Truth Or Fiction: Do Ghosts Push Cars Up Jackson's Gravity Hill?

JACKSON, NJ — Pull up to the stop sign at North New Prospect Road in Jackson. Put your car in neutral and take your foot off the brake and watch your car roll in reverse up the hill behind you.

Is it the ghost of a man who legends say was murdered nearby, pushing you out of harm's way? Or is it just an optical illusion?

This is Gravity Hill in Jackson, one of a number of urban legends and ghost stories from around New Jersey. While many of the legends from the Garden State rely on chance encounters, Gravity Hill draws drivers regularly who come to test it out.

The legend

There are a few versions of the legend floating around the internet, but a 2010 item on the website Urban Legends online, by a woman named Lisa from Brick, gives the most detailed account of the story:

A teenage girl named Helen and her widowed father were home one night when a stranger came to the door needing help. The man's car wasn't working and he needed a place to stay for the night, so Helen's father let the man stay on the couch.

The next morning, Helen woke to find her father gone. The man said her father, who was a trucker, had left for a long haul and had told the man he could stay as long as he liked. Helen was suspicious, and when the man charged at her, Helen ran out the door, grabbing her father's keys. She started his car and when she shifted into drive, the car stalled, just as the man ran out of the house to chase her. Just as it appeared the man would catch her, the ghost of Helen's father, whom the man had murdered, appeared and pushed her car up the hill, helping her escape.

Lisa goes on to recount how the car she was driving rolled slowly up the hill backward.

One other account, on the website Roadtrippers, claims both the man and his daughter were murdered and work together to push cars to prevent their occupants from suffering the same fate.

What skeptics say

North New Prospect Road slopes down from a concrete bridge to a stop sign at the intersection with Farmingdale Road. But is it a true slope, or does the road rise slightly at the bottom?

Skeptics say the bottom of the hill is an optical illusion that, when the car begins to roll in reverse, makes it appear it's going back up the hill.

People who believe there's something else afoot believe it's the work of a ghosts. At least a half-dozen videos on YouTube document attempts to prove or disprove the existence of something supernatural.

Some show the car moving but don't make it completely clear that the driver's foot is off the brake or the gas. At least one video documents a failed attempt. But there are several that show the car moving backward up the hill with the car in neutral. This video by Johnny the Ridge documents it during the day.

A search of YouTube for "Gravity Hill Jackson NJ" also produces videos showing similar phenomena in other towns, often with a similar backstory.

The legend today

The Gravity Hill legend in Jackson has been the inspiration for an annual haunted walk-through amusement at Cicconi Farms. Nightmare at Gravity Hill is a popular attraction that draws people from all over each year.

The farm, at 1005 Farmingdale Road, is just a short distance northwest of the intersection with North New Prospect Road.

"There have been many explanations as to why cars are pulled uphill against the forces of gravity at our farm," the owners say on the Nightmare at Gravity Hill website. They have created a whole scarefest around the phenomena, and have won praise year after year for the scare factor.

It's not clear what Helen's dad thinks of this, however.

What are your favorite urban legends from around New Jersey? Have any frightening encounters to share? Comment below.