Just outside of the big city, a mysterious thoroughfare spans roughly 10 miles across northern New Jersey. Clinton Road is named after a 19th century iron-mining settlement that went by the wayside over time near its namesake reservoir in West Milford, Passaic County. In 1826, William Jackson bought 1,000 acres of land to use for iron processing. Other local men, John Winslow and Freeman Wood, established a firm called Clinton Ironworks just 7 years later. Clinton Road was constructed as a means of servicing the local township that depended heavily on industrial mining and smelting. However, the organization fizzled after only a few years as a result of depleted charcoal wood. This caused the surrounding village to virtually disappear. However, the turn of the next century saw the majority of the region develop into the Pequannock Watershed to supply water to Newark and allowing these environs to remain heavily forested, isolated, and largely undeveloped. As with many locations that have seen dark times and tragedy, Clinton Road is widely considered to be haunted. Local lore dates back to 1905 when writer J. Percy Crayon noted local stories of “robbers, witches, and ghosts”. The highway’s remoteness and lack of streetlights and/or reliable cell service help to feed its sinister reputation. In addition, the road does have an ominous past, as in 1983, the remains of a murder victim were discovered after apparently having been discarded in the surrounding woods. One of the most common legends associated with the area tells of a phantom truck with bright headlights that appears out of nowhere behind unsuspecting drivers in an attempt to make them crash off the road. Before too long, the vehicle disappears into thin air.
Creepiest Drive in America
