West Milford has a history of mysterious tales ranging from various ghost stories of Clinton Road to runaway animals surrounding Jungle Habitat. Clinton Road is actually quite notorious for its stories and has a history dating back to 1905 when the road was said to be a haven to highway men, bandits, Satanists and witchcraft worshipers. It has been said that Wiccan practitioners, the Ku Klux Klan, and other controversial groups have meetings and conduct various activities in the woods along Clinton Road to this day. There have also been accounts of strange hybrid animals some say are descendants of the escapee animals from Jungle Habitat.  It has been exhibited in “Weird NJ” magazine numerous times and featured in the Travel Channel’s program, “Most Terrifying Places in America”, as well as being named America’s Most Terrifying Road.

Clinton Road is situated just south of Upper Greenwood Lake and intersects Route 23. The torturous road winds through dense woods and various bodies of water for ten miles. It also holds the Nation’s record for the longest red light where it crosses Route 23. There are two red lights that total about 5 minutes; about 2 minutes and 45 seconds each while the green lights are about 10 to 20 seconds long. The long lights definitely give people time to finish that morning coffee and think or let their imaginations run wild.

The most common Clinton Road ghost story is of the little boy who dwells under a bridge, who, when you throw a coin into the water, will toss the coin back to you.  There are many versions of the story, but the most definitive is that a young boy was playing on the bridge that crosses over Clinton Brook near Clinton Reservoir when he was hit by a car as he was picking up a coin on the road. Some say if you look over the guardrail of the bridge, the long departed boy will push you off into the water so you won’t be hit by a car as he was. Some stories say that when you throw a coin into the water, the ghost boy will retrieve it and toss it back to you, while others say if you throw a penny into the lake, the next morning you can find the same penny left on the road. You can still find the loose change of various believers left in the river. Are the stories of the ghost boy true… or does he take days off?

Other ghost stories include ghost cars and drivers. One is about a ghost girl who appears and drives a Camaro on Clinton Road when someone mentions her story. She supposedly died in a car accident on Clinton Road in 1988. Another is about a truck that seemingly appears from thin air and follows drivers on the road at night. At night, truck headlights appear suddenly behind a driver at one end and disappear just as suddenly at the other end of Clinton Road. It is believed that the ominous truck on occasion chases cars off the road. Another ghostly tale is about two park rangers who died on the job in 1939. When one witness was camping with friends near Terrace Pond, he met the two ghosts, but didn’t learn they were ghosts until the next morning.

Clinton Road is very dark and desolate; many people believe it is a dumping ground for murder victims. This myth does have a foundation in truth. A mob hit man was found guilty of murdering a man, freezing him, and leaving the body along Clinton Road. The man, also known as “The Iceman”, did confess to killing over a hundred people, but evidence of any other kills were never found.  So, maybe Clinton Road does have a darker and more sinister ambiance than previously believed.

Clinton Road has a history steeped in myths and mysteries. It holds the record of the longest stop light in America and is a supposed dumping ground for the Mafia. It’s filled with various ghost stories and strange creatures, but are any of these stories true? So what will you be doing this Halloween? I would recommend not visiting Clinton…Road…