Seein’ Things

Some of you seem to think that anyone who says he’s seen the New Jersey “Mantis Man,” let alone the Jersey Devil, must be a kook. But I’m not so sure.

My late brother-in-law, Ray, co-authored two books on the Jersey Devil, for which he conducted many face-to-face interviews and spent a lot of time getting nibbled by strawberry flies all around the Pine Barrens. At the end of it all, he used to say he was halfway convinced there was something there; but he didn’t know what.

Seeing weird stuff in places like the Pine Barrens is nowhere near as badly tainted as the whole UFO scene. There are no alleged hypnotists running around finding repressed Mantis Man encounters in everyone they put under–even if that is a good way to find “Brett Kavanagh tried to rape me!” stories. I dare say the Mantis Man stories are less incredible than those. And as for the Jersey Devil, they’ve been telling stories about him since early in the 1700s.

In evaluating stories told, currently, by persons who swear they’ve seen either of these famous cryptids, I look for several things to help me decide whether the witness is telling the truth.

*The story has to be pried out of him, and he’s clearly uncomfortable, telling it. He may even break down into tears. B.S. artists, unless they are especially gifted and happen to be named “Bill Clinton,” don’t behave like that.

*The witness is not cashing in on the story–no monetized Youtube channel, no guest spots on Lifetime TV, no Go Fund Me account, etc.

*Other than the “monster” itself, the details of the story contain nothing improbable. Like, “I was driving down this country lane at night when my car conked out” is really a lot better than “The KGB chased me into the Pine Barrens when they discovered I was a plant for the CIA.”

Some of these witnesses do seem credible to me. At least, I can’t see any reason why they would make up such a story.

Maybe they’re mistaken in what they thought they saw, although at least in some cases, you have to say nobody could be that badly mistaken. The fine details of the story may be helpful here, especially if you can get a clear description of the monster–which hardly ever is forthcoming. A lot of these encounters badly startle the witness and last for only a matter of seconds.

Is it possible that there are things out there, living things, no farther away than the Jersey Pine Barrens, that no one has ever captured, classified, or understood? Creatures that haven’t even been photographed successfully, but nevertheless exist?

I don’t know.