Is this the Jersey Devil???, page 3

yes the legend stems back to the 1700's however the biggest group of sightings where in 1909. The sightings in 1909 where many and concentrated over a weeks time frame. This style of sighting follows the pattern of a new creature being introduced into a new environment ( or an old one being disturbed) from what I remember of the tale the creature was seen several times by several people for a period a little over a week possibly after that it died off but it fueled an old legend that existed in the area for many years. The tales stemming back from the 1700's could have been just that "tales" . As ive found out through my personal experiences and observations when you tell a tale about a strange creature in the area people begin to see the creature. For instance the first night after posting in this thread I went out the front door of my house to hear loud rustling in the woods that sounded like a huge animal but it was running through the tree tops. Of course the first thing that popped into my mind was the jersey devil even though I live no where near jersey ( about 900+ miles away ) by this simple inference in my mind the noises got skewed in my mental vision of what was really happening. Turns out it was simply a big fox squirrel ( didn�t realize how big them things got )

This is long but it has a point to it so bare with me.........

Here is a prime example of how a legend is born and how unknowingly gave girth to a tale that lives on. One time when I was 15 my parents went out of town and of course I did what every 15 year old left home alone does and that is call all my friends to come over. The house I grew up in was on a 20 acre farm built on a hill , further up on the hill behind the house was a rock chimney the only remains of a house built probably in the 17-1800's then on the side of the house you could see a where the old dirt road way used to be.
Not to far from the house trough the fields was the local sportsmen club plus the neighbor was a gun smith all of this set the stage perfectly. So hear I am sneaking liquor from my parents and trying to get closer to the girl next to me as my friends and I sat around on the front porch. That�s when I decided to tell a tale to scare the girls and perhaps get them to snuggle a little closer.

The tale began right after we heard a gun shot off in the distance ( from the sportsmen�s club hehe ) and one of the girls said what�s that. I replied that�s probably "old Joe trying to make his way home look out for him" of course this got everybody�s attention. I began my story, see old Joe was a hunter and a trapper way back in the 1700's , he would leave his wife and 2 kids for weeks at a time on hunting trips. The way the land is laid out the old house was on top of the tallest hill and it could be seen from almost a mile away down the old roadway. So Joe�s wife being somewhat of a romantic each time he left his she would light a candle and keep it lit until he returned so old Joe could see his way home from the end of the road. His wife also gave him a lantern made from an old green wine bottle that shined green in the darkness so Joe�s wife could tell it was him coming home at night. I went on with the tale talking about how much Joe loved his wife and kids and such with the whole "even in death we wont part" kinda thing. Then I began with the tragedy part of the tale, on Joe�s last trip he was fishing in a stream and the fish where biting nonstop, even though he knew he needed to be getting home he kept fishing. Joe stayed by the river bank well past the time he had told his wife he would so he was arriving over two hours late from his 10 o�clock arrival time he told his wife. When he got within about a mile of home he couldn�t believe what he was seeing the glow of the candle was so bright it lit up the sky. That�s when he realized his house was on fire!, see the candle his wife had lit had burned down and fallen over and ignited some straw which was by the window. Joe�s wife and two children where asleep since it was so late and the fire spread before they even knew it had started. Joe began to panic , he ran as fast as he could shooting anything that got in his way of getting home to save his family no matter how big or small Joe shot it. As Joe got closer he could here the screams of his wife and child as the flames had woken them up and they where being burned alive. Joe got close enough to the house just in time to watch the roof collapse and the whole house come down with his wife and children inside just at the stroke of midnight. Had Joe just been a few minutes sooner he could have saved them , had he not stayed so late this never would have happened. Old Joe just sat down there and died , some say he died of a broken heart others say he took his own life no one knows for sure. Since that night Joe�s spirit returns and relives that night each time his spirit tries to get to the house to save his family but fails. So on summer nights you can see Old Joe�s green glowing lantern running through the woods and hear his rifle shots as he shoots anything between him and his family, you just need to hope your not in his way. I of course pointed to the old roadway next to the house just as you could hear another gun shot in the distance, ( again coming from the sportsmen club but it sounded real close ) I of course said he should be coming through soon of course every one wanted to go inside ( I scared them good I guess ) to make matters even more fun my mother had a goldfish pond on the other side of a building near the old road way. The pond had lights in it and wouldn�t you know it they where green. The switch to turn the lights on couldn�t have been in a better location to set this up , it was right next to the window looking out towards the old roadway. So being the little devil I was I leaned over to the window close to midnight and flicked the switch when no one was looking and of course wouldn�t you know it one of the girls spotted the green glow coming from the other side of the building. The girls where terrified and my buddies where a little shaken as we peered out the window at the green glowing light. To make matters even scarier another gun shot rang out and I flicked the switch off without any of them seeing me and said I guess he didn�t make it again tonight. Other then this small group of people I never told that tale to anyone nor did I tell any of them that I made it up as I went along , there never was an old Joe other then a moonshiner that had a still in the 1900's somewhere nearby, there was an old Joe road a few miles away , I guess these two things made me decide to make my ghost "old Joe" instead of Old Steve.

I never really thought about the whole evening until a few months back my girlfriends 8 year old boy was having a friend sleep over and I overheard them say "old Joe". I asked the boys what they where talking about and the boy spending the night told me the same tale I had made up close to 20 years earlier. I asked the boys where they had heard the tale and they said at school and then went on to tell me how so and so had seen the green glowing light. It seems the people at my party told others and the legend grew ,some where in the tales past it took a slight shift and now old Joe is running down old Joe road to save his family. I did a little asking around at the next big cub scout meeting we had and I asked a few of the younger parents if they had ever heard the tale and I was surprised that most of them had and even one claimed to have seen the glowing light, plus the others had friends who had sighted Old Joe as well. A few of the parents said they had spent several nights camping out with friends trying to catch a glimpse of Old Joe as he ran through the woods. Even more amazing one of the parents who grew up several counties away said he had heard the tale when he was in high school as well and they had driven to old Joe road to see for themselves.

Other then just now I have not told a single person that a half drunk horny 15 year old made up the whole thing, I hate to kill a legend. Plus the people who have said they camped out looking for him acted like it was one of the best times in their life. I had no intentions on creating a legend that night I just wanted to cop a feel from the girl with me when she snuggled me in fright. I never told the tale again nor did i ever think it would ever be told again, i would never have believed it would turn into this. However from that one evening a local legend was born and he has been seen by many which shows the power of suggestion is awfully strong......