across the south of new jersey there are 1.1 million acres of pine forest
from the northern part of ocean county down to cape may the pinelands national reserve
occupies 22 percent of the state's land area and is the largest body of open space
in the mid-atlantic seaboard between boston and richmond additionally 45 of the region or around
493 000 acres are owned by the public however a part of this reserve is of particular note
sourcing several urban legends such as the jersey devil this is the story of the new
jersey pine barretts i'm your host ryan socas and you're watching it's history
today we will be discussing some very famous new jersey fault culture including the story of the
jersey devil and once you get done watching this you should check out my source a documentary on
magellan tv featuring a much more in-depth take on the story of the jersey devil and supported
by countless real-life witness accounts this is the best documentary on the topic available
anywhere and the film struck a personal chord with me because it actually shows the real-life places
associated with this famous legend something i know that any true new jerseyan would be moved by
and the news gets better because all its history fans can watch this documentary for free with my
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first month totally free and then after that you can get yourself an annual membership for only
59.88 you only pay 4.99 a month for 3 500 hours worth of documentaries so click that link in the
description below to get your first full month for free and now back to the jersey pine barrens the
pine barrens are renowned for rich forests hiking trails lakes and streams for kayaking or canoeing
but at one point it had a very different claim to fame the society that knows it as a beautiful
hiking destination can be considered newcomers to the area as history begins here over 10 000 years
ago when humans first occupied the region back then it was a much colder area in fact it was
closer to a tundra than any climate associated with the east coast today regardless the first
people to settle this area adapted hunting long extinct animals and living around small ponds
remnants of their culture are still present and often rediscovered they remained in this area
for thousands of years and by 5000 bce the climate resembled the modern day much more closely
throughout these times the natives equipment evolved as their surroundings did using stone and
bone instruments that archaeologists can still track to this day by the 1600s europeans began
colonizing the area of the pinelands specifically henry hudson sailed into the delaware bay in 1609
marking the start of european exploration after the english seized new jersey from the dutch in
1664 shipbuilding and whaling became the region's largest industries as was a regional status quo
until 1765 when the settlers built the first large furnaces in the area these furnaces served
primarily to refine the region's bog iron deposits and it was with these furnaces that the interior
of the pine lands became of use to the settlers as the american revolution flared to life the battle
of chestnut creek occurred near port republic where the british attempted to destroy the
ironworks at bad stowe and failed the interior of the pineland soon gained a glass production
industry as its high quality sands were perfect for that and as time went by more industries came
cotton mills cranberry bogs paper mills wineries and rail lines amassed bringing newcomers with
them but there were industries that left as well whaling ended around the turn of the 19th century
and the iron furnaces went silent in 1869 the rail lines in particular forever changed the region
settlement patterns wholly changed to fit in with the rails leaving many of the structures in the
pine barrens empty resorts by the shore began to appear partially facilitated by the railways
the berry industry also hit its heights here with blueberries and cranberries becoming mainstream
in the region but sadly with the rise of the automobile and the fall of the train the new
jersey pine barrens began to change taking on a more disheveled and mysterious image
the pine barrens have been home to countless myths and mysteries throughout the ages a place where
supernatural sightings are not uncommon the most famous of these is undoubtedly the jersey devil
the story of the jersey devil goes a little something like this a woman by the name of
deborah leeds bore 13 children the last one born in 1735 however this child was
no normal baby instead it appeared to be a demon with hooves bat wings and a horse's head perhaps
even more notable than its appearance was its voice allegedly its high-pitched scream
generally tips off the unsuspecting people of new jersey to its presence leaving them in complete
and utter horror the first person who claimed to recognize this beast had a separate claim to fame
aside from the jersey devil joseph bonaparte who held the title of king of naples from 1806 to 1808
and then spain from 1808 to 1813 and brother of french emperor napoleon bonaparte the first
joseph had fled to the united states after his younger brother surrendered in france
he was in the pine barrens in 1820 when he supposedly saw the jersey devil in person
20 years later some mysterious force suddenly and brutally killed various livestock overnight and
as there was no other suspect with this hideous monster on the loose the jersey devil gained more
notoriety as the cause for the killings now that could have been the end of it the brother of the
world's most famous emperor sees a monster and some livestock dies mysteriously in new jersey
a classic tale in the american wilderness of course however it didn't go away far
from it as it happens in the early 1900s there were even more attacks on livestock
property and even people as the decades went by even more sightings came in but one of these
sightings sparked quite a frenzy because it may have been more real than anyone wanted in 1909
navy commander stefan decatur tested cannonballs at hanover mills works in the pine barrens
he and his troops had some of the heaviest ordinances available to the united states at
the time and tested them on set targets however through the bush of the woods the commanders saw
an intimidating figure it didn't respond to any of his hails or warnings and it most
certainly didn't appear to be human so with no other option he took the most american route
the cannonball board a massive hole in the beast's side but it didn't even flinch it rushed off
into the wilderness before the commander could even give chase as the year went on attacks and
sightings increased to unprecedented heights with nearly 1 000 sightings in the area it appeared
that the cannon shot only enraged the jersey devil and the residents of the pine barrens would feel
consequence as a result of the increased attacks in 1909 the pine barrens basically shut down the
state ordered children to stay inside for fear of the devil slaughtering the people's young the
state gave the adults a task of their own capture the devil and gain a ten thousand dollar reward
no one could catch the devil but strange tracks appeared in various fields on several occasions
these tracks all seemed similar and the police generally agreed that hoofs were the cause
so the bloodhounds came forth ordered to follow the hoof marking to their source
hopefully putting an end to this jersey devil business however be it by lack of evidence or
awareness of the evil that they were following the bloodhounds allegedly refused to follow the tracks
and with that the jersey devil appeared to be satisfied the following year and sightings
slowly faded away the region went through the 1910s and most of the roaring 20s with only a
few sightings and attacks but in 1927 an unlucky man had a brush up with the demon that everyone
had thought was long gone on the western edge of the pine barrens a taxi driver in selma city had
to pull over he had blown out a tire on something but luckily he had a spare in the back but as he
was finishing up with exchanging the tire he saw something out in the forest something tall
with an intimidating silhouette he quickly got into the driver's seat and took off but the jersey
devil flew right towards him allegedly pounding on the roof of his cab eventually the monster
flew off into the night as time went by many more sightings came with a large influx in the 1960s
and with another bounty placed on the beast this time for 250 000 the hunt was on but unfortunately
to no avail the jersey devil is still generally believed to be a myth as even over a hundred
years later no one has ever caught it and all the footage that can be produced can be chalked
up to a hoax and here's where i'd like to offer my two cents judge me if you want say that it's
historically inaccurate but it's time for me to come out of the closet i'm a believer i believe
in the new jersey devil i spent years of my life in the pine barrens and had something of an
encounter as did my brother who lives in the pine barrens to this day but i'd rather not bring this
video too off track by telling private stories so let me know if you'd like to hear about my jersey
devil encounter i'll make a deal if we get a thousand new subscribers from new jersey i'll make
a special video telling you about the time that i had a jersey devil sighting anyhow the jersey
devil is not the only strange occurrence in the pine barrens as mentioned earlier the area once
had a thriving iron industry however with the rush of the coal industry ironworks moved elsewhere and
families that had heavily invested in it became bankrupt resulting in not only abandoned homes
but what you could best describe as ghost towns many of these places had trees grow in
and around collapsing structures and it isn't just the iron towns that lay derelict there are scores
of settlements around the pine barrens that either never took off or whose settlers abandoned them
for one reason or another one such abandoned building is the brooksbury brick factory
constructed in the early 1900s the factory was ready to be opened with a connection to the
ever important train network but unfortunately its owner suddenly died setting back the opening date
a substantial amount and as fate would have it this factory never opened in 1915 an enormous fire
tore through the area killing its caretaker and raising the factory today it serves as a home for
graffiti and yet more trees many developers saw an opportunity in these derelict towns after all what
better place to settle a new town than on top of an existing one one such venture brought a great
deal of attention to the area known as paisley and the developers went ballistic with their
advertisements the town which had no more than a dozen houses found itself within a new moniker
the magic city a haven for artists and those of superior intellect the developers split the
land into 13 100 plots and took to market perhaps somewhat amusingly those who arrived found only a
derelict area consisting of an old mattress factory and a few decrepit houses connected
by dirt roads of the 3 000 plots purchased only a few people decided to settle the developers
walked away with a 250 thousand dollar profit but the town's grand design never came to be
our final tale from the pine barrens is not about a place or a monster but a man
and a plane wreck emilio carenza rodriguez was a prominent figure in mexican aviation
after charles lemberg's transatlantic flight and his follow-up flight to mexico city much of the
country became fascinated with the skies some of mexico's most influential men created a copy of
lemberg's aircraft the spirit of st louis called the mexical excelsior they decided that emilio
would fly this new aircraft on a round trip from mexico city to new york city at this point the
mexican pilot was a national hero having already set aviation records with his 1 200 mile flight
from mexico city to eures he also held the record for the longest non-stop flight by a mexican pilot
the 1575 mile flight from san diego california to mexico city after which the president of the great
pilot's country congratulated him his flight to new york went off without a hitch its many
stages gave him chances to rest and assess any potential danger however the flight back to mexico
city was going to be a brutal challenge much like lindenberg's transatlantic flight this non-stop
fight posed a harsh test of endurance the pilot delayed for three days due to suboptimal weather
but he took off without warning on the evening of july the 12th 1928 according to some sources
he received a telegram from a mexican general that forced him to fly disregarding the weather
allegedly that telegram was later found in his pocket reading leave immediately or the quality
of your manhood will be in doubt regardless of any supposed commands the flight ended just as
abruptly as it began as the lindenburg of mexico crashed into the new jersey pine barrens about 50
miles south of new york when blueberry pickers discovered his body the next day his flashlight
was embedded into his right palm apparently looking for a place to land before mistakenly
crashing and there in the field to this day lies a memorial to the aviator funded by the people of
mexico and america alike in respect for the fallen hero it features an arrow pointing upwards on the
side of an aztec eagle diving downwards on the other on its granite is inscribed a phrase both
in english and spanish people of mexico hope that your high ideals will be realized every year on
the saturday closest to the 10th at 1 pm american legions post 11 and representatives from the
mexican consulate in new york city in philadelphia visit this monument and hold a ceremony honoring
the aviation legend the pine barrens are home to many stories structures and legends known for
being a place with deep history and prehistoric ties to native american findings and i can assure
you that if you spend some time there somewhere between mrs leeds disgraceful monster son
the pristine beauty of nature you'll discover it's magic so check out our new jersey history
playlist subscribe to its history if you'd like to hear my jersey devil encounter story
or consider becoming a channel member by clicking the join button this is ryan silkesh signing off