Real..??....Sightings........Jersey Devil

[Happychick]

People have only caught glimpses of the Jersey Devil, and there is little actual proof that it exists. In the early 1900s, a superintendent of the Philadelphia Zoo offered $10,000 for the Devil's capture. The reward was never claimed.

Over the years, people have had many different ideas about what the Jersey Devil really is. Some people have thought it might be a prehistoric creature like a dinosaur. But scientists haven't found any record of an animal that looked like the Devil. Other people think it might be a sandy hill crane, a large crane with a wingspan of nearly seven feet and a fierce scream. This kind of crane will also attack people.

Another idea is that Mother Leeds gave birth to a deformed baby. During the eighteenth century, people sometimes thought a woman who gave birth to a deformed baby was a witch. Maybe Mother Leeds hid the baby so she wouldn't be called a witch. Then one day it escaped from the house, and neighbors who saw it thought it was a devil. After then, when people saw something strange or frightening, they blamed it on the Jersey Devil.

Whatever the Jersey Devil is, no one knows how to kill it. People have seen the Devil electrocuted, exorcised, shot, and burned, but it has not died.

Over the years many people have seen the Jersey Devil. It has been seen all over New Jersey, not just in the Pine Barrens where it was born. People often see the Devil flying and screeching. People also see the Devil's hoof prints, which look like those of no other creature known to man.

In the early 1800s, Joseph Bonaparte, a former King of Spain, saw the Devil in the woods while he was hunting. In another sighting, a group of men chased the Devil to the edge of the woods in Clayton, but they were afraid to follow him further. Commodore Stephen Decatur was testing cannon balls when he saw the Jersey Devil fly above him. He fired a cannon ball and hit the Devil, but the creature was not hurt and kept flying.

The Devil was also seen with a ghost! Captain Kidd buried his treasure in Barnegat Bay and beheaded one of his crew so that the man's ghost would stay there to watch it. People have seen the headless pirate and the Jersey Devil walking on the beach and marshes. They have also seen the Jersey Devil swimming with a mermaid.

The most sightings of the Jersey Devil occurred during one week in January, 1909. Over 1,000 people in New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania saw the Devil. Early Sunday morning, people in Burlington started to see the Devil on the street and flying through the air. They later found strange hoof prints in the snow.

Other people began to find hoof prints from the Devil on trees, roofs, and in the middle of the road. A group of men tried to find the Devil, but their dogs were too scared to follow the hoof prints. Later in the week the Devil was seen in Trenton and New Brunswick. Guards with guns rode on the trolleys to watch for the Jersey Devil.

By the end of the week the newspapers had written many stories about the Devil, and people were scared. Schools and factories were closed in Gloucester because no one would come in. Eventually, people saw less of the Devil, and life began to get back to normal.

Since that week in 1909, people have continued to see the Jersey Devil, though not as much. People still find strange hoof prints and hear screeching coming from nearby woods. Some say there are as many sightings of the Jersey Devil as before. They say people just don't report the sightings because they don't want to appear crazy.

I find this fascinating.....so many people claim the devil is real yet there doesnt seem to be the evidence....what are your views?...

[bloodrop]

this was on sky the other day there are 3 people tracking this down they think they found the ruins of the house where it was suposedly born, since then sightings of the jersey devil have been getting closer and closer to there house .

spooky.

[Happychick]

Since 1909, the Jersey Devil has continued to be sighted by people all over New Jersey. The number of sightings that have been reported to the authorities has dwindled over the years. This could be attributed to the fact that people don't want to be branded as crazy. Even though the number of reported sightings has dropped, there's still a considerable amount of sightings in the post 1909 era.

In 1927, a cab driver on his way to Salem got a flat tire. He stopped to fix the tire. As he was doing this, creature that stood upright and was covered with hair, landed on the roof of his cab. The creature shook his car violently. He fled the scene, leaving the tire and jack behind. Phillip Smith, who was known as a sober and honest man, saw the devil walking down the street in 1953. The characteristic screams of the Jersey Devil were heard in the woods near Woodstown, N.J., in 1936.

Around 1961, 2 couples were parked in a car in the Pine Barrens. They heard a loud screeching noise outside. Suddenly the roof of the car was smashed in. They fled the scene, but returned later. Again they heard the loud screech. They saw a creature flying along the trees, taking out huge chunks of bark as it went along.

There have been other sightings since 1909, such as the Invasion of Gibbsboro in 1951. The people there saw the devil over a 2 day period. In 1966, a farm was raided and 31 ducks, 3 geese, 4 cats, and 2 dogs were killed. One of the dogs was a large German Shepard which had it's throat ripped out. In 1981, a young couple spotted the devil at Atsion Lake in Atlantic County.

In 1987, in Vineland an aggressive german Shepard was found torn apart and the body gnawed upon. The body was located 25 feet from the chain which had been hooked to him. Around the body were strange tracks that no one could identify.

The sightings and prints are the most substantial evidence that exists. Many of the theories on the Jersey Devil are based upon that evidence. Some theories can be proven invalid, while others seem to provide support for the Jersey Devil's existence.

One theory is that the Jersey Devil is a bird. Mrs. Cassidy of Clayton thought it was an invasion of scrowfoot ducks. The scrowfoot duck is much too small to be mistaken for the devil. Others believe the devil is really a sand hill crane. The crane used to live in South Jersey until it was pushed out by man. The sand hill crane weighs about 12 lbs., is 4 foot high, and a wingspan of 80 inches. It avoids man but if confronted it will fight. It has a loud scream whooping voice that can be heard at a distance. This could account for the screams heard by witnesses. The crane also eats potatoes and corn. This could account for the raids on crops. This theory doesn't explain , however, the killing of live stock. It also doesn't explain why people described the devil as having a horses head, bat wings and tail, all of which the crane doesn't have.

Proffesor Bralhopf said that" the tracks were made by some prehistoric animal form the Jurassic period". He believes the creature survived underground in a cavern. An expert from the Smithsonian Institute had a theory about ancient creatures surviving underground. He said the Jersey Devil was a Pterodactyl. The Academy of Natural Sciences could find no record of any creature, living or extinct, that resembles the Jersey Devil.

Jack E. Boucher, author of Absagami Yesteryear, has a theory in which he believes the devil was a deformed child. He thinks Mrs. Leeds had a disfigured child and kept it locked away in the house. She grew sick and couldn't feed the child anymore. It escaped out of hunger and raided local farms for food. This doesn't take into account the incredible life span of the devil. The child would have been 174 years old in 1909. It also doesn't account for the sightings of ther devil flying.

Only a small amount of the sightings and footprints could be hoaxes. The Jersey Devil has been seen by reliable people such as police, government officials, postmasters, businessman, and other people whose "integrity is beyond question". As for the hoof prints, even if some were hoaxes, There is still no way to explain most of the tracks, especially the ones on roof tops and tracks that ended abruptly as if the creature took wing.

The last theory is the most controversial one. Many people believe that the Jersey Devil could be the very essence of evil, embodied. It is said that the devil is an "uncanny harbinger of war" and appears before any great conflict. The Jersey Devil was sighted before the start of the Civil War. It was also seen right before the Spanish American War and WW I. In 1939, before the start of WW II, Mount Holly citizens were awakened by the noise of hooves on their roof tops. The Devil was seen on December 7, 1941, right before Pearl Harbor was bombed. He was also seen right before the Vietnam War.

The Jersey Devil's habit of being a forerunner to wars could be because of his possible demonic origins. In 1730, Ben Franklin reported a story about a witchcraft trial near Mt Holly, N.J. One of the original legends say that Mother Leeds was a witch. The devil's birth could have been a result of a witches curse.

Other facts support the supernatural theory are the reports of the death of the devil. When Commodore Decatur fired a cannon ball at the devil, it went through him and he was unaffected.

In 1909, a track walker on the electric railroad saw the devil fly into the wires above the tracks. There was a violent explosion which melted the track 20 feet in both directions. No body was found and the devil was seen later in perfect health. In 1957, the Department of Conservation found a strange corpse in a burned out area of the pines. It was a partial skeleton, feathers, and hind legs of an unidentifiable creature. The devil was thought to be dead, but reappeared when the people of New Jersey thought that this time his death was real. Each time he is reported dead, he returns. It seems the devil is immortal, which a supernatural being would be. Another thing that supports this theory is the incredible distances the devil could fly in a short period of time. No animal could travel as fast as the devil did in 1909 when he was sighted in South Jersey, Philadelphia, and New York through out the week.

None of these theories can give a definitive answer to what the Jersey Devil was or is, but the sightings prove there is something out there. Whether the Jersey devil is a bird or a demon, is still left to specualtion. The people of New Jersey have definitely seen something out there lurking in the Pine Barrens.

[tinksy]

hmmm does the film jeepers creepers sort of spring to mind???

[Happychick]

lol.....funny you should say that..... .......it kinda reminds you of this film...

I suppose this folklore is kinda like ufo's....how can so many people be wrong?......there must be something out there.....i can remember watching a docu about this a while ago...some students doing a blair witch went hunting this thing....and on cam u defo see something at the end of the road and hear stuff in the bushes....fascinating stuff.....

[Star]

I think that the Jersey devil is more than likely just a sandy hill crane, and that when they have been seen by people who know the story of the J-devil this is what they automatically think that they have seen
Hill cranes are quite scary, well they scare me anyway lol

[Lauraakafoxy]

The Jersey Devil, the supposed mythical creature of the New Jersey Pinelands, has haunted New Jersey and the surrounding areas for the past 260 years. This entity has been seen by over 2,000 witnesses over this period. It has terrorized towns and caused factories and schools to close down, yet many people believe that the Jersey Devil is a legend, a mythical beast, that originated from the folklore of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Others disagree with this point of view. The following text will show there is evidence to support the existence of an animal or supernatural bring known as the Jersey Devil. The evidence consists of the stories of the Jersey Devil's origin, the sightings of it, and finally, the theories on it.
There are many different versions of the birth of the Jersey Devil. One of the most popular legends says a Mrs. Shrouds of Leeds Point, NJ made a wish that if she ever had another child, she want it to be a devil. Her next child was born misshapen and deformed. She sheltered it in the house, so the curious couldn't see him. On stormy night, the child flapped it's arms, which turned into wings, and escaped out the chimney and was never seen by the family again. A Mrs Bowen of Leeds point said, "The Jersey Devil was born in the Shrouds house at Leeds Point." 1 Another story that also placed the birth at Leeds Point said that a young girl fell in love with a British soldier during the Revolutionary War. The people of Leeds Point cursed her. When she gave birth, she had a devil. Some people believe the birth of the devil was punishment for the mistreatment of a minister by the Leeds folk.
Another story placed the birth in Estelville, NJ. Mrs. Leeds, of Estelville, finding out she was pregnant with her 13th child, shouted,"I hope it's a devil". She got her wish. The child wad born with horns, a tail, wings, and a horse-like head. The creature revisited Mrs. Leeds everyday. She stood at her door and told it to leave. After awhile, the creature got the hint and never returned.
Burlington, NJ, also claims to be the birthplace of the Jersey Devil. In 1735, Mother Leeds was in labor on a stormy night. Gathered around her were her friends. Mother Leeds was supposedly a witch and the child's father was the devil himself. The child was born normal, but then changed form. It changed from a normal baby to a creature with hooves, a horses head, bat wings and a forked tail. It beat everyone present and flew up the chimney. It circled the villages and headed toward the pines. In 1740 a clergy exercised the devil for 100 years and it wasn't seen again until 1890.
There are many other versions of the legend. The legends say it was the 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, or 13th child, It was born normal or deformed, and the mother confined it to the cellar or the attic. Although there are many discrepancies in all of these stories, there are 3 pieces of evidence that tie all of the legends of the Jersey Devil's origin together

[angeldeath]

a creepy!