Weird N.J., Celebrating The Odd State of Mind

Sceurman, 47, a quiet, bearded man, grew up in Essex County, hearing stories of a nun encased in glass on the side of a road, and of a place called Heartbeat Road, where passersby can supposedly still hear a murdered person's heart. When he was about 9, Sceurman's older brother tried to scare him by driving him to an area in Clifton that was supposedly home to albino residents who -- local legend said -- would eat strangers venturing into their midst.

Sceurman has always had a love for things squalid and paranormal. On a date in the early '80s, en route to a hot dog stand, he diverted the car through a dump to explore. His date married him.

He worked for about 20 years as a graphic artist for an alternative music magazine that he still co-owns. In the late '80s, he began sending out a newsletter to friends, updating them on his life and including a section on strange things he wanted to explore in the state. After a story about the newsletter in a local paper around 1993, Weird N.J. acquired a small fan base, who eagerly read Sceurman's thoughts on "The Glowing Grave of Montville," "Interesting Hikes in Industrial Waste" and "Mysterious Bigfoot Sightings in the Northwest Corner." Sceurman offered recommendations on unique bars (Mom's Place in Wallington: "The best shuffleboard") and published muddy photographs of things like the town of Sea Breeze, "The most desolate place in New Jersey."

Mark Moran, 43, a graphic artist who'd also grown up in Essex County -- fascinated by tales of a nearby Mafia family compound, and by a Bavarian-style castle that supposedly hosted satanic orgies -- started contributing photographs to what was then essentially a pamphlet in the mid-'90s. Around 1996, Moran and Sceurman joined forces. Their magazine comes out twice yearly, selling for $4 an issue on newsstands. A recent issue, No. 21, has sold 60,000 copies.

There's a Web site, www.weirdnj.com, and a book called "Weird N.J." that came out last September and has sold 100,000 copies. Their next book, "Weird U.S.," is scheduled to come out in October, and they've shot a pilot episode for a show of the same name for the History Channel. Sceurman says they only began turning a profit in the last two years.

Their small office, located in a historic battery factory in downtown West Orange, features a painting of a three-eyed devil on velvet, a Nixon poster and an autographed photo from Butch Patrick, who played Eddie on "The Munsters." There are books with titles like "The Big Book of Freaks."

Sceurman says the office is ideally situated to pick up twin scents that seem to encapsulate the ethos of New Jersey.

"The wind's blowing west, it's the dump," he says, sounding pleased to be able to share this. "When it blows east, it's the Dunkin' Donuts."

If Weird N.J. stands for anything, it stands for giving voice to the unheard, the artists, the brave souls who dare to live differently.

The elderly are the most creative. An old man builds a pyramid of 200 bowling balls, and an old lady crafts lawn sculptures from thousands of milk jugs. One time she makes an Easter bunny; one time a 75-foot rainbow with a pot of gold at the end. She is thrilled to have visitors, even when she's not expecting them.

When you show up on your tour of South Jersey tourist destinations, she greets you enthusiastically, wearing only a towel.

She is Josephine Stapleton, 70, a bus driver who lives in Mays Landing, not far from Atlantic City. In front of her house: approximately 1,000 one-gallon milk jugs, painted and arranged into an American flag. Also: some split tires that are supposed to act as flower planters but that are currently empty; plus concrete blocks lining the grass. In the back yard: a rusting trailer, a pile of tires, a doghouse with the word "Spot" scrawled on it, and a bathroom sink on a tree stump, acting as a birdbath. There is also Stapleton's alter ego, a dummy made entirely of milk jugs, wearing a mop wig and a housedress. She changes its outfits with the seasons.

"This is Jugabelle!" Stapleton says on a recent afternoon, after she has changed from her towel into a purple outfit. "Everybody loves her to death."

Sceurman trains a video camera on Stapleton and interviews her for the benefit of Weird N.J. fans.