Could Use Some Help

[bergenparanormal]

Hello,

I have a paranormal research team in Bergen County. Holding your opinions on that, I really do need some help.

We generally deal with hauntings, but have been asked if we could lead an investigation for a television show into the pine barrens to search for, you guessed it, the Jersey Devil.

My team has looked over and plotted every sighting ever recorded, and after doing some math found the dead center of all the credible sightings ever recorded. However, we know nothing about this area.

It is located at the very northern tip of the Wharton State Forest, in Tabernacle I assume, and is nearby the cranberry bogs.

Can anyone please tell me about the terrain, and current level of human presence in the area on the map? Is their any industry, abandoned villages or points of interest in this area? I am trying to get all the facts here.

In addition, has anyone heard of any sightings personally coming from this area?

As I said, this isn't exactly our normal investigation, but is a really cool opportunity just as a team in general.

I appreciate any feedback, despite any reservations you may have on the topic in general.

Thanks,
Michael

 

[46er]

[We generally deal with hauntings, but have been asked if we could lead an investigation for a television show into the pine barrens to search for, you guessed it, the Jersey Devil.
/QUOTE]

Its already been done, several times in several formats. Bruce even wrote a song about it.

There have been many reported sightings, but in each case alcohol was most likely involved.

Good luck.

 

[Old Crazy]

Hi Mike,

We may have met a few weeks ago when I was fishing off the small bridge on Lake Oswego and a guy in an SUV stopped and asked me if I was familiar with the area you're inquiring about.

Let me say right up front that I don't believe in the Jersey Devil or Bigfoot, and I am a strong skeptic of the paranormal, so to be intellectually honest I must concede that my opinion on those subjects is colored by that bias. I did have an experience in a pine barrens cemetery once that I cannot explain, but I still believe there is a logical explanation for what happened (I explain that shortly)

The Batona Trail is not too far from the area you're interested in, which means that I have passed nearby at least 85 times, though I am not familiar with the exact spot you're focused on. I hike about a thousand miles a year and would estimate that I have covered around 6,000 miles in the NJ pine barrens over the years. That would include hiking at night and camping out in numerous places. I have heard an odd sound or two on occasion at night, but in all that time and all those miles I have never seen anything unusual. No Jersey Devil, no Bigfoot, no crazy pineys wanting to kill me. I answered in the affiramative to your poll question because I did see tracks in the snow that appeared to be made by a large cat like a cougar or a panther. It just seems to me that if there was something unusual out there like the Jersey Devil or Bigfoot, somebody who has covered 6,000 miles on foot would have seen it or spotted its tracks in the sand.

The one unusual incident I did have out in the pine barrens happened at night at the Batsto Church. http://www.batstovillage.org/church-1.htm
There was a full moon and I wanted to get a picture of the church in the moonlight. When I snapped the photo there were dozens of white orbs in the picture floating around the cemetery. I took 3-4 more pictures and got the same results. I figured it was probably condensation in the camera, so I flashed a picture without looking through the camera lens. Damed if those orbs weren't floating around and visible to the naked eye. lol I don't know what caused that, but I think somebody who is knowledgeable in photography could probably explain it. If I can find the memory stick that contains those photos, I'll post them.

 

[dogg57]

White orbs...........The Jersey Devil eats them for Snacks

 

[pineywoman]

There are odd occurrences that occur near the Carranza site. Supposedly bones of animals are found behind the woods of the site and have been reportings of ghost sightings. I grew up near the area. Also, there is an urban legend about the crash site and the Jersey devil. Good luck with the filming.

 

[Old Crazy]

I saw something strange at the Carranza Memorial a few years back. The entire apron of the monument was covered in coins. Lots of coins! There had to be at least $30 in change laying there. I assumed those coins were part of some type of religious ceremony and didn't touch them, but I bet somebody else came along and filled their pockets so full of coins their pants fell off. lol

 

[noboat]

There are odd occurrences that occur near the Carranza site. Supposedly bones of animals are found behind the woods of the site and have been reportings of ghost sightings. I grew up near the area. Also, there is an urban legend about the crash site and the Jersey devil. Good luck with the filming.

 

[Teegate]

I saw something strange at the Carranza Memorial a few years back. The entire apron of the monument was covered in coins. Lots of coins! There had to be at least $30 in change laying there. I assumed those coins were part of some type of religious ceremony and didn't touch them, but I bet somebody else came along and filled their pockets so full of coins their pants fell off. lol

They are placed there by mourners of Carranza. They have been doing that for years.

Guy

 

[bergenparanormal]

I really appreciate the feedback, everyone! Does anyone have any information on the cranberry bogs directly below the blue point and above the Carranza Memorial? Are there any abandoned villages / buildings in this area or is the area being developed currently?

 

[Teegate]

Sam Moore owns the Moores Meadow portion and I believe the others are the Birches.

 

[bobpbx]

Michael, that is a very interesting spot that you've zeroed in on. Remote, but not remote. There is a very good chance that humans steer away from that area. If you notice, it is almost completely surrounded by wetlands, meaning most people would not bother to get in there. There will be sweating and cursing from your average Joe as he tries to push away the greenbriar. This would not be the time of year to get into that spot. I'll bet my good friend Jeff has been in there. He'll post if so.

Let me know how you make out. Very interesting project.

 

[Ben Ruset]

Wasn't it Suresue who said that she had often heard weird screams and whatnot in the bogs near Friendship as a child? Unfortunately she hasn't logged into the site since 2011.

Friendship isn't too far away from your where you posted. It's also part of Wharton State Forest, so presumably you'd need permission to film there, but it'd be worth checking out. There's human habitation nearby at Speedwell and up Carranza Road a ways at Tabernacle but nothing else, really, for miles.

 

[ecampbell]

Michael, I got the impression that spot in Tabernacle is the geographic center off all the sightings. If this is true it does not necessarally follow that there were sightings there or even near by. The closest experience I had to seeing something like the Jersey Devil is when I went to look for my horse on a pitch black night with a small flash light. Two closely spaced eyes glowing at me about 7 feet up, and a long narrow face. He looked much like the Devil pictures. If he had whinnied and I ran off and came back the next day I would have seen hoof prints.

 

[Old Crazy]

They are placed there by mourners of Carranza. They have been doing that for years.

Guy

Any idea if leaving those coins on the monument is part of a religious tradition? I know there are some religious traditions where they will tape money to a venerated statue, but that money gets donated to a church or a charity. Surely they must know that when they leave coins in a secluded spot like the Carranza Memorial, somebody is going to come along and scoop them up.

 

[Gibby]

I can understand how someone who isn't familiar with the Pines can be confused by what they see. If you have ever seen a deer run full speed through briers and under growth so thick that passage by a person would be impossible, you would understand too. Only a winged devil could do such a feat!

Fear, misperception and ignorance are a good mixture for a sighting.

 

[pineywoman]

My guess the "coins" symbolize the Mexican children's efforts in having the memorial made. The children brought their "coins", "pesos" to school to have the monument erected after his death.

 

[dogg57]

It has been tradition to leave pennies on the memorial as symbolic gesture. pennies to pay for the monument From what I have been told .There was a Coin made to honor Carranza and sold by Post 11 Of The American Legion........The Commemorative Coin depicts Emilio's Airplane The "Mexico Excélsior" flying over the US Flag and the Mexican Flags on one side and Post 11 of The American Legion on the opposite side.

 

[ecampbell]

I bet there are coins on top of the memorial.

 

[dragoncjo]

I ditto oldcrazy comments. I've spent so many hours hiking and studying species in the pine barrens and have never once seen or heard anything out of the ordinary. There are many odd animal sounds out there, but they are all explainable. It would make sense that the area is the epicenter of sightings, its really the entry way for people from more populated counties and suburbs coming in to the pines. More people, more stories.

 

[Pan]

Bergen - You can google up explanations for "orbs". They are not supernatural. They are photographic artifacts. That's not to say that there isn't anything spooky out there, tho in the numerous nights I spent camping out deep in the PB woods back in the old days I've never picked up any bad vibes or even encountered anything stranger than the wind blowing something around and creating a scary, if you're in the mood to be scared, noise every now and then. I did used to want to get people to come out with me and camp out in a PB ghost town on Halloween night but I never could, and I didn't want to do that scary adventure all by myself. I believe I met two real witches once, two days after Halloween, but that was someplace else, Twombley's Landing, under the Palisades cliffs, along the Hudson River.

I went out with some Arizona ghost hunters a couple of years ago. Most of it was pretty silly, but there was one house on the rez just south of Tucson...Not something to trifle with, I think.