'Jersey Devil' Encounter Described by South Jersey Police Officer

This is our first good eyeball on the creature here though we have seen it described elsewhere.I do think we have a giant vampire bat here.

 

Bands of these are most likely our culprits in cattle mutilations.

Again, totally nocturnal as well but mostly avoid us.

The big take home here is the sharp vertical climb provided by bat wings on a large furry animal.  That is a surprise as feathered large birds are not nearly so able.

Again, up to now we have had glimpses of this creature and most commonly about Chicago the past couple of years.  Populations may be increasing as they shift to cattle from deer, or it may just be some bands as well.  There is plenty of deer out there to feed all these critters now.

'Jersey Devil' Encounter Described by South Jersey Police Officer

Friday, April 08, 2022

https://www.phantomsandmonsters.com/2022/04/jersey-devil-encounter-described-by.html?

A South Jersey police officer recounts his encounter with, what he believes, may have been the Jersey Devil during the summer of 2017. His girlfriend also witnessed the creature.

The following reports was forwarded to me:

"So, this took place in the summer of 2017. I was driving in southern New Jersey, in Cumberland County. I was out with my girlfriend at the time and we always went on explorations and adventures together. In typical NJ fashion, we just drove around aimlessly near the Pine Barrens, which is a large area of pine forest that takes up a lot of South Jersey. We would always joke about trying to find the Jersey Devil, which was a mythological creature of New Jersey folklore. Basically you just drove around pointing out shadows and trying to scare your girlfriend.

Anyway, as we were driving along at probably 2 AM, we had a large section of forest surrounding us on a lonely road. We were the only car for miles, but there were a few houses here and there.

As we drove, I remember seeing movement to the right of the vehicle. From the front, illuminated by the headlights, but to the right of the car. As I drove by, there was a creature standing at about 4-5 feet in height. It seemed to be covered in brown hair, almost like a goat's. It had black wings that appeared to be leathery or smooth. I did not see a head, face or anything else distinguishable. As we approached, maybe a distance of 10-20 yards, the creature flapped its wings a few times and took off vertically. Not at an angle like a plane of bird take off. It then disappeared as we drove past. The whole incident took maybe 5-7 seconds.

I almost discounted it as a hallucination induced by lack of sleep or something, but my girlfriend interrupted my thought process by saying "did you see that!?" Without hesitation we pulled over and bailed out of the car with a flashlight. There was nothing.

We looked and listened for a few minutes but couldn't find anything. We then started to Google all the wildlife of New Jersey to see if we could find what we saw, no animal appeared close to what we observed.

I DONT KNOW what we saw that evening. I will make no assumptions. I just saw a creature I could not identify in the short time that it was observed.

Now, I'm a lawman in South Jersey and have seen some strange and crazy things in my time on the streets. But this is definitely the creepiest.