The Stress Factory - North Brunswick Abandoned Industrial Hangout

By Jessica Teal

There is an old abandoned factory that can be seen right near where Route 1 and Route 130 South intersect in North Brunswick by Georges Road and Carolier Lane. There is a PNC Bank next door and a small patch of woods right by the factory which actually has an overgrown but functional entrance/exit off of Route 130. The huge smokestack and rooftop graffiti was what caught Rutgers Rarities Investigator Ray"s eye as he passed this site by car. It certainly looked abandoned from the highway and when the RR Team approached the site we quickly learned that far from being a deserted ruin, the site was a pit-stop to a number of grafitti artists who tagged both the exterior and interior walls of the factory. The SD Krew, Team Nasty (featuring Skit) and Krug were the most frequent taggers and there appeared to be some some serious debate going on as Krug"s claim of domain was mocked on the back walls of the factory by KWTC and "the Hobo". The place also gave clues of being the site of some violence as there was a seriously dented fire extinguisher lying near the back entrance and a nail-studded square of wood that was tacked up about head high with the inscription of "RUN HEAD FIRST", along with a number of smashed window panes and shattered remnants of wood from the interior.

The interior of the factory was easily accessed and had even more graffiti than the outside walls. The place was huge and it seemed that Skit and Team Nasty ruled on the inside as really strong tags could be found on nearly every open wall space. There were staircases leading up to the 2nd floor that the RR Team reluctantly decided to save for another visit as it was a pretty dark and wet day and we were not 100% convinced that we were the only ones taking a break inside the site. I personally got a really bad vibe from the place and I am still not quite sure why. Co-Investigator Ray was in a typically fearless mood and was all for scaling the crumbling stairs and trying to make a rooftop inspection, but I"ll admit that I fervently talked him out of it. I couldn"t put my finger on it, but something felt "off" to me about the place and one thing that Ray and I have learned in the course of our investigations is to trust our instincts and respect any negative vibes that we pick up.

In examining the images of the interior in retrospect, I really think that something screwy went on in this place as a) there were absolutely no signs of any of the usual animal life- no birds, no mice, rats, nests etc., b) it really wasn"t in that bad of shape for an old factory, yet had obviously been abandoned and neglected for quite some time and c) there were just so many places that offered excellent vantage points to any on-site dwellers who may have resented intruders. I also felt unusually uncomfortable in several of the small structures outside of the site, such as the large silo that led right up to the highway and the small storage/paint/hoisting building that was next to the factory. There also was an interesting partially fenced-off electrical source area that may have not even still been active, but looked like it could have generated a city block.

Again, the place clearly had some visiting artists at some point in ‘06 and perhaps served as a home or shelter to somebody this winter past. It wasn"t the graffiti that made the place feel strange either and I wish I could better define why I still feel a dread of the factory"s interior and outlying buildings- I know it sounds crazy but my initial thought upon entering the building was that either a rape or death took place here- believe me, this is not based on anything I can explain. Perhaps a closer examination of the pictures and history of the site will justify my fears or maybe I"m just bein" yella", I don't know...If you know anything of the site and buildings, please let the RR Team know (rutgersrarities@rutgersrarities.com), as I couldn"t find anything online yet and I"m sure there's a history to this one.


Different views of the abandoned factory smoke stack.

Loading docks and tagged up backside of the factory, a seemingly typical hangout for local gangs.

Some of the stranger buildings on site including a green airplane hangar, some sort of weighing building, and a concrete silo.

Images of the silo including another rarity - a ladder that co-investigator Ray didn't scale.

Strange fenced-in area containing some type of medeival high voltage torture device.

Interior of the airplane hangar building emptied out except for a few barrels of sand.

Interior of the weighing facility with several rusted high voltage sources.

The mission statement of Krug on the back walls of the factory along with a rebuttal.

Colorful gang tag of the SD Krew next to the door and the bed of nails warning against entry into the cursed layer of the devil.

Some additional Krug tags and commentary along with an unknown tag.

Closer look at the back door and walls warning against entry into the factory.

Interior of the factory despite warnings to keep out. The factory is in rather good condition considering it was abandoned many years ago. The question is why.

Front area of the desolate factory with interesting stairway leading to second floor and possible roof access.

More interior shots of the graffiti walls inside the factory.

Tags from the Team Nasty crew with the majority coming from Skit.

Two of the more elaborate Skit tags.

Two more simplistic Skit tags.

A Team Nasty and some other random tags inside the eerily silent abandoned factory.

©Rutgers Rarities and Unexplained Phenomena, 2005