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. ĭuring the week of January 16 through 23, 1909, hundreds of people reported encounters with the Jersey Devil. According to the New York Times, in 2008 alone, over ten encounters with the Leeds Devil were reported to the local "Devil Hunters" group.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. In 1960 unusual tracks were found along with loud-shrieking heard near Mays Landing.Claims of a corpse matching the Jersey Devil's description arose in 1957.A similar panic to that which occurred throughout the Pine Barrens during 'Phenomenal Week' took place in Gibbstown after a group of boys claimed to have seen a 'monster' matching the Devil's description.On Ja creature matching the Jersey Devil's description was seen by residents of Downingtown, Pennsylvania.Afterward, he claimed that none of 100 people he showed it to could identify it. A local farmer shot an unidentified animal as it attempted to steal his chickens. Claims of a corpse matching the Leeds Devil's description arose in Greenwich in December 1925.Throughout the 19th century, the Jersey Devil was blamed for livestock killings, strange tracks, and reported sounds.Joseph Bonaparte, eldest brother of Emperor Napoleon, is also said to have witnessed the Jersey Devil while hunting on his Bordentown estate around 1820.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.This is a list of some of the more notable.
There have been thousands of reported sightings of the Jersey Devil since the eighteenth century. Today, the Jersey Devil is considered to be more in the realm of popular culture than folklore.
The lost tapes jersey devil series#
The Jersey Devil remained an obscure regional legend through most of the 18th and 19th centuries until a series of purported sightings in 1909 gained it press coverage and wider notability. According to one version, she invoked the devil by saying "let it be the devil" while giving birth to her 13th child, and when the baby was born it was named Lucas, it either immediately or soon afterward transformed into a devil-like creature and flew off into the surrounding pines. Most accounts of the Jersey Devil legend attribute the creature to a "Mother Leeds", a supposed witch, although the tale has many variations.