The Devil's Tower was built in 1910 by a millionaire sugar importer named Manuel Rionda. Before it received the name Devil's Tower, it was formally known as Rio Vista.
Devil's Tower - Alpine NJ Real Haunts Real Haunts » Real Haunted Places 12 The Esplanade Alpine, NJ Details Average Review (17 reviews) Listing Categories Real Haunted Places Open To Public Yes - Open To Public Share Your Experiences The Devil's Tower was built in 1910 by a millionaire sugar importer named Manuel Rionda. Before it received the name Devil's Tower, it was formally known as Rio Vista. According to reporting from Forbes, the tower was built and dedicated to Rionda’s wife, Harriet Rionda, who was buried on nearby land but later moved to Brookside Cemetery, Englewood. Rumor has it that Mr. Rionda built the tower for his wife so she could look out at the New York City skyline. Others believe he built it as a mausoleum or for religious purposes. But, even with Mrs. Rionda’s death and later Mr. Rionda’s death in the mid 1900’s, many believe Harriet Rionda’s spirit still lives on at the tower. The tower was connected to Rionda’s home by an underground tunnel. According to the local legend story, his wife was looking out of the tower when she saw Manuel with another woman. While she may have suspected infidelity for years, according to reporting from New Jersey Magazine, distraught from the site, she jumped off the tower, killing herself. Since her rumored suicide, there have been many reports of hauntings, including people who have said they have been pushed by something unseen. Others have reported strange noises and because of this, Manuel locked up the tower, filled in the tunnel connecting the home to the tower and even removed the elevator leading to the top of the tower proclaiming, “Nobody will ever go up here again,” according to reporting from Try To Scare Me. Since that time, people started calling it Devil's Tower. Witnesses report still hearing noises and smelling perfume, while at other times you can hear a scream as the wife jumps from the tower or a workman falls from it. Her ghostly spirit has also been seen as a shadowy figure in the windows. Some have said that if you drive or walk backward around the tower a certain number of times, the devil or Manuel's wife appears. Devil’s Tower and the spirit surrounding it clearly seems to be here for good, keeping a dark cloud around the rich community of Alpine. Even after Mr. Rionda’s death there were plans to demolish the tower by the Town but activities were halted and eventually aborted after several workers fell to their death. Clearly, this place stands as one of the most terrifying historical sites on New Jersey. And even though many local legends point to Mrs. Rionda committing suicide after witnessing infidelity, in reality, she died of natural causes in 1922, according to Untapped Cities. Photos Videos Source: Rios Photography, via Facebook Source: Rios Photography, via Facebook Mouse over photos to see photo credits. Nearby Real Haunts Blauvelt Cemetery - Old Burying Ground4.4 miles away Steuben House5.4 miles away Easton Tower - Red Mill8.3 miles away Old River Road9.0 miles away Park Lane10.5 miles away Abandoned Factory on Herman Street11.0 miles away Get Directions [starting address] 12 The Esplanade, Alpine, NJ, 7620 View Larger Map Recently Shared Experiences & Comments Share Your Experiences So old!It was very old and scary, saw the ghost (Manuel).Posted 9/30/24 Was this review helpful? YES NO SuperNatural experience While surprisingly finding and Approaching this structure I felt a chill up my spine and undeniable connection to its past. While walking around the structure the sense that I had been here before was eerily real and undeniable. I want to go back at midnight sometime. Amazingly situated near an entrance of a fabulous and extremely neighborhood of mansions and scenery worthy of seeing. Posted 7/16/23 Was this review helpful? YES NO 4 out of 4 found this review helpful so creepy. i went there with like 5 of my friends and we were sitting in the car just looking at the tower. we all went silent to try and listen to the tower because kept hearing noises coming from it. once we decided it was time to go, i plugged my phone in to connect to aux and my song wasn’t playing, instead, somehow, there was a random audio singing, not normal singing but a creepy humming type of singing. we all panicked and sped out of the place Posted 2/18/23 Was this review helpful? YES NO 6 out of 8 found this review helpful I grew up on the Rio Vista Estate in the 70’s I grew up on the Rio Vista Estate in the 70’s before it was sold off and subdivided. There were several families that lived there at the same time that my family did. My family moved into the Estate from New York City in 1965 and moved out in 1979 to upstate New York. My father was the caretaker of the estate and the estate carpenter on another estate across town called Rabbit Hill that was owned by the same Family as Rio Vista. It was a great place to grow up and if you asked any of the kids that lived there they would agree. We had an orchard, many fields to play in to in...