As the popular game, "Six Degrees of Separation", proves, two people can (usually) tied to one another in six steps or degrees. This can also work for two objects, subjects or anything else. Those not familiar with it may recognize it as "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon", in which you can tie Kevin Bacon to any other actor in one way or another.
One of my favorite recurring articles in the magazine, Mental Floss, was written by Ken Jennings of Jeopardy fame. He would challenge readers to give him any two objects, people or places and he would link them within six steps. Some of the links might be a stretch, but they worked.
| Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon from maxdemarzi.com |
This game came to mind as I was re-watching the original Friday the 13th last night.
Toward the beginning of the movie, one of the girls needs to get a ride from town to Camp Crystal Lake. The man that give her a ride says he'll take her halfway and someone will pick her up. The halfway point happens to be the Moravian Cemetery in Hope, NJ.
Now, I've watched this movie a few times. I like to retain a healthy respect for some of the classic slasher flicks. This time, however, something clicked in my mind as familiar.
How do I know this place? Cue Google maps.
First off, I brought up the cemetery. You can tell from the movie that it had to be a real location and it is.
I didn't see anything immediately around the cemetery that struck a bell, so I brought up Hope, NJ.
That's when I recognized the area. Just outside the town limits is a spooky stretch of road called Shades of Death Road. No joke. That's the name. It borders Jenny Jump State Forest on the east side. Both of these areas were covered by Jack Osbourne in one of his episodes of Haunted Highways a couple years ago.
Reportedly, apparitions can be seen while driving the road at night. One of these was thought to be caught on film during the episode that aired. Jack and the gang also cover nearby Ghost Lake on which spirits of the local Native Americans can be seen rising like mist from the surface.
I think it is so cool that such a classic slasher flick was filmed near such a cool haunted area!
Camp Crystal Lake is nearby, north of Hope. As a side note, Moravian Cemetery is not halfway between the town and the camp. The cemetery is, in fact, just south of the town.
Camp Crystal Lake is an actual camp by name of Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, a boy scout camp in Hardwick NJ. Like any campground, No-Be-Bo-Sco has it's ghost stories and legends.
In the early '40's, a plane crashed into a local mountain killing six. Supposedly, anyone staying at the camp that hiked through the crash site would be affected. If they had any possessions from that time or earlier, those items would disappear overnight, only to be found at the crash site the next day.
Another legend says there was a man who killed kids by bashing their heads with rocks. While I've found several documentations of the plane crash, I've only found one mention of this murderer. However, every camp needs a good story to keep the campers in their cabins at night. I know the church camps I stayed at as a kid had them!
So, if you need a haunted road trip, go check out this area near Hope, NJ. If you'd rather see what others have supposedly seen, check out YouTube. There's a few videos there to take a look at. My favorite is the episode of Haunted Highways. If you can't find it On Demand, it is available on Amazon, iTunes and Vudu. It also includes a great story about a deadly train crash.
Oh! And my six degrees of separation?
I enjoy paranormal investigation television shows, including (1)Haunted Highways, whose team leader, Jack Osbourne, investigated (2)Shades of Death Road, which is just south of the real life (3)Camp Crystal Lake, the setting of the first (4)Friday the 13th movie, in which (5)Jason Voorhees' mother killed a character played by (6)Kevin Bacon.
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