Kayak only cache! This is the thirteenth cache of the "Monster Mash Trail" series that are scattered along the scenic Pocomoke River that begins in Snow Hill, MD. The Monster Mash Trail is compiled of various monsters from movies and "real" monsters. Local legends dictates that the Pocomoke Forest, which this river runs through, is extremely haunted and has a plethora of history and lore so we thought this type of theme would be perfect! This is a small, water-tight container. You can only reach this cache by kayak at the peak of the high tide. You will not be able to access the cache by any other water craft means. Please BYOP! Happy Hunting!
About the monster: One of the most prolific monsters from the east coast of the United States is the Jersey Devil, also known as the Leeds Devil, Wozzle-bug, and Hoodle-Doodle Bird. This monstrosity from New Jersey has been spotted countless times as far south as the Eastern Shore of Maryland and parts of Pennsylvania. However the Jersey Devil has called the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey its’ home for the majority of its alleged existence. Disturbing shrieks and blood curdling screams are believed to be the call of the Jersey Devil and can be heard whenever entering this region. Descriptions of this beast are of a wide variety; cloven hooves, enormous leathery wings, the head of a goat or horse, horns, small arms with clawed hands, the body of a kangaroo, deer antlers, and a forked tail are just a few of the features eyewitnesses have claimed make-up the Jersey Devil. The creature is also reported to be very quick and, with the help of its humongous wings, has the ability to fly.
The Jersey Devils’ origin story has many diverse versions, yet most of the folks from New Jersey choose to believe in the tale of Mother Leeds of Leeds Point. According to the story, in 1735 Mother Leeds found to her great dismay that she was pregnant with her thirteenth child and her family wasn’t really ready to take on another child. Her husband was a drunkard who made very few attempts to provide for their family sufficiently, so after her little discovery Mother Leeds raised her hands in frustration and shouted, “Let this one be a devil!” In some stories, Mother Leeds was a witch who had cursed her unborn child and the child’s father was Satan himself, while in others she’s simply a crazy old hag. In either case, the birth went routine by all accounts and the baby came out seemingly normal. However, after the child took a few of its first breaths it began to transform into a large, nightmare of a creature that killed a midwife and flew up the chimney. Some say that the creature slaughtered the entire Leeds family, while others claim that it never touched a soul but had just merely escaped through a nearby window. This is the state’s accepted version of the origin for this monster and proof of this can be found in the records of New Jerseys’ founding families. There was indeed a Leeds family in 1735; the Mother was named Deborah Leeds, the father Japhet Leeds, and when Japhet Leeds wrote his will in 1736 he left information about his twelve children. There are a handful of additional stories for the beginnings of the Jersey Devil. These include a story about the Native Americans in the area, the Lenni Lenape, who used to call the Pine Barrens “Popuessing”, which meant “place of the dragon.” When Swedish explorers arrived in this area, they named it “Drake Kill,” “drake” meaning dragon and “kill” meaning channel or arm of the sea in Dutch.
The Jersey Devil is also said to be an omen, much like the infamous “Mothman,” with the rumor attached that if you see the Jersey Devil that you or your family will befall a disaster very soon. Though whether this is true remains to be seen considering the thousands of sightings that have taken place and still continue to take place each year. One fisherman in 1870 claimed to have witnessed the Jersey Devil serenading a mermaid of the coast of Long Beach. During the week of January 16th through 23rd of 1909, there was a rash of sightings all over the Delaware Valley when terrifying sightings and encounters with the beast numbered in the hundreds. The creature was accredited with attacking a trolley car full of people during midday in Haddon Heights, a social club in Camden, and in innumerable amount of children, as well as women and homes. A councilmen in Trenton claimed that he had been awoken to the sound of large flapping wings and upon investigation the following morning, he found cloven hoof prints in the snow around his house. In the course of a week, the Jersey Devil had managed to terrorize people in not only New Jersey, but in Pennsylvania and parts of Delaware. The alleged encounters of this region gained so much attention during this frenzy of hysteria that it received national news coverage and caused a panic to ripple through the Delaware Valley. Supposedly a mass of police officers had even fired upon the fiend during this frightening week from both Camden and Bristol, Pennsylvania, but to no avail. The fear caused by all this prompted many families to keep their children home from school and many mill workers in the area refused to leave their house to walk to work. The Philadelphia Zoo even posted a reward for capturing the creature alive of $10,000 and built what they assumed would be a suitable habitat to house and study it.
Whether you believe in the notorious Jersey Devil or not, its history of sightings and encounters have been well documented for almost 280 years and is even prized by the state of New Jersey. Evidence of this is with their naming of the states’ NFL hockey team, “Jersey Devils.” Sightings of monster are as recent as this year, when it was spotted in the remote Pine Barrens that the beast claims as its’ home. As we placed this cache, we could swear that we heard the flapping of large wings in the limbs above! Could the Jersey Devil have perhaps taken a vacation from the Pine Barrens to visit this area? It’s quite possible, please so be careful and if you heard any shrieking you should paddle like there’s no tomorrow!