A viral photo snapped by a New Jersey man purportedly shows the Jersey Devil.
Jersey Devil Photo
Dave Black of Little Egg Harbor Township produced a photo he claims to have been taken of a “flying mammal about the size of a deer” and what he believes is the legendary Jersey Devil.
“I was just driving past the golf course in Galloway on Route 9 and had to shake my head a few times when I thought I saw a llama,” he wrote to NJ.com. “If that wasn’t enough, then it spread out leathery wings and flew off over the golf course.”
Black claims to have taken several photos of the creature, but only one turned out. And – as is standard fare with most photos of cryptids – it is somewhat blurry. It does somewhat resemble a flying goat, complete with horns and wings.
After staring at the photo for an hour, Black said he decided to send it in to NJ.com. “I’m not looking for anything in return, just thought someone else could maybe explain this in a more rational way,” he wrote.
Black added, “People have said it’s fake, but it’s not. I’m honestly just looking for an explanation for what I saw.”
Readers online have weighed in on what they think is depicted in the photo. Brad Reed at BGR.com writes that it looks like “a stuffed goat with wings attached that was hurled up in the air and photographed to be just blurry enough that you can’t see how obviously fake it is.”
Black said that a friend suggested that it could show an owl which has picked up a small animal.
Weird NJ received a video from a reader named Emily Martin who allegedly captured video of the creature. While the Black photo has not been very convincing to most readers, the Martin video has been even less persuasive.
While the true subject of the photo has not yet been revealed, most readers feel it is a hoax or even a publicity stunt. The best guesses thus far seem to be a stuffed animal tossed into the air, or an owl carrying off a small animal.
The Jersey Devil is a legendary creature which has been reported for hundreds of years by people in New Jersey’s Pinelands.
What do you think is shown in the image and video above?
We’ll update this page when more information becomes available.