A large, human shape attracted the attention of a Downtingtown resident after it let out a strange, animal-like cry. Left behind were large footprints.
Posses Search Pine Forest in Penn for Jersey Devil
Believed to be Maniac
DOWNINGTOWN, Pa., January 22, 1932. — A posse today beat through a 1,000 acre white pine forest in search of the “Jersey devil,” believed to be a maniacal human “gone native.”
John McCandles, Swarthmore, sighted the strange creature. It resembled a human form, but cavorted about on hands and feet like a monkey.
As McCandles and several companions watched, it sighted them in wild alarm and fled into the forest.
“We found footprints,” McCandles said. “They were made by a human foot, but unusual in size. I think the thing may be a man who has been living in the forest so many years he has become wild.”
In the last few months the creature has been sighted in trees and in chicken coops in south Jersey towns.
Citizens dubbed it the Jersey devil when it eluded all efforts toward capture.
McCandles and his companions tries to corner the monster, but it lunged at them, then fled.
He returned to Downingtown to organize the searching party which today entered the forest.
“We were first attracted to the strange thing by what I would call a subdued animal cry,” McCandles said. “I approached the point from which the sound issued and I almost collapsed when I saw the strange form.
“It looked like a man, but did not stand erect. It was crawling and I was impressed by the immense size of the hands. It was covered with either hair or dirt.”
Source: The Waterbury Democrat. (Waterbury, Conn.), 22 Jan. 1932.
