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Historic encounters / Jersey Devil, 1909
In the third week of January 1909, towns across South Jersey and around Philadelphia reported hoof prints in the snow and a winged, horse-headed creature. Schools closed, mills shut and the press had a field day.
13 cases29 newspaper pages4 marked as probable hoaxes
The Pine Barrens near Vincentown, New Jersey · June 1899
Pine Barrens folk said the Leeds Devil, not clearly seen since it supposedly warned of the Civil War, was back: two men in separate settlements reported it at about the same time. Locals took it as an omen of disaster.
Camden, Gloucester and Burlington counties, New Jersey approx. · Jan. 19, 1909
A Philadelphia dispatch reported clear two-legged, hoof-like tracks in the crust of the snow, which had turned scores of towns in Camden, Gloucester and Burlington counties into places where women and children were afraid to go out after dark. The writer said he had meant to make fun of the Leeds Devil but found the fear too real.
“the footprints of a two-legged beast or bird, shod with steel”
Vineland, New Jersey · Jan. 20, 1909
A Vineland correspondent wrote that Moses Carter was reading in his dining room when the creature smashed the window and pushed in a long, bright red neck, with eyes like arc lamps and a three-pronged tongue. The story was played for thrills.
“It had eyes the size of arc lamps”
Probably a hoax or tall tale Told with obvious exaggeration; treat it as a tall tale.
Trenton and Mount Holly, New Jersey · Jan. 21, 1909
Harry Clymer of Groveville found hoof prints in his back yard, and Clarence Williams saw similar tracks in Trenton's City Park. Both said they looked like a small horse's, but in pairs with gaps that suggested great leaps. At Mount Holly an elderly citizen, William Cronk, said the Leeds Devil had landed in his back yard.
Burlington, New Jersey · Jan. 23, 1909
From Burlington came word that the creature, now nicknamed the flying hoof and given horse's legs and enormous wings, was still being reported by sober citizens. A New Yorker claimed it had escaped from his shop, and the National Museum's bat expert said he had seen worse things between midnight and sunrise.
Smyrna, Delaware · Jan. 23, 1909
After Jersey Devil tracks were found in the snow in two Mount Vernon Street yards, a stable driver in Smyrna was persuaded the creature was in the transportation company's yard and shot it. The Smyrna Times reported it as a joke played on him.
Probably a hoax or tall tale A practical joke, as the paper itself said.
Milton, Sussex County, Delaware · Jan. 29, 1909
A Milton correspondent said the New Jersey visitor was surely the same devil that came to Sussex County near the Drawbridge about 34 years earlier. That one had a single shod foot and left tracks in the snow around a farmer's haystacks.
West Paterson, New Jersey · Jan. 31, 1909
Early one morning a Paterson police sergeant wired headquarters that the devil-bat had been found. The reserves were rushed to West Paterson, where officers and a dozen citizens hunted through the woods behind a sanitarium after hair-raising shrieks were heard near an old mill. A streetcar motorman described the thing.
“We have found the devil-bat”
Ninth and Arch Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · Feb. 5, 1909
Papers reported that a Philadelphia showman named Hope had spread rumours of the beast to promote a so-called Australian vampire on show at the Ninth and Arch Museum, and that the sightings everywhere were imaginary.
Probably a hoax or tall tale Reported at the time as a museum publicity stunt.
Woods three miles west of Seaford, Delaware approx. · March 28, 1909
Five young Seaford men out picking arbutus in the woods west of town said a queer, dog-like animal about two feet tall, with large hoofs, came out of a brush pile. Papers called it the Jersey Devil.
Atlantic City, New Jersey · May 5, 1909
Captain George Doughty was said to have overpowered the Jersey Devil just outside Atlantic City after it attacked him. It turned out to be a huge bird of unknown species, with claws like a vulture's, feathers like an albatross's and a parrot's beak, and it was put on exhibition.
Spring Valley, New York · June 1909
Armed men searched the hills and swamps around Spring Valley for the Jersey devil bird, or bombat, described as having an immense head, a small hairy body and arms with web-like skin. Locals refused to believe the Atlantic City capture.
Burlington, New Jersey · Oct. 18, 1909
In October, a Burlington story said the carcass of the Jersey Devil had been found fresh in the woods. Reprints in at least a dozen papers described it as a blend of sea serpent, kangaroo, bobcat and "Jersey lightning" (applejack).
Probably a hoax or tall tale Written as a joke; one paper said it was a small kangaroo.
