Jersey Devil Myths

If you are a resident of the state of New Jersey, you are most likely very aware of the Jersey Devil. This supernatural creature has been terrorizing the communities and towns of southern New Jersey for the past 100 years. Sightings of the creature are still evident to this present day. Although there are skeptics on whether this devil actually exists, some evidence is difficult to deny. Some categorize this being as a mutant child, some type of dinosaur that survived by living in a cave, or the devil himself. Everything from the family dog to the people themselves are unsafe from the Jersey Devil when it is hunting since it is known to fly off with anything that moves. There are many variations of the origin of the Jersey Devil but there
One night the cab driver, on his way to Salem, had a flat tire. He was crouched down fixing the flat, when he heard a horrible, cracking and flattening of metal sound coming from the top of his cab. He looked up and saw the creature staring back down at him. The driver jumped up and fled to a nearby town. The next day dogs were hired to track the beast and did so for 8 long miles until the trail came up cold. The beast was recorded jumping eight foot fences and crawling under six inch spaces. Though many searches have been conducted, all have come up empty handed. To this day locals traveling down Garden State Parkway or Atlantic City Expressway still report sightings of “something” or tell stories of strange occurrences”(Jersey Devil and Folklore). Search and capture operations have been conducted by used dogs, airplanes, helicopters, and teams of investigators. Some expert believes this creature avoids all detection by living out its life underground or a
The people that live in New Jersey see this as their heritage because it has been past down to them. The real story of the Jersey Devil though is not often told because of it shooting down the idea of there actually being a creature out there. The real story actually dates back to a Leeds family that were apart of the Quaker community. Daniel Leeds who arrived in New Jersey in 1677 and was the husband to Mother Leeds. Daniel Leeds was a rebellious Quaker and began publishing an “almanac that, included astrology, a big no-no back in those days”(Why the Urban Legend). The Quakers ended up shunning the family and Daniel continued his printing business. When Daniel got old he passed his business to his son Titan, and began publishing as well. Then came Benjamin Franklin in the picture, who was also a prolific publisher at the time and so Titan and Benjamin became rivals with one another. When Titan died Benjamin Franklin made out the Leeds family to be the work of the devil. As a result of these pamphlets being published stories began to arise and now you have what is known as the Jersey Devil.
Many People have different opinions on what stories to believe. Some still say the Devil is still roaming the Pine Barrens to this day but no ground breaking evidence of the existence of this creature yet exists. For the past 100 or more years sightings have been abundant and are still happening. Believe it or not the story