Someone keeps stealing the metal signs at mile marker 66.6 along heavily traveled toll roads, and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority is having a devil of a time keeping up with the thefts. It's been happening all over the country, on roads with names like Route 666. Officials aren't sure if the thefts are being committed by religious zealots upset about the number's association in the Bible with the devil, by Satanic scavenger hunters, or by college students who think a '666' sign would look cool in their dorm room.   Joe Orlando, a spokesman for the Authority, said officials have no idea who is taking the signs.

The latest theft involved someone swiping the 66.6 mile marker sign on the Parkway's northbound lanes. It's in a sparsely populated section of the Pinelands far from any entrances or exits. In other words, who would go looking for such a sign in such a deserted area. But we’re talking about New Jersey, I am, Fuh-getta-bout-it. But look for it they do. Within the past two years, 66.6 mile marker signs have been stolen at least four or five times from the Turnpike and Parkway, he said. In the Biblical Book of Revelations, verse 13:18 reads, "Let him who hath understanding count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is six hundred sixty six."

It costs as much as $50 to replace the signs, which doesn't sound like much, until you keep repeating it over, and over again. A few years ago, highway officials in Morris County couldn't keep signs for Route 666 on the poles; as quickly as crews put them up, someone would take them down and steal them, often within a day or two. The solution was to change the name of the road to Route 665. A similar tactic might be in store for the Parkway and Turnpike mile markers, with replacement signs reading 66.61, which kind of wrecks the Satanic buzz.In 2003, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado renamed the 194-mile-long Route 666 as Route 491 after a rash of sign thefts. Some wound up on eBay. Pennsylvania has a Route 666, but a state transportation spokesman said few signs, if any, have been stolen. In the meantime, transportation officials keep replacing the mile marker signs in the Garden State.  "You almost want to put a camera out there, just to see who has this much free time," Orlando said.