History MYTH...OR LEGEND? Jersey Devil found!

What a really cool story. This needs to hit print somewhere!
Thanks for sharing! I always loved those old wooden speed boats even when I was a youngster in the 60's. I never really knew until of late they put flathead engines in them. You really have a prize possession there!

 

I will mention the name to my grandfather next time I see him. He's always had a boat or 2 in the Keyport/Raritan Bay/Sandy Hook Bay area for as long as I can remember.

This is so cool!

 

Hey Mel,
Don't know if this is coincidental but, there is an old guy here in Tuckerton by the name of Jack Rutherford who back in the day was a Ford flathead guru. Just a thought.....
Ray

 

Had no clue that Chupacabras could even survive north of Texas!

 

Well i grew up in Chatsworth, and i know two direct decents of the leed family... i could tell u some true and wild shit about growing up there.... let me know if your all interested.

 

Tell us! My buddy sez he knows of the Leeds as well...

Found the Devil in my Grandfathers attic the other day... I brought home some goodies as well. I heard more insane stories at Thanks dinner... but this post is rediculous. All true, yet still rediculous. Hahahaaaa.

I dropped a jar of eyeballs on my way out the door too... all over the floor.

You should see these rooms....insane!

 

Pics from the boat yard where all the boat people hung.... or what is left of it anyway.


Here are a few of those round bricks I told ya about. The old brick factory fellin before the war, still hanging around though.

 

I know exactly enough about boats to get my self Dead or maimed, but that thing is cooool. As small as it is, I bet that even with the 60 it would haul a fair amount of ass. especially in a hydroplane. getting it "up" would take the longest, but once there, it probably moves pretty good!

 

well i don't know were to begin, i was about 13 or 14 when this happend.my father and i belonged to a gun club out there, so were going to one of the meetings one night it was about dusk, the cabin didn't have electrity so my job was to get the lantern ready...( i think just cause they were lazy thats why they had me do it. lol ) anyway i was gathering the lanterns inside my dad was sitting by the table putting wood in the stove... when all of a sudden we heard heard this loud as hell breathing coming up to the cabini looked at my dad to see if he was f!@#n with me, he wasn't i could tell i was just as freaked as i was , then all of sudden this thing grabbed and shook the door really hard by this time i now have tears in my eyes and my heart was pounding my fathers was too, i whispered to him ok you got me... he look at and i wish i did, he reach for his buck knife told me to get behind him, this thing was still there and breathing louder and louder...finnally you could hear it walking off into the woods behind the cabin,my dad and i slowly went out to see what the heck happen first we find the door ripped of its hinges with these claw marks all over it my dad whispers to me look right there into the woods i froze, all i saw was a tall silohette of something walking deepeer into the woods..by this time i'm ready to pass out i can't much more of this. my dad tells to move slowly to the truck... man we hightaled it out of there so fast...still thought a lil my dad still might be playing a joke on me , i said dad what about the meeting what about the lanterns , he looked at me and said the hell with lanterns.... do you think i'm going backthere tonight..... the next day we went back up, my dad had this thing for tracking animals and such so he wanted to go see if he could find tracks of this thing ( i know crazy right thats what i said) anyway we get up there sure as shit he finds tracks of this and they were like nothing i had ever seen looked like it had 4 claws and one back talon, sorta like an eagle claw but with an extra finger and much larger probably about15 inches or so....... to this day my dad won't talk about what happenned to us that night and i'm not sure niether but it did scare the living hell out of me!!!!!

and no it wasn't a bear i know what the look like and there wasn't any there at that time .... i have some more stories not about the jersey devil but some interesting ones none the less. let me know if you want to here more... i grew up with alot of old timers they all tought me alot about the pines.... neat stuff.

 

I know the stories that were told to me were all bullshit. My grandfather and the guys that all worked at the oil yard just messed with us kids... again, we were real small and impressionable, bout 5 or 6 years of age.

I now own the Jersey Devil that my grandfather unveiled back in 75, it is missing it's bat wings, and it's belly is all torn up now. But still fun to have after all those years of torment.

Now I just have to get my hands on that boat, and get her in my garage so I can terrorize the Jersey Shore like our famed devil.



I'll keep you all updated on the Hydro and any more stories I learn of the Jersey Devil boat from Keyport. Still not sure if we have the same boat yet.


This so called "Jersey Devil".... is just a stinking hedgehog.

 

Damn pineys were always messing with us bo i know that feeling.....cool hedge hog i used to have a beaver that was stuffed i don't now what happened to it though...... speaking of speed boats i used to have the monster truck known as the jersey devil the a buddy of mine bought it from me and turned it into the jersey outlaw.... it was fun back in those day crushing cars fans ..... ahhhhh memeroys!!

 

Im dyin to know more about this boat... and crazy jersey devil stories are always good...

 

ahh mel never seize to amaze me lol havent seen ya in awhile wonder what ur working on now a days
they actually tought us about the jersey devil in school .. in the books and all . good ol monmouth county school system lol . ya and dont ever run out of gas on a motorcycle in the pine barons .. basto to be that kinda creepy.. but they got a cool little glass blowing thing there .

 

It is 9am Wed. morning, Jan. ...oh wait, it's Feb. 2nd. Hahahaaa...

So I have no work today... it is too cold to do finish body work on a car in the shop. It is so nasty out today, freezing rain. We had an engine job all lined up and just got word our block is no good. So today... I have the day off, sorta.

I woke at 6am this morning to anwser my emails and check the Hamb as usual. I'm looking for some pics of 34 Ford sedans as I am about to have a car here shortly and want to chop the shit out of it and make something special. So while searching for for 34 sedans here on the Hamb, this thread popped up as I mentioned a sedan in it. So here I am...



WOW! What a retarded thread... Hahahahaa. But I swear, all true!

So just an update!

I needed to edit some of my bad grammer above. It is not perfect, but a hair better. I apologize.


My grandfather Babe passed away on Mischief night in 2010, 97 years old. What an amazing man, what an inspiration. I'll miss him dearly...

The "Jersey Devil" still waits for its day. Still sitting in the same carriage house. I've only seen my ole friend once since last we all talked. I think it may have been at Hershey. He told his friends I was like a cockroach, when the 3rd world war comes... I'll still be alive! Haha, and I thought that was a nice compliment.

I was going to Keyport for awile chasing some history about the boat builders, car guys, rum runners, and hoodlums. Nothing much to report.

I also had an old friend come back in my life. A man that taught me the little that I know.

He worked at the first restoration shop I got a job at and got me started. He learned from his grandfather, named Axle. Back then when living in that skate Park in Asbury, we had a litter of puppies. I named my pup Axle after the old gent whom taught his grandkid, my friend, whom then passed his knowledge to me. Axle my ole pup died a week after my grandpa. Two good ole boys... So I guess... I have only been working on cars about 13 years. Weird, seems like a lifetime.

Now for the unusual... My friend that taught me just rented a garage at the Air/Marine in Keyport where I thought all this speed boat stuff may have went down, and have yet to officially prove. I will be storing some cars there as I'm always out of room.

Weird to return to a place that I have always wanted to get into...

That room is now cleaned up partially at Grandpops. The plaster ceiling had fallen down in the pics on everything. It is now repaired since grandpop is gone and we can now go in there. My father has also given me some pretty special things of my grandfathers. I carry his pocket knife every day like he did. Seems the days I run out the door without it... the day never does go as smooth as I would have liked. So I do try and not forget to loop the little rope around my belt loop before I leave my door.

The Hamb has changed much since I 1st wrote this crazy story, so boat stuff doesn't really fit in anymore, and I respect that. I too don't post that much either...

Just wanted to fill you all in a little as the Devil still sleeps. I'll keep you posted if the restoration starts.

I too have been busy as I had a little devil of my own...

Be well people.
I'll keep you posted if I learn anything earth shattering about the boat or if we start to work on the "Jersey Devil". I do hope to learn a little more about the young guns whom once occupied the Air/Marine after the wars were over and played with warmed up boats and cars in Keyport. I hope hanging around there I will learn a little more.

 

Hey Dirtiest Devil,
I'm sitting here at work and just read all of your posts. What a great story!
Chuck

 

Whats up man...
Great to re read this...nasty day.
Sounds like things are going traditionally....
I can relate.
Gotta get together in spring.

 

Stultz Fuel. Gotta love it.
I grew up in Northern Jersey and would hear about the Jersey Devil from the older kids who had gone on road trips to the Pine Barrens. To cool. Just one question. You say you were a sharp shooter, does that mean you lost yer touch? HAHA. Slim

 

I know this is an old thread, but it's the first time I've seen it...AND, I've got an actual Jersey Devil story!
About 20 years ago, I was crewing for a pretty well known East Coast Fuel Funnycar at Atco. At the end of the night, the car and remainder of the crew left the track and headed out the back way towards 206 (?)...I had another thing to attend to, so I left and headed towards the Turnpike. This was all at probably 2 or 3am.
So, the next day, I catch up with the other guys, and they're pretty freaked out. Somewhere out on the road, a few miles from the track, they had to stop short, because there was something sitting in the middle of the road. Just as the truck stopped, probably 30 feet from this thing, it stood up, and stared at them with bright glowing red eyes...they all said it was the scariest, freakiest thing they'd ever seen. It stared them down for a few seconds, and then just walked off into the woods...upright, on its hind legs!
So jokingly, I said, "yeah, that was just the Jersey Devil, tell him I said Hi next time ya see him". Well...turns out, none of these guys had ever heard about the Jersey Devil, and I ended up having to tell them the whole story as I understood it.
Well, one of them goes to the library and takes out a book that had an illustration of the JD, and sure enough, it matched the description of what each of them saw that night.
I don't have a clue what this thing really is, but after that incident, I can tell you for sure that something IS out there.

 

Whitey!!!!

 

I remember the stories about the Jersey Devil from my father and my mom from Califon always told stories of the Hooker Man. Anyone know that one?