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9781421436357 Academic Inspection Copy

The Secret History of the Jersey Devil

How Quakers, Hucksters, and Benjamin Franklin Created a Monster
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gend has it that in 1735, a witch named Mother Leeds gave birth to a horrifying monster—a deformed flying horse with glowing red eyes—that flew up the chimney of her New Jersey home and disappeared into the Pine Barrens. Ever since, this nightmarish beast has haunted those woods, presaging catastrophe and frightening innocent passersby—or so the story goes. In The Secret History of the Jersey Devil, Brian Regal and Frank J. Esposito examine the genesis of this popular myth, which is one of the oldest monster legends in the United States.
 
According to Regal and Esposito, everything you think you know about the Jersey Devil is wrong. The real story of the Jersey Devil's birth is far more interesting, complex, and important than most people—believers and skeptics alike—realize. Leaving the Pine Barrens, Regal and Esposito turn instead to the varied political and cultural roots of the Devil's creation. Fascinating and lively, this book finds the origins of New Jersey's favorite monster not in witchcraft or an unnatural liaison between woman and devil but in the bare-knuckled political fights and religious upheavals of colonial America. A product of innuendo and rumor, as well as scandal and media hype, the Jersey Devil enjoys a rich history involving land grabs, astrological predictions, mermaids and dinosaur bones, sideshows, Napoleon Bonaparte's brother, a cross-dressing royal governor, and Founding Father Benjamin Franklin.
 
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. "Let this one be a Devil!"
2. The Devil and Daniel Leeds
3. The Devil and the Founding Father
4. The Birth of the Jersey Devil
5. The Devil's Biographers
6. The Devil Becomes a Star
Epilogue
Notes
Index
 

""In this fine study of accounts about a monstrous creature inhabiting the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, Regal and Esposito show how the shape of the creature shifted to reflect changing times. Their detailed analysis shows how speculation about the New Jersey Devil played around the changing frontiers of scientific knowledge. It also demonstrates the relish for fantastic stories, the gullibility of believers, and the flair for hyperbole, satire, and exploitation of believers that seem to be irrepressible features of American life. Regal and Esposito even liken the conspiracy theories and manipulation of facts in our own time to the same proclivities that keep bringing the New Jersey Devil back to life.""

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