We miss Patty’s brother, Ray. Among other things, he was an expert on the lore of the Jersey Devil (check out “The Jersey Devil” by Ray Miller and Jim McCloy–it’s a wonderful read), and, oh, could he tell stories!
The Jersey Devil still generates stories, three centuries after it started. It’s easy to laugh at those stories. But when you’re all alone, driving in the Pine Barrens, the laughs get bashful.
Ongs Hat, Double Trouble, Speedwell–I’m glad I’ve been to those places.
It was three years ago that a centaur snatched a woman’s purse on the outskirts of Bunion, New Jersey.
They still haven’t solved the crime, although they did arrest a centaur last week for not wearing a face mask.
People are now afraid to take shortcuts through the woods around Bunion.
This is their sequel, “The Phantom of the Pines”
I post this as a tribute to my brother-in-law, Ray, who wrote the book on the Jersey Devil. Well, this book, at least. And a sequel.
If you ever have occasion to read Weird N.J. Magazine, you’ll learn that people are still having run-ins with the Jersey Devil today.
Ray died last year, but his work lives on.
I wish I could have found a full-color image of this painting. Unfortunately, the original was lost years ago, and this black-and-white is all I could get. In the original, the prevailing color scheme is a rather sinister yellow. I saw a color photo of it many, many years ago in Life Magazine, and never forgot it. I think I must have been ten years old or less.
If you’ve never passed through the Jersey Devil’s home territory, the New Jersey Pine Barrens, I can tell you there’s no other place quite like it. Technological progress left it behind early in the 19th century, the local economy shriveled up, most of the people moved away, and their towns, homes, and factories fell into ruin. The region is known for its odd place names–Ongs Hat, Double Trouble, Speedwell–and its sandy tracks that may or may not accommodate your car and may or may not lead somewhere, or nowhere. A part of it features large vistas of stunted pines that plays tricks on your eyes. You’d swear, from your vantage point on the road, that the pines were full-size. And then a child comes walking through them, and you startle because you think you’re seeing a giant little girl.
All in all, it’s just the kind of country the Jersey Devil would choose to live in, if it lives at all. No one knows. There’s only belief or disbelief.
But when you find yourself alone on one of those deserted, feeble imitations of a road, disbelief is a little harder to come by.
I was revisiting my brother-in-law’s book today: bittersweet, because Ray is in a bad way and needs our prayers; and his co-author, Jim McCloy, has passed on. Published in 1976, with a new edition in 2016, this is sort of the definitive work on New Jersey’s most famous (or infamous) piece of folklore; and there are some 75,000 copies in print.
And y’know something? This is a very good book! They had a lot of fun researching it, chasing down people and their stories all over the Pine Barrens. It’s well-written, an easy read, and full of wonderful illustrations and photos. Years later they wrote a sequel, Phantom of the Pines–because there are always new stories and sightings of the Jersey Devil. He could fill another volume today, if only he were well enough to do it.
I think the book will live on after him. He never did achieve his dream of being a published novelist, but The Jersey Devil has staying power. It’s still out there on amazon.com, and it’s the kind of book you’ll want to read again from time to time.
For him and Jim it was a labor of love; and it shows.
Here is the definitive work on the Jersey Devil. Yes, I know co-author Ray Miller is my brother-in-law. That doesn’t mean there’s no Jersey Devil. Doesn’t mean there is, either.
For those of us who think we know everything, or someday will know everything (thanks to Science), allow me to introduce the Jersey Devil.
Stories of the Jersey Devil have been circulating in New Jersey since the 1730s, and encounters with him, or it, are still being reported today ( http://weirdnj.com/stories/jersey-devil/ ). Normally associated with the Pine Barrens of southern NJ, the Devil has recently–so it seems–expanded his operations to the area of Round Valley Reservoir in the northern part of the state ( .http://thedamienzone.com/2012/06/16/jersey-devil-sightings-in-northern-new-jersey/) Over the centuries, he’s also popped up in other states.
We are at liberty to say the stories aren’t true. There are an awful lot of stories, though. Thousands of ’em. And why should anyone but a kook want to go around saying he’s seen the Jersey Devil, when he hasn’t? Is everyone a liar? Is everyone a kook?
We don’t have the fire, but we sure do have a lot of smoke.
What is the Jersey Devil? Some say it’s just that–a devil, a demonic entity. Others insist it’s a flesh-and-blood cryptozoological critter, like the Loch Ness Monster. Or a raptor, like in Jurassic Park. The point is, no one knows. No one has ever known.
And, in all probability, never will.