New Jersey is a US State found in the northeastern United States Mid-Atlantic Region and is bordered with the US states of New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware, and has a coast along the Atlantic Ocean. The state capital is Trenton and the largest city is Newark. The state is home to the largest number of millionaires per capita out of the other US states and its public school system is consistently rated highest among all 50 US states.
Northwest of the state has more woodland, rural land and mountains than the northeast of the state. The Jersey Shore runs from North to South along the coast of the state in South and Central Jersey and is known for its boardwalks, arcades, water and amusement parks. The Delaware Valley, which the Delaware River and its major tributaries run through, is found in the southwestern counties of the state and is an area where many live. Finally, the Pine Barren region is found in the southern interior of the state, which includes vast wooded areas with a much lower population density than much the rest of the state.
New Jersey has a strongly varied economy with major sectors including the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, information technology, financial, chemical development, telecommunications, food processing, electrical equipment, printing, publishing and tourism industries. Shipping is also another key industry due to the states location on the coast. Agricultural outputs of the state include nursery stock, horses, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seafood and dairy products. 24 Fortune 500 companies are also headquartered in the state.
Now let’s move on to the strange and the unexplained of the US state of New Jersey. When I think of the unexplained or paranormal legends of New Jersey what first comes to my mind is that of the Jersey Devil, which is probably the state’s most famous and widely known legend, many who are not even interested in the realm of the unexplained or paranormal have a good chance of having heard about the Jersey Devil. I also included the Jersey Devil in a former post I did called 5 Myths & Folklore from Around the World.
The Jersey Devil is either some unknown cryptid or a paranormal entity or creature that is said to roam the Pine Barrens, an extensive area of woodland and forest found in the southern interior of the state. Just like much folklore, the description of the creature varies, but one of the popular descriptions is that it has a horse or goat-like head, either with or without horns, an abnormally long neck, large webbed wings, very small clawed arms, long skinny legs with hooves, and a long skinny forked tail, similar to what the Devil is often depicted as having. Many also give the Jersey Devil an ear-piercing screech.
One of the main parts of the creature’s folklore is its origin story, which comes in two different forms, both of which likely vary from telling to telling. The first story tells of the creature being born from a woman known as “Mother Leeds” which is why the creature is also known sometimes as the Leeds Devil. The story goes that Mother Leeds already had 12 children and became pregnant with a 13th child, which she cursed to be the Devil in frustration.
The child was later born on a stormy night in 1735 as the mother was surrounded by friends. At first after the birth, it appeared the child was normal, but it quickly morphed into a terrifying creature that killed the midwife and then flew up the chimney and escaped into the Pine Barrens where it now apparently resides. The other rendition of the story tells of how Mother Leeds was actually a witch and that the child was the son of the Devil.
There have been many, many sightings of the Jersey Devil over the years since that time. One sighting also from legend (meaning it isn’t known if it is entirely true) tells of Stephen Decatur, a Naval Officer and Commodore, sighting the creature while he was inspecting cannonballs at the Hanover Mill Works and that he even fired a cannonball at it.
Even Napoleon’s older brother, Joseph Bonaparte, is also said to have claimed to have seen the creature while he was hunting on his Bordentown estate in 1820. From the 1840s many also begun blaming the Jersey Devil for attacks on livestock as well, prompting some hunting parties trying to hunt down and kill the creature.
A spate of sightings took place from January 16th to 23rd of 1909 and were widely reported in the newspapers, with sightings coming in from all over the state and even beyond in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. A trolley car in Haddon Heights and even a country club in Camden were said to have been attacked. Police were even said to have fired on the creature both in Camden and also in Bristol, Pennsylvania, but that the weapons had no effect. It wasn’t long until panic and fear swept through the Delaware Valley in New Jersey, even prompting some schools to close and some workers to remain at home. Groups of hunters and vigilantes even begun forming in an attempt to track down and dispatch of the creature. There was also a rumour that Philadelphia Zoo offered $10,000 for the creature’s capture, which led to some hoaxes being made in an attempt to get the money.
Skeptics say that a variety of reasons created the conditions for the Jersey Devil to come into the public consciousness, including bogeyman stories told by Pine Barren residents, historical local disdain of the Leeds family, misidentification of animals, and rumours based on common negative perception of Pine Barren residents, and also the general fear of the Pine Barren region.
Big Red Eye appears to be New Jersey’s version of the Bigfoot, this one being found in the northwest counties of the state, with one of its particular stomping grounds being High Point State Park in Sussex County. Like many Bigfoots it is said to be very tall (7ft+), big and covered in brown fur, but that one of the differences and what makes it unique is that it has red glowing eyes, or in some cases eyes that are very good at reflecting light back, which can make it appear to have glowing red eyes.
One trait of the creature is its tendency to wail and scream into the night from within the forests, keeping residents in the vicinity up through the night, the scream is said to be a very unnatural and terrifying sound, so much so that even fully grown park rangers armed with guns will flee from the forest at such a sound.
Sightings and noises from the creature are said to have begun and been most active during the 1970s. The creature most often comes out at night rather than the day time. Some have also blamed Big Red Eye for the killing of animals, such as in Wantage where some rabbits were killed, although authorities concluded it was likely a Bear, a local newspaper decided instead to hype up that it was Big Red Eye.
Next up we are looking at a creature from the folklore of the Native American Lenape Peoples who lived in the areas that are today New Jersey, Delaware and parts of Pennsylvania and New York before Europeans arrived. One of their folkloric creatures is called the Wemategunis, which in English is known as the Wood Dwarf.
They are said to be small creatures, that come up to about your waist in height, they are seen as a type of forest spirit or faerie that is generally benevolent albeit very mischievous, which they can use to their maximum potential with the ability to become invisible, create illusions and in some cases also shapeshift, such as by making themselves even shorter. Their clothing is often not described with some assumptions that they are naked, although some stories tell of them wearing clothing.
They are also said to be unnatural strength relative to their size and that annoying them or making them angry is a very big mistake. In folklore stories of the Lenape Peoples they would often be described as messing with hunters out in the wilderness and forests, although they may also sometimes provide help to those needing it, just as long as the person is willing to be good in life.
In November 1879, crewmembers of the Sandy Hook Life Saving Service claimed to see a monster in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The sighting was credible enough to receive attention from several scientists. It was eventually determined that the sighting was most likely a Giant Squid. Despite this conclusion witnesses continued to see strange sightings of unidentified creatures along the coast of the state.
Another major sighting though came two years later, made by four men traveling on a yacht called the Tillie S along the Navesink River. The sighting of the sea serpent was made on the way back to Red Bank where the men lived, it was evening time but the moon provided good visibility. At some point Lloyd Eglinton, who was standing on the bow of the ship alerted the crew to there being something right in front of the yacht, the yacht then had to swerve around it to avoid crashing into the object.
As they were going around it the men saw that it was no usual debris, but something that was alive, some kind of apparent sea serpent. The men described the creature as being at least 50ft in length, swam in undulating fashion like a snake. At one point the men even described the creature as raising its head out of the water and giving a loud roar, the head was described as small with two rounded horns above the eyes. Eventually the creature swam from view, swallowed up by the darkness of the night.
Others in the area over the following years also claimed to see the sea serpent. Respectively the monsters or monster became known as the Sandy Hook Sea Serpent and Shrewsbury Sea Serpent.
Well, that will do for New Jersey, the state has a number of other cryptids and oddities that I have not covered here and perhaps I will get to another time after some deeper research is conducted. Next up we shall be looking at the strange and the unexplained of the US state of Delaware.
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