S5 EB1 | Jersey Devil Origins

I Want To Believe: Season 7

I Want to Believe the Podcast – S5 EB1 – Jersey Devil Origins: Bonus Remix Episode

Open Song - Jersey by Queen Latifah

Close Song - Just Another Day by Queen Latifah

Welcome to the I Want to Believe podcast!

This is the first bonus episode of season 5 and the first episode recorded in 2022. We’re doing things a little different with this episode. We actually covered the Jersey Devil back in season 2, episode 5. But as with a lot of our earlier seasons, we were novices at podcasting and our audio quality was lower. Much like our updated and remixed Dover Demon episode, I’m giving the Jersey Devil the remix treatment. This will include audio samples from various television shows and youtube channels.

Before we jump into the episode, we wanted to provide the I Want to Believe social media & email links. My brand-new book, We Only Come Out at Night, is now available for purchase. This book is a collection of short horror stories and can be found online at: SlevikStore.Company.Site and at the Green Hand Bookshop.

The story of the Jersey Devil goes back almost 3 centuries. Since then, it has become a muddled heap of myth, legend, true stories with believers and skeptics. How’s about we dive in from the beginning.

The legend begins with the Pine Barren forests of New Jersey and a woman named Mother Leeds. She had given birth to 12 children, and in 1735, she found that she was pregnant with her 13th. The Leeds family was poor and when they found that she was pregnant again, she cursed the child and said, “Let this one be a devil!” This is where the typical legend of the Jersey Devil begins, but when you do a little bit of research, there’s a lot more that comes to the surface. Despite 1000s of encounters, the real story might just be humble, human beginnings. Included: political intrigue, Quaker in-fighting, almanacs, a royal governor, and a man named Benjamin Franklin.

Let’s get into the possible origins of the Jersey Devil…

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Samples used in episode:

Monster Quest | Lost Tapes | LNA | Uncommon History

Colossal Cranium | Rudolf Steiner | MrRhexx

Sources:

CSICOP.org | WeirdNJ.com

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