As you search for an ammo can in this eerily-quiet park, imagine the piggery that was once so close and the sounds of its slaughterhouse.
Congrats to NJPugs on the FTF and to SeekerSupreme on the STF!
This cache brings you to Big Brook Park, one of the newer Monmouth County Parks. This cache is a short walk off the paved path, formerly part of a private road. You might need to step through some mud to cross an often dry (dead?) creek.
Please note: Big Brook Park is different from the nearby Big Brook Reserve in Colts Neck where people go fossil-hunting.
The Myth of the Haunted Slaughterhouse
According to local lore, the piggery on this property was once owned by a farmer named Mr. Allen.
The State of New Jersey seized the man’s property through eminent domain to supply foodstuffs for the nearby psychiatric hospital. Bitter at the government, Farmer Allen often showed up at the farm, scornfully eyeing workers before he eventually went insane and was committed to the hospital which took away his farm. As a patient, he ironically farmed the property he once owned. But Farmer Allen soon disappeared and unsolved crimes followed. According to some, a hospital night watchman was murdered at the slaughterhouse, while others believe a worker was mysteriously mauled to death by pigs after falling in a pen. These events have been blamed on the vengeful fugitive Farmer Allen, who was never located by authorities. Legend has it that Allen often visited the building at night and his ghost continued to stare out from a hole in the slaughterhouse wall.
About Big Brook Park
The original 379 acre parcel of land that established Big Brook Park was formerly used as farmland for patients at the Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital, located across the street from the Rt. 520 main entrance. This property once contained a piggery, dairy farm and other agricultural operations. Named for Big Brook, which drains into the nearby Swimming River Reservoir, the park contains forest but is better known for its rolling fields made up of grasses and goldenrod. The main entrance on Rt. 520 is also home to the newest trailhead for the Henry Hudson Trail (HHT).
Big Brook Park Website