Truth Or Tale: Indian Curse Road

DEPTFORD, NJ — Anyone who lives in the Garden State has heard rumors of haunted happenings and urban folklore close to home. In fact, there was an entire magazine, Weird NJ, devoted to them.

Patch is taking up the task of exploring these myths throughout October in the hopes compiling a master list comprised of the best of the unexplained throughout New Jersey. Today we are discussing what has been labelled “the most terrifying ghost story to ever come out of New Jersey.”

The tale of the Indian Curse Road begins in the early 1980s, when a 4-mile stretch of road was added to Route 55 in Deptford despite warnings that a sacred Native American burial ground existed in that spot.

Dr. Carl Pierce, AKA Shaman Wayadanga, warned that building on that land would upset his ancestors, prompting the dead to seek vengeance. Alternate routes were proposed … and ignored.

First, there were a series of bizarre tragedies that claimed the lives of the crew workers. One worker was run over by an asphalt truck. Another was knocked off an overpass to his death by unexpected high winds that came out nowhere. An inspector died of a brain aneurysm. Another worker’s feet turned black, and another’s family member developed cancer. And there were other tragedies, as well.

Recently, a Facebook user posted video of a young woman in a white wedding dress walking down the road in the middle of the night while holding a bouquet of flowers.

Washington Township police later confirmed that this was a real person, a teen who had wandered away from a local children’s services facility. See, not everything has to do with the supernatural.

So what do you think readers? Buy it or boot it? Is the story of the Indian Curse Road real? Do you avoid that section of Route 55? Maybe you have another, even scarier tale of your own to share. Drop them in our comments or send them to anthony.bellano@patch.com.