A colleague at work turned me on to “Menantico Blues,” which is an indie (very indie) film about a large area of land adjacent to where I grew up. From the Audubon Society:
Like many of the sites along this trail route, the nearly 300-acre Menantico WMA can be enjoyed either by car, on foot or by canoe or kayak. The Menantico River and Ponds are part of the federally designated Wild and Scenic Maurice River watershed, and it’s easy to see why. These pristine waterways provide essential habitat for numerous federal and state endangered and threatened species from birds to fish and plants. The network of freshwater ponds is the result of extensive sand mining that still takes place in many of the bayshore’s rural communities. These sand-wash ponds are common throughout the Bayshore Region and provide important habitat for wildlife and recreational opportunities for people.
South Jersey Adventures posts a cheeky review of the area, complete with some photos representative of the area. I spent countless hours there as a child riding bikes, hiking, and later as an adult, running, hiking, and biking. The article also recalls the heretofore-unknown-to-me story of Mike Newell, who reputedly drowned himself with the help of two friends as part of an occult ritual:
The question would have been ludicrous until about two weeks ago, when Patrick Michael (Mike) Newell, a 20‐ year‐old Vineland glass‐fac tory worker, was found drowned in a sand‐pit pond in nearby Millville. His hands and feet had been bound with adhesive tape…The Newell youth belonged to a “Satan worshipers sect” and felt he had to die violently in order to be put in charge of “40 leagues of demons.” He urged the two friends to bind him, which they did, performed a “Satanic ritual” and then had them push him into the pond.
The film itself features beautiful shots of Menantico, and some of the drone footage is spectacular.