By Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

New Jersey's long history includes plenty of murder and mayhem, giving the state its fair share of spooky and haunted locations.

There are creepy lakes and cemeteries, forests and abandoned places.

In Oxford, there's an abandoned manor where the doors have been seen opening and closing on their own and an historic inn in Monmouth County where a long dead father has been heard mourning his dead wife.

Here is a list of 13 locations in the state where you may not want to stay after dark:

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The Devil's Tree

The tree, located on Mountain Road in Bernards, is a solitary oak tree located in a field on Mountain Road in Bernards Township. Local legend suggests the tree is cursed. The story goes that a local farmer killed his wife and children, then hanged himself from the tree. The legend continues that anyone who cuts down the tree will come to an untimely end.(Tony Kurdzuk / Star Ledger)

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Tillie Smith "She died in defense of her honor."

Matilda Smith, better known as Tillie was found murdered in April of 1886, her assaulted body left in an open field on the grounds of Centenary College in Hackettstown where she lived and worked as a kitchen maid.

James Titus, a maintenance employee at the college was arrested and charged with her murder. Titus went to trial and was convicted of the crime even though the evidence against him was circumstantial. He was sentenced to hang but escaped death by signing a confession of guilt. Titus was released from prison in 1904 after serving served 19 years for the murder.

A large headstone stands in honor of her memory in Hackettstown's Union Cemetery.

According to local legend, there are frequent Tillie sightings along the grounds and school’s campus. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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The Devil's Tower

The Devil's Tower, located at the end of Esplanade Road in Alpine, was built in 1910 by Manuel Rionda for his wife so that she could see the view of New York City. Legend states, Manuel's wife was enjoying her view in the tower one evening when she spotted her husband with another woman. Overcome with anger and rage she leaped to her death. Alpine, N.J. 10/9/15 (Robert Sciarrino | NJ Advance Media for NJ..com)'

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Shippen Manor

Shippen Manor, a historic Georgian mansion built in the 1760s, is the site of some strange happenings such as items appearing on shelves that weren't there before, doors opening and closing on their own and ghosts appearing. Oxford, N.J. 9/25/15 (Robert Sciarrino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)



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Ghost Lake

Ghost Lake is part of Jenny Jump State Forest and just off Shades of Death Road. The lake was created in the early 1900’s by local men damming a creek. They named it for the vapor formations rising off it on cooler mornings. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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Watcher House

A Westfield home purchased in June of 2014 for $1.3 million as become known world-wide as the ‘Watcher House’. After purchasing the home, owners Derek and Maria Broaddus never moved in because three days after the purchase they received the first of three letters from a stalker calling himself " the Watcher." The letters asked about the couple’s children. (Photos: John O’Boyle / Star Ledger and Video: Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital

Formerly known as the State Lunatic Asylum at Morris Plains, Greystone first opened in 1877 to receive 342 patients. According to Preserve Greystone website, the psychiatric hospital "had dark years in the 1990s. Patient escapes became commonplace, staff was accused of abuse and rape, and some female residents ended up getting pregnant. Buildings were falling apart and lacking in basic creature comforts.

In October 2015, the main hospital building was demolished after decades of decay. (Robert Sciarrino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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Snake Hill

Snake Hill, located in Secaucus, was once home to a psychiatric hospital, almshouse, penitentiary and a potter's field. Workers, while clearing land for a road apparently uncovered the dead. There could have been as many as 10,000 undiscovered graves there, mostly the mentally ill and the poor. In later years, there was a mass exhumation. But did they find all of the bodies? (Patti Sapone/The Star-Ledger)

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Jenny Jump State Forest

Some say the ghost of Jenny lurks at Jenny Jump State Forest, who according to legend, was 9 years old when she was chased by an Indian and jumped to her death off of Jenny Jump Mountain. Hope, N.J. 9/25/15 (Robert Sciarrino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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Patti Sapone for NJ Advance Media

Cranbury Inn

The Cranberry Inn was established in the mid-1700′s as a tavern, in the 1930′s new owners Adrian and Marge Van Ravesteyn started to rent rooms. Now the inn is a popular wedding venue and offers a fine dining experience. The current owners are Tom and Gay Ingegneri. In the 25 years, the Ingegneri’s have owned the inn they have had dozens of ghost hunters visit in hopes of communicating with spirits. The history of the inn lends itself to having many spirit entities. According to the inn’s website, it was a rumored stop on the underground railroad. The deed for the property was issued by King George III. According to Gay Ingegneri, strange things have happened over the years. A pregnant employee had doors mysteriously swing open for her. Some staff members insist they’ve gotten telepathic messages, warning them to turn off electrical fixtures. “All the psychics that have come through tell us that of all the ghosts in here are friendly and there’s not a bad one in the bunch,” Ingegneri said. “They love being in the Inn, and that’s why they’re attached to the Inn,” she added.(Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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Historic Village at Allaire

Lantern tours at the Historic Village at Allaire in Farmingdale. Sobbing has also been heard from inside the founder's former home, where a tall figure was seen dressed in funeral attire and a top hat. This may have been James Allaire mourning the death of his wife, Frances, from cholera in 1832. Another ghost that has been reportedly sighted: the "playful" spirit of Hal Allaire, who has been known to hide household objects and interact with candles. (Alex Remnick | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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Spy House

The Spy House, also known as the Seabrook-Wilson House, is one of the oldest surviving homes in the Bayshore. Built in mid 1663 in Port Monmouth, the house has a history of ghostly apparitions and paranormal presences.

Owner and innkeeper, Thomas Seabrook, was a patriot in the New Jersey militia who spied on British troops during the Revolutionary War. Over the years people have claimed to see a female spirit walking from room to room looking for her crying baby, the ghost of a small boy looking out of windows, and an elderly bearded sea captain roaming the grounds and halls. The legend goes that Captain Morgan, an infamous pirate was known to conduct torture in the basement of the house. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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Shades of Death Road

Shades Of Death Road is a 7-mile stretch and the subject of many local legends. One legend states that the ghostly victims of highwayman robberies or the criminals themselves were hanged from the trees that line the road. (Robert Sciarrino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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Patti Sapone may be reached at psapone@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Instagram @psapo, Twitter @psapone. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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