Mystery Roadblock In New Jersey: The Creepiest Video You’ll See This Week [Updated With New Info]
A mystery roadblock on Interstate 78 in New Jersey is causing rampant speculation — and a serious case of the creeps — online after sportscar enthusiast Ivan Tukhtin posted the video on YouTube Monday. Now Tukthin, and the thousands of people who have accounted for more than 200,000 views of the eerie video in about 36 hours, are wondering if he’s lucky to be alive today.
[See below for an update to this story.]
Filmed from a dashboard camera as Tukthin took his car out for a late night spin, the 45-second video appropriately entitled “Late night Suspicious roadblock dash cam” looks like it could be the opening scene from a found-footage horror film.
But apparently it is real. Here’s how Tukhtin himself described the roadblock incident captured in the video on his YouTube page.
“Dash cam footage, roadblock in the middle of a highway (78 west before the turnpike) late at night.”
“no lights or hazards. both lanes blocked off. Suspicious for sure, scary to think what could have happened.”
“dash cam is a G1W, for those of you asking what is being recorded with.”
And here’s how he described the creepy roadblock when he posted the video in an online forum for Subaru Impreza owners (with original capitalization and punctuation), in which he posed the question, “Did i almost end up a lamp shade in this guys basement?”
“driving home from hoboken this sunday night…then i see this random ass roadblock. i didn’t want to hit him so i called him over to my car…and then he reached for his pocket and i dipped and immediately called the cops.
“people are ****ing crazy, don’t trust anyone…i am kind of curious of what he would have done though.”
Other posters in the Subaru forum suggested that the man in the video might have genuinely needed help with a broken-down vehicle but others agreed that the oversize traffic cones crating a roadblock over both lanes make the possibility that the scary incident was completely innocent seem remote.
“The video cuts as i’m going onto the shoulder to call the cops, and after i called them ironically there was a state trooper maybe a mile down, so i pulled over and told him, they said they would check it out soon after,” Tukhtin wrote. “For those who are curious, this took place on the road that leads from hoboken NJ to the nj turnpike, i think its 78 west, mile marker was N 6/2. right by the liberty science center.”
No word yet from the New Jersey state police on what might have been going on at the frightening, late-night mystery roadblock.
UPDATE — November 6: Police have arrested two men in connection with the fake roadblock. Though their investigation is continuing, police currently believe the men never intended to rob or hurt anyone. New Jersey state troopers say that Kareem Walston, 37, of Orange and Hashen Clark, 36, from Jersey City, simply ran out of gas and chose a highly inappropriate way to flag down other drivers. Walston was arrested on drunk driving charge, and Clark was charged with hindering traffic.
