Jersey Devil Sightings:

Any creature that's been around as long as THE JERSEY DEVIL, is bound to have been seen many times. From the 1730's to the present there have been thousands of recorded sightings and not just in New Jersey. Creatures believed to be Jersey's famous demon have been spotted in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, Maryland, California (!?), Texas (!!??) and even Canada.

Many of these sightings amount to nothing more than someone waking up in the morning and finding strange footprints in the fresh snow, or mysterious sounds heard off in the marshes at night. Some are more frightening. There are many reports of people witnessing the devil devouring their livestock. Occasionally, someone will claim to have been chased down some lonely dirt road by the monster. So let's look at some of the more famous cases.

A PORTENT OF DISASTER:

Many people claim that the Jersey devil's appearances are signs of wars or disasters. Sightings increased drastically before the out-break of every war the United states was involved in, since the revolution. Some believe that it is trying to warn us about these events.

The beast seems to be particularly active just before shipwrecks as well. There were many sightings shortly before the crash of the Hindenburg, And it was also observed the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, just before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

A BUSY WEEK FOR THE DEVIL:

One of the most amazing events in Jersey devil lore would have to be the chaos and panic that ensued the week of January 16-23, 1909. During this time, it had managed to put the entire Delaware valley in an uproar. People hid in their houses, schools and factories were closed and armed posses roamed the streets of dozens of towns, all because of the Jersey devil. Now we'll take a quick look at the events of that week.

There were many explanations given to what had happened that week. Some said it was all a hoax, some believed it was mass-hysteria. Still others think that there may have been something that all those people saw, but it was not a demon. More likely, a bird or some other rarely seen, large animal, that was migrating through the area. However, none of these theories can explain what was seen that week, and those who witnessed it swear that it could only have been the Jersey devil.

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