In the southeast corner of the Watchung Reservation, there’s a big water tower (on trail maps as “WT”) colloquially known as “Suicide Tower.”
Only one documented suicide has been committed there, back in 1975. Gregg Sanders, a local high school student, killed his parents (the descriptions “axing to death” and “sliced and diced” have been used) and then jumped to his own death here. (Back in those days, the tower featured a spiral staircase and an observation deck. They’ve since been removed.)
Rumor has it that the double murder-suicide may have been linked to Satanist Rituals also rumored to take place in the park back then. That’s totally unconfirmed, though.
Nowadays, it’s just a cool place for rust to aggregate, and for kids to practice their graffiti. (For all you graffiti-tagging aficionados out there, the only tag I could discern was “swag,” which— is that even a tag? I thought it was just slang. But I am no expert on these things.) There’s also a cell tower immediately adjacent to the water tower. In fact, a Verizon guy was hanging out in his truck just off-camera when I took this photo. We exchanged hellos.
Sources:
Anonymous. (2001). “Watchung Suicide Tower Tales.” Weird N.J. http://www.weirdnj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=129&Itemid=28#29.
Balogh, D. (2008). “Watchung Reservation.” Dan & Laura’s Photo Web Album. http://www.danbalogh.com/watch.html.
The Lostinjersey Blog. (2009). “Watchung Reservation.” http://lostinjersey.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/watchung-reservation/. {Comments here also used.}
