Ariel Scholer: I didn't just want to touch your deck, man. You know? Can't just go around touching decks. You can't touch people's decks. No. No. So you know, unless they ask you to touch their deck. Consensual deck touching. Exactly. You know? And sometimes sometimes if people are feeling really crazy, they might ask you to put your deck on their deck. Double decking? Double dagger. can I pick two? You can. Okay. Hilarious. Why hilarious? Nice. A little right now near future. Okay. Let's see what she says. Okay. Checking out my deck. I am checking out your deck. That's a nice deck. I don't know if I've ever seen a deck that nice before, actually. The color's nice. It's a healthy looking deck. Yeah, it's a healthy looking deck. Looks like it it looked like it f fit in your hand pretty nice. It's easy to mess with. Good hand feel to the deck. Yeah. Hello and welcome to Cackles from the Cauldron. I'm Arielle. And I'm Kit. And today our episode is on the Jersey Devil. Why? No, no, no. episode. Well, then what's this about? I don't know. She said, fuck your Jersey Devil. also occasionally referred to as The Leeds Devil. Okay. We'll get into why that is lighter later on. Cool. I wanted to do something a little bit lighter. Because we've had a lot of heavy topics. And this is, as we have discussed, supposed to be a little bit more like a which I in a way yours has been. a little bit more of like a mix of true crime and you know magical, mystical things. And I felt like, you know, obviously my last two have been true crime things and it was essentially a two parter right off the bat. Sorry. But also yeah, you're welcome. and then obviously the Salem witch trials does give a, you know, magical vibe to it, because, you know, witches b but Historical but still heavy. Still heavy. Very realistically. Because that's happening to real human beings. It's not like it was just, you know. Yeah. I thought it was all pretend. Yeah, no. And history would never repeat itself. No. I'm sorry. I digress. So today instead we have a fun little cryptid friend. Do love cryptids. The Jersey Devil. Spooky. He's just a spooky little guy. Yeah. But I thought that's another thing. We've been saying fuck and that's how easy it is to forget, everyone. We've been saying bye little spooks at the end of at the end of our episodes. And we'd like to formally apologize. Essentially forgot that that is actually a slur. If you didn't know that, it is. Look it up. It's a bad, bad thing. I could probably look it up right now. And give you the exact thing, if it's appropriate to say. So, okay. So it says the word spook originated as a Dutch-derived term for a ghost or phantom, but during World War II in the United States, surprise, surprise, it became adopted as an offensive racial slur directed at Black people, aside from its history as a derogatory term, the word is commonly used as informal slang for an intelligence agent or spy. And I had seen that. But just, you know, since it is also that. Not gonna be not gonna use that one. We won't be saying that. Not gonna use that anymore. Yeah. Sorry about that. Very sorry about that. Very unintentional. Yes. Yes. Super duper unintentional. We Have discussed a new thing to call you guys, but you're just gonna have to listen and wait to find out. You just have to wait to find out. So for over 250 years, there has been a nuisance of a creature. Some would even say a dangerous creature, lurking the pine barrens of southern New Jersey. That's right, today, friends, we are covering the Jersey Devil. So our story begins in seventeen thirty-five when Deborah Leeds, wife of Jeff at Leeds, discovers that she is with child for the thirteenth time in her life. I'm sorry, we this is seventeen thirty five. Fuck. Okay. No, that tracks continue. Having gone through her pregnancy one too many times for her liking, and the Leeds family not being particularly well off, Deborah shouted to the skies let this one be the devil. Little did Deborah know what she had wrought in this singular phrase, because many months later, on a stormy night, the winds howled and the rain beat down on the roof of the Leeds home as midwives surrounded Deborah to aid her in the birth of her thirteenth child. What a lucky number. All the while Jaffet Leeds and the other twelve children he and Deborah had together, sat huddled around a table doing their best to stay out of the way. Within a few hours, Deborah was welcoming her thirteenth child into the world, a son, a perfectly healthy and normal baby boy. The midwife, still holding the baby in her arms, getting prepared to hand him over to his mother, began it's a The midwife released a shriek as the baby in her arms began to grow, horns out of his forehead, talons from his tiny little hands, his face began morphing into that of a horse, his shoulders sprouted black, fleshy wings. Sorry, and the eyes suddenly glowed red. Two legs with hooves followed, then a tail topped it all off. The once human baby boy, now a creature, became irate. And took out the midwife by striking her with its taloned hands. The sources begin to vary from this point, with some claiming he simply shoved his way through the rest of the people in the home as he made his way up the chimney and flew off into the night. Others say he beat everyone with his tail and horns before taking off. And finally, of course, it is said that he proceeded to kill his mother by tearing into her. Slammed his father back into a wall, slashed and slashed him up, then killed a few of his siblings before heading upwards through the chimney. The true story, however, has been lost to the wind for these past two centuries, while the creature's story continues on. What's up? Nothing. What's wrong? Are you a skeptic of the Jersey Devil? Yeah, you know. Are you skeptic? A little bit, yeah. You don't believe in the Jersey Devil? I don't know if I do. But I enjoyed the tale. But the tale regardless. Well, you know, this it didn't stop there. Okay. Alright. There's been there's been sightings. Nah. Sight ins. For years. For decades and centuries. Okay. Yeah. So get ready for that. You see his story didn't stop there. The Jerry Devil the Jersey Devils, also known as the Leeds Devil, has reportedly been killing animals, terrorizing towns, and harassing southern New Jersey locals and visitors ever since that dark, stormy night from which he came. Some of his sightings start off more vaguely, eating chickens from townsfolk's farms or destroying crops even, you know, like devils do. Devils devils be destroying. Police, postal workers, and others have claimed to see its tracks while on the job. Okay. Yeah. What tracks is he leaving? Hooves. Hooves. But we'll get we'll get there. Even Even some prominent figures in history have claimed to lay their eyes on the Jersey Devil. Interesting. Would you like to take a guess, no offense, to what gender these prominent figures might be? Men. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I'm just I just find that interesting. There's no ladies running around being like Jersey Devil this, Jersey Devil that. At least not prominent. Prominent. Educated women. Just throwing that out there. Commodore Stephen Dector, an American man considered to be a naval hero in the early n 19th century, reported seeing a creature flying over Hanover Millworks, where he was he was like getting cannonballs essentially, or inspecting his cannonballs, because he's a naval he's a naval guy. Yeah. and he saw the creature flying over with large wings. He even took a shot at it with his cannonballs. As you do. Aimed it directly. But to his disappointment, the creature was unharmed and flew away. That was a bird. That was a big old bird. And he missed. And he missed. Probably has some what year was it? this time? It was eighteen no. It was before it was in the early nineteenth century. Nineteenth century. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he was he was drinking absinthe or something. He's drinking some absent while he's checking his cannonballs for safety purposes. Yeah too fucking toast out of his pot. So yeah these cannonballs are good. They're round and they look like they're gonna Kills the people. He was chugging dying. He was chugging some mercury. Yeah. Getting his getting his fluids balanced. I th that might be too late in centuries, I'm not sure. real. And we'll miss it, no? We'll get to that not. Yeah. As a as a bitch who can't see and has has glasses. Yeah. Sometimes shit looks real weird. when I don't have these things on. So I could hundred percent see where you'd be like, That's a devil. Not a bird. You just look up to the sky. You don't rationalize at all at all. No rationalizing. That ain't natural. Those aren't familiar. That's not a bird. Those are leathery wings. I know evil when I see it. That's Satan himself. Why why are we assuming he's Southern? I don't know. We have no idea. I don't know. my goodness. If it helps, I think That the next the next the next prominent figure is more more accredited. Okay. I'm lying. Then in eighteen twenty, Joseph Bonaparte, okay, the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. Yes, yes, yes. Yep. The elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. And former king of Spain. Okay. And if you ask me if I looked into that more, I didn't. I didn't. Maybe I should have, but I didn't. That's not what the episode's about. It's okay. That's true. Exactly. You know? I can talk about him some other time, maybe, if I feel like it. But he was he was game hunting in woods nearby on his Bordentown estate where quite plainly, he also claimed to have seen the Jersey Devil. Doesn't nowhere did I find any sort of description of what he saw. Okay. at least the other guy said it had wings. Yeah. but Joseph did not expand on his experience. Saw it. Yeah. Saw the Jersey Devil and that's it. All right. And that's all. The next one's kind of fun. Okay. This one is where The Jersey Devil gets kinda cute, actually. Okay. See a little cheeky? We're not there yet. Okay. But we're we're gonna get there actually. Okay. There was also there was also the pirate Captain Kidd in the sixteen hundreds. Okay. Hold on. 'Cause you're like, what? Jersey Devil, seventeen thirty five. What are you talking about? I trust you. Captain Kidd buried his treasure in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey. He had chosen to behead one of his men. So that the man's spirit could keep track of the treasure and like essentially guard it. Yeah. well, you know, after literally centuries, the crew member's spirit apparently chose to wander off and happened to run into who else but the Jersey Devil. Okay. many people have since reported sightings of the two friends. Stop supposedly laughing. And drinking together in the pine barren swamps. How cute. Isn't that so cute? That's kind of adorable. Like what? We actually I'm kind of here for the Jersey Devil. Like he's cute and sweet and nice. Kind of sort of. You know? And I say kind of sort of because, you know, there's some claims to his behavior. Yeah. I mean he's already, you know, killing livestock and destroying crops. I'm more I'm almost mad about the crops. Yeah. 'Cause the livestock part Well yeah. If it's just straight up destroying the crops, not consuming them, that is more fucked up. The livestock part you can make the argument that like animals have to eat. Yeah. So if he's carnivorous and he needs to eat meat, then that's just an animal doing animal things. Correct. Devil doing what devil does. I I concur. I concur. Yeah. Sure I would be pretty upset if it was my livestock. I wouldn't I wouldn't like that at all. But it would just be I don't think farmers were a fan of the Jersey Devil. I will say n there were multiple sources that that mentioned that he destroyed crops. Okay. And none of them said eight. Okay. They did all say destroyed. Okay. So you're so. It sounds like you know, the Jersey Devil is out here being a bit of a nuisance. He's devilish. Exactly. He said, You gave me the name. Yeah. What am I supposed to do? Act like an angel? That's not what you called me. You know? Mm-hmm. so the the Jersey Devil had a friend now, right? Yeah. But the Jersey Devil can't have all his needs met through only friendship. Okay. So in eighteen seventy, huh, reports also circulated from fishermen. Of the Jersey Devil's attempts at flirtation with a mermaid in Long Beach. Okay. Devil's devil's chatting up the mermaids. Interesting crossover. He's allowed to have a romantic life as well. He is, yeah. You know? Yeah. You don't think so? No, he is. Yeah. That's what I think. You know, maybe there's no Jersey Devil ladies. Exactly. Exactly. I mean, I don't think so if his If his only friend is a ghost a ghost. Yeah. So he's he's meeting he's meeting the mystical ladies where you can. Correct. Yeah. He said mythical creature to mythical creature. How you doing? I like ya. How you doing? Like your scales. I'll take ya. I see you here in Long Beach. You wanna go to the shore? You like you like pina galadis. You like dancing in the rain? Yeah. Getting caught in the rain. Damn. Damn. You know what? No, that was me saving us from copyright. Yeah. It was intentional. Finally, of course, you know, he did make some friends that were human beings. Interesting. Only one. Okay. Yep. Lest we not forget that in the same year, 1870, the same year that he flirted with the mermaid, he Met with a Republican Judge French. That was all I got. Multiple sources, Judge French. Okay. Republican Judge French. That's it. Okay. Who claimed to have had a breakfast sandwich with the devil. Plain slaughter chickens just weren't doing it for him anymore, is my assumption. I feel like he's for centuries now been going after livestock, and he's like. I don't know, sometimes I'm just smelling really good stuff and I'm like, what's that? Breakfast sandwiches. What do you say? Took took the words out of my mouth. He was probably flying by and smelled a little smell cloud like a cartoon and said and floated, floated on, floated on Jesus smelled and said, Excuse me. What you got there? Yeah. Exactly. Smells mighty tasty. Yeah. That's what I'm thinking. That's exactly correct. Sure. So, you know, besties. Besties after that, you know, until the judge probably passed away. Because that was in eighteen seventy. So if he's not dead, then he became a mythical creature of his own. And of course, as far as sightings are concerned, most famously in nineteen nine, during the week of january sixteenth, To January 23rd, there were a slew of sightings being reported. And I don't mean a few dozen. I mean hundreds across southern New Jersey, even some in Philadelphia. There were even some in Delaware and Maryland. All over the place. There were, I think there was even, yeah, I had read some were even in New York, parts of New York. So just all around everybody is being affected. Everybody is getting a visit from the devil. Interesting. The first one was, you know, still in New Jersey. It was a trolley attack in Haddon Heights, then on attack in the evening on a social club in Camden. Police in Camden unloaded multiple shots at the creature and then Proceeded to do the same in Bristol, Pennsylvania. Also multiple shots, no effect. Nothing could take this guy down. I mean, if he's the devil, makes sense. Makes sense. There were many reports claiming to have seen the Jersey Devil's footprints in the snow. That's what we're talking about. They were hoof prints. Sightings were claimed all over the place during this time, all the way down to Delaware and Maryland, like we discussed. Schools in Philadelphia, because Philly was obviously, like we just talked about, getting some big attention. Schools in Philadelphia were shut down due to widespread panic of the creature. And workers had even asked to stay home. Like they're like calling out of work. They're so scared. This is nineteen nine. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. I feel like still yeah. Still understandable. It is. Yeah. There's still some people even though like 'cause that's still yeah, that's still carriage times. Yeah. Yeah. Like there's some more Well Isn't it? One more cars. One more cars. Let me not speak out my ass. Hold on. I wanna say cars were like fuck, I'm an idiot. I wanna say like they were like somewhere in the thirties to fifties, nineteen thirties to fifties, somewhere in there. Well Wow, we're both so off. Fuck, what is it? It's 1886. I'm gonna kill myself. Dang. No, I'm not. That wasn't funny. I'm sorry. Don't talk about suicide. Why? Is that real? You said 18 what? 1886. Okay, hold on though. The modern modern gasoline. Okay, but look up when they were like widely available. Because I feel like when they were first invented, so Henry Ford. Yes. Introduced the Model T and popularized the assembly line for mass production between 1908 and 1913. Okay. That makes more sense. So like so that's like a year before a ye only a year after. Modernization is happening, but it's not common yet. Yes. Science is about people aren't really accepting of it yet. So that makes sense that people are hearing sightings of the Jersey Devil and being like, I'm not. I'm not going out there. Fuck no. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And that's the thing. That's why I was like, I was like, wait, no, that still makes sense. Cause I feel like when I start thinking of like, for example, period pieces, like period movie pieces is what I'm talking about, or like show pieces. I think the nineteen twenties and I feel like I'm still seeing vehicles enough in those types of like shows or movies. But I do feel like when it gets to like the nineteen tens or the nineteen hundreds I don't see it as often. It's like not really or I don't see it at all. It's just not happening. So that does make sense that this is still a time probably when they're like, I can't get this thing fast enough. So I don't really know what it is. And yada yada blah blah blah. And now word is traveling across states about this situation. We gotta shut it down. So That stuff happened. There were even hunters and vigilantes that set them set themselves out to track down the creature during this time. Popping up everywhere sightings were mentioned. So all over the place. No wonder why there were supposed rewards being offered by the police. Hilarious. And the Philadelphia Zoo. Huh. Yeah. They wanted to keep it. They did, but but Strangely enough, I can't remember which one, if it was the police or if it was the Philadelphia Zoo, dead or alive. Yeah. Cause I mean, I feel like I could see that for the police, because they just don't want it to be a problem. Yeah. And then for the zoo, because they're like, well, alive it's an attraction, and dead is science. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's a good point. Yeah, that's true. I mean and if there's well Not necessarily. Because I'm thinking like, if there's one, then there's probably more. Like if it's real. Theoretically. You know what I mean? But But if the origin story's true. Well, if the origin story is true, and then also if whatchamacallit, if it's like an endangered species sort sort of situation, then I'd basically you'd just never see another one again. You know, like this would be the last one. So this had turned The Jersey Devil into such an outstanding phenomenon. Experts from the Smithsonian were being asked to look into the matter because things had gotten so out of hand that there was wonder if the creature was in fact real. They had some theories that it could be a prehistoric creature from the Jurassic period and possibly been living out its life in the limestone caves nearby until this point. But after further research and no actual creature surfacing To research in order to deduce what this could be, they finally came to the conclusion that based off description alone, there was no creature dead or alive that matched the Jersey Devil. This was followed by animal trainers at the Arch Street Museum in Philadelphia painting a kangaroo with green stripes and putting fake wings on its back to emulate the devil and bring publicity to the museum, which is Pretty sticky of them. Yeah, that's really fucked up. Yeah. Leave the Especially at that time. There's no fucking safe paint. Yeah, that paint was a fucking safe. And you're putting it this poor little baby. No, it's well being affordable. That's fucked up. Seriously. People are dicks. We're and we're gonna talk about that a little bit later. A little bit more, I guess. There were supposed reports that bloodhounds refused to follow the scent of the supposed unidentif unidentified sorry creature in Hammington. Some firemen in West Collingswood saw the creature atop someone's roof and they proceeded to point their hose at it, which did nothing but cause the creature to get aggravated, attack them and fly away. How they attack them too. I mean, it's probably a fucking bird. Like like truly. It's probably a fucking Yeah. It's it's a bunch of people dealing with a bet. Yeah, truly. It's a bunch of people dealing with birds and bats and horses with the hooves and shit like that. And they're just all dealing with this and because they're all experience because this is an amalgamation creature, they're all experiencing these little different animals. And they're like, Yeah, it's all the drinking. Someone's getting their chickens killed in their coop and it's actually a coyote. Yes. You know? Yes. also I feel like there's gotta be pranksters who contributed to keeping the myth alive, you know what I mean? Maybe we'll talk about I said no I'm not saying zip me. You can say that. That's that's a fairer assumption. Yeah, 'cause just you know, humans be humanin' all all through history. And I know I like to do a little bit of pranks here. Yeah. Every now and then. Yeah. I might I don't know. Pretend to be well, maybe not pretend to be. Okay. If everyone was freaking out about some kind of creature I might make a little hoof prints. my goodness. I might do that to freak out the vintage. Or if you're also someone who is like in this time bored 'cause there's not enough to entertain you and you're seeking attention perhaps you're gonna be like hubs. This is gonna be funny. The guys are gonna think I have one. That's what they're gonna think. Or, you know, Mom's gonna get so scared because there's a jersey devil. Like yeah, yeah. For sure. Another sighting in Camden came from this is the one time that it's a lady, but yeah, she's not a prominent historical figure. Another sighting in Camden came from a woman claiming she found the beast trying to eat her dog when she hit it with a broomstick and it flew away. It's quite a claim. yeah, it is quite a claim. You you're saying people have shot at this thing and it's unbothered on face. But you get a few. People have sprayed it with a fireman's hose. Totally fuck you, ba ba ba flies away. Here's what you notice. A broom? No, it's not the broom. Okay. It's that her aura was so threatening. That's the only thing I can think. It was that. Truly? There's a devil say as a dog mom. Yeah. Yeah. I don't if if the broom's the only thing I have in my fucking hand and you're you're about to try and eat my fucking dog, I'm taking you to no place you ever want to be. Promise. Yeah, you know? And I'm gonna I'm gonna beat you within an inch of death and keep you alive and stare at you for hours. Just so you know, to never even think about doing it again. Even in the afterlife. Don't touch my dog. I respect it. That's my little boy. Sure. After this 1909 spree, so that's the end of it. It wasn't as though the Jersey Devil simply disappeared. That's not what happened. Okay. reports continue to circulate to this day. about the creature. I meant that in the beginning. That was that was the truth. And he's become very infamous in New Jersey. It's like their thing. I did see some Jersey Devil merch when I was north recently. You know? In New York, not Jersey, but Yeah, yeah. I saw it. That's it's lots of I was at Niagara Falls. Yeah. No, I remember that. That you went on that site. Yeah. And in the the gift shop there there was a lot of Jersey Devil merch stuff. Is Niagara Falls like close to New Jersey? I wouldn't say close. Okay. But That's so I think it's probably just a touristy thing. Okay. That like because they know it's a local ish legend, 'cause like you mentioned there being sightings in New York and shit. Yeah, that's true. So I think just because there are sightings there, kind of how like you know when they'll do like famous people boat or bus tours? The famous person isn't living there anymore, they'll be like, and this is where so and so lived when It's just a thing that they can talk to. Okay. Okay. Makes sense. So yeah, mm that that wasn't the end of it. It's kind of their thing now. However, I will gladly run through some of the sightings, stories from just normal everyday people. Just some though. Yeah. Because if c if I literally re recounted every single one of the ones that that just that I found, not even that is probably out there, we'd probably be here for genuinely upwards of ten hours. So we're not gonna do that. we're not gonna do that. Correct. But we will start off With Mary Ritzer Christensen. She reflected on a time when she was a senior in college driving to Glasboro from Blackwood Green Tree Road. Her drive, apparently at night, and flanked with farms and orchards on either side of the road, though it was dark this night, the moon was well lit, and Mary noticed something in her rearview mirror. A creature standing larger than a human man. With haunches and a slow pace to its walk. The creature crossed the road as she slowed down to catch a better glance, but after seeing its huge woolly head, she headed out quickly and ended up spending the night in her car, too afraid to face the possibility of running into the creature once more. She also mentioned she refuses to go down that road day or night anymore. She will avoid it at all costs to this day. And she's a grown woman now. So that was her experience. Then there was another man, did not give his full name, totally understandable. His first name was Keith. He was camping alone in the pine barrens and had caught himself a rabbit for dinner. On his way back to his campsite, however, he noticed something following behind him. Yeah. Once he got to his campsite, it circled. as he cooked dinner and continued to do so for two hours following. Once it seemed like it had finally decided to leave him and the coast was clear, Keith ducked into his tent for the evening, only to shortly after laying his head, hear a hoof hit the ground behind his head outside the tent. That alone scaring him to death. but the loud screams it proceeded to let out. Several times before leaving were even more jarring. Yeah. No tracks could be found the next morning, and Keith said that he no longer sleeps inside tents if he's camping because he wants to be able to like see. Yeah. Damn. Lastly, I think. Yeah. Lastly, another woman recounts a story her uncle once told her about his youth, where he grew up in the pine barrens. Her uncle had a dog at the time, and they were thick as thieves. He'd follow him everywhere, including into the woods. But one day, they both sat on the porch of his childhood home. Screams began letting off in the woods nearby. It's said that the Jersey Devil has like unhuman screams. It's Something like a cross almost between a human and some sort of animal. Yeah. the loyal dog ran into the woods to try to seek out where the noise was coming from with the intention to protect his young friend. However, the screams got louder and the dog came back running to the porch, tail between his legs, and refused to leave the porch. And he truly never went further from the home than the porch from that day on. he would try to beckon the dog to come join him over and over, but he no longer could will himself to do so no matter what. Yeah. Yeah. That's actually more right? That's why I added that one in there. Because there was there was a few more. I was like, I don't want to go crazy, like I said, because it can get really a lot. Yeah. And and a little repetitive 'cause a lot of them are in the Pine Barrens specifically. And I mean this is in the Pine Barrens, you know what I mean though. A lot of them can be the same sort of thing. There were multiple accounts of people being on camping trips. There was these this group of friends that they went on camping trips and two of them decided the next morning to go on a bike ride before the other friends got up. Uh-huh. And they're mountain biking. And they're on a on a mountain biking trail and for some reason hi their bikes both stall out at the same time. And they're fifty feet apart from each other and they just hear like the same scream kind of thing. And they ended up being able to make it back and everything like that. But then they went into the town nearby for breakfast afterwards and They kind of recounted what happened to their waiter. And their waiter was like, you met our little friend. And then later on showed them a metal trash can that they had outside that was like looked like something had literally like claw its claws through it. And then there was another lady who gosh darn it. It's fine. 80 18. whatchamacallit? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I have more more stuff, obviously, but that was the ending for the stories. I was just, I know. it was a canoe. my gosh. It was a lady, and she would go on field trips with her. School canoeing in the pine barrens. And she always noticed every year that they would go that something was kind of trailing behind her on the forest like floor. And this last year she had felt safe to not really pay attention because she felt she was, like I'm you know, I'm really good at canoeing now. I feel like an expert, blah blah blah blah blah. So she stopped looking behind her so much and stuff like that. And then Her and her friend, they were both canoeing, heard the scream, looked back, it's claim that they saw the creature and they were both freaked the heck out. And they're like, you know, canoeing for their lives essentially. They end up accidentally tipping their canoes. and the thing is like coming at them. Yeah. They manage to flip their canoes back over f quickly enough and row themselves away. But had left all their stuff behind and they were like, I don't care, we left, at least we're we left with our lives essentially. And they end up like leaving and being okay. But yeah. Skibby. Yeah. So obviously this is a cryptid. Yeah. So we know that there are possible reasons that this cryptid may exist. I always like to mention I believe I'm gonna say it right, egg eguigores. Have you heard of that? There's supposed be essentially these things that manifest is it like through energy. Yeah, like when when enough people believe or speak about a myth or a tale exactly becomes Yes. I did I thought that's what I don't know if that's the correct pr I can't talk. The correct pronunciation. Thank you. I don't know if that's correct pronunciation. I'm not a hundred percent positive, to be honest. If it's not, I'll fix it in the next one. But yeah, I always like to mention those because I I have strong belief in that. Yep. Like I'm like if enough people, especially multiple people, if enough people are putting stock into an idea Energy makes an impact. Yes, a hundred percent. It's like something's gotta happen with that energy that they're putting into it. So that's just a general one that I would say. But there is a theory that the Jersey Devil was just a baby born with disfigurations and was sadly tossed somewhere in the pine barren woods because people were, you know, assholes. Yeah. and kind of didn't know better in the 1700s and would see a baby like that and very literally think it was a monster. Yes. the Jersey Devil could have just been a Sandy Hill crane, which I'll show you in a second, being mistaken For something more at four feet high and fifteen pounds with a wingspan of up to eighty inches. It is loosely possible, though it's apparently aggressive when cornered and gyrates as it flies. So that kind of adds to sort of a whimsy of mythicality, if you will. for v video purposes. If you're not watching them, so sorry, we'll post it on Instagram. but I will post it right here on my hand. but here it is. Let me show you. So is this this wind right here? Yeah. This wind. And like here here's like a good showing of the wings. Yes. He a big boy. Uh-huh. He's a big boy. Yeah. See how in the dark that thing flying all crazy? Right. Yeah. I think so. Uh-huh. I think that that's definitely See? A possibility. And then another theory is the Leeds family had a history of religious political disputes. Daniel Leeds being the head of this issue. Daniel Leeds' second wife and daughter died in childbirth. Some believe this contributes to the portion of the Jersey Devil myth where the devil is being birthed and the mother is killed by the child after it transforms. His third wife had nine children, which contributes to the idea that the family had twelve before the devil was born as the thirteenth. Okay. Okay. and then Daniel was a surveyor at the time, so that contributed to the idea that the family was not well off. That being said, now this doesn't relate to the story necessarily. This is more just like why there's belief as to why the Leeds family specifically was targeted essentially in this story and why this all like it's it originally was the Leeds devil and had, you know, the Leeds family as the main characters and the story. So it gives explanation for that. Daniel Leeds was once a Quaker, but had been thrown out by his congregation for posting almanacs with astrological symbols and writings in them. He eventually became fascinated with such things and studied Christian occultism, Christian mysticism, cosmology, demonology, Make sure I say this one right. This one's hard. Angelology and natural magic. He converted to Anglicanism and became a counselor to Lord Cornberry, a British royal governor at the time. Cornberry is a terrible name. It it really is. When when they found out that Daniel had ties to the governor. And the Quakers began to believe he was aiding the crown and that he was a traitor and that he rejected their beliefs. They proceeded to post an almanac of their own with the title Satan Encountered being something by way of answer to David Lee Daniel Leeds. So essentially they were accusing him of working with the devil through through that almanac. Then This is the fun part. The more fun part for me anyway. I thought that this was hilarious. Daniel's son, Titan Leeds, that one, great name, by the way. Better. Yeah. Inherited the almanac business that Daniel started and never stopped featuring astrological content. Which yeah, right? Absolutely. You know, someone had to start the zodiac thing. A while back. Thanks. Thanks for getting the ball rolling. Exactly. Exactly. Who knows? We could have been not as advanced nowadays. Which may have been what led to it being successful enough to compete with Benjamin Franklin's almanac at this time. Poor Richard's almanac. Franklin used his own almanac to jokingly predict Titan's death with like with like astrological stuff. Like he like made up a date and he was like, This is when you're gonna die, Titan. And accurate what? And he was just being super it wasn't accurate at all. Damn it. Well I was really hoping you were gonna say it's Yeah, that would have been hilarious. But yeah. It's just so fun B Benjamin Franklin, I found out through this, had one hell of a fucking sense of humor. seems petty, I like it. Yes. Titan didn't like that. And called Franklin some names. He called him like a like a liar and and a fool. things like that. Franklin thought that was hilarious and claimed that since the date had passed, Titan must have been writing as a ghost. in response to Franklin and only did so to torment and haunt him from the grave. Hilarious. Basically all all this stuff made it so the Leeds family was wrapped into the reputation of being evil and otherworldly in some sense. Henceforth the Jersey devil. I'm sorry. No, it's so funny. It's so funny. Like literally I'm like reading this. He even He even kept doing it. Franklin kept making it a joke after Titan Leeds actually died. He was like he was like, this this friggin' phantom just haunting me from the grave. He just won't leave me alone, that Titan Leeds. Him and his damn almanac. He's just being funny. He's he's having a good time d time and Titan's Titan's like Okay. Exactly. That's tight. Benjamin's Frank Benjamin Franklin's just like okay ghost while he's like holding his kite that's light el electricity and shit. He's like he's like What was that? Y idiot. You stupid. You're so dumb, you dumb ghost. Like he's just having the time of his life. He's like, look at me, I'm getting printed on a hundred dollar bill. Like Like you know, and I feel like I honestly, this isn't about Benjamin Franklin, but I feel like that's such a testament to people who are truly that great, like who are like have done all these great even though, you know, there was bad things that he did. Shitty things exactly many. But people who have accomplished a lot, I guess you could say, or are infamous in history and stuff like that. I feel like it's kind of a testament that you have to you have to laugh about things. You have to just have a good fucking sense of humor about life. Because he's like, this guy is low-key beating me out for this almanac business. His almanac is doing as well as mine or sometimes better than mine, and we're kinda always at heads about it, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, I'm just gonna have a good time with him. And then the other guy's like and then he dies. And then like So and Benjamin Franklin was like, I'm chilling you know. So then there were obviously, you know, some other theories and just the same kind of stuff we were mentioning earlier, basically. That's why I said, we'll talk about that later. Because hoaxes. Yeah. People planting horse hoof prints to imitate the Jersey Devil. I would do it. People making up stories and backing one another up. To keep the story alive. You know, people seeing a big bird in the sky and then being like, look, everyone. That's the Jersey Devil. There might also, to the to the point of hoaxes and like people keeping the myth alive on purpose. Yeah. I think sometimes there is like a positive, playful connotation to that. yeah. You know, like it makes me think about sprinkling reindeer food in the grass when I was a kid with my parents. Okay, yeah. Like, you know, that's definitely them continuing an illusion and a myth, because it's fun. And even though this is a different kind of myth, I can still see how keeping it alive would be fun if it was Towns myth, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I I totally agree. And It has become a part of New Jersey's culture. That's it's part of the the whole place. So it makes a lot of sense that to this day it's continued. I mean, one of the things that I mentioned, because I have I have only two fun facts for this one, but one of them is that the NHL team for New Jersey is called the New Jersey Devils. And they do in fact get their name from the New Jersey Devil. It wasn't like they were like we should be the devils. And then, yeah. No, they did it because of Homie. So it's like it's really like ingrained, you know, and it seems a lot of people saw it in like a positive light. And w it's not like nowadays, I should say. And it's not, you know, in to for lack of a better term, demonized anymore. So but yeah. And then there's one more fun fact. And this is actually. the whole reason that I decided to do the Dreamsea Devil. have you heard of what we do in the shadows? Okay. Have you watched the show at all? I've I've seen a few episodes, yes. Okay, okay. Great. So I love that show. and there was an episode where the Jersey Devil is briefly mentioned. Okay. and they describe the Jersey Devil, which I'll do in a second. It's just hilarious. For anyone who doesn't know the show What We Do in the Shadows, it is a spin-off of a film, also called What We Do in the Shadows, where there are in the show, because the show is a little bit different from the movie premise, in the show, there are three, yes, three male vampires, one female vampire. They all live together with a familiar for one of the male vampires. And they It's just like kind of like it them doing funny things all the time and not really being appropriately acclimated to modern times. And so they're familiar a lot of times is like essentially like getting them out of trouble and shit like that because he's a human still. But this particular time they go out to the woods to camp with one of their it's all the dudes, with one of their neighbors. Who they consider to be a friend, their neighbor who's a human, mind you. And they go to New Jersey, and they're like, he's telling they this is a whole other side quest on the show, but the he, the neighbor is telling this kid that they have with them about the Jersey Devil. And Trying to be like, if you're not careful out here, you're gonna run into the Jersey Devil. The kid's like, I don't believe in the Jersey Devil. Uh-huh. And then he's like, What does it even look like? And the guy describes, and that I'm gonna describe to you because this description alone made me be like, That I have to do this. I have to do this. he's got dragon wings and a half goat horse face with a chin strapped. beard like an Amish and he's got hooves and horns and two low hanging balls with a button cocked on top. And I was like I was like, I'm sorry. What did you just say? Like it's just crazy. The delivery in the show is phenomenal. but it's also the whole show is very outlandish and funny that way and unrealistic, which is part of the comedic humor. To it. But in the show, the vampires proceed to claim in like, you know how the office has like side interviews with each character? They it there's supposed to be a documentary going on, and that's so they do side interviews with the characters there too. And in their side interviews, they proceed to claim that the Jer Jersey Devil is not real and was in fact made up by them. in order to get the locals off their back from all the dead bodies piling up due to their feedings. Hilarious. And then, lo and behold, later in the episode, they come face to face with a creature that matches the earlier description to a T. And it's crazy. They end up becoming friends with the Jersey Devil and shit like that. It's cute. But it's just so funny. And there's actually a bunch of different pieces in media that have referenced the Jersey Devil. There's ones that have referenced the Jersey Devil in deeper, longer stories. But stuff like that. And a ton of books and different things. But yeah, man. That's the Jersey Devil. Or the Leeds Devil. I like it. Yeah. Sorry about my thumbs down. That's okay. Just being sassy. It's a good story. Like He's just a creepy little guy. He's just a creepy little guy. He wants to make creepy little friends. Yeah. And go around and drink animal blood. Yep. Yeah. Let him live his Occasionally have a breakfast sandwich. Yeah. And hit on some mermaids. Yeah. Seems alright. Drink and laugh with his b ghost buddy. Let him let him be free to be the little freak that he is. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. It's cute. I like it. You know, a little a little ha ha hee hee for the for the people in the back, you know? You need a little s little bit of a little bit of a pellet cleanser. Yes. Exactly, exactly. man. Is it is it positive note time? Positive note. And on a positive note time? Yeah. Yeah. And on a positive note. Am I starting? You go first. What the heck? man. I mean, there's always so many things. I feel like I don't have anything specific in mind today, which is kinda stinky. I I am gonna do a little bit of training with my doggy today. Hell yeah. That sounds very nice. That part's gonna be so cute and nice. He's gonna have a good time. He's such a smart boy. He's the smartest boy. And he learned a lot in his training yesterday. And we learned a lot. And it's gonna be a cute, fun time for him. And then other than that, I mean I think I think it's one of the first days where I'm not gonna have anything too too crazy going on. I'm probably gonna do or I should say I'm probably gonna start editing today and that part is fun. and get I'm first gonna get a certain clip that we need. Well, at this point you guys will know. The little laugh that you hear at the beginning in our intro song, that's what I'm taking out today. So I will be figuring out how to take a snippet and send it to Kat so she can send it to her friend who made our intro song so he can add it to our intro song. and I'd say that's that's you know, it's a positive note just in the general sense of like getting stuff taken care of and you know, another step forward with the podcast and stuff like that. And Yeah. yeah. Yeah. Hanging out with my Bubba. Productive things, good things. Yo, my positive notice is real simple. I got a real simple one. I'm gonna get the biggest fucking iced coffee. Yes. my god, yes. Giant ice coffee. The size of my fucking head. From where? I don't know. Probably Duncan. Hilarious. Probably Duncan. I heard they got the pumpkin spice in. I heard they got the pumpkin spice. I gotta go get the pumpkin spice. If you just heard me gulp and drink, it's because I have a pumpkin spice. And for the haters, it is aug August twenty fourth today. Yeah. And I don't care. It's October. I don't even look. Yeah, truly it's October. I love that. Yeah. You see me? Yeah. It's October. Truly. gosh. But yeah. That's a good that's a really good one. Big old ice coffee. Yeah. Someone needs it. Hell yeah. Yeah. Hell yeah. And I also got a book. I got some books yesterday. A local author. Wish I could tell you the name. I remember it cause I don't remember it 'cause I'm a jerk, but I stopped into this bookshop when I I went to the outlet malls on my days off. Okay. Last week and I don't know, like I was genuinely just putzing around. Like I just had an hour and I like, la la la and there was a shop that had a giant person in a rubber duck inflatable costume, which I was like, Well, Keith, that's fucked up. It's like a hundred degrees outside. Yeah. They looked like they were having a bad time. They were just sitting there like fucking every once in a while someone would walk by and they would wave their little duck arm. I was like, I feel bad for you. That's actually wholly the reason I went in there. I was like, You're torturing this human. Yeah. What is the deal? got my boyfriend a fancy soap. Cute. Anyway. Pussing around the outlets. What was my point? I you said you went there for a reason. And it was a positive thing. I'm sorry. No, it's okay. I forgot. I derailed myself. Okay. Before the ducky What'd you go there for? What'd you your boyfriend? I was talking about the book. I got a book from a local author and I didn't know that this bookshop was in this outlet mall. cool. So it was also the local bookshop. Yeah. And I was like, Well is this? And I walked in and it was fun because there were bookshelves that were full yes, but there were also just like piles of books and I was like, This is enjoyable. Heck. And I went to the local section and it's about it's an it's a heh It's a tale about like AI becoming more intelligent and aware and trying to do shit it couldn't. And I was like, yeah, that feels that feels relevant. Yeah, scary in a good way. Yeah. Come read that. Come to the meal with me right now. you couldn't see us just stare at the camera, but we're staring at the microphone now too. So if you can't feel the hey, we're not fans of that, I'm letting you know. Hey. No, we're not fans of that. Fuck AI. I mean, okay. Fuck unregulated AI. Yes. That's the thing. Yes, yes, yes. The Yes, but I feel like it's not even worth making that distinction 'cause we're so far past that coin. We are. We are. I just think about there are some things that it's very there are things that it can be useful and helpful for and it can be a really good tool for Exactly how weather if it was regulated to just be for those things. Yeah. Yeah. And it's not it's really shitty and dangerous and dead and how they're taking away people's jobs and And they're also making the newer generation not the brightest. And I don't mean that in a f in like an offensive way. No, just like to the newer generation. You have to put less eff effort into understanding and comprehending and learning because it's being done for you and you're just being given the information. Yep. Your brain is not as comfortable comprehending and learning. Correct. Like to be perfectly clear, there's people like that in every generation. Yeah. But it is a concern when for decades now, four centuries now, generation after generation after generation has been more intelligent than the previous generation. Absolutely. Yes. Until now. So that's a concern. You know? I think that's a that's a valid, understandable concern. And we should just be thinking about that. You know? Just taking a thought. But that just makes the book sound all the more interesting and all all the more relevant, you know? So excited to read that. Yeah. That sounds cool. Excited to read some of my book later. Especially a local author. That's so sick. Excited to get my big ass iced coffee. Hell yeah. That's my positive note. I did forget that I planned to go to both Michaels and Barnes and Noble today. Hell yeah. That's a great note. Yeah. Barnes and Of Barnes and anybody else who's a little neurotic baby has planners already. I mean they always have planners but like they have twenty twenty seven planners now. And I'm so pumped about it. I do want to go look at them. They also have a sale right now. is it still is it still gonna be going on when you guys hear this? Shit. No, it's not. Just kidding. There's no sale. There's no sale. but it is a biannual sale. So it will come back at some point. So keep an eye out for it in another six-ish months, because obviously this is coming out later. but you can probably just Google it and find out when the next one's gonna be. But they have a bunch of books that are fifty percent off. And some that are even seventy-five, I think like that it's mostly their like clearance books and stuff like that. but I got two books and no. I got two like regular books and then I got a cookbook. And I was very excited about it. Yeah. And David got a book too. Yay. Yeah, David got a book too. It was a good time. He got a Warhammer book. Okay. Cool. And so I'm gonna go look at planners and then I'm gonna go look at decor and Michaels. Yeah. That's that's it. And we're we're a little not bad over like we're not over time or anything like that really. But time to wrap it up. Yeah. But yeah. So that's all. Thanks for coming. Thanks for coming. Thanks for hanging out. Bye you little baddies. See Betties. Bye, little betties. Flap those wings, girl.