The Devils Tower is one of the last things that you will expect when you travel to Alpine, NJ. While making your way to this historical landmark you find yourself passing many places such as NBC and Montammy Country Club. After making the turn onto “The Esplanade”(yes that is the street name) you’ll find yourself in Rio Vista, home to some of the largest houses you’ve ever seen, each equipped with a private pool and tennis court. After seeing these homes, you continue straight until you come across the sight of a demonic, dark, tall tower right in the middle of the road. If you’re like us, you’re left asking yourself why, how, and what is this? The truth is that the tower has a much larger back story than you expect.

The area now known as Rio Vista was founded in the early 1900’s by Manuel Rionda, a wealthy southern plantation owner who made his money growing crops. After moving to the north, Manuel erected the tower itself for his wife so that she could obtain a beautiful view of the New York City skyline. Others state that the tower was created for religious purposes, possibly to be later used a mausoleum for the family once they passed on. The tower was so involved that Manuel even had an underground tunnel which connected from his home to the tower itself.

As the legend states, 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 leaped 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. From that point forward, supernatural activity began to occur within the tower. People started to get pushed and hear noises; something about the tower wasn’t what its used to be. Manuel still overcome by the horror, believed that it was the spirit of his dead wife coming back to haunt him. As a result, Manuel closed down the tower, filled in the tunnel, and removed the elevator leading the top proclaiming, “Nobody will ever go up here again.”

Even though the tower itself was closed, strange activity still occurred and the legend of the tower spread through the local towns. The tower quickly became known as the “Devils Tower.” When Manuel himself passed away in the mid-1900’s, the city decided to demolish the tower, but after multiple construction workers fell to their death, they aborted the mission. These deaths only led to more believers in the horrific tale. As such, the tower is still standing today.

The tower itself is claim to a variety of paranormal activity. Noises are heard from inside of the chamber, and strange perfume smells come and go. If you listen carefully, you can still hear the wife screaming in agony as she finds out her husband is cheating. You can also listen to the sound of construction workers falling to their death.

If you drive or walk backward around the tower 3-6 times (depending on who you hear it from) Manuel’s wife will appear in front of you, or even worse- the devil. The most common experience is when visitors first arrive to look at the tower. If you stare up into the windows of the tower, you can sometimes see a shadowy figure, commonly thought to be Manuel’s wife standing there waiting for you to visit her.

Manuel's wife will appear in front of you, or even worse- the devil Click to Tweet

Sort By

Leo

Scare Score

Omg so creepy my bestie killed herself!
1 year ago
Hayley

Scare Score

I live a few minutes from the tower and it looks pretty intimidating in the fall or when it’s foggy but that’s about it. I actually didn’t hear the legend until I was in middle school and by then, I just knew it as a random building.
4 years ago
Joseph Wallace

Scare Score

I went when I was maybe 10 or 12 years old with my aunt Liz and sister. We drove around the tower and heard strange sad sounds of pain. While driving up the gargoyles and lions head statues watched us approach all the way up the drive it was fun and creepy at he same time. While leaving a car drove up to the tower after us and then circled the tower and never left. Creepy right.
5 years ago
Anonymous

Scare Score

i have been hear its true
5 years ago
Sammiie

Scare Score

Went there last night and I have nothing to show for it. One of the locals attenpted to run me off of the road as I was driving around the tower… but that’s all the excitement I got =/
Oh, and a pounding headache.
Come to think of it, I didn’t realize at what # of circles I was at when that car came out of nowhere…
6 years ago
CLiffside Park man-boy (stuck at being a boy)

Scare Score

I slept-walk to this structure and when I open my eyes, I was on the top of the tower !!!!!!!! I don’t know how I got up there and there was nobody around cuz its in the evening. So I slept up there and when I woke up… I’m back to my house !
6 years ago
Mark

Scare Score

I grew up there in the 60s and remember seeing it from 9w. I went back there in the 70s and there were all sorts of old abandoned buildings and an old abandoned church. It was pretty creepy in 1965 and it still looks creepy today
7 years ago
Brittany

Scare Score

My friend and I used to go there all the time, just for the hell of it, and we never once experienced anything paranormal. Tonight, however, when we were there showing the tower to our friend who had never seen it, we kept hearing this really weird screeching noise on the radio, and the iPod hookup we were using kept cutting out. I’m also pretty sure I heard a man’s voice in the static. It was really freaky and I still can’t believe what happened. I mean, it could have just been the iPod hookup shorting out, but it was nothing we’d ever heard it do before. Super weird!
7 years ago
GeofreakingVanni

Scare Score

So my friends and i did the whole walking around backwards 6 times and we didn’t mention why we did it to 3 of our friends and as we got done i was just about to explain why we did this all the freaking lights in the neighborhood one by one shut off on us from the top.of the street to the tower …wtf was up with that lol coincidence?
7 years ago
Marie

Scare Score

My aunt went there two days ago and thank god she came back alive but she showed me some very creepy videos. One of them you could hear a women screaming it wasnt very loud you couldbarely hear it but you did…you also saw a women she was mid height walking around in a beautiful white gown,as you looked down her arms and legs the more it faded. My aunt told me that she didnt see the women when she went there but still took videos.thats the scariest part how you see this women in a video
7 years ago

Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Try To Scare Me

Haunted Places, Legends and Ghosts

Devils Tower : Alpine, NJ

Devils Tower : Alpine, NJ

Login