Description
Skeptics believe the Jersey Devil to be nothing more than a creative manifestation upon the imaginations of the early English settlers. Plausible natural explanations include: bogeyman stories created and told by bored Pine Barren residents as a form of children's entertainment; the byproduct of the historical local disdain for the Leeds family; the misidentification of known animals; and rumors based on common negative perceptions of the local rural population of the Pine Barren (known as "pineys").
The frightening reputation of the Pine Barrens may indeed have contributed to the Jersey Devil legend. Historically, the Pine Barrens was considered inhospitable land. Gangs of highwaymen, such as the politically disdained Loyalist brigands, known as the Pine Robbers, were known to rob and attack travelers passing through the Barrens. During the 1700s and 1800s, residents of the isolated Pine Barrens were deemed the dregs or outcasts of society: poor farmers, fugitives, brigands, Native Americans, poachers, moonshiners, runaway slaves, and deserting soldiers. So-called pineys have sometimes fostered certain frightening stories about themselves and the Pine Barrens to discourage outsiders or intruders from entering the Barrens. Pineys were further demonized and vilified after two eugenics studies were published during the early 20th century, which depicted pineys as congenital idiots and criminals, as seen in the research performed on "The Kallikak Family" by Henry H. Goddard, which is now considered biased or inaccurate and, most likely, falsified.
Jeff Brunner of the Humane Society of New Jersey thinks the sandhill crane is the basis of the Jersey Devil stories, adding, "There are no photographs, no bones, no hard evidence whatsoever, and worst of all, no explanation of its origins that doesn't require belief in the supernatural."
Outdoorsman and author Tom Brown Jr. spent several seasons living in the wilderness of the Pine Barrens. He recounts occasions when terrified hikers mistook him for the Jersey Devils after he covered his whole body with mud to repel mosquitoes.
Medical sociologist Robert E. Bartholomew and author Peter Hassall cite the 1909 series of sightings (and the subsequent public panic) as a classic example of mass hysteria begun by a regional urban legend.
One New Jersey group called the "Devil Hunters" refer to themselves as "official researchers of the Jersey Devil", and devote time to collecting reports, visiting historic sites, and going on nocturnal hunts in the Pine Barrens in order to "find proof that the Jersey Devil does in fact exist."
Due in part to their isolated and undeveloped nature, the Pine Barrens have themselves fostered various folk legends. Apart from the Jersey Devil, many other legends are associated with the Pine Barrens; supernatural creatures and ghosts said to haunt the pine forests include the ghost of the pirate Captain Kidd, who supposedly buried treasure in the Pine Barrens and is sometimes allegedly seen in the company of the Jersey Devil; the ghost of the Black Doctor, the benevolent spirit of an African-American doctor who, after being forbidden from practicing medicine due to his race, entered the Pine Barrens to practice medicine in the isolated communities of the Barrens and is said to still come to the aid of lost or injured travelers; the ghost of the Black Dog, which, unlike many black dog legends, is usually portrayed as harmless; the ghost of the Golden-Haired Girl, the spirit of a girl who is said to be staring out into the sea, dressed in white, mourning the loss of her lover at sea; and the White Stag, a ghostly white deer said to rescue travelers in the Barrens from danger. There are also folk tales concerning the Blue Hole, an unusually clear blue and rounded body of water located in the Pine Barrens between Monroe Township, Gloucester County and Winslow Township, Camden County and often associated with the Jersey Devil.
Writing in Jan Harold Brunvand's American Folklore: An Encyclopedia, Rutgers Professor Angus Kress Gillespie called the Jersey Devil "an obscure regional legend" for most of its existence, and said that "after more than 250 years in oral circulation, the legend of the 'Jersey Devil' has many variations ...". Gillespie cites the Devil's image used on T-shirts, buttons, and postcards, and cocktails named after the Devil, as indications that "the recent history of the Jersey Devil is more in the realm of popular culture than folklore".
Hoaxes
Gordon Stein in Encyclopedia of Hoaxes (1993) noted that the alleged footprints of the Jersey Devil during 1909 resembled a horse's hoof. According to Stein, a man later admitted he had faked some of these footprints.
Geoff Tibballs in The World's Greatest Hoaxes (2006) has claimed that Norman Jeffries was involved in hoaxing the Jersey Devil:
Norman Jeffries, publicist for Philadelphia's Arch Street Museum and renowned hoaxer, was well aware of the stories about the Jersey Devil. So when the museum proprietor, T. F. Hopkins, admitted that it was in danger of closure unless Jeffries came up with something to boost attendances, the publicist decided that a captive Jersey Devil would be the ideal crowd-puller.
He also planted nonfictional newspaper stories about new sightings of the Devil. During 1909, Jeffries with his friend Jacob Hope, an animal trainer, purchased a kangaroo from a circus and glued artificial claws and bat wings onto it. They declared to the public they had captured the Devil and it was displayed at the museum. Twenty years later, Jeffries admitted to the hoax.
Cultural relevance
In Man and Beast in American Comic Legend, folklorist Richard Dorson outlines a six-point criteria for establishing distinction among legendary creatures of American folklore. While the Jersey Devil was not expressly cited by Dorson, it nevertheless qualifies for this same level of relevance. Dorson specifies that the qualifier must exist in oral tradition, inspire belief and conviction, become personalized and institutionalized, is fanciful or mythical and contain a "comical side," which endears it to the American public.
Oral tradition of the Jersey Devil well predates printed newspaper accounts and belief in its existence by many is still ongoing. The latter is made evident not only by commentators who elaborate on this possibility but even by investigative programs such as Mother Leeds' 13th Child, In Search of Monsters, Lore and Monsters and Mysteries in America.
Likewise, as a fixture of organizations, it is the namesake for two professional ice hockey teams. The first, the Jersey Devils of the Eastern Hockey League, played from 1964 until the league folded in 1973. The second, the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League, have played since 1982. The current team was formerly known as the Colorado Rockies, and their name was chosen by a poll shortly after the team relocated to New Jersey. This same trend towards cultural incorporation is further exemplified by the Jersey Devil's appropriation in toy lines, such as its inclusion as a vinyl figure in Cryptozoic Entertainment's Cryptkins blind box, as well as its application as a motif by Six Flags Great Adventure for their Jersey Devil Coaster developed by Rocky Mountain Construction.
Moreover, the Jersey Devil's fanciful or mythical nature is explored in the numerous works of fantasy it makes an appearance in to include: The X-Files, Jersey Devil (video game), The Wolf Among Us, 13th Child, TMNT, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, The Barrens, Carny, A Night With The Jersey Devil, The Last Broadcast ,Legend Quest, and Gravity Falls many of which, such as TMNT and Jersey Devil (video game), not only reflect the Jersey Devil's mythical character but exemplify its comical nature as well.
