New Jersey

New Jersey Town Is Home to One of the Creepiest Street Names in America

There are multiple tales regarding how the street may have gotten its name, from 20th century murders to deadly insects to early settlers killing Native Americans

What to Know

  • A website has compiled some of the creepiest street names in the country, and a street in New Jersey made the list
  • Shades of Death Road in Great Meadows is just east of Jenny Jump State Forest and the town of Hope in Warren County
  • There are multiple tales regarding how the street got its name, from murders to deadly insects to early settlers killing Native Americans

With Halloween coming up, maybe this is one road to avoid going trick-or-treating on.

A website has compiled of some of the creepiest street names in the country, and a street in New Jersey made the list for it’s very ominous name.

Shades of Death Road in Great Meadows, just east of Jenny Jump State Forest and the town of Hope in Warren County, was an easy addition for Homes.com to include.

According to the site, there was a string of brutal murders that took place on the road in the early part of the 20th century. The deaths include a man beaten to death with a tire iron, and another man who was killed in cold blood — with the killer never being brought to justice.

The site also claims that the area used to be referred to as “The Shades” on account of the low-hanging trees that are over the road.

However, another legend refers possibly to early settlers killing Native Americans in the area and throwing the bodies into a lake the street winds along, which occasionally has pillars of mist rising from the top of the water, according to weirdnj.com.

Other possible reasons for the name have traces to an unruly gang that used to live in the area, while another theory ties the name to outbreaks of malaria in the 1850s from insects around the nearby lake, the site says.

While there’s no one certain answer as to how Shades of Death Road got its name, it’s definitely spooky enough to avoid … or see for yourself, if that’s your kind of thing.

Other streets making the Homes.com list include Bloods Point Road in Illinois and Bucket of Blood Street in Arizona.

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