Blogtoberfest – Myths and Legends

The Blair Witch Project was a movie that consisted of three explorers going to find a urban myth, I guess, in the form of a witch that roamed the forest.  Most of know how that turned out…not very well.  I was actually scared somewhat by the movie, even though I knew it wasn’t true – the narrative was pretty effective!

I am a huge fan of the show “Fact or Faked” and I glean a lot of the my information about local legends from that and Weird NJ.  I truly enjoy reading about the weird stuff that happens just beyond our field of vision.

Being a resident of the lovely Garden State, let’s begin our trip there….

The Jersey Devil

(From the Weird NJ Website http://weirdnj.com/stories/jersey-devil/)

Legend has it that in 1735, a Pines resident known as Mother Leeds found herself pregnant for the thirteenth time. (Leeds is the name of one of New Jersey’s earliest settlers, and many descendants of the Leeds family can still be found throughout NJ to this day.) Mother Leeds was not living a wealthy lifestyle by any means. Her husband was a drunkard who made few efforts to provide for his wife and twelve children. Reaching the point of absolute exasperation upon learning of her thirteenth child, she raised her hands to the heavens and proclaimed “Let this one be a devil!”

Mother Leeds went into labor a few months later, on a tumultuously stormy night, no longer mindful of the curse she had utter previously regarding her unborn child. Her children and husband huddled together in one room of their Leeds Point home while local midwives gathered to deliver the baby in another. By all accounts the birth went routinely, and the thirteenth Leeds child was a seemingly normal baby boy.

Within minutes however, Mother Leeds’s unholy wish of months before began to come to fruition. The baby started to change, and metamorphosed right before her very eyes. Within moments it transformed from a beautiful newborn baby into a hideous creature unlike anything the world had ever seen. The wailing infant began growing at an incredible rate. It sprouted horns from the top of its head and talon-like claws tore through the tips of its fingers. Leathery bat-like wings unfurled from its back, and hair and feathers sprouted all over the child’s body. Its eyes began glowing bright red as they grew larger in the monster’s gnarled and snarling face. The creature savagely attacked its own mother, killing her, then turned its attention to the rest of the horrified onlookers who witnessed its tempestuous transformation. It flew at them, clawing and biting, voicing unearthly shrieks the entire time. It tore the midwives limb from limb, maiming some and killing others.

Sightings of the Jersey Devil have continued to this day, mostly concentrated in the southern New Jersey area.  One wonders what would happen if the  Jersey Devil appeared in Newark on a Saturday night…

Beware of Clinton Road

Read the entire story here: http://weirdnj.com/stories/clinton-road/

Another legend of NJ is the deserted feeling and decidedly creepy Clinton Road, located in West Milford, Passaic County.  It’s a long stretch of deserted road

that is unlit by streetlamps and has many twists and turns.  Wilderness surrounds the narrow two lane road on both sides, which adds to the isolated feeling.

What happens on this road when it’s only you, your friends and your headlights?

The legend of the ghost boy  – At one particular bend in the road, legend has it that if you throw coins into the water, a “ghost boy” will throw them back to you.  It’s not clear if the boy drowned in that particular area of the lake or was hit by a care, but there have been reports of coins being flung back onto the road when tossed in the water.

And another:

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