Ep 262: Shades of Death Road
Description:
There is a road in Warren County, New Jersey, that, according to many generations of locals, seems to be a vortex or at least a hotspot of all manner of paranormal and unsettling activity. Tales of Native American spirits seen along the roadside, ghostly victims of vigilante justice dangling from “The Hanging Tree,” spectral deer running alongside cars, murder and highway robbery, UAPs and glowing orbs, the ghost from a 1950s Prom Date car accident still in her burned dress limping home, and even disturbing Polaroids of distressed people scattered in the woods are all part of the lore of this nearly 7-mile stretch of road officially and aptly named, Shades of Death Road. But with such an ominous and foreboding name, does this country road live up to the hype, and how did it get its name? Perhaps one could dismiss Shades of Death Road as just another random community locus that births Urban Legends, except that it’s not the only haunting and notorious landmark in the area. Adjacent to the road are two other mysteriously named topographical features, Ghost Lake and Jenny Jump Mountain, each with their own disturbing stories. So is the collection of incidents from these places merely a coincidence that fuels imagination and legends, or does this particular swath of earth generate the creepy activity that happens upon it? Let’s find out as we deep drive down Shades of Death Road.
Location:
Shades of Death Road in central Warren County, New Jersey. Adjacent to Ghost Lake and Jenny Jump State Forest.
Location:
Coordinates to Jenny’s House landmark
Article from Dec 8, 1928 The Record (Hackensack, New Jersey) <! data-preserve-html-node="true"--- -->
Reference Links:
Tess’ blog entry on Shades of Death Road on AstonishingLegends.com
“Hauntings of the Shades of Death Road” on MysteriesRUnsolved.com
“SEVEN TERRIFYING MILES ON THE SHADES OF DEATH ROAD” on TheGypsyThread.org
“One of the World’s Most Haunted Roads is Here in NJ” from The Montclair Girl
“Shades of Death Road: ghost stories and local legends in NJ” on DangerousRoads.org
“Driving Down This Haunted New Jersey Road Will Give You Nightmares” on OnlyInYourState.com
“Shades of Death Road” from The Streak – The Student News Site of Warren HIlls Regional High School
“Historical records or sources about murders on Shades of Death Road?” on reddit
Bill Cummins’ burial site at Free Union Methodist Cemetery on FindAGrave.com
“Teens crash on Shades of Death Road; 3 airlifted in Allamuchy” from the Daily Record
“Famous Milestone” near Great Meadows, NJ on The Historical Marker Database
PDF: “Geologic History and Virtual Fieldtrip of the New Jersey Highlands”
Warren County, New Jersey, on the National Register of Historic Places
“Henry Charlton Beck Papers, 1953-1966” from the Hunterdon County Historical Society
Image of the historian Reverend Henry Charlton Beck from JerseyHeritage.org
“Death of Henry Charlton Beck 18 Jan 1965” from newspapers.com
“VISITING HENRY CHARLTON BECK – HARLEIGH CEMETERY – CAMDEN, NJ” from SouthJerseyTrails.org
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CREDITS:
Episode 262: Shades of Death Road. Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess; Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel of VW Sound. Music and Sound Design by Allen Carrescia. Tess Pfeifle, Producer and Lead Researcher. Ed Voccola, Technical Producer. Research Support from The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2023 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.