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URECAT - UFO Related Entities Catalog

URECAT is a formal catalog of UFO related entities sightings reports with the goal of providing quality information for accurate studies of the topic. Additional information, corrections and reviews are welcome at patrick.gross@inbox.com, please state if you wish to be credited for your contribution or not. The main page of the URECAT catalog is here.

January 19, 1909, Moorestown, New Jersey, USA, John Smith and George Snyder:

Brief summary of the event and follow-up:

It is said that in the vicinity of Moorestown, New Jersey, USA, on the morning of January 19, 1909, John Smith, of Maple Shade, saw the "Jersey Devil" near Mount Carmel Cemetery, and chased it until it disappeared into a nearby gravel pit.

Not far away, George Snyder was fishing, when he was shocked by a "hideous-looking creature".

The two men's descriptions are claimed to agree, and are cited without source: "It was three feet high... long black hair over its entire body, arms and hands like a monkey, face like a dog, split hooves, and a tail a foot long."

Basic information table:

Case number: URECAT-001500
Date of event: January 19, 1909
Earliest report of event: 1909?
Delay of report: Day, weeks, years?
Witness reported via: Not known.
First alleged record by: Not known. Newspaper?
First certain record by: Folklore society publication.
First alleged record type: Not known. Newspaper?
First certain record type: Folklore society publication.
This file created on: April 5, 2013
This file last updated on: April 5, 2013
Country of event: USA
State/Department: New Jersey
Type of location: Near cemetery then in gravel pit, and not reported.
Lighting conditions: Not reported.
UFO observed: No
UFO arrival observed: N/A
UFO departure observed: N/A
UFO/Entity Relation: None
Witnesses numbers: 1
Witnesses ages: Not reported.
Witnesses types: Not reported. Men.
Photograph(s): No.
Witnesses drawing: No.
Witnesses-approved drawing: No.
Number of entities: 1
Type of entities: Chimera
Entities height: 1 meter
Entities outfit type: None.
Entities outfit color: N/A.
Entities skin color: Not reported. Long black hair over entire body.
Entities body: Not reported. 0.33 meters tail. Hideous-looking.
Entities head: Not reported. Face like a dog.
Entities eyes: Not reported.
Entities mouth: Not reported.
Entities nose: Not reported.
Entities feet: Split hooves.
Entities arms: Like a monkey.
Entities fingers: Not reported. Hands like a monkey.
Entities fingers number: Not reported.
Entities hair: Long black hair over entire body.
Entities voice: None reported.
Entities actions: Is there, flees in gravel pit when witness chase it.
Entities/witness interactions: Flees in gravel pit when witness chase it.
Witness(es) reactions: Observed, chased.
Witness(es) feelings: Not reported.
Witness(es) interpretation: Not reported.
Explanation category: Unexplained or hoax.
Explanation certainty: Medium.

Narratives:

[Ref. mm1:] JAMES MCCLOY AND RAY MILLER:

The authors say that in the vicinity of Moorestown, New Jersey, on Wednesday morning, January 19, 1909, John Smith, of Maple Shade, saw the Jersey Devil near Mount Carmel Cemetery, and chased it until it disappeared into a nearby gravel pit.

Not far away, George Snyder was fishing, when he was shocked by a hideous-looking creature.

The two men's descriptions agree, "It was three feet high... long black hair over its entire body, arms and hands like a monkey, face like a dog, split hooves, and a tail a foot long."

[Ref. an1:] AN ANONYMOUS TEXT:

On Wednesday, January 19 [1909 ...] John Smith of Maple Shade saw it at the Mount Carmel cemetery. George Snyder also saw it and described it exactly as John Smith had done.

[Ref. dh1:] "NEW JERSEY DEVILS HUNTERS":

Wed. 1/20

Moorestown, NJ

John Smith saw the creature, and chased it until it disappeared into a pit nearby. George Snyder also saw the creature, and the two described it as follows: "It was three feet high... long black hair over its entire body, arms and hands like a monkey, face like a dog, split hooves, and a tail a foot long."

[Ref. sl1:] STEVEN LEMONGELLO:

The writer tells of the Jersey Devil sightings from January 16 to 22, 1909, 100 years ago, refering to the 1976 book "The Jersey Devil" by James F. McCloy and Ray Miller Jr.

He says the Devil chased a man in Moorestown.

[Ref. gm1:] "JERSEY DEVIL" GOOGLE MAP:

Moorestown, NJ January 20, 1909

Two men, John Smith and George Snyder, chased the creature into a nearby pit. They described it in detail as, " three feet high…long black hair over its entire body, arms and hands like a monkey, face like a dog, split hooves and a tail a foot long."

Points to consider:

Before discussing this particular case, I must make some general remarks about what was called the "Jersey Devil".

In Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, for nearly two centuries at least, some people give reports of encounters with a "creature" whose descriptions suggested that it was some sort of "devil", though in my opinion it was often merely a large bird in migration there, the sandhill crane.

Ufologically, these stories are mostly not considered as related in any way with UFOs or UFO occupants, in my opinion too they should not be part of a catalog of "close encounters of the third kind".

However, some ufologists included such stories in such catalogs, thinking for some reason it does have something to do with the UFO question. Most of the time, they do not include all the Jersey Devil reports, but only a few of them, maybe due to lack of documentation or maybe for some other reason I do not understand.

So I have to include all these stories, because if some source considers, rightly or wrongly, that this a UFO-related, then it is within my scope, not to immediately and arbitrarily disregard their idea, but to evaluate it, and thus to collect the documentation and the comments about it. And therefore, I have to check and document all reported, not just those selected arbitrarily by these ufologists who believed this is UFO material. This is why you cans see I have a file for each Jersey Devil reports, even those that were never included in the ufology literature.

I should note that most stories are fragmentary, often because the sources write about several observations, and what is said about one report is supposed to be implicitly true for the others. I do not do it that way; I publish case files individually and discuss each on its own merits or issues, and offer a specific assessment for each case. But of course, generalities can be said on these reports. As I do not want to disconnect individual reports from these generalities, I make the following notes.

I want to first list the various explanations offered for the "Jersey Devil" - they could apply its late equivalent the West Virginia "Mothman" which was introduced in UFO books the 1960s:

This particular report shows issues many other such reports had. No primary source is given, the alleged witness statements are not allotted precisely to the person who said it or the other, they are very short, probably incomplete.

Because the link between the two men's sighting is not clear ("not far away" id nothing precise), this could even be split in two separate case files.

The brief description fits none of the more or less ordinary explanations researchers have proposed. The creature does not fit a crane or another bird, it does not fit a pterodactyl, it does not fit "Bigfoot", a monkey or ape, etc.

So, one must either believe chimeras (*) do exist, or consider that the story may have been one of the several hoaxes that have been actually perpetrated within the Jersey Devil episodes.

(*) A chimera is a fictitious animal composed of feature of different existing animals; for example fish head and goat legs.

List of issues:

Id: Topic: Severity: Date noted: Raised by: Noted by: Description: Proposal: Status:
1 Data Severe April 5, 2013 Patrick Gross Patrick Gross Primary source not available and not known. Help needed. Opened.
2 Ufology Severe April 5, 2013 Patrick Gross Patrick Gross Statements not distinct between two witnesses. Help needed. Opened.
3 Ufology Severe April 5, 2013 Patrick Gross Patrick Gross No sign of investigation or checking. Help needed. Opened.
4 Ufology Severe April 5, 2013 Patrick Gross Patrick Gross Missing data: conditions od visibility, distances, witnesses profiles... Help needed. Opened.
5 Ufology Severe April 5, 2013 Patrick Gross Patrick Gross May be 2 separate single witness cases rather than 1 case with 2 witnesses. Help needed. Opened.

Evaluation:

Unexplained or hoax.

Sources references:

* = Source I checked.
? = Source I am told about but could not check yet. Help appreciated.

Document history:

Authoring

Main Author: Patrick Gross
Contributors: None
Reviewers: None
Editor: Patrick Gross

Changes history

Version: Created/Changed By: Date: Change Description:
0.1 Patrick Gross April 5, 2013 Creation, [mm1], [an1], [dh1], [sl1], [gm1].
1.0 Patrick Gross April 5, 2013 First published.

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This page was last updated on April 5, 2013.