Alphabestiary - J

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The Jersey Devil is a legendary beast rumored to haunt the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey, usually described as a bizarre creature with the head of a horse or dog, a body somewhat like a kangaroo, the neck and legs of a crane and the wings of a bat. According to the most common version of the legend, the Devil was the 13th child of one Ms. Leeds who, soon after birth, transformed into a horrible monster, devoured its 12 siblings and escaped into the Pine Barrens, where it remains to this day.

The Devil gained some newfound publicity in January of 1909, when a sudden wave of sightings came from all over New Jersey. During the week of January 16-23, thousands of people claimed to have seen the monster itself, or found strange tracks that seemed to go over rooftops, disappear and reappear at random, etc.

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AND FINALLY, we get to one of my absolute *favorite* monsters of any kind, ever. Huzzah!

I will say it annoys me to no end when most modern depictions of this guy show him as some kind of generic "cool-looking" dragon or demon. To me, the traditional depiction of a gangly, sickly-looking, deformed mishmash of random animal parts is *far* more disturbing, and a creature that bears almost no resemblance to anything in the real world makes far more sense as something 'unnatural' or 'demonic' to me.

Plus, just look at him! I bet baby Devils would be SO DAMN CUTE.