Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainFormer Clove Road Apartments, now Hawk Crossings, have accumulated resident accounts since the 1970s of cold spots, a 19th-century apparition, and unexplained sounds — enough to earn a place on multiple 'most haunted campus' lists.
1 Normal Avenue, Montclair, NJ 07043
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
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Free
Public university campus; grounds are generally open to visitors during daylight hours.
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Wheelchair OK
Paved campus paths; residential buildings not open to non-residents.
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Photos OK
Est. 1908 · Founded 1908 as New Jersey State Normal School at Montclair · Attained university status in 1994 · Listed among most haunted college campuses in regional media
Montclair State University traces its founding to 1908, when the New Jersey legislature established the New Jersey State Normal School at Montclair to train teachers for the state's public schools. The institution progressed through several name changes — New Jersey State Teachers College at Montclair, Montclair State College — before attaining university status in 1994.
The campus at 1 Normal Avenue in Montclair occupies a ridge above the surrounding Essex County suburbs, with views east toward the Manhattan skyline. The grounds include a mix of early-twentieth-century academic buildings and post-war residential complexes built as enrollment expanded. The Clove Road Apartments, constructed as student housing and subsequently renamed Hawk Crossings, occupy a portion of the campus that borders a wooded area on the campus's western edge.
Student and resident accounts of unusual activity in Hawk Crossings — and in Blanton Hall, another campus residence — began circulating in the 1970s and have been documented periodically by the student newspaper, The Montclarion. The campus has appeared on lists of the most haunted colleges in America compiled by regional media outlets, including NJ1015 radio.
Sources
The Montclarion, Montclair State's student newspaper, has published multiple accounts from Hawk Crossings and Blanton Hall residents describing a consistent pattern of anomalies. The most specific reports involve cold spots localized in particular rooms — areas that remain noticeably cooler than adjacent spaces without apparent draft or HVAC explanation. Residents describe the cold as sudden and directional rather than ambient.
The apparition accounts center on a figure described as a man in 19th-century clothing, seen standing near beds or in doorways. Multiple independent resident accounts through different decades describe the figure standing motionless and disappearing when the observer moves or turns on a light. The specificity of the period dress in unconnected accounts is the element that has given this claim some staying power in campus oral tradition.
Sounds from the wooded edge of the complex — described as movement, footsteps, or voices — are the third consistent category of report. These are the least specific and most easily explained by ambient noise from the surrounding neighborhood, but residents report hearing them in conditions that should not carry such sound.
NJ1015 radio named Montclair State among the most haunted college campuses in America, citing the Hawk Crossings accounts. No formal paranormal investigation of the campus has been publicly documented.
The Hawk Crossings residential complex (former Clove Road Apartments) is visible from the campus grounds. Residential buildings are not open to non-residents. The surrounding campus is walkable during daylight hours.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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