My Work

Weird NJ published selected stories in the Asbury Park Press a few years ago, including three of my own (you might hit a paywall):

Bernardsville Library Ghost: https://www.app.com/story/news/local/new-jersey/weird-nj/2015/11/15/weird-nj-ghost-old-bernardsville-library/75822768/

Man in the Iron Casket: https://www.app.com/story/news/local/new-jersey/weird-nj/2017/02/26/weird-nj-man-iron-casket/98404078/

Leo the Lion, King of the Gillette Jungle: https://www.app.com/story/news/local/new-jersey/weird-nj/2015/12/27/leo-lion-king-gillette-jungle/77939746/

These are available online (first two are PDFs)

My first foray into the wonderful world of Weird NJ  (WNJ Issue #10, May 1998):  The Doll House of Salem Street

Thomas Edison’s mechanical dolls (WNJ Issue #37, Oct. 2011): Edison’s Lovely Little Monsters

Mount Holly, NJ’s finest affected provincial expounds on life and other weird things (WNJ website, May 2014): Lord Whimsy: Weirdo Advocate

Mafia living, Livingston, NJ-style (WNJ Issue #43, Oct. 2014): Dirt Bike Memories of Richie the Boot

Most of the following stories are in PDF format: you can email me at joannemaustin AT gmail DOT com for more info.

A giant ball of aluminum foil goes on to the next chapter of her life in a familiar Weird NJ location (WNJ Issue #59, October 2022): Murray’s on a Roll

An interview with a Jersey girl turned best-selling author (WNJ Issue #58, May 2022): Black Is the New Weird: A Conversation with West Long Branch’s Holly Black

Talking about a new book about New Jersey’s most notorious water park (WNJ Issue #55, October 2020): All in the Action Park Family: Andy Mulvihill

Jefferson Township, NJ has ties to a famous circus family (WNJ Issue #53, October 2019): Ringling Mansion

Blairstown, NJ has creepy ties to the original Friday the 13th movie (WNJ Issue #50, May 2017): When Blairstown Became Scarestown: The Filming of Friday the 13th

Roller Derby is a sport that’s thriving in the Garden State (WNJ Issue #49, Oct. 2017): No “Bout” About It: Jersey Derby is Here to Stay

Dunellen, NJ’s very own master of puppets (WNJ Issue#47, Oct. 2016): Ricky Syers: Master of Marionettes

A woman who turned the workings of the human body into a fascinating Instagram account (WNJ Issue #46, May 2016): The Online Life of a Pathologists’ Assistant: Mrs_Angemi

The (now-closed) Brooklyn museum dealing in death (WNJ Issue #45, Oct. 2015): The Morbid Anatomy Museum

A weird book review and author interview (WNJ Issue #41, Oct. 2013): Call of the Jersey Devil by Aurelio Voltaire

Background on a place where Bunnies used to hop in Vernon, NJ (WNJ Issue #41, Oct. 2013): The Sad Stuff of Legends

A Steampunk World’s Fair experience (WNJ Issue #39, Oct. 2012): L’Affaire du Punk: Excerpts from a Mad Victorian Fantasy in the Jersey Suburbs

A spectacular collection at the Morris Museum: (WNJ Issue #38, May 2012): The Long and Windup Road: Mechanical Music and Automata in New Jersey

Traveling the historic boneyards of one of New Jersey’s most complicated and fascinating cities (WNJ Issue #37, Oct. 2011): A Newark Cemetery Tour

Ghosts that haunt a farm near Flemington, NJ (WNJ Issue #31, Oct. 2008 and also Weird Encounters, Oct. 2010): Barnside Ghosts

Local legend of a man who liked to hide in barrels of oil and scare people in the Bergen County, NJ area, circa WWI (WNJ Issue # 33, Oct. 2009) The Slippery Case of Oily Oliver

A restaurant in Chester, NJ has many spectral tales (WNJ Issue #33, Oct. 2009): Our Ghostly Publick: The Publick House Hauntings

Author Jeffery Ford’s fiction writing often features the stranger aspects of the Garden State (WNJ Issue #31, Oct. 2008): May the Ford (Jeffrey, That Is) be with You

An interview with a New Jersey-born Vampyre (WNJ Issue #29, Oct. 2007): This Presidential Candidate Sucks – Blood, That Is

An interview with someone who knows what you’re thinking RIGHT NOW (WNJ Issue #27, Oct. 2006): The Amazing Kreskin

The action never stops at this legendary water park in Northwestern New Jersey (WNJ Issue #25, Oct. 2005): Traction Park