5 New Jersey Monsters You Probably Didn’t Know Existed
We have our fair share of folklore right here in New Jersey. Aside from the New Jersey Devil, how many of these other creatures did you know existed?
Starting at 4:02p.m. today, it is officially fall, giving me license to fully indulge in Halloween festivities...such as looking up myths and legends of New Jersey. While, I have heard about the New Jersey Devil, I got to wondering...
What other monsters do we have out there?
And, feel free to share New Jersey myths and legends you've heard of. I'm fully ready to start investigating.
- 1
BIG RED EYE
Back in the 1970s, the folks of Sussex County tell CBS2 they saw something strange in the forest that only comes out at night. They call it the New Jersey Bigfoot standing at 6ft, 400 pounds, with big gleaming red eyes...hence the name. Some NJ rangers even claim they heard its cream 40 years prior...and never returned to that area.
Could it be hiding? I mean totally, have you seen the Pine Barrens? Read more here.
- 2
WEMATEGUNIS
This is a legend that stems from the Lenape or Delaware Indians. These 3-foot-tall little beings like to use their strength and ability to pull pranks on people! In one story, a Wemategunis tricks a lost hunter using a mocking voice, just to see him run all over the place with a deer on his back! Cruel!
Where can these little creatures be found? It looks like probably around the borders. Read more about them here.
- 3
THE CAPE MAY SEA SERPENT
If you can get your hands on the original article published in The New York Times, pass it this way! Reportedly, on April 20, 1855, in Philadelphia there was a dispatch claiming a 100-foot-long Sea Serpent was spotted in Cape May! Ever since people have been searching for the monster, and in 2013 a 23 year-old fisherman said he came across it.
Perhaps there really is a sea serpent then. I also wonder if the reward of one thousand dollars is still valid today...
- 4
THE MATAWAN MAN-EATER
This monster isn't New Jersey folklore, it really existed! It all started July 1916 out in Beach Haven, after a young Penn graduate bled to death from a shark attack. Five days later, it happened AGAIN and a boy bled to death after his legs were bitten off.
After a couple more gruesome attacks in Matawan,a man-hunt was started to find and kill the shark responsible becoming the greatest shark hunt in history.
When the shark was finally killed, 15 pounds of human parts were found inside. FYI this shark inspired the movie JAWS. Read the full haunting story here.
- 5
THE NEW JERSEY DEVIL
OK, who hasn't heard of the New Jersey Devil? Oh you haven't? Let me tell you then.
In 1735, Mother Leeds gave birth to her 13th child, a beautiful baby born looking like every other child. Suddenly, his features started to morph into a goat, his hands and feet turned into hooves, and bat-like wings sprung out along with a barbed tail!
After slaughtering the midwife, he disappeared into the chimney and escaped to the Pine Barrens to haunt us all. Perhaps you may have seen it? Read more here.