Shades of Death Road, NJ

Recently I decided to take a quick drive to Shades of Death Road. in Allamuchy. I had been here years ago but thought that I would take pictures and do a little more research this time.

The Road itself, is not any more frightening than the quaint dairy farms around it. Anyone passing through the moderately busy road during the day wouldn't think twice about Shades of Death, other than the ominous name. There is even an annual half marathon held here in the fall. 

The reports of murder and hauntings however, make it a little more exciting than that........

Though most are unsure as to why the road has its name there are plenty of tales that could be the reason behind the horrifying label. Shades of Death history goes back to the 20's and 30's with several reports of robbery by bandits and highwaymen. There have been at least three reports of murder along this road. The first involved the death of a traveler at the hands of a bandit who struck him over the head with a tire iron. The second conclusive report was of a woman killing and beheading her husband and burying the separate pieces on either side of the road. The third murder was of a local named Bill Cummins. Reports say the killer was never caught, though I've heard from locals that he was.

The name could also stem from rumors of highwaymen being lynched along the road by locals or stories of the ghosts of two boys who were killed by a car while playing on the road.

In the late 90's rumor spread of hundreds of creepy polaroid photos found by police not far from the side of Shades of Death Road. The blurry photos depicted a television changing stations and women sitting on a metal object. A factual conclusion was never released to the public.

These murders could be why the name Shades of Death was chosen for this road but my opinion causes me to believe that it was named for the swamplands that once covered the area around the road. The swamps bred an unusual amount of mosquitoes that caused the deaths of many residents due to malaria. The swamps were later dredged, but the name and history behind the road remained.

Farther along Shades of Death Road you can find Jenny Jump State Park. The story of Jenny Jumps name is equally fascinating. Lenape Indian tribes once covered much of Allamuchy. During this time there was a small white family living nearby the cliff face of what is now the park. Legend has it that a young white girl named Jenny was picking berries when an Indian attacked her. Jenny ran away to escape the Indian and found herself trapped between her attacker and the ledge of the cliff. Unwilling to suffer her fate at the hands of the Indian, she jumped over the cliff to her death. Some claim to see her ghost still wandering the shores of Ghost Lake, a man-made body of water created in the early 1900's by two men damning up a creek nearby.

As I kept digging up more on this odd road, I kept finding more stories that branched off into more stories that led to more stories. As I draw my synopsis of Shades of Death Road to a close I would like to say that if your ever in the area, pay a visit to this historically sinister road and keep the stories alive.

The abandoned homes of Green

A ten minute drive from my house in Newton are the rolling farmlands of Green Township. At Newton High School, we were comprised of students from nearby Andover, Green, and Newton combined. This goes to say that this particular area we visited has been talked about more than enough times to spark anyones curiosity. Behind Pub 517 in Green, a dirt road will take you to the entrance of an overgrown trail. At the head of the rocky trail is a large concrete gate. My friend Brian, a native of Green, navigated us through the dark trail until we reached our first destination.

People say these houses were abandoned after a forest fire threatened to burn down the whole street and forest around it. The houses were evacuated as the fire raged and were never reoccupied. As we moved from house to house and room to room we found a recurring theme of busted items and thoughtless, amateur grafitti. The photos below are inside a few of the houses. Every room was covered in graffiti and full of broken and worthless tools and other household items dating back to the 50's.

 

A friend of mine searched one of the houses earlier than us and found documents and bills addressed to the owners. The bills dated back to the 50's and evidence from the documents suggest the homes were foreclosed because of tax issues. These homes in Green were simply foreclosed and abandoned.

First Timer

I decided to start this blog for the first time because I have very many stories of local history to share of locations in and around New Jersey. These stories are mostly local legend but I've sprinkled in some historical fact here and there for added validity. If you ask any of my friends from school they will tell you that I forget a lot of things, including experiences or places from my past. One of my old teammates actually devised a little book full of small quotes and phrases that would spark memories of our track days at Newton High School for me. This blog is kind of like my own little book of memories and photos. 

Since living in Sussex County, NJ for seven years I've picked up a lot of local history and legends from people I've met and articles I've read. I've traveled through most of the state with my teammates over the course of 6 years of track and 4 years of cross country.

 During my extended break back home from my first semester at college I began to remember bits and pieces of old Jersey folklore and revisited some old abandoned places as well as venture on to new ones. This blog is to keep the old local stories of Jersey alive in my memory as well as document new ones. I am not a skilled photographer or writer by any stretch of the imagination, but I take pictures here and there for visualizations of places I've been and places I'll see.

Thanks for reading!

(The picture shown above is on Shades of Death Road, Allamuchy, NJ)