🐔 A trailer carrying chicken waste products crashed and spilled on Route 55

🐔 One person on Facebook called it "the foulest thing I have ever smelled in my life"

🐔 Another person blamed the curse of Route 55 for the spill


DEPTFORD — A trailer carrying foul-smelling chicken waste products spilled all over Route 55 after a crash on Monday morning.

Gloucester County Haz-Mat, state police, and numerous fire departments all responded to the scene of the spill in Deptford, according to the county Office of Emergency Management.

The OEM said on social media that a trailer carrying the guts was involved in a crash with a passenger vehicle on Route 55 Northbound near mile marker 59.2 just before the Route 42 interchange around 9 a.m. Monday. No injuries were reported.

"I was right behind that this morning and it was the foulest thing I have ever smelled in my life and my car needs a power wash from all the guts," one man commented on Facebook.

(Gloucester County OEM/Townsquare Media)
(Gloucester County OEM/Townsquare Media)
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One lane had reopened shortly after 1 p.m., according to an update from the OEM. Crews were still working at the time to clear the spill.

But even after the road has been cleaned, some people who experienced the smell firsthand may find the stench hard to forget.

"I drove partially through this today and I will never be the same," one woman said. "I literally have a chicken foot stuck inside my wheel well. It was the foulest smell and now my (new) car reeks."

Route 55, the Indian Curse Road

For some, the spill only reinforced superstitions surrounding Route 55.

"Chalk up another one to the 'cursed' highway," one man said on Facebook.

Its reputation as the "Indian Curse Road" dates back to construction in the 1980s. An Associated Press report from 1985 states that two years earlier, a Native American shaman held a news conference to "bring down a curse" on the construction of a new section of the highway.

No burial grounds were found or disturbed, but a site was excavated after the discovery of unspecified artifacts. While there was debate, even among Native American groups, over whether the artifacts were important, the curse combined with a number of worksite incidents and deaths have cemented Route 55 as the "trail of tragedy" in New Jersey mythology.

Rick Rickman is a reporter for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at richard.rickman@townsquaremedia.com

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