Podcasts · Hidden History with Dr. Harini Bhat

The Jersey Devil: America's Oldest Monster Explained

19 Oct 2026 · 31 min · Episode 24

For nearly three hundred years, something strange has been stalking the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey: a winged, hooved, horse-headed creature first reported in 1735 and seen by hundreds in a single terrifying week in January 1909. Schools closed, police fired their revolvers, and a Philadelphia dime museum cashed in on the chaos with a painted kangaroo. But beneath the hoaxes and newspaper hysteria, witnesses with nothing to gain kept coming out of those woods with the same description. This episode examines the historical, scientific, and supernatural theories behind America's oldest cryptid legend.

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