Jungle Habitat (Abandoned) West Milford, NJ

 Jungle Habitat

West Milford, NJ 

    An abandoned drive through zoo that was located in North Jersey. Tales of escaped and left behind animals plagued this location for years. Nature has once again taken over and the only remains of this zoo is the parking lot, a ticket booth and the tunnels that lead under the road from the parking lot. Not much left to see. this is a cool spot to do some hiking though. 

Short video of the tunnels

Trail

Abandoned, Roadside and Historic Facebook

Abandoned, Roadside and Historic Youtube

Abandoned, Roadside and Historic Tik Tok

The Jersey Devil: Hammerhead Bat Theory

The Jersey Devil: Hammerhead Bat Theory

 Featuring: Kenneth Sooy Sr - Galloway Historian

 Den Haller - Businessman 

Lord Rick Rowe - The Paranormal and Ghost Society 

 If you look at pictures for the hammerhead bat that is native to Africa, you will see that its face does resemble traditional depictions of the Jersey Devil. The sizes are a bit off given that some people stated that the Jersey Devil was between 6-8 feet tall and the bat has a wing span of 27-38 inches and a total length of 7.7-11.2 inches, weighing 8-15.9 ounces and the females are slightly smaller. One theory could be that someone in the area was keeping a Hammerhead bat as a pet and it escaped. But once again, the sizes between the Hammerhead Bat and the Jersey Devil are way off. The comparison between the two animals is not to far off since throughout time many residents of New Jersey have kept exotic animals as pets. There also have been quite a few zoos, circuses and what not associated with the area.

As far as the face of the Hammerhead Bat it appears to be a better explanation of what people of the Pine Barrens have been seeing as opposed to the Sandhill Crane. But the one up that the Crane has over the bat is that the Crane is native to New Jersey and the bat is native to Africa. The Sandhill Crane is a herbivore, but since the Jersey Devil has been accused of stealing and attacking livestock and chickens he is thought of as a carnivore. Also the Crane stands about 40-48 inches (3-4 feet) tall and the Jersey Devil is about 72-96 inches (6-8 feet). It is noted that the crane has a loud screech and legend has it, that the Jersey Devil does too. Many skeptics and those people looking for a rational explanation as to what people have been seeing for several hundreds years in the New Jersey Pine Barrens have searched desperately for an answer. One of the most common and logical given answers has been the Sandhill Crane.

The Devil's Tree, Bernards Township, New Jersey

 The Devil's Tree

Mountain Rd

Basking Ridge, NJ 07920

    Many legends are associated with this mysterious tree. it is claimed that those who attempt to damage the tree will suffer misfortune in due time. Claims of Satanic, religious and KKK activity are tied to this tree.

    Numerous attempts to harm, hurt and cut down the tree have occurred over the years, people even tried to burn it down. The tree still stands firm.

    Stories state that the tree and ground is warm, thus disallowing snow to fall and stay near the tree. We conducted some temperature readings but did not detect any out of the ordinary temperatures.

Short video of the Devil's Tree

Abandoned, Roadside and Historic Facebook

Abandoned, Roadside and Historic Youtube

Abandoned, Roadside and Historic Tik Tok

The Watcher House

 The Watcher House

Westfield, NJ

A cursed house? A stalker? This house garnished almost notoriety as the Amityville house. The new owners started receiving mail addressed to "The New Owners" that sent chills up and down their spines. There was someone called the "Watcher" that was...watching them from a short distance.

(More info to come)

The Watcher House short Video

Abandoned, Roadside and Historic Facebook

 

Abandoned, Roadside and Historic Youtube

Abandoned, Roadside and Historic Tik Tok

Clinton Road (America's Most Haunted Road)

 Clinton Road (America's Most Haunted Road)

    Clinton Road has been described as one of the most haunted roads in the United States. Many deaths, along with many legends occurred along this stretch of road. One of the legends include that of a boy who supposed was struck and killed by a car. His ghost hangs out under the bridge and will toss a coin back to you if you deposit one into the water.

    Many people have raced down this road and have lost their lives. 

    A murder occurred on this road when the hitman known as the ICEMAN took the life of a victim and dumped the body in the woods.

(More info to follow)

Video clip of Clinton Road

Abandoned, Roadside and Historic Facebook

Abandoned, Roadside and Historic Youtube

Abandoned, Roadside and Historic Tik Tok

Cursed Haddon Lake and Surrounding Areas

by Chris Chaos

The covers of the three Cursed books

This location and the incidents of Haddon Lake were the inspiration for the book and video series entitled "Cursed", as of this article there have been three editions published. The lake and many location adjacent to the lake itself have been plagued in such a way that many feel that the area is cursed. The lake itself was the dumping grounds and location where over the years several bodies were found. The McDonald's located along the Blackhorse Pike is the location where a distraught man attempted to commit suicide by driving his car nearly 100 MPH down down Prospect Ridge Blvd and ramming it into the building. Sadly, three McDonald workers died that day and the man attempting suicide lived, go figure.

The mouth of Haddon Lake

Was the Jersey Devil Finally Videotaped/Photographed?

by Chris Chaos

Out of all the cryptids from around the world, the Jersey Devil is the one with the least amount of video, photographs and physical evidence concerning him.

Anytime news hits involving the Jersey Devil my inbox and notifications go off like crazy, especially this time of year when the activity increases due to the proximity to Halloween. I have spent the last few years, from November of 2002 till now, researching, exploring and compiling information concerning the Jersey Devil and the results will be released on October 31st, 2015 in a book medium, "THE SEARCH FOR THE JERSEY DEVIL: Revisited" .

Today I received messages from multiple sources making me aware of the following two new updates to the Jersey Devil legend. One was from NJ.com and the other was from Weird NJ.

Cover of the book, "THE SEARCH FOR THE JERSEY DEVIL: Revisited"

On NJ.com's website [1], October 12th, 2015 it was reported that Dave Black of Little Egg Harbor spotted what he thought was the Jersey Devil. he snapped a few pictures but only one came out. Here is an excerpt from the story from NJ.com by Kelly Roncace:

".......Dave Black of Little Egg Harbor Township was driving home from his security guard job in Atlantic City when he saw what he thought was a llama running in and out of the trees lining the road.

"I was just driving past the golf course in Galloway on Route 9 and had to shake my head a few times when I thought I saw a llama," he wrote in his email.

What happened next is the bizarre part.

"If that wasn't enough, then it spread out leathery wings and flew off over the golf course."

Um...what?!

Black said he grabbed his cell phone and snapped off a few photos, but only one came out.

The creature quickly disappeared, he said, and left Black wondering.

"Either my mind is playing tricks on me or I just saw the Jersey Devil," he wrote.

After his encounter, Black said he stared at the photo for an hour trying to come up with an explanation for the image he had captured, before deciding to share it with NJ.com and its readers.

"Thought I'd send it in for you to share," he wrote. "I'm not looking for anything in return, just thought someone else could maybe explain this in a more rational way."

Before I could write about his experience and print the photo, I had to be sure he was sincere.

Dave Black's photo of what he claims to be of the Jersey Devil

"Yes, I swear it's not Photoshopped or a staged thing," Black responded when I asked if he was willing to let me use his name and state that the photo he sent was not manipulated in any way. "People have said it's fake, but it's not. I'm honestly just looking for an explanation for what I saw."

Being a paranormal investigator, I'm very skeptical and need proof before I believe in anything that could be considered paranormal.

The photo, if it truly has not been messed with or wasn't set up, is quite...interesting.

You can clearly see wings on the creatures back and horns on its head. Its feet are cloven and the fur is dark brown.

And it's obviously off the ground.

I don't see any wires or string holding it up like a piñata.

However, what is it?

"The mind plays tricks on you," Black admitted. "A friend suggested that maybe it was an animal running and an owl grabbed it, the photo being a combination of them. That's still not my first instinct, but I don't know how to explain it otherwise."

His final statement on the incident was simply, "I think I saw a large, flying mammal about the size of a deer."

Weird NJ received a letter from one of their readers named Emily Martin, the following is an excerpt from the letter [2]:

“I realize this sounds crazy but I saw a red animal with a long neck and horns. I swear on my mother’s grave, this is not a joke. I pulled over to take a video and as I started filming it got on its hind legs and flew away. I am an middle school teacher but moonlight tutoring algebra for high school students. Was driving home from an appointment on Old Port Republic Rd in Leeds Point when I took this video. So excited, had to share with someone. I searched online and a few others have similar stories. Channel 12 posted a photo online of it.”

Here is Emily's VIDEO:

We are currently analyzing the above stories, photo and video and will have our opinion formed after a proper study has been taken.

1)http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/10/is_the_jersey_devil_in_galloway_township_paranorma.html#incart_river

2) http://weirdnj.com/weird-news/jersey-devil-captured-on-video/

You can purchase "THE SEARCH FOR THE JERSEY DEVIL: Revisited (book) and DVD on Amazon, at Barnes and Noble or through Axis Video.

https://www.createspace.com/5533313

For more information concerning the Jersey Devil:
www.facebook.com/TheSearchForTheJerseyDevil

(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey. He is a filmmaker, a business owner, writer, urban explorer and investigator of the odd and weird, a proud parent, happily taken and a connoisseur of hot wings. Chris can be reached at AxisVideo@aol.com)