6 events in Passaic County with a date

 

Hoaxes, UFO's, witches, Drones

New Jersey is no stranger to strange happenings

By: David M. Zimmer
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... The unexplained sightings of drones across North Jersey;s night skies have sparked curiosity and unease.
..... Rep rots of the hovering crafts buzzing the region have left residents wondering if they are the tools of hobbyist's covert military experiments or something even more mysterious.
..... The puzzling spectacle is, of course, not the first for the state, which has hosted steered flying objects in its skies since 1863. For generations, New Jersey has played host to stories of the strange and the surreal, including Martian invasions and ghostly treasure guardians.
..... One of the most famous stories came ons 1966 cold, clear winter evening in Wanague, when residents reported seeing mysterious lights hovering over the Wanaque Reservoir. The event, which would later be recounted as on of New Jersey's most famous UFO sightings, involved numerous witnesses including police officers and town officials. all described a strange, glowing object moving in inexplicable ways.
..... The first report came around 6:30 PM. Patrolman Joseph Cisco, responding to a dispatch about a glowing light, spotted what he described as a pulsating orb, larger than a star, hovering silently in the sky. Other calls quickly followed, with sightings reported in Ringwood, Paterson and Oakland.
..... Wanague Mayor Harry Wolfe, along with Councilman Warren Hagstron and Arther Barton, happened to be nearby and joined Cisco at the scene. The mayor's 14-year-old son, Billy Wolfe, identified the object, describing it as a brilliant, steady light changing colors from white to red to green.
..... The intensity of the incident escalated as additional witnesses claimed to see the light interact with the frozen reservoir. Civil Defense Director Bentley Spencer reported seeing a beam of light shoot down toward the ice, which some described as "burning a hole." Reservoir worker Fred Steines confirmed the unusual activity at the dam. Other witnesses described the object as disc-shaped or oval.
..... The following night, Patrolman Jack Wardlaw reported seeing a similar object near his home in Stonetown moving erratically and disappearing over nearby mountains. by October 1966, more sightings followed, including one from Sargent Ben Tompson, who descried a glowing object moving low over the mountains before accelerating upward. Various explanations were offered in the years that followed. A study by Vestigia in 1979 theorized the seismic activity near the Ramapo fault might have caused luminous phenomena, while the Pentagon suggested a rare celestial alignment of Venus and Jupiter, eyewitnesses, however, rejected these theories and the event remain unexplained.

A UFO hoax pretreated in New Jessey in 2009

..... Like many in New Jersey's more unbelieving stories, another UFO mystery turned out to be a hoax. It started in January 2009 in Morristown, when five red lights appeared in the night sky. dubbed the "Morristown UFO," these lights sparked widespread speculation about extraterrestrial activity, with some residents and UFO enthusiasts convinced they were witnessing a genuine sighting when they reportedly saw them over in a triangular formation before moving across the sky.
..... However, on April 1, 2009, two young men, Joe Rudy and Chris Russo - now a Morristown councilman - revealed that the event was a carefully orchestrated hoax. Using helium balloons and road flares, they had staged the "UFO" as a social experiment to highlight the unreliability of eyewitness testimony and the sensationalism surrounding UFO investigations. They released videos documenting their process, which debunked theories of advanced aircraft or alien visitation and underscored how easily UFO stories could gain traction without substantial evidence.

A witch trial in New Jersey?

..... New Jersey's strange happening and hoaxes dat4e back centuries. In 1730, an account emerged in the Pennsylvania Gazette about New Jersey's only alleged witch trial.
..... Drawing a crowed of 300 villages, the trail was reportedly held in Mount Holly to determine the fate of two residents accused of casting spells on a neighbor's livestock. The spells allegedly caused the sheep to dance and the hogs to sing psalms.
..... The story ended without a definitive conclusion and its veracity was never confirmed or truly debunked. Many historians, however, have claimed newspaper publisher and Founding Father Benjamin Franklin devised the article as a satire meant to criticize superstition and possibly poke fun at residents of Burlington County.

A prank by New Jersey's P.T. Barnum

..... Franklin's Mount Holly hoax set the stage for New Jersey;s reputation as a fertile ground for pranks. that ground in 1843 would be trodden by famous prankster P.T. Barnum, who with a bombardment of posters promised residents of New York City a summertime display like none other across the Hudson River.
..... The ads claimed Hoboken would host a thrilling "Grand Buffalo Hunt" on August 31. Cowboys were to showcase their lasso skills on a herd of American bison brought form the untamed West. Best of all, the event was free. Thousands ultimately made the journey, according to the 1995 book "P.T. Barnum" America's Greatest Showman."
..... Barnum, in his biography, described partnering with ferry operators to get half the day's fares. The gamble paid off spectacularly. More than 20,000 people reportedly crossed to Hoboken. by day's end, Barnum had cleared a profit of $3,500, a windfall for the era.
..... Instead of powerful beasts, attendees were greeted by a motley collection of frail buffalo that Barnum purchased for $700. Making matters worse was weak fencing that allowed frightened bison to break through the arena holding the event and flee into the nearby swamps.

Hidden Revolutionary War treasure ghost in NJ? NO!

..... A legend of British Loyalists burying treasurer as they fled George Washington's forces during the Revolutionary War led another hoax perpetrator to bring fright to the Morristown area. Ransford Rodgers, a former Connecticut schoolteacher, arrived in the area in the late 1780s claiming he could unlock the mystery of the fabled treasure many believe was hidden on Schooley Mountain. Rodgers wove an enticing narrative, insisting that the treasure's location was protected by a ghost, as detailed in Peter Zablocki's recent book "The 1788 Morristown Ghost Hoax. This spirit, Rodgers claimed, could only be exorcised with his specialized skills.
..... Prominent families in Morristown, entranced by the promise of both riches and adventure, were extorted for large sums of money. Rodgers' elaborate ruse, complete with staged supernatural encounters and spiritual ceremonies, duped the town's elite before it all unraveled and Rodgers filed the area.

Mundane and dumb hoaxes that happened in New Jersey

..... Headline-making hoaxes in the 20th century generally included fake kidnappings, deaths and, in the century's second half, bomb scares.
..... There were the mundane hoaxes, including one involving taxicab owner William A, Carlock from Pearl River, New York, who claimed to be held up by three armed and masked bandits in Park Ridge in November 1939. In reality, it was Carlock's attempt to steal revenue intended for a coach company so he could pay off his debt.
..... There were also the dum ones, including the one involving the fake merchant seamen hero form Dumont. At 16, William E Jerlet left home to work odd jobs between Albany and New Orleans before returning home in April 1942 with claims he had joined the U.S. Maritime Service and Twice cheated death. The Record reported in September 1943.
..... The first time, Jerlate said the merchant freighter he was on was attacked and he went overboard with his hair on fire to save a shipmate. The second time, he said U-boats attacked his ship and he somehow woke up in Africa. The claims were later debunked and investigated by U.S. Naval Intelligence.
..... Another hoax took place in April 1981 at the Veterans Administration hospital in East Orange, where an alleged gunman dressed as a doctor purportedly threatened to kill state Senator James Wallwork. Te hospital's chief of police Joseph Lancellotti, claimed to have wrestled the would-be assailant to the ground, but said the individual managed to escape. However, an FBI investigation soon revealed that the entire incident was a hoax orchestrated by Lancellotti.

New Jersey's most famous hoax

..... Most prominently, new Jersey played host to one of the most famous hoaxes of all times.
..... On Halloween Eve in 1938, the Gardner State became the epicenter of mass hysteria, thanks to Orson Wells' infamous radio broadcast of "The Ware of the Worlds." For listers across America, the mock news reports describing a Martian invasion felt chillingly real. but for residents of Grover Mill, a small community in West Windsor, the drama hit far too close to home.
..... The broadcast, performed by Welles and the Mercury theatre on the Air, re imagined H.G. Wells; 1898 novel as a live event. Interpreted between music segments, faux news bulletins described explosions on Mars followed by a martian landing in Groves Mill. with its realistic tone, the broadcast spared choes. Traffic jams clogged the streets, phones rang of the hook and panic swept across the nation.
..... One Grover Mill resident, William Dock, reportedly fired shots at a water-tower in the moonlight, mistaking it for a Martian war machine. Families packed their belongings and fled in search of safety, while others drove into the hamlet, hoping to catch a glimpse of the alien invaders.
..... Bob Sandrs, then 6 years old, recalled the surreal scene in a 2013 interview with USA Today. "Fathers put their families in a car and took off for parts unknown," Sanders said. "Other people came to see what they [the Martians] looked lie." For some, the simulated invasion seemed far too real. In Newark dozens of families fled their homes, believing a gas attack was underway. The New York Times reported widespread disruption with household and religious services interrupted, roads gridlocked and communitarian lines overwhelmed.
..... Welles' inspiration reportedly came from the Hinderburg disaster of 1937. His team mimicked the measured tones of news announcers and fueled the staged panic's believability.

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