Jersey Devil hunting: Author will lead the way in Lakewood

In his travels, comic book author and screenwriter Tony DiGerolamo hears about Jersey Devil sightings.

“I’ve had a ton of people tell me they’ve seen it — happens all the time,” he said. “A lot of times it’s the classic, ‘It was six feet tall and covered in black fur and had leathery wings and horns and it flew.’ Every once in a while you get an oddball one.”

Like last weekend, for example, when he appeared at the South Jersey Geek Fest convention in Woodbury.

“My uncle saw the Jersey Devil,” an attendee told him. “It kind of looked like a kangaroo with a long tail.”

No wings?

“Nah, I don’t think he saw wings,” the person replied. “It just kind of ran away.”

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That’s more fodder for DiGerolamo’s catalogue of work — books, podcasts, guest lectures — about the Garden State’s greatest legend. He’ll be speaking about the ever-popular subject at the Lakewood Historical Museum at 2 p.m. Saturday. "How to Hunt the Jersey Devil” is the title of his talk.

“We all know about the Jersey Devil and we all kept an eye out for him when we were in the woods playing,” said Robin Wellet, who booked DiGerolamo’s appearance for the Lakewood Historical Society. “It’s something we all grew up with.”

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The stories have been persistent for centuries.

“It’s got a great history to it, and by learning about the Jersey Devil you learn about your own history,” said DiGerolamo, a South Jersey native who lives in Laurel Springs in Camden County. “It ties into a lot of historical events.”

For example: A young Ben Franklin helped make his name and fortune in the printing business by spreading the legend. In hawking his now-famous “Poor Richard’s Almanack,” Franklin found himself pitted against the more-established Leeds Almanack, which was published by the son of the infamous Daniel Leeds — whose writings had run afoul of Quaker authorities.

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The most popular Jersey Devil origin story depicts the creature as the wicked spawn of the Leeds clan. It didn’t help that “the Leeds family crest was on the cover of their almanac and looks like a dragon,” DiGerolamo said. “Ben Franklin starts piling on shaming them — ‘looks like witchcraft to me, you want to buy Poor Richard’s wholesome almanac.'”

Another legend has a member of France’s royal Bonaparte family in Bordentown shooting “a cannonball through the chest of the New Jersey Devil,” DiGerolamo said. Again, there’s a kernel of truth here: Napoleon Bonaparte’s brother Joseph did live in Bordentown for two decades in the early 1800s.

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The hysteria of 1909

The Jersey Devil’s reputation exploded into the historical record with rash of sightings reported by newspapers in 1909. DiGerolamo said the story was planted by a “carnival huckster” in Philadelphia to set up his eventual “capture” of the beast for public display.

Reporters “asked scientists in 1909 what the Jersey Devil was, and their stories were just ridiculous,” DiGerolamo said, noting one account that reported, “It was probably a pterodactyl that was frozen in ice and now has thawed out and is terrorizing the Pine Barrens.”

Or “Pineys,” as the region's inhabitants became known.

“The elites in Philadelphia looked down on the people of South Jersey as a bunch of ignorant hillbillies,” DiGerolamo said. “They called us Pineys.”

Drawing on that nickname, “The Pineys” is a series of novels by DiGerolamo about the Jersey Devil and the locals it moved among.

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Some stuff, you can’t make up. Even as recently as the 1950s, there were organized hunts for the beast.

“There was a big to-do when a circus offered a big reward for finding the Jersey Devil, dead or alive,” DiGerolamo said. “So everybody flooded into the Pine Barrens looking for it. Local cops had to put up signs saying, ‘The Jersey Devil is a hoax, go home.’”

Judging from the sightings DiGerolamo continues to hear about, a lot of folks disagree.

Tony DiGerolamo’s talk, "How to Hunt the Jersey Devil,” is free, but donations to the Lakewood Historical Museum will be accepted. To R.S.V.P., call Robin Wellet at 732-330-5384 or email at rwellet@aol.com.

Jerry Carino is community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore’s interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Jersey Devil hunt subject of lecture by 'Pineys' author in Lakewood