Echoes of the Jersey Devil in Scotland?

www.bbc.com...

Although this chilling account of a mysterious scream during a winter ice climb does not speculate on something other than human as being the source of the voice, I was struck cold by this quote - (Pun probably intended)

"People talk about bloodcurdling screaming and for the first time I understood. That noise sent a stream of cold blood around my veins and chilled the back of my neck."

I opened this thread here because I have had that exact same reaction to the same kind of scream - but in New Jersey, in the Pine Barrens. I heard that sound from overhead while walking my bike on a sandy trail about 15 miles from Atlantic City. I looked up, and saw, through the pines, something squatting on a branch almost directly overhead. From underneath, I could not guess at it's height when fully extended, but I clearly saw knees and legs bent in a squat. It was brown, fuzzy/furry and looking down at me with reddish eyes over a long snout/beak. It screamed again, then broke off into the most sinister cackle ever envied by a movie villain. I don't recall exactly how I got back on the bike, or how I pedaled through a lot of soft sand to get to a main road, but I will never forget those noises or those eyes.

So...did I encounter the Jersey Devil? Could there be a cryptozoological specimen out there that would be found in Southern New Jersey and the Highlands of Scotland? Or, more likely, are there two similar sounding creatures still to be classified, codified and congealed in reality?

Thanks for reading!

a reply to: cronemel

Both are interesting stories.

The linked scream are described as more human... and if not a ghostie, ghoulie or long leggity beastie, then a poor lone climber who put a spike through his hand and will have to saw it off or be found when it thaws...or one who lost their partner in a silent fall and then screamed and slunk away because they used the cheaper rope and/or forgot a knot... and then remembered nobody else knew they were there and didn't want to face questioning. Either way they'll likely find a stiff cadaver when spring comes.

As far as your tale... the Jersey Devil is a very weird situation. There are some very credible sightings, some by members here, too... but of something that isn't the usual 'monster' ...meaning not a lake serpent, or a huge hairy hominid... but a bat winged, goat-deer-kangaroo chimaera that has no fossil record or other sightings in other places to even give a scrap of context... just a bizarre, singular thingy that doesn't make sense in any biology we know of.

So two likely unrelated tales, but darned intriguing... especially yours. Did you get any details of the thing you saw? Like whiskers, eye size, nose, teeth, ears, talons, size...anything else?

I'd think a likely escapee from a genetics lab... if it hadn't been reported for centuries... and then I'd think a quaint local "Snark" story... but some of the sightings and people seeing it are really, really compelling... so I'm left with black magic tulpas and/or dimensional rips.

Sorry.... too much late coffee... my fingers hurt and apologies to anyone struggling through this!

a reply to: cronemel

What makes you think it was an entirely physical being?

I think it was just another hairy Scott.

a reply to: Baddogma

The description of the scream is what tripped my memory and interest. It was the scream that I heard that day in Jersey that has haunted me - that longing, "just lost the one you love" sound. It wasn't angry, or physical pain...and I know that asking me to explain why I think that will not lead to a great answer - but I have heard lots of people screaming about lots of things as a teacher and a 9-1-1 dispatcher - and this scream was like none of those. I discovered the physical reality of bone marrow that day - I felt it freeze. Reading an account of a similar experience tends to poke one into connecting dots, hence the post.

As to what I saw - I cannot swear to talons, although there was something gripping the branch it was squatting on. The legs were lean, the thighs a little longer than the shins - or so it seemed from my angle. The torso is just a shaggy bulk in memory - as is most of the head. I do remember the eyes, reddish, and on either side of a snout/beak protrusion more like a horse's face. If it had a mouth part, I could not make it out. I don't remember it moving, no spreading wings or anything like that - just squatted up there and hollered. Then cackled.

Time dilation is a beast - I feel as though I stood there looking up at it for hours, but when reviewing the event, I realized it could only have been a few seconds. I scratched my hand just before the scream, and when I stopped running away, the blood was just beginning to drip. But - and here comes the woo part - I felt malice from it. Whatever was up there meant me no good, not me specifically, but whatever that thing was - it was pissed at the world. Again - ask me to explain and I will just helplessly shrug and mutter something about "feeling that way".

And I agree- cryptozoology is probably not in the explanatory line for Jersey Devil sightings - but people with an interest in this might have picked up some Devil lore along the way - as you have done. Thanks for the reply - and yes, this Scottish event probably will result in what we in Alaska law enforcement referred to as "corpsicles". (Black humor gets you through the job.) Sorry if offended, but true words.

a reply to: Tangerine

If you mean the creature that I saw - I can only say that I did see it. And hear it. Fully present and accounted for. I am in no way adverse to the idea of beings that are not entirely physical, but I got no such sense from this thing. I did feel a strong sense of malice - this thing did NOT have a good attitude, but I felt the same from an entirely human mugger late one night.

I cannot be sure of ANYTHING about this thing - except that it was there, visibly and audibly, and that it left me with an experience that still wakes me in the night with cold shivers and a lingering echo of that scream fading away.

a reply to: cronemel

Good answer and interesting details. Thanks. And all humor is dark, heh.

I've heard that brand of scream, too. Taken as a whole, it sure does point to something that's not the average biological critter... that feeling you describe is one I've had from something that wasn't visible at all... but it was a strong, undeniable feeling my whole being felt was ...just wrong.

This world ... quite the puzzle.

a reply to: UFGarvin

Aye, laddie, or perhaps a beginning piper at his lessons

originally posted by: cronemel
a reply to: Tangerine

If you mean the creature that I saw - I can only say that I did see it. And hear it. Fully present and accounted for. I am in no way adverse to the idea of beings that are not entirely physical, but I got no such sense from this thing. I did feel a strong sense of malice - this thing did NOT have a good attitude, but I felt the same from an entirely human mugger late one night.

I cannot be sure of ANYTHING about this thing - except that it was there, visibly and audibly, and that it left me with an experience that still wakes me in the night with cold shivers and a lingering echo of that scream fading away.

I believe you. I think we've had much experience pursuing (literally and intellectually) anomalous beings as though they are entirely physical beings. We have tried to cram UFOS, Bigfoot, and monsters like this into a physical, literalist shoebox with no meaningful results. In my opinion, it's time to let go of the literalist approach. May I ask what was going on in your life at the time? Would you consider your life to have been stable or destabilized? Were you living in an established routine that most others would consider "normal" or were you living an "off-beat" life? Were you emotionally in a calm period or in a state of emotional turmoil? I'm referring to the time period right before the encounter not after.

a reply to: cronemel

That reminds me of many years back. There was a labor strike in our building, but I was management so I had to show up. The place was empty almost and it was dark and very foggy that morning. Suddenly, I heard a piper. I thought, how weird, I went ouside ant walked toward the sound and sure enough. A guy in full scottish regalia came strolling out of the mist, pipes wailing. It lifted my spirits for the rest of the day.

I love being outdoors, love the wild places too but I have been too tainted by reading these kind of stories / accounts to ever feel completely at ease out there on my own. Not that this would put me off going, but there is no way I would camp out anywhere. I used to be bothered by the fact none of these creatures' remains are ever found, but not anymore, there are ways that could be explained too. I suspect I am like a lot on here - I want to see 'something ', but at the same time, I really don't!

a reply to: Tangerine

I was on vacation with my family - I was 14-15 at the time. I had gone off into the woods for the day, as I did whenever the family plans permitted (meaning it was not time to be hauled off to yet another 'historic site or monument.' Those were the best days of those trips - so I was in an unusually good mood, having been alone in the woods for a while.

Off beat describes my routine in many ways - I was one of the first female percussionists ever to audition - at more than one school. I was always off by myself, have suffered (or enjoyed) insomnia since early childhood, hated parties and dances...and I have had a couple of experiences that are not explicable with the language we usually use. This did not have that same 'odd vibration' (language is inadequate) - this was 100 percent in this dimension with me. How do I know? Shrug...I...Just...do?

a reply to: Greywhiskers

I understand the reluctance - believe me. I often think wryly on "What has been seen cannot be unseen." That goes for what is heard as well. All I can say is that frequently traveling alone in both wilderness and city downtowns...I will take my chances in the wild every single time. I have seen/heard unexplained phenomena both places - but somehow, the mysterious out in the woods is far less malignant - out there, it's simply survival. If they don't need to eat me - they won't mess with me. I cannot say the same of the wildlife that inhabits modern American cities. They will take me out for my sneakers.

Even the creature I encountered, while seeming malevolent, did not seem to direct that malice at me, as a specific target. I cannot say the same of those that approached me on Main Street...or 1st Ave. or any other city street.

a reply to: cronemel

I'm jealous of your encounter, I long to become a monster hunter & travel the countryside seeking out these legends.