There’s an old rumor about the old Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands that former union boss with Mafia ties Jimmy Hoffa, who went missing and was never found, was buried under one of the end zones. For those wondering, the theory has been proven untrue and could finally be put to bed now that that stadium has been demolished. "Mythbusters" even once did an episode about the legend.
We can’t say the same for all New Jersey sports arenas. That includes the home arena of the New Jersey Devils Prudential Center in Newark. When Prudential Center was being built in 2005, two mummies were found beneath the construction site. Yes, we said mummies, but no the Egyptian kind. Part of the current Prudential Center site was a parking lot that before that, and we mean back in the 1800’s, was a graveyard for the First Presbyterian Church. Both the mummies were identified and sent to the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.
NJ.com (more commonly and formerly known as the Star Ledger) decided to rerun the story and made a TikTok about it for a fun Halloween piece a few weeks ago. That was the first time many Devils fans had heard the surprising story. What’s happened since then? Well team superstar Jack Hughes got a significant hand injury at a team dinner that will keep him out about two months. That’s in addition to the team’s recent injury woes of Cody Glass, Dougie Hamilton, and Evgeni Dadonov, although those last two can return fairly soon.
How did Devils fans respond? By saying the mummy story is proof Prudential Center is cursed. The perfectly irrational excuse is fans way of using dark humor to laugh through the situation. The joke gained enough steam that team reporter Ryan Novozinsky even interviewed the archeologist who found them and asked if he thought they were to blame. According to his article, the Devils have lost the fourth in the league this season in man games lost.
Devils fans might not feel like luck is on their side with the laundry list of injured players, but Prudential Center has seen some good times in its history. It opened during the tailed of the Lou Lamoriello contention years and hosted the 2012 Stanley Cup final. The “it’s cursed because we have injuries” thing is a fairly new sentiment when the “mummy story” has been public knowledge for pretty much two decades. If there was any curse, why did it wait until Ilya Kovalchuk “retired” to Russia? Jack Hughes injury woes are a big problem for this team, but that would be true mummies or not.
It was a fun Halloween story for spooky season. One that most of us haven’t heard and probably wouldn’t have guessed was true about “the Rock”. It makes a fun story for Devils fans to laugh about instead of crying about as players get added to the IR. We hockey fans are a superstitious bunch though. You can never be too careful with legends like this. Not all of our arenas can be built over things like a crowded train stations (here’s looking at you Madison Square Garden).