by Tyler Houck
The following morning, other Bristol residents found their yards covered in strange hoof-prints.
The Jersey Devil then proceeded to leave
Pennsylvania and returned to his home state of New Jersey. The creature was seen next in Burlington, which seems to have been the center of his “terror zone” for the week. Joseph W. Lowden and his family heard a noise “like some heavy body trampling through the snow in the yard” Sunday night. The Jersey Devil seems to have been prowling around on the ground that day, because tracks were found by Clarence B. Williams and Charles Stupenazy near White City. They also found tracks the following day.
Several other people also found tracks on Sunday, and one woman declared “It’s a two-legged cow with wings.”
When the Lowdens went into their backyard Monday morning, they also found tracks. They also found snow packed down by their garbage can, which had been raided.
At that point, panic gripped the town. Doors and windows were locked and barricaded, and people refused to leave their homes. Some people claimed to have seen the “flying death”, but many did not give out names for fear of ridicule, which, sadly, is seen in way too many cryptid cases. Many more of the mysterious footprints were also found. No one could figure out what made the tracks, and they seemed to defy all explanations. They climbed trees, hopped over fences, disappeared in the middle of the street, and were found in many inaccessible places. Some of the tracks were as large as the hooves of a horse, but others were only three inches, and some were even smaller.
After the news of the sightings and track findings got out, residents from rural communities started reporting encounters. A hunting party was formed in Jacksonville, but dogs refused to follow the Devil’s tracks. Farmers set out steel traps in hopes of catching the creature. No one ever did. Some reports, however, say that the hunters were the ones caught in the traps!
At 2:30 A.M. on Tuesday, January 19, 1909, Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Evans watched the Jersey Devil for ten minutes as it sat on top of their shed. This is their description:
“It was about three and a half feet high, with a head like a collie dog and a face like a horse. It had a long neck (about 2 feet long), and its back feet were like those of a crane, and ended in horse hooves. It walked on its back legs and
held up its two short front legs that had paws on them. It didn’t use the front legs the whole time we watched.” Mr. Evans opened up a window and yelled “shoo!” The creature then turned, barked at him, and flew away. Mrs. Evans’ story was the same as her husband’s, but she said the creature’s wings made a s-zzz s-zzz s-zzz sound as it
flew.Hank White and Tom Hamilton organised another Jersey Devil hunt near Gloucester. They trailed the creature for twenty miles, following a trail that hopped five-foot fences and squeezed through areas eight inches wide. White said the creature was an “air hoss” (which he said he also had in his home state of Georgia) and he wouldn’t venture outside without a gun.
More tracks were found by the daughter of William Pine in Camden. Pine and a few others examined the tracks and said they looked like a donkey’s, but whatever made them walked on two legs. One side of prints were larger than the other, leading Pine and the others to believe whatever made them was deformed. Other tracks were also found near the same area.
Another resident in the city actually saw the Jersey Devil, describing it as “something like a possum, but the size of a dog.” It then “Made a shrill bark and flew off into the air.” Another report from Swedesboro said the Jersey Devil had antlers, and a report from Glassboro described him as “three toed and dog-like.”
A policeman saw the Devil in Burlington early Wednesday morning (January 20, 1909). He said it had no teeth and eyes “like blazing coals.” John Pursell saw the creature that same morning in Pemberton. “Never saw anything like that before.” He said.
LEFT: Jersey Devil from the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, January 1909 Two groups of people hunted the Jersey Devil in Haddonfield, New Jersey, on Wednesday. Both found tracks, but they always ended
suddenly, like the creature had taken off into the air.
A posse searching for the creature saw it near Collingswood, but caught no more than a fleeting glimpse.
John Smith saw the Jersey Devil near Mount Carmel Cemetery, which is located near Moorestown. He chased the creature until it disappeared into a gravel pit.
George Snyder then saw the creature while fishing. He said it was three feet tall, had long black hair, arms and hands like a monkey, a dog face, hooves, and a foot long
tail. Late Wednesday night, Edward Davis saw the creature
while operating a trolley car. He said “It looked like a winged kangaroo with a long neck.” More tracks were found in Riverside, NJ, surrounding chicken coops, buildings, and outhouses. Joseph Mans found tracks surrounding the body of his dead puppy. He attributed the death to enemies, saying they had worn fake horse hooves on the bottoms of their shoes. Tracks were found again after that, and casts were made.
Sightings of the Jersey Devil continued to spread. The creature was being seen in Delaware, Maryland, and even as far away as California and Canada!
The Black Hawk Social Club was having a meeting in Camden, New Jersey on Thursday, January 21, 1909. At about 1 A.M., a man named Mr. Rouh was distracted by a sound coming from the back window of the building they were in. He turned to see a horrible looking creature looking in at him. The rest of the group panicked and fled. Mr. Rouh grabbed a club in a desperate attempt at selfdefense, and the creature flew off, emitting “a bloodcurdling sound.”
The Public Service Railway Trolley heading towards Camden at 2 A.M. also had a run in with the Jersey Devil. As the trolley passed Hudson Heights, one passenger cried “There’s that thing! Take it away!” The passengers crowded to the windows to get a glimpse of the creature, which, by that time, was becoming well known in New Jersey and the surrounding states.
The trolley went for about two hundred yards and stopped to pick up a passenger. When it stopped, the creature (which was flying) circled above it, “Hissing violently.” It then flew away.
The conductor of the trolley, Lewis Boeger, described the creature in this way: “It’s general appearance resembled a kangaroo… it had a long neck and from what glimpse I got of the head its features are hideous. It had wings of a fairly good size that, of course, in the darkness looked black. Its legs were long, and somewhat slender, and were held in the position a swan
holds its legs while flying. I tried to get a good look at the feet to see what shape they were but the darkness was too great. It looked to be about four feet high.” After that scare, the Devil went north to Trenton. As William Cromley was returning home in the early morning, he saw a “beast about the size of an average dog, with a head like a German shepherd. It had large, glowing eyes. It tucked its feet, hissed, spread its wings, and departed.” Cromley said the beast was also covered in fur and feathers.
Another person in Trenton also saw the Jersey Devil around that same time. E. P. Weeden was awakened from his sleep by noises coming from outside. Something was trying to open his door! He opened up his second floor window, and heard the sound of wings. He also saw strange footprints in the snow on his roof.
More footprints were found on Mrs. William Batten’s windowsill. Mrs. Batten became very frightened and barricaded herself in her house, saying she would not leave until she was certain the Jersey Devil had gone.
More tracks were found, and trolleys now had armed drivers. Many chickens were found dead on Thursday, some having no signs of being attacked. Many farmers thought the Jersey Devil had choked or scared the chickens to death, and they wanted it dead.
Mrs. Michael Ryan was the next person to see the Jersey Devil. She heard a noise next to her house at sixthirty A.M., and looked out of her window to see something with “a peculiar shaped body, long bird-like legs, and a horse’s head.” It had short wings and it looked like it was about to leap, possibly to get air born so it could fly
away.
Mrs. Ryan’s son, Edward, went outside to see if the creature was still there after his mother told him about what she had seen. He did not find the Devil, but did find strange footprints.
Daniel Flynn was walking along Chester Pike in Leiperville, Pennsylvania, when he saw a creature that was six feet tall and had skin like an alligator. It stood on its hind legs and “ran faster than an automobile.” Flynn did not say anything about wings, so who knows if it was the Jersey Devil. What he describes almost sounds like a Lizard Man, like the one seen in Scape Ore Swamp discussed earlier in this chapter.
The Jersey Devil was seen by two residents of Mount Holly, New Jersey later that day. One witness said the creature looked like a crane, but the other said the creature he saw had “a horse head, long hind legs with claws, and bat wings.”
A crane - could this bird have been mistaken for the Jersey Devil? Later, Councilman R. L. Campbell from Clayton, NJ, announced the death of the Jersey Devil. His announcement was told because of the account of William Wasso. Wasso said he had seen the Jersey Devil near the electric railway located between Clayton and Newfield. He said the Devil had gone to sniff the railway, and when its long, slimy tail touched the railway, there was a huge explosion. The railway had been melted for twenty feet on each side. Wasso saw no signs of the Devil after the explosion, and figured it had been obliterated.
Another man said he had shot the Jersey Devil that week, but neither of these reports seem true, because the Devil was still alive. Mrs. J. H. White went out into her backyard around 4 in the afternoon and saw the creature in the corner of the yard. She was curious as to what it was, and she moved towards it. When she did that, the creature stood to its full height (6 feet). She could see it had alligator skin, and it was shooting flames out of its mouth!
Mrs. White screamed until her body collapsed. Her husband ran outside and saw the creature. He grabbed a clothes prop and ran towards the creature, and it departed. At about the same time, a motorman reported almost running over a fire-breathing creature near Washington
Avenue. He did not know of the Whites’ encounter. Later that day, the Jersey Devil was pelted with rocks, broke up a social club meeting, was hunted by a posse, and was later pelted with sticks and a fire hose after appearing on the fire department.
At 7 o’clock that night, the Jersey Devil attacked a dog in Camden, NJ. Mrs. Mary Sorbinski heard noises outside and saw her pet in the “vice-like grip of a horrible monster.” She grabbed a broom and rushed outside, causing the Devil to drop her dog and leave. Mrs. Sorbinski carried her wounded pet into the house and began screaming. Neighbors rushed over. Police came later, when a crowd of over 100 people had gathered at the house. While the crowd was at the house, they heard screams coming from a hill nearby. Police rushed to the area and “emptied their revolvers” at whatever was making the sound.
The Jersey Devil continued to be seen on Friday. A couple heard something with hooves walking on their roof at 2 A.M. Two hours later, Louis Strehr, a Camden policeman, saw what he called a “jabberwock.” He said it had the head and body of a kangaroo, antlers of a deer, and bat wings.
By daybreak Friday, news of the events the day before caused people to stay in their homes. Schools and factories were closed. Theaters cancelled performances.
The Jersey Devil was supposedly captured in a barn later in the day, but by the time the barn was searched the creature was gone.
The creature had apparently gone south, and a man in Salem named Jacob Henderson saw it that night. He said it had “wings and a tail.” A bulldog was later able to drive the Devil out of a yard.
Reports of the Jersey Devil then stopped, until February, that is. Late that month, Leslie Garrison saw a “strange and very large and peculiar bird” flying above some trees. He said it had legs and looked almost like a man. He figured it was the “flying devil” everyone else had talked about.
The most famous era of Jersey Devil sightings was now over. The sightings did not stop, however, and have continued to this day.
Reports of the creature surfaced many times in the 1930s and the years before. In the 1960s, mysterious screams were heard.
In 1977, Jonathan Lackey and his friend Bill saw a creature that had a body like a doberman, four thin legs, feathered wings, and a prehensile tail. It also had pointy ears, “like batman.”
As the two looked at the creature, it soared away over a hill. The creature the boys saw does not really sound like other descriptions of the Jersey Devil, but more like a griffin.
RIGHT: A griffin
The Jersey Devil, like most Cryptids, has been the focus of episodes of quite a few TV shows, including The X-Files, Lost Tapes, MonsterQuest, and The Monster Project. It also has a game named after it (though the main character in the game looks more like a bat than the Jersey Devil) and a hockey team.
ABOVE: The Jersey Devil on MonsterQuest
BELOW: Jersey Devil game
BELOW RIGHT: New Jersey Devils hockey team logo
6 Out-of-Place Creatures
There are some “monsters” seen in the United States that are not really anything strange. All these creatures are known to science, but are seen living where they should not. These creatures, like other Cryptids, have been seen for hundreds of years. This chapter is all about them.
Alien Big Cats Many people probably read the words above and have extraterrestrials come to mind, but the “alien” of that name does not mean something that came from another planet. Alien Big Cats, or ABCs, are normal, large cats, like panthers, for instance, living someplace they should not. Cats like these are see all over the United States, and do not just include things like Eastern Panthers- people also report seeing lions, tigers, leopards, etc. living in the wild in the
U.S. One famous and early report of mystery cats in the United States occurred in 1917. A large, fearsome cat nicknamed “Nellie the Lion” terrorized the Decatur, Illinois area that year. The first report came after Nellie or one of her companions (some reports say there were two or three
cats) attacked Thomas Gullet while he was working in the garden. Gullet only suffered a few minor wounds, but people still started to panic.
Did a lioness terrorize the Decatur, Illinois area in 1917? The attack on Guller sparked the press’ interest in the Nellie story, but the first incidents had occurred a few days earlier. The attack led to a 300 person hunt in the woods on July 15. While the hunters were out, the cat appeared a quarter mile away. A woman, Mrs. Shaw, saw what she described as an “African Lioness.”
On July 17, five-inch tracks were found near Decatur. Two boys saw Nellie later that day near the Sangamon River, which is east of Decatur.
Panic had taken over. Now, when people went outside and saw a collie, the dog turned into a lion. One farmer even shot an approaching car because he had mistaken the headlights for shining lion eyes. The newspapers had fun with these stories, and called all the other reports jokes.
All that soon changed, however, when Nellie attacked again. Chester Osborn, Earl Hill, and their wives were driving near Decatur when the attack occurred. The cat had lunged at their car as they drove by at 10:30 PM on July 29, 1917. The men, who were sitting up front, saw the cat hiding in the weeds beside the road. It leaped 20 feet and slammed into the side of the car. The cat then fell onto the road, probably knocking itself out as it hit the car.
The witnesses sped to Decatur and told police what had happened. They went back to the area, and Nellie was still there. The cat soon disappeared over an embankment, however, and they were unable to spot it again.
On July 31, James Rutherford saw the cat as he was driving a hay wagon past a gravel pit. He described it as a “large, yellow, long haired beast.” The cat disappeared towards a creek. Later search parties found a few tracks, but no lion. The prints had claw marks on them, which is odd, because cheetahs are the only cats that usually leave claw marks. Lions usually do not.
Soon after that encounter, Nellie sightings stopped. O
ther encounters have taken place, though, all over the United States.
Some of the cats seen are not at all strange, but are just in the wrong area. Bobcats were not supposed to be living in Ohio after 1850. They still seem to be in the state, however, because people still see them. A bobcat was caught on film by Julie Morgan from Boston Heights on September 19, 2010. Another bobcat was found dead in Knox County, OH, in 2013. The cat was identified after it was struck by a vehicle on U.S. 36 between Mount Liberty and Mount Vernon. “It’s the first roadkill bobcat around here in probably 40 years.” Mike Miller, Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife officer said. “In my twenty years here, we’ve had two confirmed sightings in Knox County and they’ve both been in the northeast part of the state.”
The cat was found by a homeowner in the area who was able to move it to where vultures wouldn’t be able to get at the body. Miller said there had been unconfirmed calls of bobcat sightings in the area before the body was found, and people had also been hearing the cats.
Ohio also ranked number ten on the Eastern Puma Research Network list of top states for eastern panther Research Network list of top states for eastern panther 2004), 135 came from Ohio. 118 of the cases occurred between 1983 and 2000.
Some reports of eastern panthers in Ohio have also mentioned Bigfoot. The reader may remember the August 21, 1978 report of a Bigfoot in Minerva, OH (see page 18). That Bigfoot was seen protecting two of the mysterious
cats. Another report came from Salem in April of 1968. Alice Allison saw a strange object floating in the sky. The object resembled a black wingless airplane. Within a day of that occurrence, she and other family members saw a cougar prowling around their property. Sometimes they even saw it lying in their driveway! The cat left 3-inch paw prints and left six-inch scratches on a nearby tree. They heard it snarling outside Alice’s daughter’s bedroom window after dark. Just like in the Minerva case, the Allisons also reported seeing a strange man-like figure in the woods. Alice’s son Bruce saw the creature running and found a place where he thought it had slept. He also blamed it for the disappearance of his cat.