(The Verge)- As Hurricane Sandy continues to bash our area with high winds and epic rain downfalls, we here at The Verge haven’t forgotten that Halloween is only a couple days away!
While many find themselves stranded at home, with nothing to do, let us spook you with some of our own paranormal experiences to get you back into the Halloween spirit!
Dan Gunderman: Do you think driving down arguably America’s scariest road can run a shiver right down your spine? Well that’s an understatement. According to Weird NJ, Clinton Road in West Milford, New Jersey is one of the spookiest places in the state, and abroad for that matter. So driving down the ten-plus mile, dark road at night may have had my blood pressure running a bit high. Legend has it, that while you’re in the middle of the road, with no exit paths keep in mind, a mysterious pickup truck will appear behind you, lights blaring and tailgating your bumper just feet behind. It’s said to be brought on when you flash your lights two or three times…but it took hardly that for the legend to come true for me…Driving down it on a cold winter night about four years ago, accompanied by my best friend of fifteen years, we thought we were in the clear, till we hit a eery, windy section of asphalt. Going the speed limit and keeping our eyes wide open, our hearts sank pretty far into our stomachs when right behind my pickup truck, appeared some sort of vehicle, at least thirty years old, with its lights in full strength reflecting off of my mirrors. I didn’t know whether to keel up in a ball or put the pedal to the floor. So, for over a mile, I just drove cautiously, with a rampid, presumably ghost driver behind me. How I kept my composure I’ll never know…But just minutes later, with no exit road around for miles, the pickup truck just mysteriously disappeared. Not one sign of the truck could be found when we pulled over to see where it had went. Basically, we had just become more victims of the infamous Clinton Road. Thankfully we escaped the trip with only that experience, as we could have succumbed to more legends of seeing cult members and serial killers. But needless to say, I definitely slept with one eye open that night…
Pat Layton: I was coming out of a night class from the 600 building and was walking through the Gardens in front of it. The garden was dark, and no one else but me was around. The only light I could see was from the front of Edison, which seemed far away. I noticed that I all of the sudden got a chill that tingled through my back. One minute later, a girl appeared out of nowhere sitting on a bench. She appeared to be friendly, as she waved to me. Even though she seemed harmless, it still is eerie to me how there are multiple parts of our campus that are haunted.
Pete Garofolo: When I was a kid I had a spooky experience at my house. I was probably in the 5th grade at the time, and I was lying in my bed around 830. I couldn’t fall asleep, and was just tossing and turning in my bed trying to get comfortable. My mom was the only person home, as my sister was sleeping over my cousin’s house. From down the hall near our guest room, to the left of my room, I started to hear footsteps, which was weird because no one was in the room and my mom’s room was on the opposite side of the hall. I sat up in bed to see if I could hear the footsteps more clearly. I suddenly started to hear someone running down the hall, and that’s when I saw the shadow of what looked like a girl running along the hallway wall. I am positive I was awake and not dreaming and the shadow definitely looked like a person. The footsteps kept going then sounded like it was going down the stairs. I was freaked out and frozen in fear. My fear only escalated when our dog downstairs started barking like crazy! I ran so fast into my mom’s room and we went downstairs to investigate. Nothing was wrong and there was no trace of any person or ghost. I asked if she heard the footsteps and she said she thought she heard something, but wasn’t sure since her television was on. I told her what I saw and slept in her room because I was way too scared to go back to my room. It is safe to say I had a bad night’s sleep after that. Nothing weird ever happened again at my house, but I will always remember the shadow on the wall. Just writing this gave me the chills!
Jacki Morrone: Many years ago a boy was hit by a car in our neighborhood. The car dragged him all the way to the front of our house, where he was found and pronounced dead. When my sister was 3 years old she was talking to someone in her room. My mom thought, “how cute! She has an imaginary friend.” So she asked my sister for the name of her imaginary friend. My sister responded with, “his name is Eric! Don’t worry Mommy, he won’t hurt me. He’s dead.” Days later a woman came to check out a quad we were selling in the front of our house. She brought up the child’s death to my mother and stated how unfortunate it was that the little boy Eric had to die right in front of our house.
We hope these stories brought chills to your bones! And if you’re still looking for some Halloween entertainment to occupy your stormy night, may we suggest the documentary The Real Story of Halloween?
