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Ghosts-Urban Legends

Handed down over time, our researchers have searched and searched for these historic ghost tales, stories, and twisted history around New Jersey.

Balls off the brass monkey cold as balls

Origins of Cold as Balls and Cold as a Witch’s Teet

The phrase “cold as balls” reportedly comes from the contraction of metal on ship’s cannons, causing the iron balls to fall. The expression “cold as a witch’s tit” originated from the belief that witches, portrayed as cold-blooded in the 1600s, had an ‘unholy’ body part feeding familiars or the devil.