Mysterious iron door in the wilderness of NJ!

I just received a call from a friend of friend claiming to have found a locked iron door leading downward located at the top of a mountain in Independence, NJ. Allegedly he was hiking in the woods one day and came across a fenced in area with warning signs all about. Being the troublemaker that I understand he is, he found a hole in the fence and went exploring. The door in question is completely isolated so it is quite a mystery as to what lies behind it. Hopefully I will be able to get some more information from him.

In the mean time, has anyone ever heard of this? I use to live one town over from Independence so it is quite interesting to me. I checked all the usual NJ strange happenings sites and came up with nothing.

PS Stumbled across the following site on my search and I advise anyone from NJ to take a gander. It is quite an extensive list of bizarre NJ sites.

members.tripod.com...

How did your friend call you from the top of a mountain ?
With a mobile ? has it got a CAMERA on it ?
Is it a SAT phone ?

Don't follow this excuse my ignorance ?

If this were true then your friend should get out and go back with a thousand people !

It's probably the entrance to an old bat cave. NJ's got tons of them. I've come across many of them hiking in Vermont. Same deal - on mountains, warning signs, big iron doors, etc. Anyway, that's my guess.

Sounds like fun; ask him if he can get some pics / maybe a gps location so we can get the satellite photos / contour maps out and see what's around. since you're from that area can you give us some insight into the local terrain / what kinds of buildings and properties are out there, etc.?

Throwing out some ideas:

1) abandoned fallout shelter...could be some 60s-70s era survivalist's hideout that got abandoned...any idea how old of a door it is?
2) abandoned revolutionary war / civil war ammo depot / something or other
3) something more modern, maybe a military base (or just a garage)...
4) part of ong's hat -- this is mostly silly but I figured I'd toss it out anyways

and one other question: how is the door locked?

That is really all the information I got from my friend. When I asked where exactly it was, I was told that he may be up to taking us there.

My first thought was a fall out shelter, but why would one be located at the top of a mounatin with nothing else around? As for the bat cave comment, I was quite unaware of this. Northwestern NJ is littered with caves and abandoned railroad tunnels, but a locked iron door on the ground at the top of a mountain seems quite strange to me. There is about 6 inches of snow on the ground right now, but perhaps when it melts I can get up there with a camera.

Jonna,

Now, Now, Let's get the story straight. "The Iron Door",the original one is located on Fedral Hill in between the Towns of Bloomingdale and Pompton Lakes." Independence.... never heard of, but then again Weird NJ writers and readers get thier stories mixed up quite often. This is no more than a mystery but a piece of History. George Washington, back in the day spent much time with his troops up in these hills camping out. The land actually has been turned into a Historic Preservation because artifacts from GW himself dating years back have been found as well as numerous lead cannonballs old cannons mountained to whats left of a foundation by what is called "German Lake". Sorry to be the bummer, but grew up on that mountain, Hiking as a kid, riding as a teen, partying in High School and the old sacred scary hell night of one local club called "LBD".,.

talk to you soon.


Oh yeah I added this link... tells all about the Iron Door and its urban legend myths.

www.midnightsociety.com...

[edit on 4-3-2005 by Justmytype]

just another great link as well

graphicwitness.com...

[edit on 4-3-2005 by Justmytype]

Originally posted by Justmytype
Independence.... never heard of, but then again Weird NJ writers and readers get thier stories mixed up quite often.

Interesting, I had not heard of that story. Although I can assure you, that the individual in question does know the area. So if I believe nothing else, I believe that he does know the location that she is speaking of. Still sounds intreiging though. Perhaps I will have a look about none the less.

Give me an adress and I'll check it out. Tough both Sussex and Warren counties have a vast cave system underground. It could be the the state shut access to the cave. In sussex county that's what they did, either put up a door or sealed it with a boulder.

what's a bat cave? Is that a cave where bats live? I'm not being silly, I've just never heard the phrase that way before. Why would a bat cave need fences + a big iron door? To keep the bats from getting out?

Originally posted by sisonek
what's a bat cave? Is that a cave where bats live? I'm not being silly, I've just never heard the phrase that way before. Why would a bat cave need fences + a big iron door? To keep the bats from getting out?

Nah, just a cave that used to have bats inside is all. States oftentimes seal off some of the old unused ones so people don't injure themselves, etc, etc. They're all over the northeast.

Originally posted by sisonek
what's a bat cave? Is that a cave where bats live? I'm not being silly, I've just never heard the phrase that way before. Why would a bat cave need fences + a big iron door? To keep the bats from getting out?

I think Partyof1 was probably talking about the Batman movie...where he has a bat cave...

Hey guys I live in New Jersey, and I've always been fascinated by these kinds of things. Weird NJ came out with a great book about some of the cool things in NJ, but thats just the tip of the iceberg.

I was wondering if anyone from NJ would be interested in getting a group together to investigate or just go to some of these weird/haunted places that are all over Jersey.

Let me know... U2U me or email me at [email protected]

take care!

Originally posted by ferretman
Give me an adress and I'll check it out. Tough both Sussex and Warren counties have a vast cave system underground. It could be the the state shut access to the cave. In sussex county that's what they did, either put up a door or sealed it with a boulder.

Ahhh! Another Hackettstownian! You're following me aren't you!?!

I don't know the exact address. I was only told that the individual may be able to take us up there. Remember also that I am getting this information not from the individual but through someone that they work with. The actual person has left for the day.

Sounds very interesting ,be great if you could take a picture.
How was it locked?
Digital
Spin dial
dead bolt
Other

How was it locked?

Thats what I'd like to know. I'd head up there with a pair of bolt-cutters in a minute! Sadly, I think the person who started this thread isn't very informed about it at all. I wish he had gotten more information and at least spoken directly to the person who found this door.

I vaguely remember someone posting something similar to this a while back. A New Jersey secret area of some sort. Very similar to this.

if your friend could get past the fence then he could get through the door without a problem...

if there is not a guard protected the outside area than it must not be that cool of a secret that they are protecting (think of area 51)...

so, tell your friend to take some pictures of the door then brake it down and explore...

Originally posted by Crakeur
I vaguely remember someone posting something similar to this a while back. A New Jersey secret area of some sort. Very similar to this.

If your thinking of this,

www.abovetopsecret.com...

It got ugly, really, really ugly.

I live in Sussex, we do have vast caves, and they are frequetly closed off so kids don't go running around getting themselves messed up in some cults. Take Wolf Pit Road (also place of Big Foot sightings), they recently closed an opening off because some kids were getting into serious trouble up there, but I think it was privately done.

I'd also like some directions please, I have nothing else to do with my time.
_df

DarkFlame-

I live in NJ also. As I said before I'd like to get a group together and start going around and investigating all of these crazy places we hear about in Jersey. U2U me if you're interested.

I read Weird NJ sometimes but then I hear that a lot of the stuff in there is bogus, because some of it relies on the stories of just one person and cannot be corroberated. Much like the guy that started this thread, he doesn't really know anything about this iron door. He was just told about it from a friend who is friends with the kid who supposedly found it. Who knows what's true and what isn't until you can see it with your own eyes, and even then sometimes its unbelievable!