Clinton Road is located in West Milford,

Passaic County Passaic County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New Jersey that is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the population of Passaic County was enumerated at 524,118, an increase of 22,892 (4.6%) from t ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. It runs in a generally north–south direction, beginning at Route 23 near

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

and running roughly 10 miles (16 km) to its northern terminus at Upper Greenwood Lake. The road and the land around it have gained notoriety over the years as an area rife with many

legend A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...

s of paranormal occurrences such as sightings of

ghosts A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

, strange creatures, and gatherings of

witches Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have use ...

Satanists Satanism is a group of ideological and philosophical beliefs based on Satan. Contemporary religious practice of Satanism began with the founding of the atheistic Church of Satan by Anton LaVey in the United States in 1966, although a few h ...

, and the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

. It is also rumored that professional killers dispose of bodies in the surrounding woods—with one recorded case of this occurring.Moran, Mark and Sceurman, Mark; ''Weird NJ: Your Travel Guide to New Jersey's Local Legends and Best-Kept Secrets''; Barnes & Noble Books, New York, New York, 2003, p. 206 It has been a regular subject of discussion in '' Weird NJ'' magazine, which once devoted an entire issue to it. In the words of a local police chief, "It's a long, desolate stretch and makes the imagination go nuts." There are very few houses along the road and much of the adjoining property is undeveloped publicly owned woodlands (either

City of Newark Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

or state forest) and the road itself is a narrow two-lane highway that receives little maintenance, is not part of New Jersey's county route system and was until fairly recently unpaved for some of its length, connecting two areas of minimal population and growth and thus having little traffic even at the busiest times of day. It is also notorious for having the country's longest

traffic light Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – known also as robots in South Africa are signalling devices positioned at intersection (road), road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control flows of traf ...

wait. This occurs at a double intersection where Route 23 crosses the road. The two lights can cause motorists to wait for 5 minutes in total. The lengthy wait was a result of traffic planners giving increased priority to Route 23 to reduce backups during rush hour.

History

The road, like the

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

and in the area, gets its name from the original settlement of Clinton, which was located about where the road crosses the brook.Moran, Mark and Sceurman, Mark; ''Weird NJ: Your Travel Guide to New Jersey's Local Legends and Best-Kept Secrets''; Barnes & Noble Books, New York, New York, 2003, 200 On May 14, 1983, the body of Daniel Deppner was found when a cyclist riding down Clinton Road in a wooded area of West Milford, New Jersey, spotted the corpse being eaten by a

turkey vulture The turkey vulture (''Cathartes aura'') is the most widespread of the New World vultures. One of three species in the genus ''Cathartes'' of the family Cathartidae, the turkey vulture ranges from southern Canada to the southernmost tip of South ...

. The body had been wrapped inside a green garbage bag before dumping it. Richard Kuklinski was charged and convicted of his murder.Moran, Mark and Sceurman, Mark; ''Weird NJ: Your Travel Guide to New Jersey's Local Legends and Best-Kept Secrets''; Barnes & Noble Books, New York, New York, 2003, p. 206

Legends and folklore

The different areas along or near Clinton Road have been much cited as the setting of

urban legends An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...

, especially by the publication '' Weird NJ'', which has devoted numerous articles to the subject.Moran & Sceurman, 200-07. *Ghost boy bridge: According to ''Weird NJ'', there is a legend that if someone puts a quarter in the middle of the road where the yellow line is at one of the bridges over Clinton Brook (Dead Man's Curve) near the reservoir, at midnight it will supposedly be promptly returned by the ghost of a boy who drowned while swimming below or had fallen in while sitting on the edge of the bridge. In some tellings an apparition is seen; in others, the ghost pushes the teller into the water if they look over the side of the bridge, in order to save them from being run over as he was in life. *Besides the ghost boy, there have been other ghosts described by ''Weird NJ'' readers. One claims to have seen a ghost Camaro driven by a girl who supposedly died when she crashed it in 1988 (any mention while driving the road at night is supposed to trigger a manifestation).Moran & Sceurman, 204. Another claims to have encountered two

park ranger A ranger, park ranger, park warden, or forest ranger is a law enforcement person entrusted with protecting and preserving parklands – national, state, provincial, or local parks. Description "Parks" may be broadly defined by some systems in thi ...

s one night while camping with friends near Terrace Pond, a glacial tarn on a ridge accessible from the road by hiking trails, who in the morning turned out to have been the ghosts of two rangers who had died on the job in 1939. Other ''Weird NJ'' readers claim to have seen people dressed weirdly at odd hours who simply stare at those who see them and do not speak, who either disappear or are not seen by others present.Moran & Sceurman, 205. *The Druidic temple: A conical stone structure just east of the road south of the reservoir was said by ''Weird NJ'' readers to be a site where local

Druid A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. Whi ...

s practiced their rituals, and horrible things might come to pass for any intruder who looked too closely or came at the wrong time. The building is actually an iron

smelter Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including Silver mining#Ore processing, silver, iron-making, iron, copper extracti ...

built in 1826. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

as Clinton Furnace in 1976. It is currently fenced off by the Newark water department to prevent any entrance and the liability for injury that might result. *Ghost truck: According to the Travel Channel show ''Most Terrifying Places in America 2'', phantom vehicles such as pickup trucks or even floating headlights not attached to any vehicle supposedly appear from nowhere in the middle of the night and chase drivers to the end of the road, then disappear.From an interview in the television special "Most Terrifying Places in America 2" (2009) on the Travel Channel *Strange creatures, from a hellhound aka: "Wolfie", an experimental Albino Wolf-Dog, to

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

s and unidentifiable hybrids, are alleged by ''Weird NJ'' to have been seen at night. If not of

supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

origin, they are said to have been survivors of

Jungle Habitat Warner Bros. Jungle Habitat, which was in West Milford, in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States, was a Warner Bros.-owned theme park that opened in the summer of 1972, and closed in October 1976. By November 1972, the park had 500,000 paid v ...

, a nearby attraction that has been closed since 1976, which have managed to survive and crossbreed.Moran & Sceurman, 203.

Cross Castle

In 1905, a man named Richard Cross built a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

on high land near the reservoir for his wife and three children. Later in the 20th century, it fell into ruin after a fire had destroyed part of it and thus became a popular destination for

hikers Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

and local teenagers looking for secluded locations to camp out and have parties.Moran & Sceurman, 202. According to ''Weird NJ'', "visitors have written telling of strange occurrences in or near the castle site, such as people going into

seizures An epileptic seizure, informally known as a seizure, is a period of symptoms due to abnormally excessive or neural oscillation, synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. Outward effects vary from uncontrolled shaking movements involving much o ...

and having

bruises A bruise, also known as a contusion, is a type of hematoma of tissue, the most common cause being capillaries damaged by trauma, causing localized bleeding that extravasates into the surrounding interstitial tissues. Most bruises occur close e ...

appearing on their bodies afterwards, or having strange, disturbing visions. Writings that suggest Satanic symbols have been reported as appearing on the castle's interior walls, particularly in areas that were supposedly inaccessible." Newark's water department razed the castle as an attractive nuisance in 1988, but the

foundations Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

remain and several hiking

trails A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. The ...

still lead to the site.

History

Legends and folklore

Cross Castle

See also

References

External links