Morbid - Episode 485: The Jersey Devil Ft Jodie Sweetin

Episode Date: August 14, 2023

Among the Pine Barrens of New Jersey (a sprawling forest ecosystem in southern New Jersey), it is said there lives an elusive creature that has haunted and delighted the residents of New Jersey and northern Pennsylvania for centuries. The Jersey Devil (sometimes referred to as the Leeds Devil) is variously described as having the features of everything from a dog and horse to a kangaroo and even the devil himself, with sightings coming in waves throughout history, including a large spike in 1909. Join us as we talk with Jodie Sweetin all about this elusive creature. And check out Jodie's new podcast: How Rude, Tanneritos! How Rude, TanneritosThank you to the fantastic David White for research assistance!ReferencesAtlantic City Daily Press. 1909. "Superstition abroad." Atlantic City Daily Press, January 25: 4.Jersey City News. 1899. "Jersey sees a devil." Jersey City News, July 29: 7.McCloy, James F. 1976. The Jersey Devil. Wallingford, PA: Middle Atlantic Press.Morning Call. 1909. "Jersey Devil vampire bat." Morning Call, January 22: 1.Morning Post. 1905. "Story of the Leeds Devil." Morning Post, May 2: 5.Pinelands Preservation Society. n.a. The Jersey Devil and Folklore. Accessed July 17, 2023. https://pinelandsalliance.org/learn-about-the-pinelands/pinelands-history-and-culture/the-jersey-devil-and-folklore/.Trenton Evening Times. 1909. "'Flying Hoof' leaves proofs of visit here." Trenton Evening Times, January 21: 1.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You're listening to a Morbid Network podcast. Hey, Weirdos, I'm Ash. I'm Elena. And this is Morbid. We have a special guest today, Weirdo. Party, party, party. It's Jody Sweeten. Hello! You probably know Jody as Stephanie Tanner, like first and foremost, because iconic, I clenched. But Jody, thank you so much for coming on.

This is like huge for us. We're so excited. Oh my gosh. This is huge for me. I'm a big fan of the show. And it like I, when I first jumped on the Zoom, I was like, oh my gosh, like I know these voices. So yeah, I'm also excited on the zoom. I was like, Oh my gosh, like I know these voices. So yeah It's I'm also excited to be here. I love morbid. I love all things spooky and weird and creepy and and you guys are hilarious

So yeah, oh, thank you. Yeah, we feel the same way too as soon as you came on the zoom. I was like, Oh my god It's friend Yeah, it's true living room. Yeah, you don't even know it, but I was're all in that. It's true. We're living room. You didn't even know it, but I was in your living room. That's wild. That's insane. I guess. Not even when the TV was on, just there standing, watching, being there.

Yep. We're all just hanging out together. Just vibes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You didn't, I mean, you guys were asleep. It was a little weird, but, you know, it was fine. We've been through a lot together. Yes, yeah.

In the last five minutes, I mean, we've been through solar flares and planets and retrograde lifetimes. We've lived together. Lifetimes of things. Planetary events, we've lived together. But the main reason that we're all here is the spooky of it all. Hell yeah. So we have a couple spooky questions for you before we get into the Actual like cryptid of it all that Alaina's gonna present. Ooh, but is it cool if we ask you a couple questions first?

Absolutely go for it. All right cool. So we know that you're into true crime What would you say is the one case that interested you the most over the years? Oh? Man, I know it's always a hard one. There's so many. I mean, God, I was like the weird kid at the library when I was like eight to like, chain out books on like the Amville horror. And like, you know, like all kinds of weird stuff, right? All the ghost stories and like weird stuff at the library. Oh, that was you. But I was, yeah, it was me. I was, oh, that was you. Any other aisle? Yeah, you know, it was, yeah, it was me. I was, yeah, I was hoarding all the weird creepy books. Gosh, one that's fascinating. You know, and it depends because like there's,

like I'm fascinated with like serial killers, simply because I find like abnormal psych or the sort of various shades of psychology really interesting. Yeah, totally. Because it's just humans are more terrifying than any monsters we can really make up so much. For me, I think also because I'm an LA girl, the Night Stalker has always been a fascinating case to me because it also involves the Cecil Hotel, which is in downtown LA, which I'm also fascinated by. And my friend and I,

my friend lives around the corner there. So we've gone over there many times trying to like figure out how we can be creepy and get in. But the night stalker case in particular, because I think it was, what year was that? It was like early, maybe I think it was. Yeah, because I was, I mean, I was little, but I vaguely remember it being sort of in the ether and like being talked about. But for me, it's just such a weird case because there's no rhyme or reason. Yes. The chaos of it all. Usually it's like it's one of the cases that you go, oh, wow, so I've manned like some people just it's just there's no victim profile. It was there was no map. There was no plan.

There was no type. It that was just that was fascinating to me that it was just across the board chaos. Yeah, it was kids. It was elderly everything in between. Yeah, and I also that one is interesting too because you read so much about like his childhood and and and brain trauma and all not as an excuse obviously, but it's an interest. It's just sort of an interesting thing because you can kind of see this whole thing like piece together. And as an LA girl, I'm always fascinated by those. Also, the, I mean, the mance and murders. Yeah.

Obviously. Also, my friend lives on that property. No, wow. Yeah. So, like, it's just a, I mean, obviously the house has since been torn down and he's built a place and stuff. But, yeah, it's, I mean, it's house has since been torn down and he's built a place and stuff, but but yeah, it's I mean, it's the property none the less. So yeah, and that's kind of like a similar thing to like no rhyme, no reason, just pure chaos.

Yeah, pure and yeah, and that one had like a weird beach boys connection. So yeah, like there's so yeah, there's I have several weird like connections to that case in particular So yeah, it's pretty pretty fucked up. Those are two. Can I say that on this? Yeah, I can say that. Yeah Yeah, of course all the time. I was like wait, yeah, I can okay, just checking What are you gonna say? No, I was it those two are like it really is the chaos of it all that stresses me out, especially about the night stocker case. Yeah. When you can go down to like kids and go all the way up to like 90 year olds and everything

in between. Yeah. It was a no real rhyme or reason as to method. The way it was done. Method like. Yeah. And that for me is it again, from like the psychology aspect of is really interesting because it's the chaos of that mind that comes out in that way is is I think that's the thing is I'm like I so desperately want to understand not understand but like what it's so Unrelatable that type of horror to me and I think that's like true crime. It's like it's so beyond that I'm like,

what in the world could possibly make someone go there? And anyway, it's just fascinating to me. And yeah, and getting to go to like the hotel seesale. Yes. My friend and I like figured out how to get into the alley behind the thing there where like you can go to the place where like he's, yeah, yeah, yeah. So did anything happen while you were at the seesale?

Like any kind of paranormal happening? No, because I mean, we've got, we've also gone during the day, but I mean, I, there's so many great historic, creepy places in downtown LA, but nothing ever happened while we were there, but they've now since reopened it again. I saw that recently and turned it into, they originally were gonna take it and turn it into,

like, luxury condos. Yeah, imagine that. That's a choice. Which, well, they do that to everything in downtown LA. And obviously the housing market sucks. And no one has money to buy $2 million condos downtown anymore. So yeah, so they, I think they have now reverted it back to like low income housing, which was kind of what it was

previously. Yeah. But there was also that weird documentary and that was at the hotel Cecil. Oh, yeah. I want to say he was dutchard. Yeah. Oh, I remember what that was.

There was that guy. Yeah. There was that girl that wound up in the water tank. Yeah. At least a lamb. That's like a really sad face. That's a really wild. And just like in the water tank. Yeah, that's a lamb. That's like a really sad case. That's a really wild and just like bonkers. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

There's just all kinds of weird stuff, but they have now since turned it back into, I think it's low income housing again, which is much needed downtown. But it'll be interesting. You know, that place is just such a people say it's like a hotbed of really weird activity. And so I definitely wanted to figure out how to go in there before they had turned it into anything. I was like, I wanna go in your wall. It's empty. Oh yeah, that's what I feel like

that's something we did. That's something would happen, you know. Oh yeah. So have you ever had any paranormal experience in general in your life that's been like holy shit? Yes, I have. Nice. So, okay, you're like straight back for this one.

I'm like, so picture this, Sicily, 19, no. So, so, God, this was 10 years ago, or a little more. I worked in drug and alcohol treatment. I was a director of operations

and we had several properties here in LA that we rented. And one of which was this huge property up off of Wonderland here in the Hollywood Hills. And it, I think, used to, it was owned or Jared leto bought it after we had rented it out or something iconic. It takes up three addresses. It's a gigantic property. And it was originally built as a military base. It has a soundstage attached to it. They would shoot World War II propaganda films here. Wow.

And it's also rumored that they held people there without, because it was in the Hollywood Hill. It's way back there, like way before there were houses or anything. And it goes down about three or four stories into the side of the mountain. And it's got 18 inch thick cement walls. It's a nuclear fallout shelter. It's a whole thing. So we had it as a property and we there was we had it as a sober living and we had there was like an art gallery attached. I mean it was gigantic, right? So at the time, I was looking for an apartment,

had to be out of my old apartment with my kids, going through divorce, whatever it was kind of crazy. And so there was an apartment that was on one of the lower floors of the addresses, had its own separate entrance. It was like 1200 square feet, but it was just kind of a big room with a little kitchen attached. And then this ridiculous gigantic bathroom that I called the Scarface bathroom because it was like black and white tiled and all mirrored.

And I'm not kidding you when I live there for like the month and a half with my kids. The bathtub was like a small swimming pool. Like my kids used to just like paddle through it. Yeah, I was crazy. They're like, Mom, we love this place. And it was, but it was like weirdly old, like it was just, it was a weird spot to be, but it was kind of cool to live there.

So anyway, I was there and when we had first acquired the property, the handyman that used to go over there all the time, he would talk about how creepy it was over there. And we would all kind of laugh. We were like, oh yeah, whatever. He was like, no, no, no, like it's real, there's like a woman's voice that keeps talking. And I'm like, anyway, whatever. Like, I mean, I didn't discount it because I'm like, you know, I'm just on stuff happens, but I was like,

I it's probably fine. There's so many, you know, whatever. People coming and going, well, I move in and within maybe the first week or 10 days, I'm in the bathroom brushing my teeth. And my younger daughter is younger daughter is standing there and kind of looking back into the room. And she just starts going, no, no, no, again. Again. I don't want to talk to her. She's scaring me. Oh, no. Oh, I hate I have goosebumps already. I don't like that at all.

And I was like, OK. You're like, I have to parent through this. Like shit. Well, let's talk to her and let her know. Let's communicate. Because I'm always like, I don't know. I don't always like, let's reason with them. Yeah. So I was like, whoever is here right now, we know that you're we're in your space.

Like, it's okay, but you're scaring my little one right now. And so, you know, if you could leave, that would be great. Like, I know what he's one say, you know, I feel like that's the perfect thing to say. Yeah. And then she said, like, you know, a few minutes later, like she didn't see her anymore, but we definitely would hear knocks on the door in that hallway and there would be, I mean, it would be late at night. Nobody was there. I know it was in that section of the house. And yeah, like a lot of creepy things like that happen, but the creepiest part is that,

well, not the creepiest part. I'd say the lady in the corner was probably the creepiest part. She takes the case. So I had to store all of my stuff in the old film vaults that were on the property. That's so cool. If you guys know anything about me, you know that I am all about being comfy. I love soft sweatpants.

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Prettyliter.com slash morbid code morbid terms and conditions apply C site for details. And in order to access the film vaults you you had to go downstairs into, like, down into the thing. And it was like stepping back into, like, a 1950s, like, military, it was all that weird green metal. Oh, you know what I mean? That you see from, like, 1950s and 60s offices and stuff. And, like, big sliding doors that were green metal and 60s offices and stuff and like big sliding doors

that were green metal and all like and and the lights were the kind that were on sensors. Oh, obviously so big. So you would walk through somewhere and then if you were still for a while, the lights would turn off. Oh, that's a terrible. Yeah. So I would be down like carrying stuff down to the vaults or like getting stuff out or whatever and putting it back and Yeah, there were definitely quite a few times that I'd be in there and it was just like

Combe like the light starts turning off and you're like oh and then you'd be like waving and if you're not right in front of the sensor You're like okay, you feel like waving running up and down a hallway. Yeah, it was it was definitely a creepy running up and down a hallway. Oh yeah, it was, it was definitely a creepy, a creepy place to live, but kind of cool. And I'm always glad that I can say that I had that experience. Yeah, that's wild. That's horrifying.

Those are a couple of spooky guy experiences. That's really, yeah. It reminded me of the story with your little ones. Yeah, I've told this on the show before, but my little ones when they went into their first like big girl beds, right, They freaked out the first night and we were like, oh, it's, you know, it's a little big girl bed, of course, like a little freaked out, like a toddler bed. Right, right, of course it's yeah. So we come running in, we're like, what's the matter?

And they were like, and they were right next to the door and there was a little hallway right outside their door. And one of them said, there's people that keep coming in my room, and they're trying to cut my sheets with scissors. And I was like, right. Right. Oh God. I was like, there's not. Like what I know what to do here.

And it's like, you're like, okay, I can't freak out because I can't freak them out more. So I was like, right, right. And then I was like, are they here now? And they were like, no, they're right there. And they pointed to the dark, they're right there. And they pointed to the dark hallway right outside their room. And I was like, okay.

And I was like, they're just standing there. And they were like, yeah, they're just there. And I was like, okay. And this was like an old town. It was from the 1800s. So I was like, right, right, right. And I just stepped into the hallway. And I was like, hey, everyone.

And I was like, they're around me right now. And they're like, yeah. And I'm like, awesome. Okay. And then I was like, hey, everyone, I was like, they're around me right now and they're like, yeah, and I'm like, awesome. Okay, and then I'm like, okay, guys. Yeah, like awesome. Right, yeah, you're just like, I don't know what's happening and I feel sort of ridiculous, but all this is fine. This is a side like, you know what I'm gonna say.

I'm like, I'm gonna give this a try. So it's like, hey guys, like you're freaking them out. Like, can you just like chill out, not try to cut their sheets tonight? Like we'll talk about it tomorrow maybe. And they were like, I was like, is everything good now? And they were like, yeah, they never complained about it again. Just like one time. Yeah, you got it. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. You got to like be like, excuse me. Just take a little charge. I know, I know whatever you're going through,

how you've been trapped in this weird in betweenbetween space for hundred and years, I get that. Could you not freak my kids out while we're trying to sleep? That would be so much appreciated. Yeah. Thanks. Like I totally get you're going through it. If you need someone to talk to, come to me. It's fine, really, but like trying to cut my sheets.

Not scared to shit out of the kids because they're never going to go to sleep. And then I'm going to be angry. Like, I can deal with it. They're going to be traumatized forever. So like, just come in my room. Like, I can handle it. Right, right. Yeah. Look, if you need to cut sheets, whatever, take your small ones, have at it. But just like the kids, a long-placed craft project. Like, you're dead. I can't imagine what that's like. So yeah, yeah, get it. Go look, go see graphs too. I mean, it's like a while, you know, yeah, you know, yeah, that's wild. They were trying to recreate the scenes from Beetlejuice where they cut the holes

out of the eyes of the sheets and just float it in. They were trying to get us out of those. It's so that someone would notice them, right? But they, yeah, they were like shit. They just went about it in a weird way. You know, you know, like, oh, man, and the guys were just trying to get our outfits. Right? Should have just gone to the linen closet. It's true. We had some sheets in there. And they weren't Daniel Tiger.

So they would have been a little better. I think so. They were incredible. I don't miss the days of like everything being like a cartoon. Yeah. Something. Yeah.

It's fun with my, I have seven-year-old twins and we're coming out of that a little bit with them, but my three-year-old is like, Paw Patrol and I'm like, oh yeah, yeah, you're still now, you're still in it. Seven and three, yeah. I've got 15 and almost 13. It's a it's a wild ride. That's a different journey, right? That must be such a different journey. It is quite a different journey. I just remember who I was at 13 and 15. I'm like, sorry, mom. Sorry, everyone. I've called my mom and apologize so many times.

Oh, yeah. So many times. Although now my kids are, they're actually great. But it really was, I mean, pandemic did not do any one of these papers. But my older one started middle school right when it was she was like started sixth grade And then it hit and then it was all seventh and then part of eight that like yeah, it was not a great experience Because it was horrific anyway, and it's really I'll be glad the more Dema really it is not looking forward to that at all talk about spooky just

Yeah, that's like just gonna say that's horror right there. They are fine. Yeah, I would take someone cutting my sheets every single night and the lady in the corner over having to go to middle school again. Oh yeah, 10 times over. I welcome it. Let's go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I feel like all of that is like the perfect transition into the Jersey Devil. Ooh. Yeah, we're gonna talk about the Jersey Devil today, or the Devil in the Pine Bear. The Jersey Devil, does he do a Jim Pan Lawnery,

or is this a totally different kind of Jersey? No, no, that's poly-D. Oh, and it's like he might, though, because there's a lot of different versions of him, so who knows? Maybe Jersey Shore is a version of maybe it is Is this like Chupa Cabra type a little bit the new Jersey devil a little bit. Okay. Yeah, it's like lore Kind of stuff. So I am all about it. I love a good cryptid. Oh, nothing like it a good cryptid

We got so many here because we're like around the bridge water triangle. Where all that fun stuff is. I know. I know. I remember you guys talking about that one time on one of your episodes about and I was like, I could go. Yeah. Like I will take you on a tour anytime. We will.

Oh my God. I I've done like ghost tours here. I did a whole night at a theater in San Juan, Capastrano. Yeah. And I did a supernatural show here as well with a couple other people that was really fun. But I, yeah, I'm the one that goes and finds weird old creepy abandoned places and I'm like, you guys, we should go in.

Yeah. And everyone else is like, something. Hell yes. Yeah. No, you're our people. No, we got it. We got it with you. We got to take it to the Lizzie Borden house.

Yeah. Close by us. I would, oh my god, I want to go there. So we should do it. We spent the night there. Yeah, we did. It us. I would, oh my god, I want to go there. So we should do it. We spent the night there. Yeah, we did. It was wild. You did?

Was it creepy? Yeah, it was horrifying. It was. It was. I wouldn't let us. It has the harshest vibe. And there are like, it is. Really.

Very hard to relax. You can feel it. Yeah, it's heavy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Fascinating. Okay. We'll make plans for that after. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, fascinating. Okay. Yeah. We're gonna make plans for that after. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah, yeah, we'll make our we'll do our our our ghost tour plans after part two is ghost tour Can't wait. So we're gonna talk about the birth of the Jersey devil first. So the story of the Jersey devil is kind of unique to the United States for sure. It's the Pine Barons is where it came out of. There's so many things that are so unique to the United States that are horrifying. It's really unique. And your knee can such a nice way to put it in such a sense.

It's a unique core to the United States. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we got, yeah, yeah. So the Pine Barons in New Jersey is a very dense forested region and it covers more than 1700 square miles, which is apparently 1.1 million acres. Holy shit. That's a lot of acres. That's all of the acres. That's a lot of acres.

That's many acres. And it's in southeastern New Jersey. So what's really spooky about this place is that although New Jersey is one of the more heavily populated states in the country, according to author James McCloy, quote, What's really spooky about this place is that although New Jersey is one of the more heavily populated states in the country, according to author James McCloy, quote, one can travel in the pines for many miles and not encounter a single sign of modern civilization. Love that. Thank God.

There's, you know, too many miles of human civilization. True. There's some space, some way and go, I forget about those assholes. And then, yeah, exactly. Just take me all the way off the grid into the Pine Barrens with the Jersey Devil. Right, just, yeah. Seriously, just please stick me in a tree.

Let's call it a day. You guys are going together. Yeah. Going to Pine Barrens. I'm like, how fun guys. I was just like, tell me about it later. I'm like, I don't think they have Starbucks. Bye.

So in addition to a large amount of timber harvested from the pines, the area was also really important for being a source of iron ore. And it kind of drove the iron industry and munitions production during the 17th and 18th century. So it was even more interesting. Yeah, yeah, I was, I was thinking like, like war board two, but no, 17, like, yeah, yeah, I was way back. Yeah, way back. So bullets, it's,

you know, bullets. We always, you know, bullets. We're always needing bullets. Again, right. And uniquely American whore. I feel where we're going with this. You do. America. So it's a pretty critical part of the region's economy. But when manufacturers began relying on cheaper and more plentiful iron ore from the west in the mid-19th century, what was once a dense population in and around the Pine Barons started to kind of dwindle down. Much like many industrial cities of the East. Exactly. I'm a big history nerd.

I'm going to just interject on every single thing. Oh, no, honestly, I love that. Yeah, please do. So who remained were this small number of really like rugged individuals who were just Living off the land kind of thing. They were like we're not leaving the hills have eyes the hills have eyes The hills have eyes. That's what I'm feeling. Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, the Pine Barons. And honestly, the Pines were like, I don't give a shit, like it's cool in here, it's quiet. We have the Jersey Devil.

We don't like you anyway. So this is kind of a perfect setting for one of these cryptids or urban legends to come about where it's like- The people in the modern civilization with the people who refuse to leave the Pine Barons kind of thing. I think and my- Shyamalan did at that movie.

Yeah, the village. That's a great movie. That's one of those movies you either love or you hate it. I love it so much. I actually like that one. I do too. You know, again, hit or miss, but sorry. Yeah, not to do really complicated.

I feel like that was one that just hit at the end. I was like, all right. And it took place not at the Pine Barons, but exactly close enough. It's reminiscent for sure. It's what I'm imagining. It's what I'm picturing. They felt very Salem. You know, like a Salem. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, love love. We got to take you to Salem too. Add it to the list right. It's right over there. Yes. So according to McCloy, one of the earliest versions of the Jersey Devil's Origins are from a woman named Jane Leeds. So Leeds lived in Estilville, New Jersey,

which is about an hour away from the Pine Barons. And she was a mother of 12. Whoa. Of 12 what? 12 children? At the time. Well, actually, yeah, 12 children, I will say. I mean, my dad's much older in his family, each had like 17 and 16 kids on their, his parents side.

So yeah, I get it. Oh, that's good. Wow. That's a lot. I mean, you're living out in the pine barons. You got to, you know, the kids disappear in the pines. Sometimes you go, so you got to keep just replacing them. She provided a dozen. There you go. Oh, great movie again. And it's, I wonder why, but she was actually referred to as mother leads. And I'm like, huh, where'd you get that name? Oh, who could know?

The dozen, the children. Oh, it's weird. But she's still referred to us that when people talk about this story. And I mean, I feel like it would be grandmother at this point. But it should be a great, great grandmother leads. Just man-a-leads. Old lady leads.

Old lady leads. So she discovered, that she was pregnant with another child, a 13th child. Walking number 13. And she weirdly enough was not happy about this. So she cursed the pregnancy and said, wait, though, wait, who's the dad? That's kind of what I'm wondering. Yeah, right? He's the man. Where's father leads? That's my question. Where's old man leads, so very...

Where is he in this picture? I need to talk to him. That's what I want to know. I'm like, what do you mean? He put in your pants. You got 12 kids, my guy. This woman is losing her mind. She's outkilling.

She's just always out grilling. He's like, I'm not here, sorry. He's just like, I've got to go. I belong more. Although this was probably in the days for rent long hours, but anyway. He's chopping down wood. What time period are we talking about, by the way? Just so I can picture what clothes to put these people in in my mind.

This was like 1700s, I want to say. Yeah. So he's chopping wood. Oh, okay, got it, got it. So this is got it. It was like 1700s I want to say. Yeah. So he's chopping wood. Oh, okay, got it. Got it. So this is got it. It was like potato sacks. These are just children coming out everywhere. We are out in the wilderness. It is the 1700s. Yeah. Things are not awesome. Why we came here. We don't know. Everyone's questioning it. Everyone's like, why are we here? Yeah, but apparently no one decided to leave. So that and she's like, I'm just going to have all these kids here.

They really settled. Truly, they settled. It put down roots. Yeah, really settled in. That's for fucking sure. They created a civilization of their own, but that it was that 13th child that she was not psyched about. It's always the 13th kid that really puts your

me in number 13. That's the one you when you feel truly outnumbered. It's number 13. You're like, you know, it's number 13, right? Yeah, I feel like I can handle this, but up until then, me and all my personalities are doing pretty well. But it's a 13th man.

It's just really a bitch. I don't have that 13th kid to it. When she said, she said, I am tired of children, let it be the devil. Let this baby be the devil, she said. Would you have a couple questions? Like the baby in you? Yeah, like what?

Why? Why the devil into a child would be easier to deal with. Well, if she's all I'm saying is that she's hoping that the baby is the devil, what is wrong with these kids? They must be pretty bad. They must, if she's like, look, I'll take a devil baby over these照ers. You know what I mean? Honestly, these children must be wild and out. What are your kids doing? Lighting shit on fire in the pine barons, you know,

killing small animals. They destroyed half the pine barons. I can't just, poor mother leads, is like, I'd rather have a devil baby. It's true. It's a luck. Well, you know what? She got one. She's like, you know what, if I have one devil baby, maybe I'll be about 10 kids later.

There you go. And she got it. Because apparently this beastly child came into the world on the evening of a violent storm that actually came from the direction of the pine barons in 1735. Oh, okay. So people also claimed that mother leads probably indulged in sorcery as well,

which easily explains. Of course, because she's a woman in the 1700s who had a complaint about having 13 babies. So therefore she must be aware of which. There it is. Get her. She's going to have a devil baby. Oh, remember, hurry, quick, she's saying, oh, she's not a witch. Yeah, oops, that's nice. We'll get her right next time. We were wrong again.

Unless Malthy woman to do it. So obviously, this is easily what explains what happened because the legend goes that Mother Leeds gave birth to a healthy, very normal average child, but within minutes of being placed in her arms, the baby began to change into a terribly unholy thing. Now according to McCloy, this is a quote, human features disappeared. The body elongated tremendously, forming into a long serpentine shape. Hoves replaced the feet. It's pink chubby baby face coarsened into a long bony structure of a horse's head.

Bat wings sprung from its shoulder blades. Finally, it arose from the bed, larger and more powerful than a fully grown man. Damn. Then the silence was broken by the monster's rasping snarls, as he curled his forked thick tail and proceeded. No, no, this is always funny. He proceeded to beat everyone in the room with it, including mother leads.

With the tail? With the tail. Well, I mean, if he's, I look, how big is this room? You know what I mean? He might not have meant to. Like, this baby is just born. It's trying to get a hold of itself. It's probably turning around like, oh, shit. He's got a tail. And just whacking people with this giant tail.

Like, I'm so sorry. I'm all God. And it's just knocking things over. Maybe, devil, baby, didn't mean to. Well, listen, no, no. He's got a lot going on. He's got a lot of appendages to deal with. That little baby was not to blame here.

Oh, you know, look, we've seen the sign fell that episode. We've all seen some other babies. Exactly. It was just a really exceptionally, unfortunately, stretched out child. They're not cute right when they're after they're born. They look weird. I mean, I bumped into a couple things this morning.

You know, I walked in and I bumped into my coffee. It could have been the same thing. He's got a whole last tale to contend with. He might not have meant to beat everybody with it. He was just stressed. No spatial awareness. You know what I mean? It's just like, I've got a tale.

Oh my God. Yeah, it's hard. It's hard. I mean, we've all seen babies. Babies don't have any spatial, like a toddler. Doesn't have spatial awareness. It bends and everything. And now all. I mean, we've all seen babies. Babies don't have any spatial, like a toddler. Doesn't have spatial awareness. It's a bad thing. And now all of a sudden, this baby's growing from like just fresh out of the oven,

baby into full grown fucking bat will. Well, maybe also I think I read this article in the New York Daily News at the supermarket about three years ago. It was that baby. It's what I'm getting. Oh my gosh. That boy, yeah. He used to be on the front of every tabloid. Of everything.

That everyone. And the weird head and eyes. Yes. Oh man. And that was like the days before good AI. Like someone really fucking Photoshopped that thing. Someone's screaming. That was the images together.

They went to town. Hell yeah. This sharpened teeth and weird blood. And they like dark blue eyes. So under the eyes look really tired. Yeah. It was wild. Poor thing.

And here he was. This is his beginning right here. This is his beginning right here. He was also loud because he had an ear piercing bellow. And then he flapped his huge wings and shot right up the chimney and out into the night. Damn. So he just went right for it. He just beat the shit out of everybody in the chimney and out into the night. Damn. He just went right for it.

He just beat the shit out of everybody in the room and then left. Wow. That's it's a giraffe right after birth. They just get up and go. He's going around and then I'm impressed. I am impressed. He didn't even need to try. And he knew that the chimney went out, which is impressive.

Right out the oven. He was like, I bet that leads out. I'm going to go out there. He's like, you know where that goes? The air. I think that's what that is. And you know what, you know what I can fit through as a full grown bat human being? A chimney. That chimney. A chimney. Yeah, yeah. That'll be fun. So according to this account, this very believable account, McCloy notes several sleeping children with a Jersey devil's first worldly meal, which is rude. If you're hiring, you know that it's incredibly hard to attract top talent. And with the current labor market conditions, it's harder than ever.

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Zipper Cruder, the smartest way to hire. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ Uh, other versions say that his first meal was just the entire leads family. So, well, there was a lot of them to, you know, to go through. He ate his entire family, all 12 children, mama leads, and if there was a daddy leads, he was gone too, or he just went out into the night

and ate a bunch of sleeping kids. I mean, I would, I feel like going with the sleeping kids would probably be an easier get at first. You know what I mean, while you're kind of still learning how to function in this weird devil body. I think so. You don't wanna work for it. I mean, my kids first meal was mashed up avocado,

but like sleeping babies are, I guess, a great first meal. For a baby's, mashed avocado, whatever works. Whatever works, whatever you have on hand. Choices. All I know is I, we're all canceled. No. This is the end of this. That's it, this is the end.

I hope this was really fun. This was so fun. What a farewell episode. I'm very well- of this. That's it. This is the end. I hope this was really fun. This is so fun. What a farewell for a farewell episode. What a farewell. Yep, the lead's batboy is coming to take us all. There's another version of this story too, in case that wasn't good enough. So this version takes poor mother leads totally out of the equation entirely. And we're a lady's creator.

Oh, yeah, because now there's a totally different young woman who is also lonely. It's, we got to make sure that we know she's lonely. And she's from Leeds Point. Yeah, it's a 1700s for women. I'm sure she is. Everybody's lonely. No, it's not like she's like,

hey, let's talk about our feelings, honey. He's like, I'm going to go cut things in the field and have another woman. You're a witch. So it's like, yeah, I think they're all lonely. It's pretty much it. But apparently this poor woman fell in love with a British soldier during the American Revolution.

That's amazing. And so the obvious punishment for that is getting a devil baby because she betrayed the American cause. Obviously. That's what I always say. Yeah. I mean, I feel like that's also a story

that I've heard recently. People were like, you know what happens? A devil, baby. That's definitely, you're like, you know, this is familiar. So there are, besides this one. So that's the second way that he came about was just like, oops, you married a British soldier. Oh, wait, sorry, quit tangential question.

Who go? Is the New Jersey devils the name of their hockey team? Sure is. Because now they're now we're proud of it. Now we're like, okay, it was a thing. We know everybody was scared of it. And then at the end they were like, let's name a hockey team after it. They were like, this thing is pretty rad.

They did this thing that eats children sleeping in bed. We're going to name a hockey team after it. So there are other less common versions of the story that kind of incorporate like one or more of the elements of those two kind of like mixed and matched. Right, right, right. But in any case, they all just result in some hideous creature being born

and either fleeing or being forcibly cast out into the Pine Barons. And that's where it would adapt and live to this very day. So like any legend, the Jersey Devil exists mostly, or in large part, I would say, to kind of explain a variety of unfortunate or difficult events and phenomena in the region. I blame it for everything.

I'm everything that's happening right now. Fucking Jersey Devil. The Echo in the Zoom. It says, the planet's going backwards. All that. They would blame like droughts and crops on the Jersey devil, cows under producing milk, the Jersey devil, the absence of fish in a local stream, the Jersey devil.

It's all his fault. And in one instance, American naval hero, Commodore Steven, how do you say it Dave? Decatur. I was like, Dave, no. Decatur. Oh yeah, yeah, D-E-C-A-T-E-E, you are whatever. There you go. Commodore Stephen Decatur. I like it. He visited the Hanover Iron Works in Burlington, New Jersey just to like oversee the

production of Cannibal's because he wanted to make sure they met his standards and would actually work, you know. Imagine if that was your job. The oversight of Cannibal's. Truly, I just got to make sure they met his standards and would actually work, you know? Imagine if that was your job. The oversight of cannonballs. Truly, I just got to make sure they're cannonballs. I just got to make sure that the balls are looking good. I just needed to be a sphere. He's here to measure the balls. But that afternoon while he was readying the cannons for test firing,

he observed a bizarre creature flapping its wings across the range. And everyone present on the range that day backed up his, that his aim was perfect when he fired the cannon directly through the Jersey devil. And apparently literally ripped a hole straight through the Jersey devil. But the Jersey devil just was like, eh, and he just kept going. Like merely a flesh wound and just flew off. Like, did one not. He just shined.

He had all worried about this, but everyone there was like, saw it. He shot a cannibal at the Jersey Devil. That's so wild. I just picture him like, na na na na na na na. And he's just like flying away. Right? Yeah, yeah.

Way to test fire. I've thought, and you'll generate a real delixion. Yeah, like the big, and very angry, and higher scene for money by the way. Yeah, he's the original. Now, across Southern New Jersey, the devil was definitely a common scapegoat. He was blamed throughout this 19th century, again, for like loss of livestock on farms. He became the source of howling and shrieking that would be heard by farmers,

which I'm also like, maybe what was it if it wasn't that? Maybe we should investigate. Yeah, I was gonna say. It was someone being murdered and buried on someone's property as well. But we're just blaming a cryptid. But every now and then, apparently, the devil would make his way out of the pines

and would be spotted on battlefields and more heavily populated areas like Atlantic City. So there were sightings. He's a tourist. You know, he just wants to see the sights. That feels also very on brand for the Jersey devil. Like, hey, I'm going to go to some battlefields and it let's do it. I mean, like, I'm going to go blow some shit up with those cannonballs and gamble. Exactly. It really makes sense. Has anyone ever seen the Jersey devil and a certain former president? I've been thinking.

We know your time. Do we know it's their report? I never are there. Right. I can say I haven't. But who am I to say? That's all she wrote. Has it been on a sentence episode? Because if it has, we know it is true.

Then we know. Okay. I like it. But it wasn't really until the very end of the 19th century that he became to begin to appear in news reports. That's when we started reporting on him. God, he started giving interviews there. That's when he was like his manager was like, you really need to get the quote.

Yeah, he got his like, yeah, I was like, like look, you've got to get out and fight the story. I feel like he knows you. You've got to let people know what's going on. Exactly. You've got to get your role. One, two, people are going to misunderstand me. No one's going to listen. They're going to take it out of context and I'm just eating babies. You know, that's hard.

It's hard. There's that whole story where I beat everyone in the room upon birth. With quite a lot of people. And he's like, I just was, it was my tail. Yeah, no one's gonna believe that. Right, so I get it. He's in a difficult position. And we believe you.

I'm so sorry I've come on as a guest to your show and completely taken it off the rails. Oh no. Oh no, we love that. This is what we need. There are no rails. Off the rails is where we live. We rarely live on the rails.

I was just going to say our show has never ever been on the rails. It shouldn't be. Okay, good. I only like to do off the rails shows because that's how my brain works. It's our brains as well. So on July 29th, 1899, issues of the New Jersey City News reported that the beast had, quote, reappeared in New Jersey for the first time since it warned the pioneers of the approach of the Civil War, which I was like, wow, I love So someone would be like, Hey, guys, pass it on. It's gonna be a war. It's gonna be really fucked up. Just let you know. But we're gonna call it civil. We're gonna call it civil.

Did he tell that, did he tell Mr. Cannonball, Corporal Decatur? I'm saying. What's he whispering to? I need to know because someone knew that the Civil War was coming from the Jersey Devil. And didn't say shit. And I didn't pass it on. Yeah, because you know the Jersey devil was like pass it on.

And that guy was like, I'm not gonna pass it on. Yeah, he was like, do you just tell it a half people? Right. And then now he's like, I'm getting a bad name. Yeah. Meanwhile, I tried to warn people. He's like, if I say pass it on, you pass it on. You know, at the end of this, I think that we're gonna come out that the Jersey devil is has just then misaligned this hundreds of years. He misunderstood. He needs to do a tell all memoirs what he needs to do. I can't wait.

I'll do it. The super eyes out for that. It's going to happen. I wouldn't, I wouldn't doubt anything these days, truly. I know. I wouldn't either. We're manifesting it. It's going to hit number four on the New York Times best seller. 100%.

Okay. Yeah, good for him. I called that. Like, oh yeah, I got the audiobook. So the article described the beast as quote, a strange combination of serpentine body, horse head, clove and hooves, and forked tail, which is pretty much the origin description.

Oh, okay, we're sticking with the original, with the original body shape. Yeah, we're going with that. I hope he's gotten to use the tail a little better at this point though. I think he probably has gotten used to it at this point. But he was believed to have been banished from the area many years after bringing considerable misfortune to the residents of Jersey of South Jersey. But wait, does that mean that he's there hanging out and being welcomed in and people

like, buddy, that's what I wonder. Like hanging out and being welcomed in and people are like buddy That's what I wonder like are you hanging out with them then no I have a drink and then all of a sudden they're like whoa whoa whoa that was you Too many fucking cows, okay, buddy You crossed a line Well several years later in the spring of 1905, the devil started making headlines again in this time with a slightly different story attached to them now.

So in the article, it changes 100,000 times. Changing up, right? Right. He's always evolving with the times. The old story wasn't working, not getting as much traction. Exactly. Change it up a little bit. Okay.

So the article is titled Story of the Leeds Devil. And a reporter for Camden's Morning Post newspaper alleged that the devil had been born many years ago in Borden Town, New Jersey and was the product of a relationship between an American sea captain and his wife. Ooh. Well, now it does, it does involve, because they called him, they called the woman a tarleton before she married the captain, which when I first heard that, I was like, is that like a mixture of a harlot and a charlatan? Yeah, like a line. That's what I thought it would be.

These women? But apparently a tar, tarleton is a village in England. So I think they were just going back to that whole like, it's not an American, so that's what happened. But like the mother leads origin story, the captain's wife wished not to have a second child and was not psyched about the baby, even before it was born. So she gave birth to a child

bearing a close resemblance to the orthodox devil. Oh, so now we're getting the real devil into it. And exactly. And now the, Oh, the bas- Bas- Bas- Bas-

Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas-

Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Bas- Yeah, I love him. He's so cool looking. He's great. He's doing the whole like as above, so below thing. Yeah, the whoop piece. So that's what that baby did.

He was like, whoop hey, and they were like, that's not okay. So they were like, no, thank you. So judgmental for you. And I was just trying to get you into investigation. For your thinking, that's all. Listen to what he has to say. But apparently he became known in the neighborhood as the leads devil. And I love because when this came out, it was like, he's walking to school with his back

back. There's a lead devil. Right, he's like, you know, I'm just trying to get to chemistry. But yeah, exactly. I love it. Because it said like, it was a surprise to no one that she gave birth to the devil. And it's like, to no one, like, you know, one was surprised. I know. I feel like I would be surprised if I was there.

She's that's Tarleton. She's from England. Of course. I'm going to invent Tarleton now as the word that we describe and just start using it. It feels right like I think Tarleton words. We're Tarleton. It's got a good Tarleton to it. You Tarleton.

And you can say it to people and they know they won't know what you're at all. But they'll know it's an insult, that's for sure. Because it's got all those four more. One of those great words that you don't quite know what it means, but you know it's supposed to slap you. Yeah, I love those. Tarleton. So despite being described as looking like the Orthodox devil and being described as a

demon human hybrid, the morning post said that the beast is not just something a legend, but was actually a real creature that terrorized the town until it crawled into the fireplace and up the chimney and into the pine barons. So it's always going up a chimney. But once he had left to go in the pines, he would be seen by town's folk in and around the pines and in the woodlands and desolate tracks

in the southern section of the state. So that was going on. And then for much of the 19th century, the story, it appeared in newspapers from time to time, but it kind of was just like a oral storytelling thing. And by the beginning of the 20th century, all of a sudden there was a rash of sightings in more than 30 different towns, and it elevated this story to be like a full-blown, like

national thing that everybody could be teaching. It'd be hockey teaching. Okay. There you go. And during the week of January 16th, 1909, thousands of people from southern New Jersey to Trenton reported seeing the Jersey Devil, or at least seeing the tracks left behind. So in Trenton, the Devil's hoof prints were discovered in White Horse Park and in some backyards

of a bunch of residence houses. Oh my god, imagine if that was your house. I'm saying. I would think that was pretty cool to be honest. I would think that was awesome. I'd be excited. Yeah. Like, I want a big foot to just walk through my back yard. Oh, I didn't say that. I did. Yeah. I w be excited. Yeah, like I want a big foot to just walk through my backyard. Oh, I didn't say that. I did. Yeah, I

Wad that you that's your man. I would say hey and just have him walk right through I would say yeah Just hey, hey so cool to see you. Yeah, I want I get it. Yeah, you don't want to be you want to be left alone Yeah, out here mining your business having your lunch. Yeah, I get I'm not gonna blow up your spot. I just want to say hi Yeah, I see your hat that says no pictures. It's okay. Like I expect you to be. That's fine. You're resting disguise. You're security people are with you. I get it. Carry on. Carry on, my friend. Thanks for the visit. Yeah. But one of the residents told the local local reporter, I recognize the tracks from those reproduced in the newspapers. They looked to me as if it was the hoof of,

was that of a young cult, not a clove in hoof as I've heard of it being described. So if it was a young cult, that person probably then got murdered by the rest of the townspeople. They were like, I don't know. It's the devil. I mean, he's like, you guys, I'm pretty sure it's just like a small horse on the loose. They're like, no, it's the little hole. It's the little hole. I'm like, I think it's just an animal though. They're like, you're a witch. And apparently after these reports came out and Trenton letters from residents in nearby towns started reporting sightings of what they described as a one-legged, one-footed bird that had been lurking about the city and attacking someone.

I had one-legged bird. Everyone's. You had a one-legged bird. I had a one-legged bird. I had a one like a bird. I had a canary. Anyway, that's my one-legged canary. So I can go. You had like a one-third Jersey devil.

It's a good to just edit it out. Just edit all of it out. Just the intro. Hi, welcome, Jody's Wheaton. And then edit everything else I set out. And be like, let's get to the fucking point. That was fun. I thought Jody's getting what's there. Like she was.

She was really here, like too much. She was. Never. Never. So the attacks caused a small panic but to along Southern and Northern New Jersey. So much so. And I would say this is more than a small panic.

They actually closed schools and factories down at one point because they were so panicked and Residents were locking their doors and windows like scared this thing was gonna come into their house Yeah, Jersey Like people are like it's coming for you Close the the factories Can't install building No more cannonball measuring that's it that was a thing. He was like I don't want to be shot No more cannonball building. I was no more cannonball building. No more cannonball measuring.

That's it. No, I don't know. That was his thing. I don't want to be shot by a cannonball. Again, I'm going to shut all this shit down. And I don't want these kids getting smart enough to go work in a factory. So one man in Bristol was actually awakened one night who was young daughter screams in the night.

And when he ran into her room, he saw through the window a large beast standing just outside along the banks of the river. And he described the noises it was making as quote, like the scratching of a phonograph before the music begins. And yet it also had something of a whistle to it. You know how the factory whistle sounds? Well, it was something like that.

And I said, no, sir, I don't know what the factory whistle sounds like, but I can imagine. But was that a quote? That was me at the end. That was just you. Got it. Wouldn't that be amazing if the reporter was like, I don't know what that sounds like, but thank you.

But it sounds like a phonograph like, and then it also sounds like, I would imagine. You know what, if you ever heard, have you ever heard cats fighting on your roof at two in the morning I'm just saying that shit sounds like the devil I am not a huge fan of cats, but that yeah, I just I can't imagine what like mouth shape This thing was making to make those kinds of sounds like the like scratch sounds and then they're like whoa

It was like you know, it's sort of like beatboxing. You know, you watch people like, I don't know how you're making that noise with your mouth, but it's like coming out. Yeah, you know, they're like doing it all at once. That's actually how I just did because I was terrible. That was really good. I liked it. It was also like kind of like ventriloquism.

You know, maybe he has like a mini Jersey devil. Maybe he was like watch what it's us. It's about the just doing the side thing. Yeah, look at this thing. I like that. I switched, I switched. I'm like, holy shit. Now, everyone from children to police officers reported

seeing the Jersey devil. And in one case, Patrolman James Sackville. Woof Puzz. Yeah. Yeah, just put that out there. And in one case, Petrolman James Sackville, whoop, paws. Yeah, just put that up there. Poor pub of the Bristol police reported going to investigate reports of dogs howling and barking in a residence yard. And when he turned to leave the area, he ended up finding himself standing right in front of the Jersey Devil. Oof.

Also, this guy, Petrolman James Sackville, he went on to serve as the city's chief of police. Oh, damn. And he described the devil as winged and hopping like a bird, but also had the features of some peculiar animal. And he claimed, which this is my favorite claim because I'm like, no, you didn't. He claims that he ran towards the beast and I was like, James, did you?

Whatever. I don't know. I don't know about that. Untrue. If this thing is standing there, looking the way it looks and it goes, Wicker, Wicker. Woo.

He had a reputation to oppose. You shake yourself and then you ran away. You ran away and changed and then you were like, I ran after it and you did not start. Yeah, no way. And he also said this thing ran away from him. This thing retreated down the path. Mm-hmm.

The jeeps that bill. He also said that it emitted a frightening cry or it's frightening cry until it flew out of sight. So it went, we're rare and then ran out of. He was like, remix, I'm gonna leave. I'm gonna leave. I'm gonna leave. Now, while most two claim to have seen the beast

described it as bird-like, at least with the wings and all that, and that like screechy sound, will some used completely unique descriptions. E.W. minister, Bristol's postmaster at the time, described the devil as having a head resembling that of a ram with curled horns, and he said his neck was thrust forward in flight. So he was just living. Yeah, he's just living. But he ended up making his way south from Trenton and he began causing some more havoc.

Now, in the early morning hours of January 19th, Mr. Mrs. Nelson Evans. That's my birthday. No way. Well, a couple on your birthday, they were woken up by strange noises and looked out their window to find the devil, quote, cavorting before their eyes on the roof of their shed, which I just picture him being like, like sassy on the roof of their Shed, like, like, like, a knee, like, a little boarding to me just seems like, like, what's happening out there?

Cavorting to me feels like was there a, was there a late BG devil? You know what I mean? Was it were things happening on the roof? Was there a... That's what I thought. Or was he just by himself? Which is weird, bro, come on, don't do that. Nobody needs that in the middle of the night. And not on my roof.

Don't do it on a shed. That'd be you cavorting on the roof of my house. Come on, go to the boys. You've got a whole fucking forest. Go find some privacy. You've got an entire pine Barons to do that in with like a lack of civilization. This feels inappropriate, sir.

It really does. But in their report to the newspapers, Mr. Evans said the devil was about three feet and a three feet and a half high with a head like a calli dog and a face like a horse. But how do you have a head like one thing and a face like another? That's what I was just thinking.

Well, he did have a long neck, wings about two feet long. This is what's weird though. He said his back legs were like those of a crane and it had horses hooves. What, sir? I'm sorry, what are you talking about? This man had some chocolate before his.

How did, how did crane legs hold this whole thing? But then the feet are horses hooves. It's like, I just also love that nobody can agree what the fuck this looks like. Nobody can't. He also, he also said he watched this thing for about 10 minutes in the backyard. And then he opened the window.

This is my favorite part. He said he opened the window and he went, shoo, and the devil turned around, barked at him and then flew away. I love that it took him 10 whole minutes to think, what should I say to this? Shoo, shoo. And he went rough and then,

if the devil leaves when I say, shoo, I'm not scared. Well, he wasn't done because by the end of the week, the devil had made its way down to Philadelphia. Oh, wow. A reporter for the morning call wrote, scientists are puzzled to give a name to the beast, which is a combination of bat, kangaroo, and pony.

What? Now he's a kangaroo. Like, now that we're adding in kangaroo to the mix, I'm like, oh, I get locking your doors now. I don't want that. Yeah, I want to know'm like, oh, I get locking your doors now. I don't want that. I want to know, you can't just come and kick your door down. You know what I mean? And what part of it is kangaroo?

Is it, I heard crann legs in the same article from this reporter for the morning call. He said, if something rather weird is not flying around, the condition of mind of South Jersey and South Philadelphia would provide a feast for students of mob hallucination. So I think this reporter is like, I think you're all hallucinating. You're all hallucinating. Yeah, but in an editorial in the Atlantic City Daily Press,

one person wrote, when one stops to think about how absurd is the latest Jersey sensation about the Leeds Devil, which has been given much space in the newspapers of the entire country. One must feel ashamed of himself to think that he stopped long enough to read the headlines less the entire article.

Roode. Which I was like, all right, that's rude. That was directly at Officer Falksburg. Officer Falksburg or whatever's name was that yeah, but I'm like, you know, like live a little. It's also like, let's believe in this little devil. Well, in like, are you not writing an article? But can you imagine if you're like living somewhere and just cons every story is like a pony kangaroo cally showed up at the door. You're like, shot pop. And your editors, like, you have to write an article about this.

A week later, so, sightings of the Jersey Devil after this little article, the sightings just kind of ended. And everyone was apparently shamed out of st- Everyone was shamed of themselves. Everyone was shamed. But then, the Jersey Devil, the Jersey Devil was like, you guys, no, like, I'm not letting you be ashamed because you made just one more appearance in a village

just outside Salem that February before returning to the Pine Barons. So in the months and years that followed, people all over Southern New Jersey in Northern Pennsylvania started to theorize as to what could have caused the sightings. And they were blaming it on everything from a complete hoax and misidentified creatures to genuine sightings of the actual Jersey devil.

The Brooklyn Media Research Society suggested it was, quote, a type of marsupial carnivore, which a kangaroo is a marsupial, correct? That's what I was just going to say. Or fishaped, both previously thought to be extinct. So we're thinking it's like an extinct creature that we are like, oh shit, we're wrong. What is a fishaped? It's just when you have toes separated to the base. So it just means clove and footed.

Oh, okay. That makes sense. So they thought that was extinct. And they were like, maybe it's not. And the Academy of Natural Science on the other, told reporters, there is no bird which could make such tracks in the snow. And there is no scientific record of such animals, or as have been described in the newspapers.

So they're like, shut up. Shut up. If the Academy of Natural Sciences was unable to find evidence of any animal that would resemble anything described in the papers, it's probably because, despite some of the overlap in those descriptions, like, you know, the wings and the horse feet and the cloven hooves and all that stuff, they also varied so wildly from one description to the next that it's like, of course, you're not going

to find something that makes sense. Yeah, no. And also, you know, at night, cavorting on a roof, there's no, it is not street lights. There's no outdoor lights. Not like you can flip on the garage sensor light, you know, I mean, it is, you are just going by what you see dancing in the dark. Dancing in the moonlight.

And you just woke up, too. So you're groggy. Then many years after the Jersey Devil Panic of 1909 had kind of ended, people in and around South Jersey started reporting, reportedly started attempting to create additional action by making their own Jersey Devil footprints and reporting them to authorities in the press. They wanted to start it up again. Right, right, right. Because I shouldn't have that happening before. Yeah, of course not. All those other ones, all those other ones. He's very quick.

Yeah. And in one case, a Philadelphia animal trainer was hoping to bolster attendance to his performances. So he kind of contributed to the press with the whole thing. He told reporters his vampire bat had escaped and was on the loose. And attributed that to the increase in devil sightings. It's like, oh, sorry.

And actually, then this leads right into one of the biggest hoaxes was from that, was probably the one that Norman Jeffries of New York did. He was an entrepreneur with a real penchant for very bizarre promotional events. He wanted to capitalize on the whole hysteria surrounding the devil. So he bought a small kangaroo from a friend in upstate New York and planned to pass it off as the

Jersey devil. So there were small kangaroos in upstate New York is what I'm saying. There were. And it's not an issue. Thank you. Why is there a kangaroo in upstate New York? Your guess is as good as mine. And it gets worse because he painted green stripes on the kangaroo. What? But the kangaroo licked the paint off before it dried. Oh. Now the kangaro's got lead poisoning.

So then he attempted to attach a set of wings. And apparently the kangaroo just demolished the wings that he made because it's a kangaroo and it's like, why the fuck are you putting wings on it? It was like, I'm already cool enough on my own. Yeah, he's like, I'm a fucking kangaroo. What do you do? I'm yoked. I'm yoked.

Don't mess with me. So he made a second set of wings out of bronze and rabbit fur. And that worked. He put the wings on his Jersey devil, and then he draped the kangaroo in nets and paid about 10, like local heathens, to act as farmers with pitchforks

to surrounding the animal in a cage. Oh, that makes me really sad. Yeah, me too. That's so horrible. Like, fuck you, man. This animal's like, what is wrong with you? I am just a small... Give me back to that couch carrying your roo.

And I... That's all. That's all. He's like, I belong in Australia. Get me the fuck out of here. And this whole thing happened in the basement of the Dime Museum. Inspectators were led in one by one to look at the Jersey

Devil, but they could only look at it for a second or two when the curtain would be lifted. And then it would be dropped immediately. But throughout the 19th century, residents of southern New Jersey feared the Jersey Devil, and they panicked at the mere mention of a sighting. It was a big deal. And stories of his presence would circulate from town to town, and sometimes possees were formed to capture it,

and bounties were placed for on its head, some ranging from 100 to $100,000. Damn. And by the 1930s, societal attitudes toward the devil based on its head, some ranging from 100 to $100,000. Damn. And by the 1930s, societal attitudes toward the devil kind of changed because all of a sudden, instead of forming posseist to go, you know, to put a bounty on his head,

they were like, we kind of love him. Like he's kind of our guy. And he became like a hundred and thirty years. A sort of pride. And in 1938, the Jersey Devil was officially designated as the state demon of New Jersey, making it the first only state demon in the country. Wow. I was going to say, wait, wait, wait, that, that feels like it implies that there's other

state demons. And I would like to know that I was so hoping there was more. Can we make more? I would love to make that. I was so hoping there was more. Can we make more? I would love to make more. It sounds like you could. You know that there's some states in this country that definitely, I'm like, I could think of a few. I could think of some demons.

I wish we could name. And while sightings of the creature definitely became less common than they once were, like we talked about earlier, the name became popular and even became the name of an NHL talky team called the New Jersey doubles. Look at that four shadow way. There you go. Look at, I can't believe I, first of all, I can't believe I knew the name of the NHL hockey team for New Jersey. That is a randomness piece of information. But secondly, wow, wait a just, it would be like if we had just the bad boy NHL team. The bad boys. That was sure.

That we could baseball team. Bad boys. Although I don't think anybody would be very like intimidated by them. I don't think so either. I'd be like, you're holding my back. You're holding my back. We don't have feet tall as far as we know. Yeah.

It's not very intimidating. That's very, well, goes away when you say shoe. No. Come on. That's fair. I know. Yeah, it's not very intense. It goes away when you say, shoot. No, come on. That's that's fair. You know what that boys it is. That boys there you go. That boys. But the Jersey devil never went away. He's still he appears in books and television shows. He's in video games, he's in movies.

He's like, he's on the like talk shows. You know, he is at the forefront of licensing out his imaging to AI is what he's doing. He's going to be on the next one of the hot wing show. I've been trying to start my DJ career. All of a sudden, now he's like, I'm a sound cloud rapper. I've got a podcast. I've got an NHL team.

Really his branding and marketing is genius. Top notch, so. Congratulations, Josh. I'd all started in the beginning. She was like, give a quote. Find them on TikTok, guys. Yeah. She's the Jersey devil doing trending dances.

That's him. I would love that. So that, that's the story of the Jersey devil. That was so much fun. I really like that story. The Jersey devil is fun Yeah, I got to love it rarely does it wind up in the naming of an NHL hockey team, you know true Go to Jersey. I mean cryptids can claim that yeah, yeah, right poor one out

Yeah, you know It's they got to keep something going and that's good for them. They do. Yeah, it's true. Oh, you guys, this was so much fun. This was so much fun. Thank you so much for coming on. Yes, seriously. You are literally welcome back. You are so fun.

Anytime. I, well, what I'm going to start doing now is listening to the podcast when I'm driving around my car and just interjecting my own thoughts that you will neither be able to hear nor will anyone else, but I'll feel like I'm a part of the podcast voice note them to us. I was just going to say well exchange numbers and you can voice note it. No seriously this has been so much fun. I'm such a huge fan of you guys. I love

I love your energy. I love like the vibe everything. It's great for somebody who also obviously tell stories with 1500 side stories. It's really great to listen to. Thank you so much. We're huge fans. So this was a big deal. I think. What was it that Drew said? Drew goes this, my fiancee, he goes, this is your biggest gift. Like, and I was like, I agree. I was like, yes. And our researcher, Dave, who did like all of the research for the Jersey Devil stuff. Great work Dave. Huge fan, huge hallmark, he's in the room right now. Hi Dave.

We got a huge job. Great job. You did great. I know you're always doing a lot of research and you do a really great job with it. Hell yeah. Do you really great research? Yeah, yeah.

Because I know how it is having a podcast. He's so interesting. If I were left to do all of my own work, it would be a shit show. So yeah, we did for a while and then we were like, well, then it was like chaotic. We were like, help, help Dave. Yeah. And Dave swooped in like the Jersey devil instead of got you.

He beat us with his tail. We pulled it out of his little pouch because he's smoking grew and just, yeah, he blew in the room. He was just storing yeah. Yeah, he blew it in the room. That was great. He was just storing it. Well, this has been amazing. Well, thank you guys so much for listening. Thank you, Jody, for joining us.

We hope you guys keep listening and we hope you keep it weird. But not so weird that you actually want to like stitching on like hoves onto a small kangaroo and putting it on your roof to Cervort and then trying to sell it to stories and and make a big thing about it and naming it in the NHL hockey team like don't keep it that weird but almost never Perfect that was fantastic It's all the sudden I was like fucking blanking It's happening. Hey, Prime Members!

You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen Add Free with Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.