Dread–

Residents and visitors to the pines will sometimes report a feeling of “dread” for no apparent reason, once explained as “a feeling of terror and death”, or “a sudden feeling of intense sadness”.  Some Native Americans in south-west regions of the United States explain such intuitive-like feelings with the concept of negative apparitions in the forest or desert.  Flat terrain containing only swamps and pines may be one of the most depressing sights in the mid-winter, that’s for sure. 

Perhaps New York City dwellers subconsciously attached to the sights of skyscrapers and sounds of traffic will experience a degree of this in any remote location when they come to a realization of how desolate a location they are in.  All it takes from that point is an unidentifiable sound in the distance to build fear of the unknown.  However, this is in no regards to the latter, for this is a different matter altogethor. 

Let’s take the Long Island Expressway as an example.  A stretch of this highway lies in Long Island New York, amongst New York State’s own Pine Barrens.  There are quite literally people who refuse to drive this stretch of road at night.  In a Hollywood-like manner, people clear out of the shops and towns by dusk in this vicinity.  In New Jersey sometimes this feeling will be accompanied by a Jersey Devil sighting, hence a possible relationship with the dread feeling.  Walk the desolate trails in Wharton State Forest at dusk and you may soon understand what this is all about. 

In correlation with the Dread feeling, it’s worth noting that the Jersey Devil happens to remain a touchy subject for many New Jersey residents to this day. 

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