The Secret History of the Jersey Devil

By Brian Regal, Frank J. Esposito,

Book cover of The Secret History of the Jersey Devil: How Quakers, Hucksters, and Benjamin Franklin Created a Monster

Book description

A provocative look at the mystery surrounding the Jersey Devil, a beast born of colonial times that haunts the corners of the Pine Barrens-and the American imagination-to this day.

Legend has it that in 1735, a witch named Mother Leeds gave birth to a horrifying monster-a deformed flying horse with…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Secret History of the Jersey Devil as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

The Jersey Devil, is a horrifying creature said to lurk in the rugged New Jersey pine barrens.

It’s been the subject of (fruitless) searches and scary legends for well over a century. But it’s not an intrepid cryptozoologist or weekend monster hunter who finally cornered the beast, but instead two historians, Brian Regal and Frank Esposito.

Just as Jay Smith tackled the beast of Gévaudan as a historial mystery, the pair trace the origins of the Jersey Devil from an eighteenth-century settler named Daniel Leeds to the present day.

Along the way we find a smattering of compelling –yet evidence-free—eyewitness…

From Benjamin's list on (real-life) monsters.

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