The Jersey Devil by McCloy and Miller

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Ray’s first Jersey Devil book

For three hundred years we’ve had Jersey Devil sightings, mostly in the Pinelands of New Jersey. Is it possible that people are telling the truth about these encounters?

Seein’ Things

My late brother-in-law, Dr. Ray Miller, spent a lot of time in the pine barrens investigating Jersey Devil sightings. At the end, he could never make up his mind whether the Devil was real or not. All he’d say for certain was, “There’s something out there–but I don’t know what!”

You can find Jersey Devil videos on YouTube. Some are silly. Some are out-and-out hokum. But a few if them do show people who’ve been scared out of their gourds by something dark and strange.

Go ahead–go camping in the Jersey pines alone some night, and let us know how you make out.

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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.