this is an interactive map! click on things to get more info

i'm going to add stuff as i go along, stay tuned

gallows pier beach hotel marsh school island boardwalk a curiosities shop boardwalk b bridge hall apartment center elemschool midschool post library statue

























Gallows Beach

The town was founded in 1897, and named after founder John Gallow. A barrier island in South Jersey, it has all the makings of a quiet, nice little beach town. The trouble is, bad things just seem to happen here. Things no one can explain. The tourists that come here are either morbidly curious or just very, very out of the loop. The year-rounders gave up trying to understand so many generations ago that nowadays no one really cares. Do they believe in the supernatural? Not at all, everyone sees weird stuff happen here all the time. Just, uh, don't go poking around into any of it, yknow? Not like it exists but like. don't be stupid for no reason even if it's all fake, right? The real thing to be afraid of are the $35 season beach badge prices, I mean that's just extortionate.


























The Pier

People go fishing here. There have been a few fishermen over the years who have sworn they've seen something... unusual out in the water. Massive shadows, strange blobs, etc. Mostly it's just normal fish though. There's some real prizewinners out in that water.


























The Shore

The shoreline is 7.8 miles long, and is absoluetly the best-maintained part of the city. The boardwalk is split in two by a half-mile gap. Since the boardwalk was built, that same section was hit with constant destruction which mysteriously never damaged any of the boardwalk on either side of it. It took a termite infestation, unprescedented storm damage, and three separate fires before the city council decided to stop attempting to rebuild it. Instead, there are two sections, Boardwalk A and Boardwalk B, making for about five miles of total commercial boardwalk space. Gallows Beach is a "dry beach," meaning that no alcohol, cigarettes, or other substances may be sold or consumed on the boardwalk or surrounding beach. However, this rule is unenforcable in the gap because it technically isn't part of the boardwalk, and many people take full advantage of this loophole. It also occasionally serves as a venue for bands to perform at, though generators have a tendency to go on the fritz or even explode, with seemingly no explanation.


























Gallows Plaza Hotel and Resort

(150 Boardwalk)

There's a good few places to stay in Gallows Beach during the summer season, from cheap hotels to airbnbs, but none as classy or obnoxious as Gallows Plaza. Decades ago, the whole boardwalk was zoned for resort hotels, but every other building had a long chain of unfortunate and unexplainable mishaps which led to their developments being deemed bad investments and cancelled. The Plaza survived mostly unscathed, and it remains one of the most successful businesses in the city.


























Gallows Marsh and Nature Preserve

While most of the coastline is beach, Gallows Beach is also home to a small saltwater marsh. This area is frequented by birders, who enjoy the variety of birds who nest here, as well as anyone looking for some quiet and solitude. Some say that late at night, you can see spooky green lights floating above the water, but this is just a reaction from the natural gasses in the marsh rising and igniting in contact with oxygen, nothing supernatural about it. There are no marsh ghosts.


























Gallows Beach High School

Gallows Beach High School was built on top of Sinker Island, which is mostly marshland. Above the entrance there's a quote from town founder John Gallow: "No mystery can stand againt the might of discovery." The academics are...pretty bad. But the sports? Also bad. Year after year, the Gallows Beach Hangmen engage in bitter competiton with their rival Salvage High Seadogs for second-to-last place in the West Jersey Football League (though their Girls Basketball and Boys Swim teams are generally pretty solid, and the Baseball team has been described as "almost competent"). What GBHS does do well in?
...Does a high rate of injuries and disappearances count?

(Until 1984, the mascot was a classic executioner with a noose and everything. Due to heighetend Satanic Panic anxieties and one or two unfortunate incidents leading to injury involving the mascot costume, the school was overwhlemed with parent complaints that the mascot was "too dark" and woukd "encourage violent behavior in their children." The mascot was changed to a grim reaper as a compromise, keeping the morbid identity but with a more vague portrayal. The cheers remained mostly undoctored, and you can still hear chants of "SWING, SWING, SWING!" when the visiting team is losing. The marching band's rendition of Drowning Pool's Bodies must be heard to be believed.)


























Gallows Beach Elementary and Middle Schools

(70 Water Street & 120 Silver Street)

The elementary school has a mandatory swim unit in gym class which is held in the community center pool. 5th graders get to go on an end-of-year field trip to Storybookland, which the school promises every year is just as fun as Great Adventure if you really think about it. The middle school Earth Science classes take trips to the Nature Preserve.


























Sinker Island

Sinker Island was entirely marshland before half of it was cleared to make room for the high school. According to rumors, the pit in the direct center of the marsh is bottomless. Students often talk about "The Pit," and some throw things into it to see how far they will go. Others worry about the ecological effect the decades of tossed report cards and contraband must be having on the marsh. In 1978, a student fell in the pit, and the only part that was found were his glasses. After the incident, the school placed a fence and some warning signs around the perimeter, which doesn't really stop anyone, but it protects their liability.


























Boardwalk A

Boardwalk A is the more expensive section of the boardwalk. It's open from a week before Memorial Day to a week after Labor Day, and closed the rest of the year. Highlights include:

Tourists like it. Locals enjoy the influx of income during the summer, but don't tend to love the vibes or the crowds it brings


























Boardwalk B

Boardwalk B is the cheaper section, and is open year round. Highlights include:

It may not be much, but it sure is. here


























Wizard's Trove (and Beach Supply)

(72 Boardwalk)

The curiosities and oddities shop is run by a Mr. Wizard, a man of indeterminate age who's legal last name is definetly Wizard, obviously. One part antique store, one part low-budget Ripley's Believe it or Not, one part an excuse to sell the old Halloween costumes he keeps in boxes in the back of the store (have people worn those vampire teeth before? Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to). Mr. Wizard's first love is getting tourists to spend sizable sums of money on plastic Jersey Devil skeletons in jars or pirate gold that is definitely authentic. During the off season, when there's fewer people to scam sell his quality goods to, he focuses on his second love: providing a spot for adventure-loving kids and werid goth young adults to loiter in. He can answer any question about the town history, though he may point you to his very real occult tomes and treasure maps he stocks along the way.


























Municipal Hall

(108 Silver Street)

The Gallows Beach Municipal Hall is home to the offices of the city's five commissioners. Every four years, citizens vote for the commissioners, and the commissioners vote on which one of the five serves as mayor on top of their regular duties. The current mayor is Bryan Gallow, the commissioner of Public Safety. Inside the hall:

At least one Gallow has been involved with town leadership since it was established, and the Gallows are very proud of that. I mean, it's clearly been working out great for the city so far, right?


























Post Office

(100 Silver Street)

This is the post office. Not much to say about it.


























Gallows Beach Public Library Branch

(14 Shore Street)

The library is pretty decently stocked, although it has a higher concentration than average of books on... odd topics. Compendiums of unexplained mysteries, legends and folklore, disaster survival guides, and what seems like every copy of Weird NJ Magazine. The librarians are baffled as to why these kind of books get requested so often. Some people just have morbid fascinations it seems.


























Statue of John Gallow

This is a statue of John Gallow, town founder. These days it's probably more relevant as the marker for one end of the city bus line, which runs down Silver Street all the way to the Plaza (a space in the parking lot is reserved for the bus at night, in exchange the bus displays ads for the hotel on the sides of it).


























Bridge to Salvage Township

Meyer Bridge spans across the bay to connect Gallows Beach to Salvage Township, the neighboring mainland town. It's a bit bigger than Gallows Beach, with the non-coast border technically touching the start of the Pine Barrens. They have a mall and lots of offices, so there's regular commuting from Gallows Beach to Salvage. Fair's fair though, the Salvage Township coastline is all marsh, so people from Salvage drive down to enjoy the shore. Despite the lackluster beaches, the township tries for its own tourist selling point, claiming to be the location of Captain Kidd's buried treasure (no, not the one he actually buried on Gardiner's Island that they found, a second different treasure that totally exists). Never one to be outdone by Salvage Township, Gallows Beach began to claim that they were the real location of this totally real treasure, giving the towns yet anothing thing to feud over. Now both towns have metal detectors and pirate merchandise sold in many shops, and tourists sort of care sometimes.


























Baybridge Apartment Complex

(87 Bayview Drive)

Most of the housing in Gallows Beach is townhouses, largely single-family but with some converted into two separate apartments. Some of these houses are summer homes that remain empty much of the year, but the majority are occupied year-round. Recently, many of those summer homes have been converted into airbnbs during the unused months, irritating both the people in neighboring homes and the hotels operating in the area. There are some bigger, more expensive beach houses populating the west side of the island, as well as a few small apartment buildings sprinkled throughout, each with a few units. Then there's Baybridge, a seven-story apartment building built in the late 80s. At the time, residents complained that the big, blocky, brick building (and the addition of so much multifamily housing) would clash with the city and lower property values, but seeing as there were other, more pressing things lowering the property values already (mysterious disappearances and deaths will do that to a place), it didn't really have much of an impact. Why is it called Baybridge when it's not that close to the bridge and doesn't have the best views of the bay? It was originally zoned for development much closer to the bridge, but those plans fell through and the development was moved.


























Community Center

(23 Buckler Road)

There's a gym. There's a pool. There's a computer lab. Good place. There's a little park with a playground next to it. Not much to say I guess