Devil's Tree: A Spooky Legend In Basking Ridge

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — The Devil's Tree or sometimes described as "a portal to hell" is one of Somerset County's creepiest haunts.

It's so creepy Thrillist Magazine has named it the most haunted place in New Jersey and one of the most scariest places in America.

"Out of context, the tree’s silhouette alone is enough to inspire nightmares: a warped, half-dead oak looming in the middle of a lonely field, with dozens of ax marks lining its trunk. Then there’s the gruesome history," said Thrillist.

Rumors — or some say truths — surrounding the tree, at 181 Mountain Road in Basking Ridge near the Bridgewater border, date as far back as the 1920s when a group of KKK members was rumored to hold cross burnings and hangings off the limbs of the tree.

Basking Ridge historian or founder of the mrlocalhistory.org project, Brooks Betz previously confirmed there was in fact an active KKK clan located just down the road on the Bridgewater side near Route 202/206 and Brown Road, where the Hindu temple now stands. However, the clan activities have not been proven.

"One of the different rumors is that one of the guys, a grand wizard of the clan, who owned the property in Bridgewater would hold a series of KKK activity and cross burnings. And instead of doing it on the Bridgewater property, they did it on the tree. There were tales of lynching and cross burning. But nothing was substantiated," Betz said.

Another rumor revolves around a farmer — who lived in the white farmhouse that had stood adjacent to the tree — who murdered his entire family at the home and then hung himself on the tree.

Betz said there is no record of the murders ever being reported.

"The property then laid dormant until the 1960s when a couple of local kids invented a story about a rogue white pickup truck that would come up over the hill and kill you," Betz said.

Betz said he spoke with one of those boys later on who told him that they made up the story and drove the "haunted" pickup in an attempt to keep people off the property so they could hang out and drink by the tree.

The tree has since been called "a portal to hell" because of all the rumors.

"Supposedly anyone who tries to cut down the unholy oak comes to an untimely end, as it is now cursed. It is said that the souls of those killed at the spot give the tree an unnatural warmth, and even in the dead of winter no snow will fall around it," Betz wrote in a piece about the tree years ago.

The tree gained much more attention after Weird NJ published a story on the tree in 2012.
To this day, thrill-seekers come out to the tree and try to press their luck and see if they end up cursed.

Some try to touch the tree, while others pee on it or try to cut it or burn it down. You can still see the ax and burn marks permanently branded onto the tree. Many took pieces of the bark as a souvenir or proof they were at the tree.

Lately, Bernards Township Police Detective Lt. Jon Burger said the department hasn't seen an uptick in visitors in recent years as it is "marked very well with keep out or private property."

With much commotion surrounding the tree the township designated the area a park where the field and tree are now sanctioned and protected. The tree has a protective chain link fencing around the trunk and the park remains closed with Bernards Township Police patrolling the area for trespassers.

Betz noted that there is "some element of truth" when you look at the rumors "but when you dig deeper" it doesn't all check out.

"Was there a clan there? Yeah. A white truck? Yeah. There were no hangings proven," Betz said. "You decide for yourself. Is it real? Is there any truth to it? Or is just some tree. You decide."

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