These Are The Scariest Graveyards In New Jersey, Survey Says

Residents may shudder at the thought of being alone after dark at three New Jersey cemeteries shrouded in lore and legend, according to a survey conducted in time for Halloween.

Choice Mutual, a life insurance company that specializes in funeral and burial policies, asked 3,004 Americans a single question: “Which graveyard would you be least prepared to visit alone at night?”

The survey found 150 graveyards around the country that people refuse to enter or even detour around at night, whether they believe or dismiss as myth the stories of ghostly figures, whispers between crypts, and other unexplained occurrences.

The scariest graveyards in the Garden State are:

• Old Tennent Cemetery, Manalapan: Ranked 64th in the country, the Old Tennent Cemetery in Manalapan carries deep ties to Revolutionary War history, linked to the Battle of Monmouth that raged nearby. During the battle, the Old Tennent Church was converted into a makeshift hospital for wounded soldiers. According to local folklore, the spirits of those soldiers still linger at both the cemetery and church. One enduring legend speaks of a particular church pew marked by a bloodstain—said to be from a wounded soldier who succumbed to his injuries while seated there.
• Finn's Point National Cemetery, Pennsville: Ranked 83rd across the country, thousands of Confederate prisoners of war are buried in the cemetery, and local lore suggests their restless spirits may account for reported paranormal activity. The grounds also contain the graves of 13 German prisoners from World War II, which some residents believe adds to the site's haunted mystique.
• Cedar Ridge Cemetery, Blairstown: Ranked 113th, Cedar Ridge Cemetery in Blairstown is forever linked to one of New Jersey's most haunting unsolved cases—the 1982 murder of "Princess Doe." The victim, later identified as Dawn Olanick, was a teenager whose bludgeoned body was discovered in the cemetery. The case captured national attention and remains a high-profile mystery. Over the decades, the tragedy has inspired an enduring legacy of memorials and deep community interest in the young woman's story.

The 10 scariest graveyards in the country are:

1. Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, New York
2. Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Los Angeles
3. Boothill Graveyard, Tombstone, Arizona
4. St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, New Orleans
5. Salem Cemetery, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
6. Gettysburg National Cemetery, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
7. Pine Hill Cemetery, also known as Blood Cemetery, Hollis, New Hampshire
8. Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum Cemetery, Weston, West Virginia
9. Old City Cemetery, also known as Historic City Cemetery, Sacramento, California
10. Old Hill Burying Ground, Concord, Massachusetts

The survey authors said the most-dreaded cemeteries tended to be Colonial-era and church graveyards in the Northeast, with New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania appearing multiple times in the top 30.

Among other observations by the authors of the survey:

• Mass burial grounds at crucial and exceptionally bloody Civil War battlefields such as Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, Shiloh in Tennessee, and Vicksburg in Mississippi also ranked high.
• There are a couple of graveyards in the Old West with a particularly desolate feel, according to the survey: Tombstone’s Boothill Graveyard in Arizona, where outlaws who died in the O.K. Corral gunfight are buried, and Tonopah Cemetery in Nevada, a monument to the resilience and tenacity of the pioneers and miners who settled in the harsh desert.

Choice Mutual said the survey sample was designed to reflect balance across age, gender and geography. National population benchmarks were established using internal data and a two-step process: stratified sampling and post-stratification weighting.

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