Weird NJ: The Atco Ghost

There's a ghost story in the southern New Jersey town of Atco that tells of a young boy who was run down on a lonely stretch of road after chasing his basketball into the middle of the street.

The tale centers around a sparsely populated lane on the fringes of the Pine Barrens known as Burnt Mill Road, and there are some very detailed instructions would-be ghost hunters must follow in order to see this apparition. Weird NJ readers share their experiences…

Atco Ghost Boy Dribbles in the Darkness

In the town of Atco, there is a road that was never finished. It branches off a road that connects with Route 30. This road runs about two miles before it ends in the Pine Barrens. It was Christmas night and a boy was out playing with the basketball he got as a present when a drunk driver came speeding down this dead end street. He hit the boy and decided to run –– only to come to the end of the road. The driver was forced to do a U-turn and drive back, passing the body of the boy he had just killed.

You drive down the street and head straight toward the end of the road. When you reach the end, do a U-turn and pull your car up to the part of the street where there is a crack through the asphalt from one side of the street to the other. Stop here and beep your horn three times and flash your lights three times, then sit in darkness for a bit. You will see the figure of a boy begin to cross the street dribbling a basketball, almost in slow motion. –Anthony Dooley

If You Want to See a Ghost, Just Kill the Engine, Kill the Lights and Walk Away

The most common way to see the ghost is to drive to this haunted road in the middle of the night, park on the side, kill the engine, kill the lights and get out of the car. You then walk AWAY from the spot where the ghost appears, and after twenty feet, turn around. You will then see the spectral form of a little boy walking towards you. –Manning L. Krull

Ghost Boy Searches for Those Who Killed Him

I used to row for my college's crew team in South Jersey. On one practice another teammate told this tale. He was describing a ghost he saw in Atco. He said that the ghost was the victim of a hit and run on Burnt Mill Road and, if you park at the end of the road with your engine and lights off, the ghost would appear and look the car over to see if it was the same one that killed him. –Scott Kafarski

Atco Ghost Follows the Bouncing Ball

Down a road in Atco there is a house where a little boy was playing with a ball in the yard. He chased it into the street, where he was hit by a car and killed. It is a ritual of passage to go and try to see the boy's ghost. You should go at midnight, and park in a specific spot and flash your lights at the area in the road across from the house.

An image of the dead boy is supposed to be seen chasing the ball into the street with headlights coming at him. Many have said they see different scenes but they are all related, most of them having a little boy and headlights. In my own personal experience, an image of a boy did walk toward our car, but never actually made it. It was as though he was walking in place. Nevertheless, I was scared out of my wits. –Kyle

I've Seen the Atco Ghost!

There is a dead-end street in Atco that has been haunted for years. At the end of the road there is some type of factory from which large trucks often leave around dusk. One night, there was a little kid bouncing a ball all over the street. As one of the trucks was leaving the plant, the ball took a bad bounce and the boy ran after it –– right into the path of the oncoming truck.

Rumors started to circulate that the boy's ghost comes back to play in the same street that he was killed on. Growing up in Atco, I spent many nights drinking beer with friends at the end of this street and waiting for the ghost. We never seemed to find him whenever we gathered there. The only time I ever had a different experience there was when I actually followed the instructions on how to see the ghost. The night was rather misty and it was raining a little bit. My friend and I drove to the end of the road where the factory is located and turned around. We drove up to the second streetlight and stopped the car. I turned off the ignition and we sat in silence for a while.

Nothing was happening, so we decided to leave. The moment I touched the keys, a sudden wind swirled the mist on the road, and a shadowy shape appeared at the side of the road. It wasn't a shape really, but a break in the low-lying fog that resembled the outline of a small child. We decided to get out of there. As I was racing down the street, I could see the fog swirling faster and faster. We came to the stop sign, which I ignored, and I turned left onto the main street. –Zachary W.

You can read more about the Atco Ghost and all of New Jersey's other haunted byways in Weird NJ magazine, "Your Travel Guide to New Jersey's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets," which can be found on newsstands throughout the state and on online at www.WeirdNJ.com.