Basking Ridge’s Devil’s Tree Named Most Haunted Place In NJ

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Growing up in Somerset County it was almost a right of passage to hear and check out the rumors surrounding the ever so spooky Devil’s Tree in Basking Ridge. Now Thrillist Magazine has named it the most haunted place in the New Jersey and one of the most scariest places in America.

"A purported meeting place for the KKK, notorious suicide site and rumored gateway to the depths of hell, the Devil’s Tree is infamous among locals and has evolved into a chilling tourist attraction," according to Thrillist. "Legend has it, anyone who harms the tree will suffer swift and violent retribution — so naturally, it has become a tradition for ballsy teens across the Garden State to pee on its trunk."

The infamous tree stands alone in an open field off Mountain Road in Bernards Township right on the border of the Martinsville section of Bridgewater and continues to draw in thrill seekers from all over the Garden State and beyond.

Legend has it that the tree has been cursed since as far back as the 1920s when a group of KKK members were rumored to hold cross burnings and hangings off the limbs of the tree.

Basking Ridge historian or also known as mrlocalhistory.org, Brooks Betz confirmed there was in fact an active KKK clan located just down the road on the Bridgewater side near Route 202/206 and Brown Road, where the Hindu temple now stands. However, the clan activities have not been proven.

"One of the different rumors is that one of the guys, a grand wizard of the clan, who owned the property in Bridgewater would hold a series of KKK activity and cross burnings. And instead of doing it on the Bridgewater property they did it on the tree. There were tales of lynching and cross burning. But nothing was substantiated," Betz said.

Another rumor revolves around a farmer — who lived in the white farmhouse that had stood adjacent to the tree — who murdered his entire family at the home and then hung himself on the tree.

Betz said there is no record of the murders ever being reported.

"The property then laid dormant until the 1960s when a couple of local kids invented a story about rogue white pickup truck that would come up over the hill and kill you," Betz said.

Betz said he spoke with one of those boys later on who told him that they made up the story and drove the "haunted" pickup in an attempt to keep people off the property so they could hang out and drink by the tree.

The tree has since been called "a portal to hell" because of all the rumors.

"Supposedly anyone who tries to cut down the unholy oak comes to an untimely end, as it is now cursed. It is said that the souls of those killed at the spot give the tree an unnatural warmth, and even in the dead of winter no snow will fall around it," Betz wrote in a piece about the tree years ago.

The tree gained much more attention after Weird NJ published a story on the tree in 2012.

To this day, thrill seekers come out to the tree and try to press their luck and see if they end up cursed.

Some try to touch the tree, while others pee on it or try to cut it or burn it down. You can still see the ax and burn marks permanently branded onto the tree. Many took pieces of the bark as a souvenir or proof they were at the tree.

With much commotion surrounding the tree the township designated the area a park where the field and tree are now sanctioned and protected. The tree has a protective chain link fencing around the trunk and the park remains closed with Bernards Township Police patrolling the area for trespassers.

Betz noted that there is "some element of truth" when you look at the rumors "but when you dig deeper" it doesn’t all check out.

"Was there a clan there? Yeah. A white truck? Yeah. There were no hangings proven," Betz said. "You decide for yourself. Is it real? Is there any truth to it? Or is just some tree. You decide."

Directions to the tree:

• Take I-78 to Exit 33: Bernardsville/Martinsville.
• Make a right onto CR-525/Martinsville Road.
• About two or three lights up is Allen Road. Make a left onto Allen Road.
• Make your first left onto Somerville Road. Somerville Road goes over I-78.
• After you go over I-78, make the first left onto Mountain Road. The Devil’s tree is down the road a little bit, around a curve.

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