Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
It started with mysterious hoofprints left in the South Jersey snow, and somehow ended with a painted kangaroo displayed for all to see at Ninth and Arch Streets in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
In between, mass hysteria ensued. Hundreds of area newspaper reports detailed purported sightings of the beast \u2014 some unholy amalgamation of a horse, a collie, and a crane, with the ability to breathe fire and fly to boot. It was hungry, too, taking to fields and rooftops to stalk chickens and family pets in the quest to sate its appetite.<\/p>\n
Schools and factories temporarily closed as terror over the creature gripped the region. Armed farmers followed the beast\u2019s tracks for miles, only to find the prints inexplicably had disappeared. And the legend of the Jersey Devil grew, its origins tracing back to the 18th century, when a woman known as Mother Leeds cursed her 13th child to become a demon that would haunt the region for eternity. <\/p>\n
This was the Jersey Devil panic of January 1909, one of the Philadelphia area\u2019s great local hoaxes. But at the time, it was considered a threat. And, thanks in no small part to newspapers like The Inquirer playing into the gag, the Jersey Devil legend went viral enough to persist today. <\/p>\n
Here is how we covered it:<\/p>\n
Sightings begin<\/p>\n
The Jersey Devil panic began on Jan. 16, 1909, when reports surfaced of odd footprints in South Jersey. The Inquirer began covering the apparent rash of run-ins with the beast days later, claiming that seemingly all of Gloucester County<\/a> and parts of Camden County<\/a> had seen the tracks.<\/p>\n Nearly all of the tracks were reportedly found coming or going from chicken yards or areas near garbage cans. Farmers set out hundreds of steel traps where the markings were spotted, and men armed with shotguns stood watch and waited for the creature to make an appearance.<\/p>\n Several people even claimed they saw the beast itself. Most notable was Nelson Evans, a Gloucester City man who said he and his wife spotted it at about 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 17. Evans called it a kind of bird that stood about 3\u00bd feet tall with a similarly sized wingspan, as well as the head of a collie with a horse\u2019s face, the neck of a crane, wings, and four legs like a kangaroo.<\/p>\n