Posted on 11/27/2021 2:23:48 PM PST by ChicagoConservative27
A New Jersey couple mysteriously vanished after venturing into the Pine Barrens.
Gary Parker, 67, and his wife Lorraine, 60, of Warren Grove, N.J., drove into the protected wilderness reserve that covers more than a million acres — but didn’t return, according to reports
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Ever been to the Pine Barrens? Aptly named. It is one very desolate spot. Miles and miles of nothing. Except for pine trees of course :)
Jackson Whites.
But his house looked like crap.
Leprechauns.
5.56mm
Tom Brown Jr.
It’s funny I can remember stuff like this, but couldn’t tell you what I ate for lunch yesterday.
If you want to do the crime, do it in the Pines....
Having been there myself, I’m not surprised.
I read a few books on the Jersey Devil a while back. I happened to be in NJ and arranged a ‘Jersey Devil Hunt’ with my husband and his daughter. These were originally done back in the early 1900s and since have dwindled down over the years to where they are forgotten. I thought it would be fun. We headed down to the famous site of Mother Leeds, “ According to popular folklore, the Jersey Devil originated with a Pine Barrens resident named Jane Leeds, known as “Mother Leeds”.
The legend states that Mother Leeds had twelve children and, after finding she was pregnant for the thirteenth time, cursed the child in frustration, crying that the child would be the “devil”. In 1735, Mother Leeds was in labor on a stormy night while her friends gathered around her. Born as a normal child, the thirteenth child changed to a creature with hooves, a goat’s head, bat wings, and a forked tail. Growling and screaming, the child beat everyone with its tail before flying up the chimney and heading into the pines”.
This being the origin of the legend we were attempting to hunt in the area it was said to have started. There was an old church and a graveyard down there with a few graves of the Leeds family. It was a warm summer afternoon.
We parked on kind of a sandy dirt road and walked out into the Pine Barrens woodsy area where it was said the remains of the Leeds house once stood back in the 1700s. There were flies buzzing around everywhere and it was to me annoying but to my husbands daughter she thought it signalled the devil was arriving, and refused to leave the car and go into the woods with us. She opted to stay safely locked in the car instead. We did get out and started walking but did not go far into the woods once we took that little sandy road to another even narrower sandy road into that woods.
I have to admit, it got a bit spooky, with that moist, oddly still warm air and those flies buzzing about, undaunted by constant swats. The trees cutting off the sunlight a bit so it was kind of a dimmer, reflected light with shadows pouring over the sand in front of us . No one around at all and not a sound, not even a bird or a breeze to ruffle some leaves. Just our crushing footsteps on that beach styled sand on the little road that was almost more of a path and would become a path if we kept walking.
I was looking around and wondering if this was the sort of place someone saw something that they believed was the Jersey Devil. Out at night here it would be pitch black and spooky as hell. Maybe I should capitalize Hell? Anyway, my husband and I, a bit overheated now plodded back to the car and drove out of the woods and honestly when we hit the road and I saw some houses here and there I felt a bit relieved and wondered how I could feel so uncomfortable about a silly thing like the Jersey Devil. Here the sun was shining and I looked behind us as my husband drove us on a real road with black top and everything, signs of and glad to be back in civilization. It felt like we just left behind in those woods the superstitious dark thoughts of the 1700s. I found I wasn’t sorry to do so, crazy as that sounds.
Hot and thirsty we stopped a little ways away at a small, 1920s general store to get something to drink and nibble on. The guy behind the counter asked what we were doing, aware we seemed kind of out of place down in his area. How he knew that I really don’t know, but he did. We laughingly told him of our ‘Jersey Devil Hunt’. He was an older guy but not that old as to reach back to ‘those days’ and still, he said, “Wow. Haven’t heard of one of those in a longggg time”.
I kind of mentioned ‘but the woods were too spooky’ and almost casually he kind of looked at me and leaning forward over the counter dropped his voice and said, “Yeah. They say that there are devil worshippers that come out here and go into those woods for their rituals at night. Come from the city (NYC)”. I said “is that true”? He said, “well, some around here say they have heard screams out there in those woods late at night. Campers and such”.
I knew he wasn’t kidding.
There’s more to be afraid of in those Pine Barrens then the Jersey Devil.
Wow- been years since I heard that name. But aren’t Jackson Whites around Suffern New York? Or were they also in the Ramapos? My memory...ugh!
It’s haunted.
Where did you get that great photo of my former mother-in-law?
Don’t remember when or where I read about Jackson Whites but it is a fascinating story.
Sounds like my backyard!
I remember him.
“In 1735, Mother Leeds was in labor on a stormy night while her friends gathered around her. Born as a normal child, the thirteenth child changed to a creature with hooves, a goat’s head, bat wings, and a forked tail. Growling and screaming, the child beat everyone with its tail before flying up the chimney and heading into the pines”
That means she wasn’t properly prepared. Duh. The poor kid. Has anybody found it yet?
Great story!
We have been lost in every part of New Jersey EXCEPT the Pine Barrens.
We had no relatives to visit near there.
Their fate may be the same as the Russian in that episode.
My college roomate got married in a church way out in the Piney boondocks. I remember driving like 80 mph down some desolate road to “get him to the church on time”.
Only went there once at night, we all spooked each other with stories about the albino villagers and eventually lost our nerve and drove back out.
Taking your shotgun along for a casual ride on the 4 wheeler gives you some idea of how comfortable people in that area are with the environment. Leaving the gun behind makes no sense at all in the Pine Barrens.
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