Historical Badass: The Jersey Devil

Details

Created: Sunday, 05 February 2012 00:00

Written by Joe

Featured on S01E37 of the ChefDiddy.com podcast.

• Was first reported in 1735 in Southern new jersey
• It is often described as a flying biped (think ostrich) with hooves.
• A woman by the name of Mother Leeds was said to be into witchcraft
• Upon birth of her 13th child, she said "Let it be the devil!"
• It soon after transformed into a devil like creature and immediately flew off into the surrounding pines

Read More for his his full bio and audio clip from the podcast

The Jersey Devil's Wiki page

His list of achievements include:

According to legend, while visiting the Hanover Mill Works to inspect his cannonballs being forged, Commodore Stephen Decatur sighted a flying creature flapping its wings and fired a cannonball directly upon it to no effect.

Joseph Bonaparte, eldest brother of Emperor Napoleon, is also said to have witnessed the Jersey Devil while hunting on his Bordentown estate around 1820.

Throughout the 19th century, the Jersey Devil was blamed for livestock killings, strange tracks, and reported sounds.

Claims of a corpse matching the Leeds Devil's description arose in Greenwich in December 1925. A local farmer shot an unidentified animal as it attempted to steal his chickens. Afterward, he claimed that none of 100 people he showed it to could identify it.

On July 27, 1937 a creature matching the Jersey Devil's description was seen by residents ofDowningtown, Pennsylvania.

During the week of January 16 through 23, 1909, hundreds of people reported encounters with the Jersey Devil.  Newspapers of the time named it "Phenomenal Week" and the public reaction has been called the Devil's "most infamous spree." Reports initially concerned unidentified footprints in the snow, but soon sightings of creatures resembling the Jersey Devil were being reported throughout South Jersey and as far away as Philadelphia and Delaware. The widespread newspaper coverage led to a panic throughout the Delaware Valley prompting a number of schools to close and workers to stay home.

Claims of a corpse matching the Jersey Devil's description arose in 1957.

In 1960 unusual tracks were found along with loud-shrieking heard near Mays Landing.[10] During the same year the merchants around Camden offered a $10,000 reward for the capture of the Jersey Devil, even offering to build a private zoo to house the creature if captured.

According to the New York Times, in 2008 alone, over ten encounters with the Leeds Devil were reported to the local "Devil Hunters" group.

Listen to the podcast segment here:

Download it directly by going to this link: Historical Badass Download