Dave Brockie's Passing

by Chris Chaos

I woke up this morning to the news that Dave Brockie (Gwar, X-Cops, The Dave Brockie Experience, Death Piggy) passed away yesterday. I had numerous texts from friends and associates that knew that I worked with Dave and included one of his videos on Dynasty of Darkness: Apocalyptic End.

  

As of late there have been many faked and spoofed celebrity deaths listed on the internet, but all sources checked out that Dave really did pass. As of this writing there is not a known cause of death but the authorities suspect no foul play and drugs were NOT present. In the past when Flattus Maximus (Cory Smoot) passed the members of Gwar were at least relieved that drugs were not the cause of his death. Cory's official death was listed as coronary artery thrombosis (Heart attack) brought about by his pre-existing coronary artery disease. Cory died at age 35. Dave then  stated that he was taking steps in his own life to be a little more healthy and he also planned on quitting smoking. While working with him I never observed him doing any sort of drugs, just a lot of drinking. He even speculated that another popular lead singer (who I will not identify) from a metal band would most likely be the next person to die from over dosing of heroin. He gained this insight from when Dave toured with this band and the person in questions was beyond messed up from doing drugs prior to completing their set.

I had the fortune of working with Dave a few years back when we filmed 2 of his The Dave Brockie Experience shows in the Philly area. While interviewing him I saw a side to him that I never experienced before. He is on every level a true rocker and loved doing what he did creating music and performing up on stage. The passion burned fiercely within him. Hopefully in the coming months I can finally edit up the massive amount of footage that I filmed at his shows and make a fitting tribute for Dave and all the contributions that he made to the music world over his long enduring career.

The video we did for Dave Brockie "Damn that Money" is on this DVD:

Dynasty of Darkness: Apocalyptic End

(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey who once again resides in and writes from Gloucester City, New 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) 

Are Cemeteries "Spirit Free"?

By Chris Chaos 

Where is a spirit or ghost most likely to haunt? The location where in human form they passed away, or do they linger near where the body is kept or entombed? There are many opinions and misconceptions on this question.

    Many say that a ghost haunts the area/home/building of where the person passed away, especially when it comes to a violent death or suicide. They say that a strong bond is formed with a particular location and that is why the spirit may linger in these locations. So going with that theory it would appear that a graveyard would be incredibly peaceful and free from haunting specters. Since almost no one dies in an actual cemetery or graveyard you would think these locations to be spirit free. A cemetery is simply just a location to keep and immortalize loved ones. Their bodies, memories or ashes are kept at this location so family and friends have a place to go to and remember the dearly departed in a respectful manner. A place to come to and mourn and remember if you will.

    











 It seems that most locations that people state are haunted are long abandoned hospitals, prisons, mental asylums or houses. Which would make sense since these are also locations that the average person would fear, the unknown. The dark basement, under the bed, in the attic, these are many locations that the average person is afraid to go in alone or when it is dark, when in reality they are no more fearsome than any other location in your house. They are just rooms that you do not venture into all that often. Humans fear the unknown the most. These fears of the unknown or locations that are dark are fears left over from our primitive states, they are natural fears but have little to no rational use in the modern age. Although there is a small chance that a murderer might be hiding in your basement but other than that, what is there to logically fear in your attic or basement?

   

 Another popular theory would be that the ghost/spirit stays close to the body that it inhabited. Going with that, then houses would be minimally  haunted and graveyards would be extremely haunted and loaded with spirit activity. Following this train of thought then what would happen when a body is cremated? Would the spirit dissipate? Would it disintegrate? Would it get watered down and scatter with the ashes? Would the spirit untether itself and roam free?

   Reincarnation is a wonderfully hopeful concept that was man made and created to put a positive spin on the "afterlife". In some angles it holds true and could be based on science. The circle of life: organism dies, nutrients and meat get consumed by other animals, plants and insects; thus providing source of life for other walks of life. In some respect you do live on..through another animal or life form. But the aspect of a soul leaving one body and entering another upon death just carries no scientific weight or logic.

  

  Mankind's version of reincarnation is that when a person dies they magically are reborn in infant form randomly somewhere else on this Earth. But is this how it works? When you die, is there a soul that leaves the body? Some say that you lose 21 grams in weight when you die and they attribute this to the weight of your soul. Or does the electrical energy that was once "you" transfer over to some other non-intelligible form of Nature such as wind, light, static electricity etc?

   Dr. Duncan MacDougall ran several tests in the past on which he measured the weight of a body pre and post death, the results did vary but all bodies averaged out to weigh 21 grams less once death was confirmed.

Your thoughts?

(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey who once again resides in and writes from Gloucester City, New 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) 

Shades of Death Road, The Fairy Hole and More

by Chris Chaos

SHADES OF DEATH ROAD: Allamuchy, New Jersey

      The grim name of Shades of Death Road definitely made us want to visit this location as soon as possible. A quick research into the background and history of the naming of this road made it even more desirable to go and visit. One day we decided to take the ride to the legendary Shades of Death Road. This trip included The Fairy Hole, Jenny Jump and Ghost Lake. Shades of Death Road, located in Allamuchy Township, NJ is a 6.7 mile long road according to our GPS. All the street signs are firmly planted into the concrete ground due to the many attempts at stealing the signs; the thought did cross my mind!

    The story is as follows, that back in the day this is the road that many Indians attacked the settlers on and later many carriages were robbed along this path. Shades of Death? Yes, many were killed along this road. Many of the local townsfolk would lynch the criminals that robbed travelers and then hang them up in these trees to rot and to also serve as a deterrent to future robbers. Also Malaria took its toll on the local residents before the invention of antibiotics and many people died. This area has a very deep and dark history. Yet another story in an attempt to explain the source of the name for this road was due to the packs of wildcats that used to roam the area. It is interesting to note that Cat Swamp Road is located in the area also.

    One of the odder stories associated with Shades of Death road were that years ago supposedly a pile of Polaroid photos were found along the side of the road. The photos were blurry and out of focus but seemed to center on a female form. Soon afterwards a police investigation was launched but then apparently shut down as quickly as it appeared.

    A quote from the person that found the photographs (they wished to remain anonymous, “My husband and I decided to take a ride down Shades of Death Road. We ended up on a dirt road that leads to it coming out of Frelinghuysen. There were tons, and I mean tons, of Polaroid photos scattered everywhere! They are very weird. There are pictures of women, none of them smiling. Almost as if they were caught off guard. Many of the pictures were of people laying down on something metal, and they didn't look to be asleep.”

GHOST LAKE (also known as Haunted Hallow):

      Located along Shades of Death Road in Allamuchy, is a man-made lake created by two wealthy men that dammed the area off. The lake was built above an Indian burial ground, the name came about from the ghostly looking vapors that can be seen rising off of it on cold mornings. Upon of arrival here it was dark and pitch black. It was like looking off into a dark abyss. So we couldn't really see Ghost Lake all that much. But it was blacker than oil. Story is that during the day the mist that comes off this lake looks like ghosts. We took a few photos, but nothing all that interesting occurred.

THE FAIRY HOLE

     This location was hard to get to; we had to hike along the right side of Ghost Lake to get to it, but not without tripping on the rocks, getting pricked by sticker bushes, tormented by bugs and sliding on wet leaves. Each and every time I was ready to turn around something kept telling me to just go a few more feet. Then low and behold there it was about 20 feet above me.

     The Fairy Hole was a cave used by Lenape Indians many years ago when they were traveling around. I thought the cave would have been a little bit deeper, but it was pretty cool to venture inside of it. While inside The Fairy Hole I noticed the small stalactite formations on the ceiling; they’ve been growing slowly since the last Ice Age. The cave is about 10 feet wide and 15 feet deep and the floor is flat. A natural "chimney" in the rear of cave sometimes contains blind cave cricket. Scant evidence of Indian occupation has been found here, including a few pieces of pottery and evidence of a fire pit near the opening. When the cave was excavated in the 1930s by state archaeologist Dorothy Cross, thousands of mammal bones and fragments were recovered, among them the tooth of a giant beaver, that is now extinct.

 JENNY JUMP is a state park and was the cliff where young Jenny jumped off to her death to escape from the Indians. Legend states that her ghost still haunts the forest. It is one hell of a climb to get on the top but well worth it when you reach the top. Getting back down is another story.

(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey who once again resides in and writes from Gloucester City, New 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) 

INDIAN CABIN ROAD: Mullica Township, New Jersey

by Chris Chaos

Indian Cabin Road has all the attributes that legendary roads in New Jersey are made of, abandoned buildings, a church, "Pineys" with shotguns chasing you in pickup trucks, a murderer and a graveyard. This was enough to make us to want to visit this location to see what it is all about. Even armed with a GPS and maps this road was very difficult to find in the thick and twisted Pine Barrens.

Our 1st attempt put us in a school parking lot and it looked like we could cut through the woods on foot to get to the road, but this area was flooded out, so we had to leave, get back in the car and go all the way around several roads to get to the location. There are actually a few sections to this road and the one we attempted to get at was in a tiny residential neighborhood. The confusing part is there is a West Indian Cabin Road also. It was brought to my attention that this road used to be unpaved and sometime in recent years it has been paved. Looking for the West side we navigated through a community with very German sounding names such as Heidelberg, Goethe and Hamburg.

Many of the stories that are connected to Indian Cabin Road sound like a repeat associated with other roads and locations like the stories of "Pineys" in pickup trucks chasing after you. But the story that got us interested was of the CRUKKER who supposedly lives along this road and is a rapist/child molester. Legend has it that late at night you can hear the cries of the children. It has also been stated that there is a tree made out of soda bottles and candy that he tries to lure children with.

When we finally did reach the road it was extremely dark outside and there was nowhere to park the car since we were on other people’s property. We did explore a bit and hung around to see if this mysterious man would show himself but we didn't see anyone except a person that lived in one of the local houses walking their dog and another person putting their trash out to the curb. In the future we do plan to go back in the daylight and see if any of the legends hold true.

Along this road there is an old abandoned boys camp, a house with a shrine and grave of a Ms. Shaler which reads:

“Sacred

To The Memory Of

Mrs. Sibbel Shaler

Consort of the late Timothy Shaler

Who departed this life

On the 2nd Day of April 1785

In the 34th year of her age

And whose mortal remains repose

Here together with those of three

Of her infant children“

for more info:
www.facebook.com/Cursedbook

(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey who once again resides in and writes from Gloucester City, New 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) 

Adventures of the Parasite: The Hot Oven

by Chris Chaos

The Wife of the Parasite and the Wife of the Man were sitting outside enjoying a drink of lemonade when a serious discussion was started.

The Wife of The Man stated that her oven was hot when she used it. 

The Wife of The Parasite gasped in disbelief! "You cannot say such things!"

The Wife of The Man said "Why not? It is the truth." 

The Wife of The Parasite replied "Truth or not, it just is not appropriate to talk about these things in public."

The Wife of The Man "I am very confused..am I supposed to pretend and ignore the fact that the oven is hot when it obviously is?"

The Wife of the Parasite "I don't care how you do it, just it is not ok to talk about such things in public, what if someone overheard you saying that?"

The Wife of the Man "But everything tells me that it is hot, the steam, the heat on my face and it cooks the food. When I touch it with my hand, it is very hot."

The Wife of the Parasite "Is there no hope for you?"

The Moral for all those that did not catch it? Sometimes people feel better when they hide behind opinions, which are warm rather than facing facts, which are cold.

(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey who once again resides in and writes from Gloucester City, New Jersey. Chris can be reached at AxisVideo@aol.com)