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Whipporwill Valley

There are two particularly isolated roads that wind their way through the rural farms and forestlands of Middletown that have attained legendary status over the years as places of mystery, mayhem and fear. The unlit, unpaved expanses of Whipporwill Valley and Cooper Roads, which are located adjacent to each other, meander over wooded hills and through deep cuts as they wind their way into the local mythology as the most scary roads in Monmouth County.

Some roads just seem to possess the aura necessary to put people in touch with their own most deep-rooted fears. In this respect they might be seen as passageways to the unknown, or a window into our own subconscious. It seems undeniable that many of the tales told of such roads reflect archetypal nightmare imagery such as ghosts, wild and ferocious animals, and evil hooded cultists or KKK members huddled around sacrificial bon fires. Tales of witches, and even the Devil himself wandering these roads are told without even a hint of disbelief. Maybe there is really nothing scary to be found on such roads at all. It could be that the road merely serves as a conduit, a pathway to our own innermost demons. If that is in fact the case, then a trip down one of these legendary byways may for some be a journey of profound self-discovery.

Of course there is a case to be made for the people who enjoy traveling such roads purely for the opportunity to revel in the thrill of scaring the wits out of themselves and their friends. Who among us can say that at sometime, perhaps in their teenage years, they didn’t pile their friends into an overcrowded car and set off to some allegedly haunted night spot. Jaunts such as these usually build to a fevered pitch before you ever reach your intended destination, due largely to the en route retelling of the site’s legends during the road trip. Nightriders on excursions like these are often so jacked up to witness something out of the realm of the ordinary, that over-anticipation alone might cause their eyes to play tricks on them. Perhaps a stray dog becomes a “Hell Hound,” or an innocent jogger transforms into a ghostly running apparition.