Newark, NJ Is Home To An Amazing Underground Catacomb

Believe it or not, there are catacombs under the ground of Newark New Jersey, but instead of containing the bodies of those who've passed on, it contains something different.

Recently, my wife went to New York City for a day trip with some friends, and while looking for things to do we stumbled over an ad for a tour of the Catacombs Of St. Patrick's Cathedral. 

Get our free mobile app

We did a tour of some catacombs earlier this year when we went to Italy, and it got me thinking; are there any catacombs in New Jersey?

Believe it or not, there are.

Are You Brave Enough To Explore The Catacombs Of St. Joseph In Newark, NJ?

Located at 114 Prospect Street in Newark, St, Joseph's Catacombs were built in 1937 by Father Amoros, according to Roadside America.

The story goes that Father Amoros took a trip to Canada where he visited a few churches that had underground catacombs and felt that his parish in Newark should have them as well.

However, the state of New Jersey wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of him burying bodies underground.

That didn't stop Father Amoros though, according to Roadside America he went ahead and built his catacombs anyway.

However, instead of burying the dead in his catacombs, he buried, or more so displayed wax effigies of some of his favorite martyrs.

In fact, without knowing it, Father Amoros created one of the first wax museums in the country.

Each wax figure displayed has a gold plate with a biography of the person it represents.

From what I can understand, it appears as though this wax museum catacomb is currently under some sort of repair or transition and isn't open to the public at the moment but hopefully will be in the near future.