This New Jersey Road Was Named the Most Haunted in the World—and Its Ghost Stories Are Truly Chilling
Ganna STRYZHEKIN/Getty Images Going to haunted houses and trick-or-treating are some of the most popular ways to celebrate Halloween, but have you considered taking a spooky drive instead? International car-rental company Sixt recently published its newest report on the most haunted roads in the world , and No. 1 is right here in the U.S.—specifically, in West Milford, New Jersey. To create its ranking, the team at Sixt analyzed search trends on Google and TikTok using KeywordTool.io and InstantDataScraper for each road name, plus the terms “ghost” or “haunted” (think: “Route 66 haunted”), and compared the results with published lists of haunted roads from the previous three years. It also considered standalone search volume for each road on Google and TikTok, to gauge the overall popularity of each one. Clinton Road, a 10-mile stretch that runs north to south in New Jersey’s Passaic County, took the top spot, and it’s easy to see why. According to Sixt, it’s said to be haunted by numerous spirits. Most famously, a little ghost boy who is said to haunt Dead Man’s Curve , a sharp turn that crosses a bridge over Mossman’s Brook. Local legend has it that if you toss a coin into the river, the little ghost boy will toss it right back. People have also reported seeing ghost lights, phantom cars, strange animals, satanic cults, and other creepy things. To make matters even spookier, the road runs through dense, isolated wilderness, where a serial killer reportedly dumped a dead body in the 80s. The No. 2 spot went to Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire. While it’s known for its beautiful fall foliage, the lore behind the Russell-Colbath Historic Site , in the former town of Passaconaway, New Hampshire, gives it a spooky twist. The home was built in 1832 and…
Ganna STRYZHEKIN/Getty Images
Going to haunted houses and trick-or-treating are some of the most popular ways to celebrate Halloween, but have you considered taking a spooky drive instead? International car-rental company Sixt recently published its newest report on the most haunted roads in the world , and No. 1 is right here in the U.S.—specifically, in West Milford, New Jersey.
To create its ranking, the team at Sixt analyzed search trends on Google and TikTok using KeywordTool.io and InstantDataScraper for each road name, plus the terms “ghost” or “haunted” (think: “Route 66 haunted”), and compared the results with published lists of haunted roads from the previous three years. It also considered standalone search volume for each road on Google and TikTok, to gauge the overall popularity of each one.
Clinton Road, a 10-mile stretch that runs north to south in New Jersey’s Passaic County, took the top spot, and it’s easy to see why. According to Sixt, it’s said to be haunted by numerous spirits. Most famously, a little ghost boy who is said to haunt Dead Man’s Curve , a sharp turn that crosses a bridge over Mossman’s Brook. Local legend has it that if you toss a coin into the river, the little ghost boy will toss it right back. People have also reported seeing ghost lights, phantom cars, strange animals, satanic cults, and other creepy things. To make matters even spookier, the road runs through dense, isolated wilderness, where a serial killer reportedly dumped a dead body in the 80s.
The No. 2 spot went to Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire. While it’s known for its beautiful fall foliage, the lore behind the Russell-Colbath Historic Site , in the former town of Passaconaway, New Hampshire, gives it a spooky twist. The home was built in 1832 and served as the former residence of Thomas and Ruth Colbath. In 1891, Thomas Colbath reportedly left for the day and didn’t return, leaving his wife waiting for him with no clue when he was coming back. Ruth Colbath reportedly left an oil lamp burning in the window for 39 years and never saw her husband again before dying at the age of 80. Thomas Colbath returned in 1933, three years after Ruth’s death , at 83 years old, with no clear explanation for where he’d been the whole time. “Today, visitors claim to see Ruth’s ghost or the phantom glow of her oil lamp,” wrote the team at Sixt, in its report.
Third place went to the California portion of Route 66 , the famous former highway that ran from Chicago to Santa Monica, California. It was replaced by the modern-day interstate system and decommissioned in 1985, but many parts of the original route can still be driven today … if you dare. “From abandoned ghost towns scattered along the route to tales of disappearing hitchhikers, this historic highway offers plenty of frights as memorable as the road itself,” wrote Sixt.
May you like
See the top 10 most haunted roads in the U.S., below.