The Jersey Devil Ft. Jodie Sweetin | Morbid | Podcast | Forensic Files

you're listening to a morbid Network podcast Mike Williams set off on a hunting trip
into the swamps of North Florida where it was thought he met his Fate by a group of hungry alligators except that's
not what happened and after the uncovering of a secret love triangle the truth would finally be revealed listen
to Over My Dead Body gone hunting early and AD free on wanderie Plus hey weirdos I'm Ash I'm Elena and this
is morbid [Music] we have a special guest today weirdos party party party it's Jody Sweden hello
you probably know Jody as Stephanie Tanner like first and foremost because iconic icon 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's 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 to
be here um I love morbid I love all things spooky and weird and creepy and uh and you guys are hilarious so yeah oh
thank you yes we feel the same way too as soon as you came on the zoom I was like oh my God old friend
yeah yep yep it's true living room yeah 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 yeah they're standing you've got no idea
yep we're all just hanging out together just Vibes yeah yeah you didn't I mean you guys were asleep it was a little
weird but you know we've been through a lot together yes yeah yeah in the last five minutes I
mean we've been through solar flares and planets in retrograde lifetimes we've lived together lifetimes of things yeah
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 Elena's gonna
present 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 I was like the weird kid at the library when I was
like eight to like checking out books on like the Amityville Horror and like all
kinds of weird stuff right all the ghost stories and like weird stuff at the library like oh that was you any other
aisle yeah yeah yeah that was me it was yeah I was hoarding all the weird creepy
books um gosh one that's fascinating you know and it depends because like there's like I
I'm fascinated with like serial killers simply because I find like abnormal psych or or the the sort
of various shades of of psychology really interesting yeah because it's just humans are more terrifying than any
monsters we can really make up so much so um 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 oh yeah in
downtown L.A oh yeah 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
um but the Night Stalker case in particular because I I I think it was what year was that it was like oh that
was early yeah I think it was yeah because I I I was I I mean I was little but I vaguely remember it being sort of
in The Ether and like being talked about um 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 uh man like some people just it's
just it doesn't there's no victim profile it was there was no map there was no plan there was no
um type like 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 brain trauma and all not as an excuse obviously but it's an interesting it's just sort of an
interesting thing because you can kind of see this whole thing like pieced together yes and as an LA girl I'm
always fascinated by those also um the um I mean the Manson Murders yeah obviously
um also my friend lives on that property oh wow yeah so like I it's just uh um I
mean obviously the house has since been torn down and he's built a place and stuff but
um but yeah it's I mean it's the property nonetheless yeah and that's kind of like a similar thing too like no
rhyme no reason yes pure chaos yeah pure K and yeah and that one had like a weird
Beach Boys connection and so yeah like there's so yeah there's I have several weird like connections to that case in
particular so um yeah it's pretty pretty [ __ ] up those are two can I say that yeah I can say that yeah oh yeah all the
time got it I was like wait yeah I can okay just checking oh yeah okay no I was those two are like it
really is the chaos of it all that stresses me out especially about the Night Stalker case yeah when you can go
down to like kids and go all the way up to like 90 year olds and everything it was and no real Rhyme or Reason as to
um meth 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 exactly of horror
to me and I think that's like a lot of True Crime is 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
Cecil yes my friend and I like figured out how to get into the alley behind the thing there were like you can go to the
place where like he's yeah yeah so did anything happen while you were at the Cecil like any kind of paranormal
happening no because I mean we've got we've also gone during the day but I I mean I I there's so many great historic
creepy places in downtown LA but no nothing ever happened while we were there but
um they've now since reopened it again oh yeah I saw that recently and turned it into uh 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 L.A and obviously the housing market sucks and no one has money to buy two million dollar condos downtown
anymore so yeah so they I think they have now reverted it back to um like low income housing okay which was kind of
what it was previously yeah yeah um but there was also that weird documentary in that that was at the
hotel Cecil oh yeah I want to say he was dutchered something I'm trying to remember what that there was that guy
there was the girl that wound up in the water tank yeah Lisa limb that's like a really sad that's 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 um 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'm gonna go in here while it's
empty oh yeah I feel like that's when something would happen oh yeah so have you ever had any paranormal experience
in general in your life that's been like holy [ __ ] yes I have so okay you're like
back for this one I'm like so picture this Sicily 19 now um so God this was 10 years ago or a
little more um I worked in drug and alcohol treatment I was a director of operations
and we had several properties here in La that we rented um and one of which was this huge
property up off of um Wonderland uh here in the Hollywood Hills and it think used to it was owned or Jared Leto
bought it after we had rented it out or something iconic it's eight it takes up three addresses it's a gigantic property
and it was originally built as a military uh base they it has a Sound Stage attached to it they would shoot
um World War II propaganda films here no way and it's also rumored that they held
people there um without because it was in the Hollywood 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 took the
whole thing um so we had had it as a property and we there was um we had it as a sober living
and we had there was like an art gallery attached I mean it was gigantic right so
uh at the time I was looking for an apartment had to be out of my old apartment with my kids I was going
through divorce whatever it was kind of crazy and so there was an apartment that
was uh 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 lived 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 battle through yeah it was crazy they're like Mom we love this
place right 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 um our the handyman that used to go over
there all the time he would talk about how like creepy it was over there and we would all kind of laugh and be like oh
yeah whatever he's like no no like it's real there's like a woman's voice that keeps talking and I'm like anyway I feel
like whatever like and I I mean I didn't discount it because like you know Amazon
stuff happens but I was like ah 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 uh I'm in the bathroom brushing my teeth and my my younger
daughter is B is standing there and kind of looking back into the broom and she just starts going no no no no no no no
no no no no no no no no no oh and I was like what what's happening what are you talking to
and she was like it's the lady in the corner 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 okay you're like I have to parent through
this like [ __ ] well let's talk to her and let her know let's communicate I'm always like I
don't know what I I don't know it's like let's reason with them I you know so I was like
um whoever is here right now we know that you're we're in your space like it's okay but um you're scaring my
little one right now and so um you know if you could leave that would be great like I don't know what do you want to
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 um hear knocks on the door
um in that hallway and there would be I mean it would be late at night nobody was there and nobody 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 craziest 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 [Music]
if you guys know anything about me you know that I am all about being comfy I love soft sweatpants I love soft pajays
I just said pajes but I meant PJs I love anything soft and cozy which is exactly
why I am freaking obsessed with Buffy sheets Buffy has Earth's softest bedding like the softness on the planet I got
mine this morning and put them on my bed I haven't slept on them yet I can I'm counting down the actual minutes until I
can get into my bed tonight and this is what we got we got the Brie sheet set by
Buffy and apparently they are the softest sheets you'll ever try and just from putting them on my bed I know that
the sheets are woven from eucalyptus which makes it softer than cotton or linen and you can sleep cooler because
fabric made from eucalyptus is naturally cool to the touch it's also researched back to be more breathable than cotton
or linen and perfect for hot sleepers I'm not a hot sleeper but Drew is so he makes our bed sort of like a an oven and
then I'm like wow I'm literally sweating and I wouldn't be if I had Buffy sheets
so now maybe tonight it'll be different and I can't wait Buffy is really awarded
and recognized Buffy products are consistently on best of lists architectural digest and glamor named
The Buffy Breeze sheet set the best bed sheets of 2023 and I believe them see for yourself why Buffy has over 50 000
five-star reviews upgrade your bedding with debris sheet set by Buffy go to buffy.com and use code morbid for 25 off
your first order that's buffy.co promo code morbid for 25 off I used to scrub dust wash shampoo
disinfect and vacuum my entire freaking house but no matter how much cleaning I did I would still smell the cat's litter
box and it was driving me absolutely insane and I felt so Yucca but then that all changed when I made the switch to
pretty litter truly nothing beats pretty litter's ability to instantly trap odor
it's Ultra absorbent it's lightweight low dust and one six pound bag works for me for up to a month without clumping do
you know how big of a deal that is that means no more wasting litter and also you don't have to scoop the the pee I've
told you that before I hate that part you don't have to do that if you have pretty litter and that really gives me
peace of mind also pretty litters crystals change color to indicate early signs of potential illnesses in my cat
like urinary tract infections kidney issues and more and if you're a cat owner you know that's a big deal because
they're not walking up to you and telling you that they don't feel good and if that wasn't enough pretty litter
ships free right to my door I never ever run out I don't have huge kitty litter bags taking up space and even better I
don't have to Lug those huge tubs from a store to my car and into my house and my
home has truly never smelled better people have noticed pretty litter has helped eliminate cat box stink in my
house and it can do the same for you make the switch today go to prettylitter.com morbid and use code
morbid to save 20 on your first order that's pretty litter.com morbid code morbid to save 20 on your first order
pretty litter.com morbid code morbid terms and conditions apply see site for details
[Music] and in order to access the film vaults you had to go downstairs into like down
into the thing and they 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 all like and and the lights were the kind that were on sensors oh it was obviously so big so
you would walk through somewhere and then if you were still for a while the lights would turn off oh my God that's a
terrible seven no so I would be down like carrying stuff down to the vaults or like getting stuff out or whatever
and putting it back and um yeah there were definitely quite a few times that I'd be in there and it was just like
like the light starts and then you'd be like waving and if you're not right in front of the sensor
you're like okay feel like waving running up and down the hallway oh yeah it was it was definitely
um a creepy a a creepy place to live but kind of cool and I'm always glad that I
uh couldn't say that I had that experience yeah that's wild that's horrifying those are couples
experiences 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 a transition straight
down like a toddler bed right right of course it's yeah so we come running and 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 don't 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 and then I was like are they here now
and they were like no 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 you're like and this was like an old it was an
old it was from like the 1800s so I was like cool right right right and I just stepped into the hallway and I was like
Hey ever and 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 this is fine like you know I'm gonna say how you guys like I'm gonna give this a try so I was
like Hey guys like you're freaking them out like can you just like chill out and
not try to cut their sheets tonight like we'll talk about it tomorrow maybe and they were like yeah I was like is
everything good now and they were like yeah they never complained about it again just like one time yeah you gotta
yeah that's what I'm saying you gotta 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-between space for hundreds of years I get that
um 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 I try to cut
my sheets like not scare the [ __ ] out of the kids because they're never gonna go
to sleep and then I'm gonna be angry yeah deal with it they're gonna be traumatized forever so like just come in
my room like I can handle it right right yeah look if you need to to cut sheets whatever right here take it here's some
old ones yeah have at it but just leave the kids alone please do a craft project
you're dead I can't imagine what that's like so yeah yeah I get it ghost look go
see graphs too for a while you know yeah you know yeah that's wild they were trying to recreate the scene from
Beetlejuice where they cut the holes out of the eyes of the sheets and just floated in they were trying to get us
out of that was it so that someone would notice them right but they yeah and they
were like [ __ ] they just went about it in a weird way you know you know like oh
man guys we're just trying to get our outfits right yeah 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 oh incredible
yeah I don't I don't miss the days of like everything being like a 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 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 it's a wild ride that's a different Journey right that must be such a different Church it is it
is quite a different journey I just remember who I was at 13 and 15 and I'm like sorry Mom sorry sorry everyone I've
called my mom and apologized so many times oh yeah although now my kids are they're actually great it but it really
was I mean pandemic did not do anyone any favors but my older one like started Middle School right when it she was like
started sixth grade and then it hit and then it was all seventh and then part of
eighth like yeah it was not a great experience it was so hard horrific anyway I'll be glad when we're done truly it is
not looking forward to that at all talk about spooky just yeah that was like just gonna say that's horror right there
they are horrified yeah I would take someone cutting my sheets every single night and and the lady in the corner
over having to go to middle school again oh yeah ten times over I welcome it let's go
yeah yeah yeah yeah well I feel like all of that is like the perfect transition into the Jersey Devil yeah we're gonna
talk about the Jersey Devil today or the devil in the pine bear the Jersey Devil
does he do uh gym tan laundry or is this a totally different kind of Jersey no no
that's poly D honestly he might though because there's 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 chupacabra 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 Bridgewater Triangle where all that fun stuff is I
know I know I remember you guys talking about out that one time on one of your episodes about and I was like I want to
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 Capistrano and um I did a supernatural show here as well uh with a couple other
people that was really fun but I yeah I I I'm the one that like goes and finds weird old creepy abandoned places and
I'm like you guys we should go in yeah and everyone else is like sometimes yeah we gotta take you to the Lizzie Borden
house yes close by us I would oh my God I want to go there so bad we spent the night there yeah we did it was wild you
did was it creepy yeah it was horrifying if we didn't sleep I wouldn't let us yeah it has the harshest vibe in there
like it is really very hard to relax you can play feel it yeah like it's heavy yeah yeah yeah yeah fascinating okay
yeah we'll make plans for that after yeah okay yeah yeah we'll make our we'll do our our uh our ghost tour plans after
part two is ghost tour so 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 Barrens is where it came out of wow
there's so many things that are so unique so the United States that are horrifying it's really and unique is
such a nice way to put it it's a unique foreign so the Pine Barrens in New Jersey is a
very dense forested region and it covers more than 1700 square miles wow which is
apparently 1.1 million Acres holy [ __ ] 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
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 we see it's truly smoke in
space some somewhere you can go like I forget about those [ __ ] 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
[Laughter] have fun guys like tell me about it later I'm like I don't think they have Starbucks
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 wow okay interesting yeah yeah I was which I was thinking like like World War II but no 17 like
yeah yeah it goes way back yeah way back because you know bullets it's you know bullets there's always you know bullets
we're always needing bullets again right a uniquely American [ __ ] I feel where
we're going with this in America no so it's a pretty critical part of the Region's economy but when manufacturers
begin 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 Barrens started to kind of dwindle down much like many industrial cities of the
East exactly so I'm a big history nerd I'm gonna just interject on everything 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 exactly and I think honestly that's kind
of they're a little kid from the beginning of Deliverance here we go here we go we're off and I think they're like
the the places around them who were born to like modern conveniences would derogatorily refer to them as the pineys
because they were left in the Pine Barrens and honestly the pineys were like I don't give a [ __ ] like it's cool
in here it's quiet yeah so this is kind of Kind of Perfect setting for one of these Cryptids or
urban legends to come about where it's like for real the people in the modern civilization with the people who refuse
to leave the Pine Barrens kind of thing I think and my Shyamalan did at that movie yeah isn't it the village The
Village that's it that's one of those movies you either love or you hated I love it so
much I actually that's one I I actually like that one you know again Hit or Miss
but sorry yeah not to do 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 or close enough it's it's reminiscent for sure it's what I'm imagining it's what I'm
picturing they felt very Salem you know I could say them yeah 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 estillville New Jersey
which is about an hour away from the Pine Barrens and she was a mother of 12. whoa of 12 what just 12 children at the
time well actually yeah 12 children I will say I mean my dad's much older and 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
Barrens you gotta you know the kids disappear in the Pines so you got to keep just replacing them Deeper by the
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 although who could know the dozens uh but and she's still referred to as
that when people talk about this story and well I mean I feel like it'd be grandmother at this point but it's a
great great grandmother leads just Nana leads old lady leads old lady leads so she discovered though that she was
pregnant with another child a 13. 13 child lucky number 13. and she weirdly enough was not happy about this so she
cursed the pregnancy and said wait though wait where'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 over here 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 keep it in your pants
you got 12 kids my guy this woman is losing her mind she's out grilling she was she's just always out grilling he's
like I'm not here sorry he's just like I've gotta go ride the lawnmower although this was probably in the days
before riding lawnmowers anyway he's chopping down wood yeah 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 God even like potato sacks these are just
children coming out of everywhere we are you know out in the wilderness it is the
17 hundreds 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 and she's like I'm just gonna have all these kids here they
really settle truly they settle they put down Roots yeah really settled in that's
for [ __ ] [ __ ] they created a civilization of their own but that it was that 13th child that she was not
psyched about it's always the it's the 13th kid that really puts you over here that's the one when you feel truly
outnumbered it's number 13 you're like you know it's number 13 right yeah right I felt like I could handle this but up
until then me and all my personalities are doing pretty well but the 13th man it's just really a [ __ ] I don't have
that 13th I can't do it when she said she said I am tired of children Let It Be The Devil let this baby be the devil
she said which I have a couple questions like the baby in you yeah like what why
why the devil and two a child would be easier to do well if she's all I'm saying is if 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 [ __ ] you know what I mean it's like honestly these children must be wilding out what are your kids
doing like [ __ ] on fire in the Pine Barrens you know killing small animals they are they they destroyed half the
pine bears uh just poor mother leads is like I'd rather have a devil baby well you know what she got one maybe
she's like me you know what if I have one devil baby maybe I'll be about 10 kids lighter 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 Barrens in 1735. oh yeah 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 get her she's gonna have a devil better
hurry quick she's saying oh she's not a witch too late whoops we'll get it right now
we're wrong again one less mouthy woman to do with 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 Hooves replace 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 then the silence was broken by the monsters 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 this baby is just born it's trying to get a hold of itself it's probably turning
around like oh [ __ ] he's got a tail and just whacking people with his giant tail
like I'm so sorry and it's just knocking things over maybe double down it's got a lot going on he's got a lot
of appendages to deal with devil baby was not to blame here you know look I we've all we've seen the Seinfeld
episode we've all seen some ugly babies exactly because she's 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 they do this morning you know I walked in and I bumped into my coffee it could have been the same was it your
tail he's got a whole last time 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 tail 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 and now
all of a sudden this baby's growing from like just fresh out of the oven baby into the full grown [ __ ] Batwoman
yeah also I think I read this article in the New York daily news at the supermarket uh about three years ago
it was bat baby that's what I'm getting oh my God boy yeah he used to be on the front of every tabloid of everything
that very and the weird head and the eyes like oh man that and that was like the days before good AI like someone
really [ __ ] photoshopped that thing into those images together oh yeah it's sharpened teeth and weird and they like
dark Blues under the eyes look really tired yeah it was wild a poor thing yeah and here he was this is his beginning
right here this is his beginning man 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 he's right for it he just beat the [ __ ] out of
everybody in the room and then left wow that's PR it's like a giraffe right after birth they just get up and go you
know 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 so I'm gonna go out there he's like you know where that goes uh
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 I think so yeah yeah that'll be fun so according to this account this very believable account McCoy notes
several sleeping children with the Jersey Devil's first worldly Meal which is rude
[Music] 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 that's why you want a partner who gets it zip
recruiter ZipRecruiter knows how tough it is right now but they figured out solutions for the problems that you're
facing see for yourself right now you can try them for free at ziprecruiter.com morbid ZipRecruiter is
literally ready to tackle your recruiting challenges to reach more of the right people ZipRecruiter posts your
job to 100 plus job sites that means over a hundred you guys you need to hire ASAP ZipRecruiter smart technology finds
great matches for your job sooner want first dibs on Talent well ZipRecruiter lets you invite the most qualified
people to apply to your job and their pricing is straightforward no surprise costs team up with a hiring partner who
understands what you need zip recruiter four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate
within the first day just go to this exclusive web address to try ZipRecruiter for free ziprecruiter.com
morbid again that's ziprecruiter.com m-o-r-b-i-d ZipRecruiter the smartest way to hire
hey listeners you need to know that wondry Shocking True Crime podcast Over My Dead Body is back for a fourth season
gone hunting this newest season covers the story of Mike Williams it was Mike's sixth wedding anniversary when he set
off on a hunting trip into the gator infested swamps of North Florida he figured he'd be back in time to take his
wife Denise out to celebrate but he never came back friends and loved ones feared he met his faith through bad luck
and a group of hungry alligators leaving his young family behind except that's not what happened at all and after 17
years a kidnapping and the uncovering of a secret love triangle the truth would finally be revealed enjoy Over My Dead
Body gone hunting on the wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts you can listen to Over My Dead Body early and AD
free on wondering plus get started with your free trial at wondery.com Plus thank you
uh other versions say that his first meal was just the entire Leeds family so well there's a lot of them to you know
he either ate his entire family all 12 children Mama leads and if there was a daddy leads he was gone to or he just
went out into the night and ate a bunch of sleeping kids I mean I would I 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 uh how to function in this uh weird devil body I think so you wanna you don't want to work for it I
mean My Kid's first meal was mashed up avocado but like sleeping babies are I guess a great first meal sleeping baby
mashed avocado whatever whatever works whatever you have on hand choices all I know is I we're all canceled well this
is the end of this that's it this is the end I hope this was really fun what a farewell our farewell episode
what a farewell the yep the the leads batboy is looking 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 maybe
he'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 um and she's from Leeds point it's the 1700s for women I'm sure she is
everybody no it's not like she's like hey let's talk about her feelings honey he's like I'm going to go cut things in
the field and and have another woman you're a witch so it's like yeah I think they're all lonely is pretty much it but
apparently this poor woman fell in love with a British soldier during the American Revolution 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 I feel like that's also a story
that I've heard recently people like you know what happened a devil baby that's definitely you're like you know this is
familiar there are besides this one this one so that's that's the second way that he
came about was just like oops you married a British soldier oh oh wait it's sorry quick tangential question
isn't 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 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 this thing that eats children sleeping in bed we're gonna 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 mix and match 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 Barrens 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 the echo in the zoom it's his fault the
planet's going backwards all of it 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 Stephen how do you say it Dave Decatur I was like table no Decatur oh
yeah yeah d-e-c-a-t-e-u-r or 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 cannonballs
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 Cannonball truly I just got to make sure they're cannonballs I just gotta make sure that the balls are
looking good I just needed to be a sphere it's here to measure the balls readying the
case 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 and he
just kept going like merely a flesh wound and just flew off at all worried about this but everyone
there was like saw it he shot a cannonball at the Jersey Devil that's wild I just picture him like he's just
like flying away right yeah yeah way to test fire I thought in your general direction yeah like they reenact the
entire scene for money yeah he's the original now across Southern New Jersey the devil
was definitely a common scapegoat um he was blamed throughout this 19th century again for like loss of livestock on
farms uh 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 is what that was 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 gonna
go to some battlefields and Atlanta City you know what I mean like I'm gonna go blow some [ __ ] up with those cannonballs
and gamble exactly it really makes sense has anyone ever seen the Jersey Devil and a certain former president
I'm thinking entire time how do we know I never have 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 Simpsons episode
because if it has if it has then 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 began to begin to appear in news reports that's when we
started reporting on him got it got it he started giving interviews then that's when he was like his manager was like
you really need to give a quote yeah he got it he was like this yeah I was like look dude you've got to get out and
fight the story I know it's you you've got to let people know what's going on exactly you got to give your room you
want to you know people are going to misunderstand me no one's gonna listen they're gonna take it out of context and
I'm just eating babies you know that's I I it's hard it's hard there's that whole
story where I beat everyone in the room upon birth and he's like I just was it was my
channel 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 taking it off the rails oh no
oh no I love that this is what we need there are no rails off the rails is where we live we rarely live on this
we're just gonna say our show has never ever been on the road yes it shouldn't be okay good I only like to do off the
rails shows because that's how my brain works it against 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 that he just is like hey guys this thing is like
Nostradamus too it's also it's all yeah wait wait who did it warn about the Civil War that's what I want to someone
and be like hey guys it's gonna be really [ __ ] up just letting you know but we're gonna call it
civil did he tell that did he tell Mr Cannonball Corporal Decatur I'm saying Whispering dude I need to know because
someone knew that the Civil War was coming from the Jersey Devil and didn't say sure and he didn't pass it on yeah
because 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 he's gonna let it happen right and then now he's like I'm getting a bad name 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 uh has just been Mis misaligned this yeah hundreds of years
yeah he misunderstood he needs to do a tell-all memoir is what he needs to do okay wait I'll do it right though for
that it's gonna happen I wouldn't I wouldn't doubt anything these days truly I don't know I wouldn't either
we're manifesting it it's gonna hit number four on the like New York Times bestseller 100 okay yeah 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 cloven Hooves and forked tail which is pretty much the
origin description oh which okay we're sticking with the original original body shape yeah we're going with that she's
gotten to use the tail a little better at this point though I think he probably has gotten used to it at this
this year's after bringing considerable Misfortune to the residents of South Jersey but wait does that
hanging out and being welcomed in and people like come on come on whoa whoa whoa that was you one
too many [ __ ] cows okay buddy you've gotta go you crossed a line well several years
later in the spring of 1905 the devil started making headlines again and this time with a slightly different story
attached to him now so in the article oh exactly it changes a hundred thousand times changing up
right so it's changing 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 Yeah change it up so the article was 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 Bordentown
New Jersey and was the product of a relationship between an American sea captain and his wife oh 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 like a harlot and
a charlatan yeah like a lion a lying that's what I thought it would be this woman but apparently a 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 but 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 that this oh the the
bassamet the one with the horns and the bathroom yeah like the whole he's literally right there he is he's hanging
out right here yes I love him so yeah he's so cool looking it is right he's great he's doing the whole like as above
both so below thing uh yeah the whoop piece so that's this is what that baby did it was like whoop hey and they were
like that's not okay so they're like no thank you so judgmental really it's like
he's just trying to get you into the location for your thinking that's all listen to what he has to say man but
apparently he became known in the neighborhood as the leads devil and and I love because when this came out it was
just walking to school with his backpack you know I'm just get to chemistry but yeah exactly I love it second period man
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 no
one was I don't know I feel like I would be surprised if I was there she's from England so I'm just gonna I'm
gonna invent Tarleton though as the word that we describe and just start using it
it feels right like the words it's got a guitar to it yeah you Tarleton and you can say it to people and they know they
won't know what yeah at all but yeah but they'll know it's an insult that's for sure because it's got all those forms in
it one of those great words that you don't quite know what it means but you know it's supposed to slap you hell yeah
I love those Harleton 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 of 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 Barrens so
it's always going up a chimney but once he had left to go in the Pines he would be seen by townsfolk 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 okay there you go and during the week of January 16
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 Prince 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 I would think that was awesome I'd be excited yeah like I want a Bigfoot to
just walk through my backyard oh I didn't say that I did yeah I want that 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 out here minding your business having your lunch you know 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 that's fine you're addressed in Disguise
your 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 look
to me as if it was the hoof of was that of a young cult not a cloven hoof as I've heard of it being described so if
it was a young that person probably then got murdered by the rest of the townspeople they were like
like you guys I'm pretty sure it's just like a small horse on the list it's just an animal though they're like
you're a witch yeah and apparently after these reports came out in 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 somebody once oh one like you had a Wonder bird I had a one-legged bird I had a canary
anyway that's my one-legged Canary Story please you had like a one-third Jersey Devil
it's a good two just edit it out just edit all of it out just just the intro hi welcome Jody sweet and then edit
everything else I said out and be like let's get to the [ __ ] point I thought Jody Sweetin was like she was
she was really here like too much never never so the attacks caused a small panic but to a long uh Southern
and Northern New Jersey so much so and this I would say this is more than a small Panic they um 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 going to come into their house that was his thing he was like I don't
want to be shot by a cannonball again I'm gonna shut all this [ __ ] down and I don't want these kids getting smart
enough to go work in a factory [Music] foreign [Music] man in Bristol was actually awakened one
night to his 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 wait was that a quote that was no that
was me that was me at the end that was just you got it 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 rare and then it also sounds like
I would imagine you know what though have you ever heard it have you ever heard cats fighting on your roof at two
in the morning I can't say I have I'm just saying that [ __ ] sounds like the devil
I'm not a huge fan of cats but that is 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 the like whoa it was like you know it's sort of like
beatboxing you know you watch people you're like I don't know how you're making that noise with your mouth but
it's like coming out yeah I mean they're like doing it all at once that's actually hilarious not like I just did
because that was terrible that was really good I liked it it was also like kind of like ventriloquism you
know yeah maybe he had like a mini Jersey devil and he was like Watch what it does
and his mouth is just doing the side thing yeah look at this like it's I like that
I feel like holy [ __ ] now everyone from children to police officers reported seating seeing the Jersey Devil and in
one case patrolman James Sackville woof pause yeah yeah just putting that out there 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 also this guy
patrolman 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 did you James did you oh 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
he had a reputation too you [ __ ] yourself and then you ran away and changed and then you were like I ran
after it and you did not sorry yeah no way and he and he also said this thing ran away from him this thing retreated
down the path he also said that it emitted a frightening cry or it's frightening cry
until it flew out of sight so it went rare and then ran out of it was like remix I'm Gonna Leave remix
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 well some used completely unique descriptions ew 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 he's just living but he ended up making
his way south from Trenton and uh he began causing some more Havoc now in the early morning hours of January 19th Mr
and Mrs Nelson Evans that's my birthday 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 there just like shimmying a little bit
boarding to me just seems like it's like what's happening out there cavorting to
me feels like was there was there a lady she devil you know what I mean was it were things happening on the roof was
there no that's what I thought or was he right 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 yeah not on my roof don't do it on a
shed copied you converting on the roof of my house come on go go to the boys she's got a whole [ __ ] Forest go find
some privacy you've got an entire Pine Barrens 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 collie dog and a face like a horse what 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 bed how did how did brain legs hold this whole thing but
then the feet are horses Hoops it's like I just also love that nobody can agree what the [ __ ] this looks like nobody
nobody can 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
shoe and he went rough and then if the devil leaves when I say shoe 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 yes I want to know you can't just come and kick your door down you know what I mean yeah part of
it is Kangaroo is it I heard cran legs in in this same uh 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 in South Philadelphia would
provide A Feast for students of mob hallucination so I think this reporter is like I think you're all hallucinating
yeah but in an editorial in the Atlantic City Daily Press this 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 rude which I was like okay that's rude that is directly at officers
Officer or whatever his name was that yeah I was like yeah bro that's true yeah but I'm like you know like live a
little it's also like let's believe in this little devil well like are you not writing an article but can you imagine
if you're like living somewhere and just con every story is like a pony kangaroo
collie showed up at the door he like shut up and your editors like you have to write an article about this
a week later or so sightings of the Jersey Devil after this little article the sightings just kind of ended and
everyone was apparently shamed out of something I was gonna say everyone was ashamed of themselves ashamed
but then the Jersey Devil the Jersey Devil was like you guys no like I'm not letting you be ashamed because he made
just one more appearance in a village just outside Salem that February before returning to the Pine Barrens 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 meteor
research Society suggested it was quote a type of marsupial carnivore which a kangaroo is a marsupial correct that's
what I was just gonna say or fish a ped both previously thought to be extinct so
we're thinking it's like an extinct creature that we are like oh [ __ ] we're wrong what is a fish a ped it's just
when you have toes separated to the base so it's 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 in the Academy of Natural Science on the other hand told reporters
there was 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 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 okay and also you know at night
cavorting on a roof there's no you know there's no street lights there's no outdoor lights not like you can sleep on
the the garage sensor light you know what I mean it is you are just going by what you see dancing in the door they're
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 the authority parties in the
Press they wanted to start it up again right right right right because I'm sure that hadn't happened before that was
yeah of course not all those other ones yeah in one case 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 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 but it's not my
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 but the kangaroo licked the paint off before it dried oh now the kangaroo'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 [ __ ] are you putting
Wings on it was like I'm already cool enough on my own yeah he's like I'm a [ __ ] kangaroo what are you doing I'm
yoked I am 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 surrounding the animal in a cage oh that makes me really sad me too so horrible like [ __ ]
you man this animal's like what is wrong with you I'm just a small give me back and I yeah that's all yeah that's all
he's like I belong in Australia get me the [ __ ] out of here and this whole thing happened in the basement of the
dime Museum and Spectators were let 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 posses were formed to capture it and bounties were placed for on its head some ranging from a hundred to a
hundred thousand dollars and by the 1930s societal attitudes toward the devil kind of changed because all of a
sudden instead of foreign Posse 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 God 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 gonna 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 it 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 feeling I could think of some demons that we could name and while sightings
of the creature definitely became less common than they once were like we talked about earlier it the name became
popular and even became the name of an NHL talkie team called the New Jersey Devils look at that foreshadowing there
you go look at I 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 random ass piece of information that was good um but secondly Wow way to just be it would be
like if we had just uh the bad boy NHL team the bad boys that was a good baseball team a 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 here hold my
back here as far as We Know come on that's that's right so you know what bat boys it is that boys there you
go bad boys but the Jersey Devil never went away he still he appears in books and television shows he's in video games
he's in movies he's like he's on late night talk shows you know he he is at the Forefront of Licensing out his
Imaging to AI is what he's doing yeah yeah he's gonna be on the next one of like
the hot wing show I've been trying to start my DJ career all of a sudden now he's like I'm a SoundCloud rapper I've
got you know I've got I've got a podcast so I've got an NHL team really his branding and marketing is genius
it all started in the beginning she was like give a quote find him on Tick Tock guys yeah this is 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 the Jersey Devil is fun yeah I kind
of love it rarely does it wind up in the naming of an NHL hockey team you know oh you guys this was so much fun this
was so much fun thank you so much for coming on yeah seriously you are literally welcome back you are at any
time anytime well what I'm gonna start doing now is listening to the podcast when I'm driving around my car and just
interjecting my own thoughts uh 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 gonna say we'll 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 the
vibe everything it's great for somebody who also obviously tells stories with 1500 Side Stories it's really great to
listen to thank you so much and we're huge fans so this was a big deal I think what was it
that Drew said Drew goes this my fiance he goes this is your biggest guest like and I was like I agree yeah I was like
yes and our researcher Dave who did like all of the research for the Jersey Devil
stuff great working huge fan huge Hallmark he's in the room hi Dave great job right you did great yeah I know
you're always doing a lot of research and you do a really great job with it hell yeah
research yeah yeah because I I know how it is having a podcast if I were left to
do all of my own work it would it would be a [ __ ] show so yeah we did for a while and then we were like well then it
was like chaotic and we were like help helped him yeah and Dave swooped in like the Jersey
Devil and said I've got you he beat us with his tail he pulled it out of his little pouch because he's a smoking room
yeah yeah he flew in the room and 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 Hooves onto a
small kangaroo and putting it on your roof to cavort and then trying to sell it to stores and and make a big thing
about it naming it in NHL hockey team like don't keep it that weird but almost never
perfect that was fantastic because all of a sudden I was like [ __ ] I'm blinking
yes it's happening [Music] hey Prime members you can listen to morbid early and AD free on Amazon music
download the Amazon music app today or you can listen ad-free with wonderyplus and apple podcasts before you go tell us
about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com survey

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, Tanneritos

Thank you to the fantastic David White for research assistance!

References

Atlantic 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.

Connect with Wondery http://wondery.com/shows http://facebook.com/WonderyMedia http://twitter.com/WonderyMedia http://instagram.com/WonderyMedia

Brief Summary

Jody Sweetin discusses true crime, the Jersey Devil, and personal ghost stories in this engaging episode.

Key points

The Night Stalker Case. Jody discusses her fascination with the chaotic nature of the Night Stalker case.
Paranormal Experiences. Jody shares a chilling story about a ghostly encounter in her home.
A Unique American Legend. The Jersey Devil's origins are steeped in the lore of the Pine Barrens.
The Birth of the Jersey Devil. The legend of the Jersey Devil begins with Mother Leeds, who cursed her 13th pregnancy.
The Legend of the Jersey Devil. The Jersey Devil is a legendary creature born from a woman's betrayal during the American Revolution. Its existence explains various misfortunes in the region.
A Close Encounter. Commodore Stephen Decatur famously shot at the Jersey Devil, but it flew away unscathed. This encounter adds to the creature's mythos.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's just fascinating to me.

Talking about the chaos of true crime cases.

6:52WatchAug 11, 2023

Tension

45/ 100Some tension

More from Morbid | Podcast

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.