The Devil Went Down to Jersey: Bernards Has a Hellish Tale to Tell

In a lonely and isolated farmer’s field in Somerset County, stands the stark trunk and twisted branches of “The Devil Tree”.   Isolated and solitary, the centuries-old tree commands the surrounding barren fields and the imaginations of the local population.

A dark history surrounds the Devil Tree on Mountain Road in Bernards, New Jersey.  Bizarre tales abound, but many of the legends seem to agree on the basic facts of the local oddity.  The scarred and blackened trunk gives evidence of repeated attempts to destroy the tree, yet, it still stands.  No one can state with surety what happened to those misguided souls who tried to fell the tree.  Those who touch the tree report it generates an unusual heat and that their flesh suddenly became stained black with an oily patina; only hours of intense scrubbing removed the discoloration from their flesh.

The history of the tree pre-dates the beginning of the 20th century.  New Jersey, being the last state to ratify the 14th Amendment (which ended slavery in the United States), was rumored to be a northern stronghold for the infamous Ku Klux Klan.  (Note:  approximately one-third of NJ lies south of the Mason-Dixon Line).  The trouble with the tree began after it is said to have served as a hanging tree for mobs lynching African-American citizens from the area.  Another tragic tale comes from the 1920’s when a local farmer took his entire family to the tree for a picnic and subsequently murdered them all with an ax before hanging himself from the tree.  Other murders and suicides have been reported at the sight.

Near the base of the tree is “The Devil’s Rock” or “Heat Rock”, a boulder that generates a supernatural heat.  Even in the dead of winter, snow seldom remains at the base of the tree.  Today a chin link fence surrounds the trunk of the Devil’s Tree.  IS it to protect the tree and keep the vandals out, or is it supposed to keep something in?  The Courier can neither confirm nor deny these reports, you will have to go and see for yourself.