, has cemented the Jersey Devil’s place as the state’s most iconic cryptid, a folk creature that has transcended legend to become a symbol of the wild, untamed nature of the Pines.

While the Jersey Devil dominates the cryptid narrative, New Jersey’s paranormal history is also marked by persistent tales of UFOs and other unexplained phenomena. The state’s proximity to major metropolitan areas and military bases has made it a frequent location for strange lights in the sky. One of the most famous incidents occurred in 1966 when a series of UFO sightings were reported over McGuire Air Force Base and other locations across the state. The events were so numerous that they attracted national attention and were investigated by the U.S. Air Force, though no official explanation was ever offered. The frequent military and commercial air traffic over the state often provides a mundane explanation for some sightings, but a persistent number of reports involving silent, fast-moving objects, and inexplicable aerial maneuvers continue to fuel the curiosity of paranormal investigators. The idea that New Jersey’s skies are just as mysterious as its land adds another dimension to its supernatural character.

Perhaps no other location in the state better encapsulates the blend of history, mystery, and tragedy than the Round Valley Reservoir. Colloquially known as “New Jersey’s Bermuda Triangle,” this man-made lake was created in the 1960s by flooding a small farming community. The submerged town, with its roads and building foundations still intact, lies at the bottom of the deep, clear waters. Since its creation, the reservoir has been the site of over two dozen mysterious disappearances and drownings, with several bodies never recovered. This staggering number of unsolved cases has led to theories of a curse, perhaps stemming from the displacement of the original community, or malevolent spirits haunting the water. Boaters and fishermen report an unsettling feeling of dread and an eerie mist that descends without warning. Scuba divers who explore the watery graveyard of the old town speak of a palpable sense of unease, as if the spirits of the past are unwilling to rest. The tragedy of the reservoir is not just in the loss of life, but in the unresolved nature of these disappearances, leaving a permanent stain on the otherwise picturesque landscape and creating a potent paranormal narrative.

New Jersey’s paranormal history is also tied to its public institutions, particularly those that dealt with mental health. The now-closed Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, with its long and dark history of inhumane treatments, has been the subject of countless ghost stories. Patients who died under horrific circumstances are said to linger in the abandoned corridors. Likewise, the Burlington County Prison Museum, a site of public hangings and harsh conditions, is said to be haunted by the spirits of its former inmates. These locations are powerful because they are not just old buildings; they represent the collective suffering and injustice of the past, creating a type of emotional resonance that fuels spectral claims. The ghosts of these places are not just characters in a story; they are a grim reminder of a darker period in social history.

In conclusion, New Jersey’s paranormal history is a complex tapestry woven from its unique geography, its industrial past, and its cultural folklore. From the ghostly echoes of the Deserted Village of Feltville and the historic towns of Waterloo and Walpack, to the dark legends of the Jersey Devil and the tragic mysteries of Round Valley Reservoir, the state is a case study in how the past can haunt the present. These tales are not just idle curiosities; they are a reflection of the state’s identity—a place where the wild and the suburban, the historic and the modern, coexist in a state of perpetual tension. By exploring these spectral sites, we are not just seeking a thrill; we are engaging with the unresolved stories of a state that refuses to forget.

FOOTNOTES

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