Summer Hill Park and Ridgedale Avenue
photo taken from flickr.com
Summer Hill Park is located on Ridgedale Avenue in the town of Madison, New Jersey. The park is on the site of what originally used to be the Kluxen Winery. Madison was built as the first town for millionaires to build their estates and still have a close proximity to New York City. Its nicknamed the “Rose City” because of the exotic roses its town produces. However, tragedy stuck this town on October 7, 1921. The body of 12-yea-old Jeanette Lawrence had been found brutally murdered.
The murder came as a shock to this upscale suburban community, especially that of a young girl. She was last seen waving goodbye to Mrs. Sandt, whom she was babysitting her 4-year-old child for. The body was found later in the woods that night. Peter Kluxen III was tried for murder but he was acquitted. The story surrounding the murder is so vague and mysterious that the case is unsolved to this day. Its almost as if the story could be a television movie.
Since then, the ghost of Jeanette has been seen making her trip home from the babysitting job. She is seen most often by motorists on Ridgedale Avenue and Fairview Avenue. The New Jersey Ghost Hunters Society investigated this area, including an interview with a family whose house is located across the street from the haunted Kluxen Woods. The son of this family described seeing a ghost in the house that fit the description of Jeanette. Pictures taken in the area reveal orbs, and daytime photos of the woods show the foundation remains of the Kluxen Winery.
(Source: Belanger, Jeff. Encyclopedia of Haunted Places. 2005.)
I would like to make a correction Janette Lawrence did not get killed in Summer Hill Park she was killed near by off of Fairview Avenue where Hoyt street is now. Kluxen winery and house was on Fairview Avenue not Ridgedale Avenue Thanks