Burning Bridges at Burnt Mill Road

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Burning Bridges at Burnt Mill Road

Burning Bridges at Burnt Mill Road

(images:flickr/apocalyptic)

Burnt Mill Road is located in a small New Jersey town called Atco, just off the fringes of Pine Barren.  While the town maintained a quiet, peaceful nature, filled with the same qualities as many rural towns, where neighbors all knew each other and gossip was popular, one story seemed to prevail over all the others.

It was another quiet Christmas in Atco, all the stores and businesses had long since closed and families were tucked away in their homes.  The only establishment with its lights on was the town bar, a common source of contention for citizens of Atco.

While families huddled around Christmas trees, excitedly opening gifts, one man sat alone on a bar stool, just another passer through, alone for the holidays.  Unfortunately, the man had a few drinks too many when he got behind the wheel of his truck.

At the same time, a young boy excitedly asked his family to play with his new basketball outside with him.  Each told him they would be just a little bit and got busy with other tasks inside the house.  Unfortunately, as the boy bounced the ball down the side of their quiet, back road, dead end highway, it hit his foot and bounced across to the other side.

Excitedly, the boy rushed into the road, just in time for the drunk driver to collide with his tiny body, leaving him dead.  The driver, in a panic, did not stop and rushed on.  Unfortunately, because he was new to the area, he did not realize the road was a dead end and was forced to travel back the way he came, passing the young boy’s body again.

Burning Bridges at Burnt Mill Road

(images:flickr/linosalento)

While others reason that it wasn’t a drunk driver at all, but a passing truck from a nearby factory which had an access point along the road. And the driver was in a hurry to finish up and get home to his family when he looked up and struck the boy. Or yet another story, where young teens were taking advantage of time out of school to drag race up and down the dead end road when the boy chased his ball into their path. There is no shortage of current interest.

Many claim to have seen the boy, even today, when traveling along the road.  Because of the interest, police commonly patrol the dead end road to try and thwart curious ghost chasers.  Those brave enough, and lucky enough not to have gotten caught, claim that if they park at one end of the road and shine their lights toward the place of impact, a great wind forms and the outline of the boy can be seen.

Others have claimed to see the boy sitting alongside their car, much to their horror, bloody and obviously having been involved in some sort of accident.  Others say while they haven’t seen the boy, they have encountered a strange phenomenon of seeing other headlights heading straight toward them, only to disappear.  Alternatively, while waiting, each of the road’s streetlights turns off, moving toward the watcher’s car with no explanation.

 

Megan Borchert
Megan Borchert
Lover of all things unusual, Megan is a staff attorney for the state of South Dakota. When she's not stuffed in an office writing case synopses, you can find her at home with her army of Schnauzers, snuggled up with some strong wine and a good book.

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