The Atco Ghost

By Chris Chaos

Atco New Jersey.  There has been a story circulating in the area for decades, a ghost story, a fable, legend...but is it based in truth? Atco is named after the Atlantic Transport Company. Or was it named from an old Indian word for "Land of Many Deer"?

 The Atco Ghost video (Axis Video)

Legend has it that many years ago, on Christmas night, a young boy was chasing his basketball into the street and was hit by a speeding car, whose driver may have been drunk, killing him instantly. The driver decided to run for fear of what he just did, he had to perform a U-Turn since this road is a dead end. The person in the car had to pass the body of the child that he just hit. Hence why it is part of the legend that you must drive to the gate of the sewer plant and then turn around.

[1]

Alternative stories state that a truck leaving the factory at the end of the road hit the child after he ran into the street chasing his ball he just received on Christmas.

On Burnt Mill Road in Atco they say that under VERY specific circumstances, you can see the ghost of this boy playing in the street. The legend states that if you go to Burnt Mill Road in Atco NJ at midnight and park three telephone poles away from the opening in the fence of the sewer plant (where a crack splits the road from one side of the road to the other) and face the area in front of the house (approx the 500/600 "block") and honk your horn 3 times, blink your headlights 3 times and wait....and IF the conditions are right, you may just see a little ghostly boy run into the road chasing the ball in slow motion. Some say that if you turn off your car and walk about 20 feet away you might see the boy appear and look into the car to see if it was the one that killed him. There supposedly have been many eyewitness accounts attesting to this over the years, but many of the people telling the story state that they have not seen anything but...their cousin, brother, uncle, or whoever has seen the ghost of this boy.

[2]

Burnt Mill Road comes off of the Old White Horse Pike and leads to a sewer plant and then promptly fades into a dirt road (that used to be traveled by horse and wagon) and now only an ATV could traverse, finally ending into Fleming Pike near Sandy Causeway. There are many interesting sounding names in the Pine Barrens, here we have Swamp Road Wild Cat Branch and the Sleeper Branch. If you follow the various soft sanded roads you could find yourself on Rt 206, along the Mullica River or on your way to Batsto.

Google map of Burnt Mill Road, star marks location of The Atco Ghost

Atco, in the middle of the Pine Barrens...Atco Raceway [3]..people like to drive fast. Burnt Mill Road is a long straight road that cars can build speed and maybe inspired by any of the race movies of the time, people were testing their mettle along this road and set the process into motion to create the legend of the Atco Ghost.

Despite all that is contained within the legend of the Atco Ghost, there was never any record of a little boy being hit by a car (or truck) on Burnt Mill Road, and killed.

"The only ghost around here is Holy!" from the sign in front of the Atco Assembly of God [4]

For my personal experience with the Atco Ghost...in the late 90's a friend of mine familiar with the story and with the area took me to Atco one late night so we could try and experience the legend ourselves. We followed the rules and waited...and waited...and waited...and waited....but nothing happened.

Ghsthunter's video on Youtube

Uploaded on Oct 15, 2006

"On Friday the 13th 2006 I went in search of The Atco Ghost on Burnt Mill Rd in Atco NJ. I didnt realize I had caught it on film until I reviewed the tape. The ghost is a little boy that was hit by a car when he was crossing the street chasing after a ball."

 Stills supposedly of The Atco Ghost from Ghsthunter's video on Youtube

 Stills supposedly of The Atco Ghost from Ghsthunter's video on Youtube

In an interesting sidenote..when I was doing research for The Atco Ghost I was using Google Maps to track down the exact location of where you are supposed to perform the tasks to get the little ghost boy to appear....can you guess what the address is for the exact locations? ha

In the coming weeks we plan on going back and investigating further.

REFERENCES:
[1] Artist rendering of Acto Ghost boy
[2] Screenshot of the Atco Ghost location from Google Maps
[3] http://www.atcoraceway.com/
[4] http://www.atcoag.com/


(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)

The Search for the Jersey Devil: A Basic Overview

by Chris Chaos

(This is an older article from 2014)

    The Jersey Devil originally referred to as The Leeds Devil, a cryptid that is believed to inhabit the Pinelands in New Jersey, has been haunting the surrounding areas since about 1735. Over these years, the creature has been reportedly witnesses by more than 2,000 individuals.

    The Jersey Devil has terrorized and amused N.J. towns throughout this time and has even caused schools to close and people to fear venturing outside their own homes. Is good ole' J.D. a creation of Piney folklore, a left over dinosaur, an undiscovered species, a hybrid, a ghost or The 13th Child?

    The legendary creature of Southern New Jersey is described as a biped that flies and has cloven hooves. There are several description of the Jersey Devil, the most popular one is that it is a kangaroo-like creature that has a horse’s face, a dog’s head, leathery wings (resembling that of a bat), small arms and clawed hands, horns, a forked tail and cloven hooves. It reportedly moves fast so as to keep away from human contact and emits “blood-curdling scream.”

    There are several different versions of the story of how the Jersey Devil has become to exist. The earliest dates back to the Lenape tribe where they called the Pine Barrens "Popuessing", which translates to "Place of the Dragon". Later the Swedes referred to this area as "Drake Kill". Drake meaning dragon and Kill referring to a channel of a river.

    The most popular and widely accepted origin story is of Mother Leeds having 12 kids and cursing her 13th born, who was to become the Jersey Devil. On a dark stormy night Mrs Leeds gave birth to her seemingly normal baby but shortly afterwards it grew wings, hooves, a horses head and a forked tail. It screamed, killed the midwife and then flew up the chimney and into the Pine Barrens where it currently lives. Supposedly in 1740 a member of the religious community exorcised the Jersey Devil for 100 years. There were not any reported sightings of JD until 1890.

    Based on real history Deborah Leeds and Japhet Leeds (of Leeds Point, NJ) were married and records indicate they did have 12 children. While visiting Hanover Mill Works to inspect the forging of cannonballs Commodore Stephen Decatur claims he sighted the Jersey Devil and fired a cannonball at the winged creature, but it had no effect on it.

    In 1820 Napoleon's brother Joseph Bonaparte also claimed to see the Jersey Devil while at his Bordentown home.

    From January 16th to the 23rd in 1909 was the busiest period for sightings of the Jersey Devil. Newspapers were bustling with headlines stating encounters with the Jersey Devil. Widespread panic ensued when the Jersey Devil supposedly attacked a trolley car in Camden and Haddonfield, a social club and unexplained footprints were found in the snow. January seems to be the most likely month to spot the Jersey Devil.

    The Philadelphia Zoo offered a reward of $10,000 to whomever could capture the Jersey Devil. News coverage created pandemonium and schools were closed and factories shutdown.

    An unidentified animal was shot and killed in December 1925 as it tried to kill chickens. The man from Greenwich showed the body to all that came to see it but no one could determine what the animal was.

    On July 27th 1937 in Downingtown PA residents saw an animal with red eyes that they could not identified.

    Back in 1960 in Mays Landing tracks were found and noises were heard and were assumed to be those of the Jersey Devil. Also merchants in the Camden area offered up $10,000 to anyone that could bring them the Jersey Devil.

    It has been said that when the Jersey Devil is spotted usually it is followed by some sort of bad historic occurrence such as war or ships sinking.

    Many skeptics that do not believe in the Jersey Devil believe it is simply just the product of an over active imagination or just a story to scare the children. Others feel that the legend may have been created for political gains. The earliest recollections and referrals to the Jersey Devil called it The Leeds Devil and may have been to discredit a Daniel Leeds who was a local politician.

    Out of all the cryptoid the Jersey Devil has the least amount of photos, videos and physical evidence collected against him. Some common explanations of what the Jersey Devil might be are: ghost, inbred, birth defect, mentally disabled, Sand Hill Crane, Hammerhead Bat, Dinosaur (specifically a dimorphodon), undiscovered species and a figment of an overactive imagination.

To follow along with the progress of the film, go here:

https://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, has a black cat named Jynx and Friskie, two Guinea pigs, Heather and Carol, a proud parent, happily taken and a connoisseur of hot wings. )