The Jersey Devil

A hero of the Barbary wars, Commodore Stephen Decatur, was the first American war hero who was not part of the Revolutionary war. In other words he was well respected. He died in 1820 from wounds suffered during a duel. He left his wife $75,000, which was over $1 million in current money. His run in with the Jersey Devil involves his firing a cannonball at the creature. The claim is that the cannonball blew a hole in its stomach. Supposedly the creature wasn’t even fazed by this. It simply flew away into the distance.

Napoleon’s brother, Joseph Bonaparte, saw the Jersey Devil while he was hunting on his estates. He had settled in America and 1000 acres in the New Jersey area. He had formerly been king of Spain. So his word carries a lot of weight.

Throughout the 1800s many people reported that the Jersey Devil made raids on their property. It was reported to have stolen chickens, and sheep. This included a raid on Vincentown in 1899. Many people there reported many missing animals. In 1909 thousands of people claimed to have seen the monster. These people were from many of the 30 towns in the Delaware Valley.

Panic ensued in Burlington when footprints belonging to the Jersey Devil were found in backyards and on rooftops covered with snow. These were not normal human footprints. They were cloven hooves. At the same time Jacksonville hunters organized a search party to capture or kill the beast. But their hunting dogs, upon seeing and sniffing the footprints became so agitated that they would not follow them. A Glaucester city man claimed to have seen it walking around on his roof for about 10 minutes. He described it as about 3 ½ feet high with the head of a collie, the legs of a crane, the face of a horse and 2 foot wings.

There was a claim by a telephone lineman that the Jersey Devil attacked him. It chased him up a telephone pole. He was only saved when a coworker appeared, driving it off by shooting it in the wing. If a cannonball couldn’t harm it how could a mere bullet drive it off?

It’s likely that the Jersey Devil is nothing more than a series of different animals seen in the dark or under the influence of alcohol, combined with a vivid imagination. But the stories are still fun.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!