Last night, a very unusual place in Southern New Jersey was visited by the SJU Team. Following a thunderstorm and evening full of rain, we set out around midnight to our destination, Boody Mill Road.
The story behind the Boody Mill Road haunt is told as so: Back in 1992, stood a house on the now-flattened property. A husband, wife, and kids (unsure of how many) inhabited the home. The husband and wife got into a severe fight in which the wife decided to leave the husband and the kids behind. This eventually drove him to the point of insanity. One night while the kids were sleeping, he torched the home with them inside. He left the house to sit in his truck. Watching the home burn, he put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger to claim his own life.
Boody Mill Road is an isolated road right off of Route 45 in Mantua, NJ. As you enter the road, it looks to be of the norm. Nothing odd about it whatsoever. But when you continue your trek further, you feel like you’re on a roller coaster ride! Miscellaneous twists, turns, drops all lead to a sudden stop in the asphalt. This is where the gravel begins. About two-tenths of a mile ahead, you’ll see a waste management plant off to your right. Just a few feet further until you come across the home’s foundation on the same side of the road.
I had previous been to Boody Mill three times prior. Two without knowing where the house was, and making two eerie discoveries on the third visit. The last time I was there was with a friend of mine who
lives in the Mullica Hill area. It was nighttime and I drove my Jeep back there. She directed me to the same spot as I was previously; where the gravel road opens up into a panoramic view of nothing but field. With my spot lights on, I saw three shiny objects randomly placed on the road in front of me. I walked towards them only to discover they were three VERY old 35mm cameras. I signaled to my friend who was a photographer. She was just as curious as I was about these very old cameras. We fiddled around with them, trying to pull out the film. We couldn’t figure it out. She had requested that we just bring the whole camera back with us, so she could have them developed the next time. After a moment of thinking, I realized that I didn’t want to see what was on the film. I wasn’t prepared to see something I didn’t want to.
“I’ll just pick them up tomorrow morning before work and develop them there.” She said.
We strategically placed the cameras in a tall batch of grass not visible to the naked eye. I ventured over to a tall mound of dirt to relieve myself before the journey home. When I was finished, I slowly looked up from to make out the driveway and foundation of a home that once stood. A few moments later, I heard two foot steps coming from the direction I was looking. Without hesitation, I about-faced, sprinted to my truck, and left. I woke up the next morning with a textmessage that read:
“It’s 7am and the cameras aren’t here. This is impossible.”
The SJU Team and I reached our destination around 12:30am. As we pulled up, the rain we were just driving through, ceased. We exited the vehicle and observed our surroundings. I was the only one who had
been there previously. I pointed to the same large mound I once stood and told the others, “That’s our entrance.”
The photo above shows a shoe we found near the dirt mound entrance
With me, I had the brightest LED flashlight I've ever owned. Immediately I pointed out four spots of interest. We took the path up to spot number one, the house. All that was left was the A-frame peak of the
house and some rubble left inside. We snapped a few photographs but didn’t enter. Exposed through the remaining wood were nails, and the remains itself were not sturdy. They looked as if they would collapse
any moment!
We ventured onward to spot number two, the little house/shed. More of this structure was standing as it seems it was less affected by the blaze. However, inside was nothing of interest (that we could find).
Again, we snapped a few photos and continued.
The third spot looked to be a garage. As the team and I approached the garage, we suddenly came to a halt thirty feet from it. There was an overwhelming amount of spiders guarding the structure, and we
didn’t want any part of that! We have some pretty bad cases of arachnaphobia!
The last structure on the property was identified as the cap to the back of the truck (where the man apparently shot himself). There was no truck just the cap. We lightly examined it but didn’t find anything
significant. What a bummer!
We went back to my car to do some further research. All of us, simultaneously doing web searches, looked for a ritual or position we could sit in to make something happen. Finally, a web search revealed
that we must sit in the car with the rear against the cornfield, directly looking at the home’s entrance. We waited and waited. What we all noticed was that the combination of moon-lit light in the opening behind the home and the slight movement of the branches made a flickering effect from where we watched. This could have given the illusion of a television set on or perhaps a burning building in the distance. Either way, we felt watched the entire time and had the feeling of uneasiness up until the moment we reach the asphalt again, and made that right off Boody Mill Road. Would we go back? Absolutely.
- John
