Passaic County holds two of New Jersey's ten most haunted places

With Halloween approaching, Passaic County holds two of New Jersey's ten most haunted places in HauntBound's 2026 index, including Clinton Road in West Milford and Lambert Castle in Paterson. The index ranks 162 New Jersey sites by separate published accounts and how far back they go, not by fame or search popularity.

Clinton Road ranks #3. The English-born railroad banker Richard James Cross built the Tudor-style Cross Castle beside the road in 1905; the ruins were demolished by Newark's water department in 1988. Four separate published accounts describe activity there, the earliest dated to 1939. Generations of drivers have described strange lights that move with no wind, a phantom woman and roadside figures, and a pickup truck that tailgates before vanishing.

Lambert Castle ranks #8. Catholina Lambert, a silk magnate, completed the medieval-revival castle above Garret Mountain in 1892 and died there in 1923, after three of his children and his wife, Rosa, predeceased him. Two separate published accounts describe activity there, the earliest dated to 1980. Staff and visitors have reported phantom footsteps on the upper floors, cold spots in the tower observatory, and a woman's crying attributed to Rosa Lambert.

Statewide, The Southern Mansion in Cape May ranks #1; Leeds Point (Jersey Devil Birthplace) in Galloway, the state's most famous haunted site, ranks #2.

"We rank by evidence, not legend: independent published accounts, documented history, and how far back the reports go. We don't claim ghosts are real, or that they aren't. We document where the reports concentrate, and we show our work," said Ben Fineman, editor of HauntBound. The ranking shows each site's documented record.

Visiting:Clinton Road, West Milford, is a public road open to drivers at any time; the Cross Castle ruins sit on watershed land off the road and require a permit to visit.Lambert Castle, 3 Valley Rd., Paterson, is a museum with regular visiting hours.

For media:The full ranking: https://hauntbound.com/most-haunted/new-jersey/The fact sheet, with cleared images: https://hauntbound.com/press/fact-sheets/new-jersey/Photo: Clinton Road, on the fact sheet.Venue contact: passaiccountynj.orgA short version follows.

HauntBound (hauntbound.com) is a family-friendly field guide to more than 6,000 documented haunted and historic places across the United States, ranked by published evidence rather than legend. No venue pays to be listed or ranked.

Media contact: Ben Fineman, Editor, HauntBound, editor@hauntbound.com

###