Ghost Lake, Shades of Death, The Fairy Hole

[axisvideo]

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 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 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 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 back in the day 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 firepit 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 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.

SHADES OF DEATH ROAD: located in Allumachy 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.

[Keel M.]

hmmm

[George Ford]

Cool video and information. Reminded me of bits from The Blair Witch Project. Also especially liked the spooky music.

[Theater of Dreams]

Informative.

[Gummug]

Did it say which state Allamuchy is in or did I miss that? Thanks!

Eta: I see you are in NJ but I didn't know if Allamuchy was too. I did a quick google and I guess it is. Some town names are in different states, so it can be confusing (I mean the town names are the same but in different states). Interesting post, thanks.

Edited October 21, 2013 by Gummug

[axisvideo]

Yes it is, Allamuchy is located in NJ.

Did it say which state Allamuchy is in or did I miss that? Thanks!

Eta: I see you are in NJ but I didn't know if Allamuchy was too. I did a quick google and I guess it is. Some town names are in different states, so it can be confusing (I mean the town names are the same but in different states). Interesting post, thanks.