Rio Vista is home to Devil's Tower, a stone clock tower that is claimed to be haunted which originally built by sugar baron named Manuel Rionda (1854–1943) in order to allow his wife to see New York from the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. The tower was so complex that Manuel even had an underground tunnel which was connected from his home to the tower itself. Manuels’ wife was enjoying her view up in the tower one evening when she spotted her husband having an affair with another woman. Becoming so distraught and overcome with anger and rage she leap to her death. Later that evening, having not heard from his wife, Manuel went looking for her. It was then that he found her and her mangled dead body. Manuel was afraid that his wife had come back from the dead to get her revenge, so Rionda ordered the work on the tower to stop, and, ordered the closure of an underground tunnel on the property. From that point forward, supernatural activity began to occur within the tower.
After Manuel Rionda's death in 1943, the local residents tried to have the tower demolished, but, after several workers fell to their death, the town stopped the demolition attempt. From there the rumors grew fast and more and more outrageous - with stories ranging from satanic rituals held inside the tower to animal slayings to a ghost that's said to have risen from the dead. (The ghost is rumored to be Rionda's wife.) The tower itself is still claim to a variety of paranormal activity. Noises can be heard from inside of the chamber, and strange perfume smells come and go.
After Manuel Rionda's death in 1943, the local residents tried to have the tower demolished, but, after several workers fell to their death, the town stopped the demolition attempt. From there the rumors grew fast and more and more outrageous - with stories ranging from satanic rituals held inside the tower to animal slayings to a ghost that's said to have risen from the dead. (The ghost is rumored to be Rionda's wife.) The tower itself is still claim to a variety of paranormal activity. Noises can be heard from inside of the chamber, and strange perfume smells come and go.
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| Devil's Tower |
Based on local legend, if you drive around the tower at night three times in reverse (some say 6 times), then turn off your headlights, the ghost of Rionda's wife will appear - or worse, take control of your car and drive it into a tree. Others say that if you walk six times around the tower backward at midnight, the devil himself will appear to you. One thing's for sure: kids used to break into the clock tower, party, and leave graffiti, so eventually the tower was sealed up. But that doesn't stop people from visiting to this day.
Some visitors heard a loud strange noise coming from within. its almost sounded like creaky steps. They also saw something on the right window-not the very top one, the one that's a good number of feet under it, all the way to the right. It looked like there was a broken window, but the window kept going up and down. It disappeared a couple seconds, and then a blurry figure of a person in all white leaned out and looked down at them, but there were no facial features. It almost looked like it was wearing a veil or cape. It was grayish white and very distorted.
Sources:
http://ghostlyhollow.com/devils-tower/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine,_New_Jersey
http://www.examiner.com/article/new-jersey-and-the-devils-tower
Weird N.J.: "Your travel guide to New jersey's local legend and Best Kept Secrets" by Mark Sceurman, Mark Moran
Pic Source:
http://ghostlyhollow.com/devils-tower/
Some visitors heard a loud strange noise coming from within. its almost sounded like creaky steps. They also saw something on the right window-not the very top one, the one that's a good number of feet under it, all the way to the right. It looked like there was a broken window, but the window kept going up and down. It disappeared a couple seconds, and then a blurry figure of a person in all white leaned out and looked down at them, but there were no facial features. It almost looked like it was wearing a veil or cape. It was grayish white and very distorted.
Sources:
http://ghostlyhollow.com/devils-tower/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine,_New_Jersey
http://www.examiner.com/article/new-jersey-and-the-devils-tower
Weird N.J.: "Your travel guide to New jersey's local legend and Best Kept Secrets" by Mark Sceurman, Mark Moran
Pic Source:
http://ghostlyhollow.com/devils-tower/
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