Clinton Road in West Milford, New Jersey, has been named the most haunted road in the world by car rental company Sixt for the third consecutive year. The 10-mile stretch is known for its dark history dating back to 1905 and ongoing reports of paranormal activity including ghost lights, phantom cars, and sightings of the Jersey Devil. Searches related to Clinton Road on Google and TikTok exceeded one million between July 2025 and July 2026, contributing to its eerie reputation as a site for local folklore and supernatural encounters.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-10,
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same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Clinton Road in West Milford, New Jersey, has been named the "most haunted road in the world" for the third consecutive year by car rental company Sixt. This 10-mile stretch near New York City is known for its eerie encounters and paranormal activity dating back over a century. The dense forest canopy along parts of the route creates an unsettling atmosphere, especially at night when the area becomes almost pitch-black. According to local folklore, one story involves Ghost Boy, a spirit that supposedly returns coins tossed into the water below a bridge, with visitors still finding the coins there today. Sixt also notes sightings of "ghost lights" — mysterious floating orbs or unexplained lights — often appearing to drivers alone on the road after dark.
Written for “Haunted Road Near Nyc” on 2026-10-10,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
As Halloween approaches, one New Jersey road stands apart for constant reports of paranormal activity — and it’s getting so notorious, even car rental companies are apparently warning clients to steer clear.
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companies → approach → clients
In a recent worldwide ranking by Sixt, a piece of pavement called Clinton Road in West Milford took the top spot — for the third year in a row.
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piece → call → row
The experts behind the list told The Post that the northern Passaic County thoroughfare is “one of the country’s most haunted roads, with a reputation built on decades of local folklore and eerie encounters.”
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thoroughfare → tell → folklore
“The 10-mile stretch of heavily forested road is particularly unsettling after dark,” a representative explained, “when its dense tree canopy leaves parts of the route almost completely shrouded in darkness.”
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canopy → explain → darkness
The road has a macabre reputation for creepy activity that dates back more than a century.
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that → have → century
In 1905, writer J. Percy Crayon described the area as inhabited by “robbers, witches and ghosts that made their appearance in frightful forms.”
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In one famous story, Ghost Boy — a spirit said to linger beneath a bridge — returns coins that are tossed into the water below.
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that → say → water
“Visitors continue to test the story, with coins still visible in the stream below Dead Man’s Curve,” Sixt explained, adding that the road is also associated with the appearance of “ghost lights” — mysterious floating orbs or unexplained lights that appear in the darkness and sometimes surround solo drivers.
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that → continue → drivers
Commuters also describe seeing phantom cars — specifically, a black Camaro and an old pickup truck —that appear in their rearview mirrors before disappearing into darkness.
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that → describe → darkness
Legend even holds that Clinton Road is the preferred thoroughfare of the Jersey Devil, a mysterious creature of disputed (albeit dubious) origins who has been blamed for drought, crop failure, the death of livestock and even the onset of war.
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“Together, these tales give Clinton Road a fascinating mix of history, folklore and roadside mystery,” said Sixt scribes.
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scribes → give → history
Clinton Road generated more than one million searches between July 2025 and July 2026.
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In 2019, Clinton Road became an indie horror movie starring Ice-T, who appeared as a Garden State firefighter whose wife goes missing on the storied New Jersey road stretch.
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Those further east and west can find their own spooky season drives, according to Sixt.
They’ve named the second creepiest road as Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire, which is said to be haunted by Ruth Colbath, a lovelorn New England postal worker whose husband Thomas allegedly vanished along the road in the 1800s.
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For 39 years, the ever-faithful Ruth kept an oil lamp burning and her hopes high for his return.
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But three years she died, Thomas reportedly found his way home.
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Thomas → die → way
Today, visitors routinely report seeing visions of the abandoned wife, and the eerie glow of her lamp, along the remote road.
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visitors → report → road
Meanwhile, the stretch of Route 66 running through California came in third for haunted highways.
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stretch → run → highways
It made the cut for its high concentration of ghost towns and tales of missing hitchhikers, along with its proximity to the Manson Family and their killing routes in the late 1960s.
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It → make → 1960s
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