Chilling history of the 'most haunted road in the world' just 50 minutes from NYC
It’s the time of year again when ghost stories are told around campfires, but instead of talking about them, you can instead visit one right now - and it’s just outside of New York.
Put down your pumpkin spiced latte, your decorations and Hocus Pocus DVD, and travel to a special place which brings the freaky into freakydeaky.
As Halloween approaches, this New Jersey road has racked up a name for itself as a paranormal hotspot where visitors willingly go each year in hopes of catching something scary.
The area, which is called Clinton Road in West Milford, is a 10-mile stretch of road that is totally lined with thick trees.
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The New Jersey location has seen a string of alleged ghost sightings, such as the 1905 occurrence of which saw writer J. Percy Crayon detailing the area as being full of ‘robbers, witches and ghosts that made their appearance in frightful forms.’
According to Weird NJ, the most common ghost story surrounding Clinton Road is one where the ghost of a young boy ‘hangs out under a bridge and returns coins to you after you throw them in the water.’
Per the writers, they revealed that they had visited the road to see if they could catch the ghost, only to find 'dozens of coins resting on the bottom among the stones of the creekbed’.
Another urban legend linked to the area is the appearance of phantom cars, such as a pickup and a black Camaro that appears in the drivers’ rearview mirror before disappearing.
But there’s more.
Sixt ranked the creepiest spots, which put the road as the number one scariest place to be.
According to the site, it is ‘one of the country’s most haunted roads, with a reputation built on decades of local folklore and eerie encounters.’
“The 10-mile stretch of heavily forested road is particularly unsettling after dark,” they told The Post, adding: “When its dense tree canopy leaves parts of the route almost completely shrouded in darkness.”
According to the outlet, searches for the road boomed between July 2025 and July 2026.
So, you know people are creeped out about the place.
According to the New York Daily News, the old ironworks at the site is a pyramid-shaped structure that was apparently built by a short-lived community that worked with iron in the area until the 1850s.
According to theories, it was created by ancient Druids to be their personal shrine.
However, what’s allegedly a real-life horror story tied to the road, is that serial killer Richard Kulinski -also known as the Iceman thanks to his tendency to freeze his victims in a bid to throw police off his trail - did dump a body along Clinton Road in 1983.
This was reported by North Jersey, and what is even scarier is that the body was supposedly discovered by a passing cyclist, leaving them understandably horrified by what they’d stumbled upon.
Britt Jones