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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 21 OR 22, 1909, LEIPERVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA, USA, DANIEL FLYNN:

Brief summary of the event and follow-up:

From "Jersey Devil" sources, it seems that on January 21 or 22, 1909, in Leiperville today known as Crum Lynne, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, just north of Chester, Daniel Flynn was walking along Chester Pike on his way to work at daybreak, when he encountered the Jersey Devil, explaining later:

"It was coming out of a yard when I first saw it and when the thing espyed me it ran up the pike on its hind legs faster than the speed of an automobile."

Flynn had a good look at the Devil, he described it as: "the thing, which had skin of an alligator, stood on its hind feet and was about six feet tall."

One of the sources adds it had wings, a misshapen head, a tail, and hooves.

Basic information table:

Case number: URECAT-001524
Date of event: January 21 or 22, 1909
Earliest report of event: 1909?
Delay of report: Day, days, weeks?
Witness reported via: Not known.
First alleged record by: Not known. Newspaper?
First certain record by: "Jersey Devil" book.
First alleged record type: Not known. Newspaper?
First certain record type: "Jersey Devil" book.
This file created on: April 11, 2013
This file last updated on: April 11, 2013
Country of event: USA
State/Department: Pennsylvania
Type of location: In and then out of a yard.
Lighting conditions: Not reported. Daybreak.
UFO observed: No
UFO arrival observed: N/A
UFO departure observed: N/A
UFO/Entity Relation: None
Witnesses numbers: 1
Witnesses ages: Not reported. Adult.
Witnesses types: Not reported. Man, with a job.
Photograph(s): No.
Witnesses drawing: No.
Witnesses-approved drawing: No.
Number of entities: 1
Type of entities: Winged animal
Entities height: 1.80 meters
Entities outfit type: Not reported or none.
Entities outfit color: Not reported or N/A.
Entities skin color: Not reported. Tail, skin of an alligator.
Entities body: Not reported.
Entities head: Not reported. Mishappened.
Entities eyes: Not reported.
Entities mouth: Not reported.
Entities nose: Not reported.
Entities feet: Hoofs.
Entities arms: Not reported. Wings.
Entities fingers: Not reported.
Entities fingers number: Not reported.
Entities hair: Not reported.
Entities voice: None reported.
Entities actions: Is in a yard and flees when seen, running fast.
Entities/witness interactions: Fled.
Witness(es) reactions: Observed.
Witness(es) feelings: Frightened.
Witness(es) interpretation: Not reported.
Explanation category: Probable confusion, bird, sandhill crane. Not UFO-related.
Explanation certainty: Medium.

Narratives:

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

The authors say that on January 22, 1909, in Leiperville, Pennsylvania, just north of Chester, Daniel Flynn was walking along Chester Pike on his way to work, when he encountered the Jersey Devil, explaining later:

"It was coming out of a yard when I first saw it and when the thing espyed me it ran up the pike on its hind legs faster than the speed of an automobile."

Flynn has a good look at the Devil, and described it as "the thing, which had skin of an alligator, stood on its hind feet and was about six feet tall."

[Ref. jc1:] JEROME CLARK:

Jerome Clark says that on January 21, 1909, Daniel Flynn of Leiperville, Pennsylvania, observed the Jersey Devil as it an along at a brisk along the Chester Pike toward Chester. He said it was 6 feet high and had skin like an alligator's.

[Ref. mm2:] JAMES MCCLOY AND RAY MILLER:

The authors say that around daybreak of January 22, 1909, the Jersey Devil shocked Daniel Flynn of Leiperville, north of Chester, who said: "It was coming out of a yard when I first saw it and when the thing espyed me it ran up the pike on its hind legs faster than the speed of an automobile. The thing, which had skin of an alligator, stood on its hind feet and was about six feet tall."

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

Thurs. 1/21

Leiperville, PA

A man walking along a highway spotted the creature early in the morning, and claimed that it ran faster than the cars were driving. He described it as having "skin like an alligator, stood on its hind feet and was about six feet tall."

[Ref. jm1:] JACK MYERS:

The author says that during the 21st of January 1909, Daniel Flynn of Leiperville, today known as Crum Lynne, Delaware County, was startled to observe a six-foot tall monster running on its hind legs straight down Chester Pike! The creature came from the direction of Philadelphia and was last seen heading for the City of Chester. The “devil” had the requisite wings, misshapen head, tail, and hooves, and was also described by Mr. Flynn as having the skin of an alligator.

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:

Now let's see this report.

This might have been when it was still dark, the distance and duration are not known.

The description is partly suggestive of a large bird, such as the sandhill crane.

We have no UFO, no aliens, nothing evil, nothing "paranormal" whatsoever. Nothing that could kill the idea that the man may have briefly seen the scary-looking sandhill at a time when everyone talked about the "Jersey Devil".

There is not enough information to make this explanation a certainty, but there is not a single piece of information that would support she saw a real devil, or an alien, or a pterodactyl, "Bigfoot" or anything extraordinary.

"Sandhill Crane" (Grus canadensis) - pictures above - is a species of big crane living in North America, Canada, and in the extreme northeast of Siberia. Some are resident, some are migratory, passing sometimes indeed by the states where the "Jersey Devil" was reported.

Its wingspan can reach more than 2 meters.

List of issues:

Id: Topic: Severity: Date noted: Raised by: Noted by: Description: Proposal: Status:
1 Data Severe April 11, 2013 Patrick Gross Patrick Gross Primary source not known and not referenced. Help needed. Opened.
2 Ufology Severe April 11, 2013 Patrick Gross Patrick Gross No sign of investigation or checking. Help needed. Opened.
3 Ufology Severe April 11, 2013 Patrick Gross Patrick Gross Short report with only one witness quoted. Help needed. Opened.
4 Ufology Severe April 11, 2013 Patrick Gross Patrick Gross Single witness case. Help needed. Opened.
5 Ufology Severe April 11, 2013 Patrick Gross Patrick Gross sighting conditions not reported: duration, distance, lighting...? Help needed. Opened.

Evaluation:

Probable confusion, bird, sandhill crane. Not UFO-related.

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 11, 2013 Creation, [mm1], [jc1], [mm2], [dh1], [jm1].
1.0 Patrick Gross April 11, 2013 First published.

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This page was last updated on April 11, 2013