For my first travel piece, I thought I’d talk about my home state: New Jersey. I could wax poetic about our Jersey Shore. Atlantic City. Our mountains and rivers. Our theatres and universities.
The Pinelands burial sites for Soprano-kin. (Yes, it’s true. Christopher and Paulie and got out. Not everyone was so lucky. And you can get lost in those woods…)
But you can read thousands of articles about all those points of interest.
I want to get funky. I want you to see New Jersey, not as either the Turnpike with its pollution or the Jersey Shore with its magnificent beaches. I want you to appreciate… the weirdness of my birth state.
And we have a lot of it. In fact, we have a company and magazine dedicated to exploring all New Jersey’s quirky and odd places and stories. It’s called Weird New Jersey. For 58 issues and counting.
Aside from my own experiences, hiking in the woods or touring allegedly haunted spaces, Weird New Jersey is a go-to resource for appreciating the oddities across my state. Most of what I know is through just living here. In today’s tourism article, I present a selection of stories I know or places I have visited. Or avoided! I invite you to come for a visit. Eschew the beach. Forget the hiking.
Let’s get weird.
Let’s start with the favorite folktale of locals and visitors: the Jersey Devil. From as early as 1909, locals repeated stories of unearthly wails from the darkness, slaughtered dogs and other domestic animals, mysterious tracks, and sightings of the winged-beast. Some Pineys — those who were born and raised in the Pine Barrens — laugh that the tale discourages city people from moving or visiting the area. Others, with wide-eyes, whisper the legend:
A sad tale of Mother Leeds, an impoverished woman with a drunken husband who was no help emotionally or financially. Finding herself with child for the 13th time, Mother Leeds cursed the child, “Let this one be a devil.” At birth, the baby boy transformed into an enormous dragon-like beast, with a goat-head, horns, talons, bat wings, and a long forked-tail. The beast’s eyes glowed red as it killed the midwives, its siblings, its father, and its own mother before flying up the chimney and disappearing into the Pine Barrens.
I grew up in the historic, lovely town of Matawan and I recall adults telling my friends and me not to swim in Matawan Creek. No one ever extrapolated until Jaws hit theatres in 1975. Apparently, in the summer of 1916, three shark attacksresulted in two dead creek swimmers. The creek is eleven miles from the Atlantic Ocean, so that shark — probably a bull shark — took quite a detour. The 3 incidents were the last of 5 that summer, were covered in a Shark Week episode, and are said to have inspired the film, Jaws. Matawan is a nice town to visit. Just don’t go swimming in the creek. My Dad said.
HAUNTED HANGER: THE HINDENBURG
On May 6, 1937, my grandfather, Martin Schmidt, was Chief of the Perth Amboy Fire Department and one of the first responders to the Hindenburg crash. Yup, you can visit the crash site at Lakehurst Naval Air Station — and you, too, can experience the chill in the air. 36 people died that day. Visitors report hearing strange sounds, feeling change in temperature, and sensing an indescribable but unsettling vibe. Visit for the history. Visit for the mystery.
ABANDONED PLACES: 20 ELINORE AVENUE, LONG BRANCH
Photographers, ghost hunters, and kids of all ages would be overwhelmed by the number of abandoned sites in the Garden State. The abandoned stone cottage on Ross Lake in Long Branch is a particular favorite of mine. P. Sandord Ross built the little house on the island. The stones used to build this odd structure are the same ones used for structures at Monmouth University(where I have been a professor for twenty years). While walking the university grounds, I often spotted the cottage’s stone walls and wondered at its history. The town owns the property and the grounds are now a botanical garden.
If you avoid all this Jersey weirdness and decide to go down the shore, you still might stumble upon strange sites, like Lucy the Elephant in Margate. The 65 foot high, 18 foot wide, 60 foot long structure, now a National Historic Landmark, was built by James V. Lafferty in 1881 and meant to attract tourists. She’s been moved a few times and revitalized a few times — but is still fun to visit and explore.
GROVERS MILL: JERSEY’S AREA 51
You’ve probably heard of Orson Welles’ 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast — which was so realistic, it caused mass hysteria. What you might not have realized is Welles reported the aliens landed in New Jersey: Grovers Mill, specifically. If you want a nice afternoon with a bit of weird history thrown in, take a ride through this quaint town.
You can hear the broadcast here (midway on the page). When visiting the town, check out the Maritan Landing Site Monument.
The Blue Hole is a favorite hang out for the Jersey Devil. On the border of Camden and Gloucester Counties — close to where I lived at one time — the pool, about 130 feet across, is a picturesque spot in the Pine Barrens. But a closer look at the notoriously cold waters leads to a chill down one’s spine: no fish, no insect, no life is within. Locals warn against swimming in the inviting crystal water where whirlpools allegedly drown swimmers in the bottomless hole. It’s likely the bottom of the pool is quicksand-like. Take a short hike and dip a toe. Or don’t.
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These are hundreds of legends and interesting places to visit in the Garden State. So, come on down to the Jersey Shore! Have a night in Atlantic City or a weekend in Cape May. But get a little weird and stray from the beaten path.
You might have that moment the Jersey Devil appears in your rearview mirror!
And if you can’t wait for your vacation and want a Jersey Weird Good Time, check out The Piney’s series: New Jersey’s very own Tony DiGerolamo’s comedic romp about cousins cursed to hunt Jersey demons.
