Unsolved: The Axeman of New Orleans on TPKs Stories True Crimes & Other Stories

 https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/valerie-harvey/episodes/Unsolved-The-Axeman-of-New-Orleans-e2cfof6

East Sprague Serial Killer: Robert Lee Yates, Jr. on TPKs Stories True Crime & Other Stories

 https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/valerie-harvey/episodes/East-Sprague-Street-Killer-Robert-Lee-Yates--Jr-e2c7u4q

Boxcar Killer: Robert Joseph Silveria, Jr. on TPKs Stories True Crime & Other Stories

 https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/valerie-harvey/episodes/Boxcar-Killer-Robert-Joseph-Silveria--Jr-e2c7ttq

10 Spooky Roads

 10. Clinton Road, New Jersey

Clinton Road is every driver’s nightmare. This road on West Milford has no shortage of terrifying tales that will make you uncomfortable. According to local folklore, Clinton Road is full of ghosts and witches. The legend continues to state that as you drive along the road, you are likely to encounter phantom headlights without knowing where they come from. The headlights will follow you dangerously close before disappearing into thin air. Then there is the Ghost Boy Bridge where legends say that if you toss a coin into the water a boy will throw it back to you. Then there are the ruins of Cross Castle where satanic activities are said to take place. Apparently, there are also terrifying wild animals roaming the woods.

9. Boy Scout Lane, Wisconsin

If you want to take a leisurely drive along the unpaved road through the wooden acreage of Wisconsin, then Boy Scout Lane is the perfect road for you. However, you should be warned that the road is one of the creepiest you will ever drive on. A legend has it that in the 1950s and 1960s, a group of Boy Scouts went camping in these woods, never to be seen again. There are several theories surrounding their death, everyone just as terrifying as the last. Some say they starved to death while other says they burned to death when they dropped their lantern. The third theory is that they were killed by their scoutmaster. Those who have driven along Boy Scout Lane have reported hearing footsteps struggling to get out of the woods. Some have even seen red lights shining as if the boys are struggling to get out of the woods.

8. Devil's Washbowl, Vermont

The Devil's Washbowl is haunted by a small boy called “the Pig Man.” The legend has it that Sam went missing at the age of 17 in 1951 on the eve of Halloween. He had gone out for a night of mischief and never came back. It is said that Sam became possessed by an evil spirit that night. He is said to slaughter pigs and eat their flesh but hollow out the pig’s head and wear it over his. Some people claim that Sam is half man and half pig. Motorists passing through Devil’s Washbowl have reportedly sighted the Pigman crossing the road several times, causing panic and sometimes accidents on the road.

7. Shades of Death Road, New Jersey

Shades of Death Road in New Jersey must be among the spookiest roads in the world. The seven-mile-long road runs along the Jenny Jump State Forest and harbors terror that no driver would ever have to experience. The road was originally known as just “The Shades” but as more murder took place “Death” was added to the name. The Ghost Lake, located on the road, also has spooky stories involving supernatural activities. I

6. Prospector's Road, California

Prospector's Road is a small road that twists and turns for about three miles through the hilly part of the Gold Country. Most of the drivers take the main Marshal Road but if you are daring enough you can take the Prospector's Road. However, you are likely to run into some ghosts who are said to be responsible for some of the accidents experienced. With the gold discovery in the 1800s, several miners lost their lives with one of the miners murdered by his fellow miners when he bragged of having much gold. His ghost continues to haunt road users, appearing before hikers. He whispers to them “Get off my claim” as if he is defending his gold.

5. Dead Man's Curve, Ohio

Dead Man's Curve is sandwiched between two freeways. It is considered by many as the most haunted road in the world. You may be careful while driving on this road as it has a sharp turn with a high crash rate. Some scary stories have been told about Dead Man's Curve, one of which claims that some teens were involved in a fatal accident in the 1960s after they were hit by a speeding car. Some people claim to have seen their car along with the one that hit it floating in the air. Other stories claim of faceless hitchhikers who fell off the road over 100 years ago.

4. Highway 666, Southwestern USA

Highway 666 has been dubbed a highway to hell. It is characterized by an unexplained phenomenon that has occurred throughout history. As you drive along this highway, you will spot majestic sceneries including long cactus plants and beautiful rocks. However, do not be fooled by such, Highway 666 is full of unpleasant experiences. Located at the “Four Corners,” it is one of the most haunted places in America. There have been a high number of unusual fatalities along this highway. One of the common stories is that of a black sedan that charges out in the dark. Motorists are often filled with fear as the sedan whizzes past them. The road is also characterized by the “Hounds of Hell” that is said to maul passengers. Other reported figures include evil spirits on a semi-truck, a skinwalker, and a pale spirit

3. Archer Avenue, Illinois

Archer Avenue is not only a haunted road but also the most haunted place in Chicago. The road between James-Sag Church and Resurrection Cemetery weaves its way through forests, lakes, and cemeteries each with its own terrifying tale. Archer Avenue is home to some restless spirits. But the scariest of the stories is that of Resurrection Mary. The Legend goes that one night Mary was out dancing with her boyfriend. The two got into an argument before Mary left for home in the cold. Along the road, she was hit by a driver who took off leaving her for dead. She was later buried in the Resurrection Cemetery. She hitchhikes and remains silent but asks to be let out at the cemetery then disappears. Phantom ghosts have also been reported in the area.

2. Old Pali Road, Hawaii

Hawaii Island is full of fascinating history but also countless ghosts. While you will find several haunted hikes across the island, there is no hike spookier than the abandoned Old Peli Road. On this road, ghost stories outnumber the hikers found on the trail. The story has it that several soldiers were pushed over the lookout for their untimely deaths during the campaign to unify the island. There have been reports of their ghosts wandering the trail in the dark. If you are a pork lover, you may be in trouble driving on this road. Your car will stop at some point on the road and refuse to move, an old woman with a dog will then appear. For you to continue with the journey, you must feed the pork to the dog.

1. Route 2A, Maine

If you are fond of picking up hitchhikers, you may want to change your mind as you drive along Route 2A in Haynesville. The road has been a death trap for many years, especially during winter. The road has piled up several deaths leading to some scary stories. The most common story involves a little girl ghost who walks down the road looking lost. Some people have reported stopping and offering her a lift which she will climb in but shortly disappear from the seat. Other people claim to have seen a woman begging for help for a car accident involving her husband. If you stop to help her, you will be overcome with a deep dark chill.

Joseph Smith: Founder of the Church of Latter-Day Saints Part II

 Death

By early 1844, a rift developed between Smith and a half dozen of his closest associates. Most notably, William Law, his trusted counselor, and Robert Foster, a general of the Nauvoo Legion, disagreed with Smith about how to manage Nauvoo's economy. Both also said that Smith had proposed marriage to their wives. Believing these men were plotting against his life, Smith excommunicated them on April 18, 1844. Law and Foster subsequently formed a competing "reform church", and in the following month, at the county seat in Carthage, they procured indictments against Smith for perjury (as Smith publicly denied having more than one wife) and polygamy.

On June 7, the dissidents published the first (and only) issue of the Nauvoo Expositor, calling for reform within the church but also appealing politically to non-Mormons. The paper alluded to Smith's theocratic aspirations, called for a repeal of the Nauvoo city charter, and decried his new "doctrines of many Gods". (Smith had recently given his King Follett discourse, in which he taught that God was once a man and that men and women could become gods.) It also attacked Smith's practice of polygamy, implying that he was using religion as a pretext to draw unassuming women to Nauvoo to seduce and marry them.

Fearing the Expositor would provoke a new round of violence against the Mormons; the Nauvoo city council declared the newspaper a public nuisance and ordered the Nauvoo Legion to destroy its printing press. During the council debate, Smith vigorously urged the council to order the press destroyed, not realizing that destroying a newspaper was more likely to incite an attack than any of the newspaper's accusations.

Destruction of the newspaper provoked a strident call to arms from Thomas C. Sharp, editor of the Warsaw Signal and longtime critic of Smith. Fearing mob violence, Smith mobilized the Nauvoo Legion on June 18 and declared martial law. Officials in Carthage responded by mobilizing a small detachment of the state militia, and Governor Ford intervened, threatening to raise a larger militia unless Smith and the Nauvoo city council surrendered themselves. Smith initially fled across the Mississippi River, but shortly returned and surrendered to Ford. On June 25, Smith and his brother Hyrum arrived in Carthage to stand trial for inciting a riot. Once the Smiths were in custody, the charges were increased to treason, preventing them from posting bail. John Taylor and Willard Richards voluntarily accompanied the Smiths in Carthage Jail.

On June 27, 1844, an armed mob with blackened faces stormed Carthage Jail, where Joseph and Hyrum were being detained. Hyrum, who was trying to secure the door, was killed instantly with a shot to the face. Smith fired three shots from a pepper-box pistol that his friend, Cyrus H. Wheelock, had lent him, wounding three men, before he sprang for the window. (Smith and his companions were staying in the jailer's bedroom, which did not have bars on the windows.) He was shot multiple times before falling out the window, crying, "Oh Lord my God!" He died shortly after hitting the ground but was shot several more times by an improvised firing squad before the mob dispersed.

Legacy

Immediate aftermath

Following Smith's death, non-Mormon newspapers were nearly unanimous in portraying Smith as a religious fanatic. Conversely, within the Latter Day Saint community, Smith was viewed as a prophet, martyred to seal the testimony of his faith.

After a public funeral and viewing of the deceased brothers, Smith's widow – who feared hostile non-Mormons might try to desecrate the bodies – had their remains buried at night in a secret location, with substitute coffins filled with sandbags interred in the publicly attested grave. The bodies were later moved and reburied under an outbuilding on the Smith property off the Mississippi River. Members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church), under the direction of then-RLDS Church president Frederick M. Smith (Smith's grandson), searched for, located, and disinterred the Smith brothers' remains in 1928 and reinterred them, along with Smith's wife, in Nauvoo at the Smith Family Cemetery.

Impact and Assessment

Modern biographers and scholars – Mormon and non-Mormon alike – agree that Smith was one of the most influential, charismatic, and innovative figures in American religious history. In a 2015 compilation of the 100 Most Significant Americans of All Time, the Smithsonian ranked Smith first in the category of religious figures. In popular opinion, non-Mormons in the U.S. generally consider Smith a "charlatan, scoundrel, and heretic", while outside the U.S. he is "obscure".

Within the Latter Day Saint movement, Smith's legacy varies between denominations: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and its members consider Smith the founding prophet of their church, on par with Moses and Elijah. Meanwhile, Smith's reputation is ambivalent in the Community of Christ, which continues "honoring his role" in the church's founding history but deemphasizes his human leadership. Conversely, Woolleyite Mormon fundamentalism has deified Smith within a cosmology of many gods.

Buildings named in honor of Smith

Memorials to Smith include the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City, Utah, the former Joseph Smith Memorial building on the campus of Brigham Young University as well as the current Joseph Smith Building there, a granite obelisk marking Smith's birthplace, and a fifteen-foot-tall bronze statue of Smith in the World Peace Dome in Pune, India.

Successors and denominations

Smith's death resulted in a succession crisis within the Latter Day Saint movement. He had proposed several ways to choose his successor, but never clarified his preference. The two strongest succession candidates were Young, a senior member and president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and Rigdon, the senior remaining member of the First Presidency. In a church-wide conference on August 8, most of the Latter Day Saints present elected Young. They eventually left Nauvoo and settled in the Salt Lake Valley, Utah Territory.

Nominal membership in Young's denomination, which became the LDS Church, surpassed 16 million in 2018. Smaller groups followed Rigdon and James J. Strang, who had based his claim on a letter of appointment ostensibly written by Smith but which some scholars believe was forged. Some hundreds followed Lyman Wight to establish a community in Texas. Others followed Alpheus Cutler. Many members of these smaller groups, including most of Smith's family, eventually coalesced in 1860 under the leadership of Joseph Smith III and formed the RLDS Church, which now has about 250,000 members.

Family and descendants

The first of Smith's wives, Emma Hale, gave birth to nine children during their marriage, five of whom died before the age of two. The eldest, Alvin (born in 1828), died within hours of birth, as did twins Thaddeus and Louisa (born in 1831). When the twins died, the Smiths adopted another set of twins, Julia and Joseph Murdock, whose mother had recently died in childbirth; the adopted Smith died of measles in 1832. In 1841, Don Carlos, who had been born a year earlier, died of malaria, and five months later, in 1842, Emma gave birth to a stillborn son.

Joseph and Emma had five children who lived to maturity: adopted Julia Murdock, Joseph Smith III, David Hyrum Smith, Frederick Granger Williams Smith, and Alexander Hale Smith. Some historians have speculated—based on journal entries and family stories—that Smith fathered children with his plural wives. However, in cases where DNA testing of potential Smith descendants from plural wives has been possible, results have been negative.

After Smith's death, Emma was quickly alienated from Young and the LDS leadership. Emma feared and despised Young, who in turn was suspicious of Emma's desire to preserve the family's assets from inclusion with those of the church. He also disliked her open opposition to plural marriage. Young excluded Emma from ecclesiastical meetings and from social gatherings. When most Mormons moved west, Emma stayed in Nauvoo and married a non-Mormon, Major Lewis C. Bidamon. She withdrew from religion until 1860 when she affiliated with the RLDS Church headed by her son, Joseph III. Emma maintained her belief that Smith had been a prophet, and she never repudiated her belief in the authenticity of the Book of Mormon.

Polygamy

By some accounts, Smith had been teaching a polygamy doctrine as early as 1831, and there is evidence that he may have been a polygamist by 1835. Although the church had publicly repudiated polygamy, in 1837 there was a rift between Smith and Cowdery over the issue. Cowdery suspected Smith had engaged in a relationship with Fanny Alger, who worked in the Smith household as a serving girl. Smith did not deny having a relationship, but he insisted that he had never admitted to adultery. "Presumably," historian Bushman argues, "because he had married Alger" as a plural wife.

In April 1841, Smith secretly wed Louisa Beaman, and during the next two-and-a-half years he secretly married or was sealed to about thirty or forty additional women. Ten of his plural wives were between the ages of fourteen and twenty; others were over fifty. Ten were already married to other men, though some of these polyandrous marriages were contracted with the consent of the first husbands. Evidence for whether or not and to what degree Smith's polygamous marriages involved sex is ambiguous and varies between marriages. Some polygamous marriages may have been considered solely religious marriages that would not take effect until after death. In any case, during Smith's lifetime, the practice of polygamy was kept secret from both non-Mormons and most members of the church. Polygamy caused a breach between Smith and his first wife, Emma; historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich summarizes by stating that "Emma vacillated in her support for plural marriage, sometimes acquiescing to Joseph's sealings, sometimes resisting."

Revelations

According to Bushman, the "signal feature" of Smith's life was "his sense of being guided by revelation". Instead of presenting his ideas with logical arguments, Smith dictated authoritative scripture-like "revelations" and let people decide whether to believe, doing so with what Peter Coviello calls "beguiling offhandedness". Smith and his followers treated his revelations as being above teachings or opinions, and he acted as though he believed in his revelations as much as his followers. The revelations were written as if God himself were speaking through Smith, often opening with words such as, "Hearken O ye people which profess my name, saith the Lord your God."

Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon has been called the longest and most complex of Smith's revelations Its language resembles the King James Version of the Bible, as does its organization as a compilation of smaller books, each named after prominent figures in the narrative. It tells the story of the rise and fall of Judeo-Christian religious civilization in the Western Hemisphere, beginning about 600 BC and ending in the fifth century. The book explains itself to be largely the work of Mormon, a Nephite prophet and military figure. Christian themes permeate the work.

Some scholars have considered the Book of Mormon a response to pressing cultural and environmental issues in Smith's day. Historian Dan Vogel regards the book as autobiographical in nature, reflecting Smith's life and perceptions. Biographer Robert V. Remini calls the Book of Mormon "a typically American story" that "radiates the revivalist passion of the Second Great Awakening." Brodie suggested that Smith composed the Book of Mormon by drawing on sources of information available to him, such as the 1823 book View of the Hebrews. Other scholars argue the Book of Mormon is more biblical in inspiration than American. Bushman writes that "the Book of Mormon is not a conventional American book" and that its structure better resembles the Bible. According to historian Daniel Walker Howe, the book's "dominant themes are biblical, prophetic, and patriarchal, not democratic or optimistic" like the prevailing American culture. Shipps argues that the Book of Mormon's "complex set of religious claims" provided "the basis of a new mythos" or "story" which early converts accepted and lived in as their world, thus departing from "the early national period in America into a new dispensation of the fulness of times".

Smith never fully described how he produced the Book of Mormon, saying only that he translated by the power of God and implying that he had read its words. The Book of Mormon itself states only that its text will "come forth by the gift and power of God unto the interpretation thereof". Accordingly, there is considerable disagreement about the actual method used. For at least some of the earliest dictation, Smith's compatriots said he used the "Urim and Thummim", a pair of seer stones he said were buried with the plates. However, people close to Smith said that later in the process of dictation, he used a chocolate-colored stone he had found in 1822 that he had used previously for treasure hunting. Joseph Knight said that Smith saw the words of the translation while, after excluding all light, he gazed at the stone or stones in the bottom of his hat, a process similar to divining the location of the treasure. Sometimes, Smith concealed the process by raising a curtain or dictating from another room; at other times he dictated in full view of witnesses while the plates lay covered on the table or were hidden elsewhere.

Bible revision

In June 1830, Smith dictated a revelation in which Moses narrates a vision in which he sees "worlds without number" and speaks with God about the purpose of creation and the relation of humankind to deity. This revelation initiated a revision of the Bible which Smith worked on sporadically until 1833 but which remained unpublished until after his death. He may have considered it complete, though according to Emma Smith, the biblical revision was still unfinished when Joseph died.

In the course of producing the Book of Mormon, Smith declared that the Bible was missing "the plainest and precious parts of the gospel". He produced a "new translation" of the Bible, not by directly translating from manuscripts in another language, but by amending and appending to a King James Bible in a process which he and Latter Day Saints believed was guided by inspiration; Smith asserted his translation would correct lacuna and restore what the contemporary Bible was missing. While many changes involved straightening out seeming contradictions or making small clarifications, other changes added large interpolations to the text. For example, Smith's revision nearly tripled the length of the first five chapters of Genesis into a text called the Book of Moses.

Book of Abraham

In 1835, Smith encouraged some Latter-Day Saints in Kirtland to purchase rolls of ancient Egyptian papyri from a traveling exhibitor. He said they contained the writings of the ancient patriarchs Abraham and Joseph. Over the next several years, Smith dictated to scribes what he reported was a revelatory translation of one of these rolls, which was published in 1842 as the Book of Abraham. The Book of Abraham speaks of the founding of the Abrahamic nation, astronomy, cosmology, lineage, and priesthood, and gives another account of the creation story. The papyri associated with the Book of Abraham were thought to have been lost in the Great Chicago Fire, but several fragments were rediscovered in the 1960s. Egyptologists have subsequently determined them to be part of the Egyptian Book of Breathing with no connection to Abraham.

Other revelations

 [The Holy Spirit] may give you sudden strokes of ideas, so that by noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon; those things that were presented unto your minds by the Spirit of God will come to pass.—Joseph Smith

According to Pratt, Smith dictated his revelations, which were recorded by a scribe without revisions or corrections. Revelations were immediately copied and then circulated among church members. Smith's revelations often came in response to specific questions. He described the revelatory process as having "pure Intelligence" flowing into him. Smith, however, never viewed the wording to be infallible. The revelations were not God's words verbatim, but "couched in language suitable to Joseph's time". In 1833, Smith edited and expanded many of the previous revelations, publishing them as the Book of Commandments, which later became part of the Doctrine and Covenants.

Smith gave varying types of revelations. Some were temporal, while others were spiritual or doctrinal. Some were received for a specific individual, while others were directed at the whole church. An 1831 revelation called "The Law" contained directions for missionary work, rules for organizing a society in Zion, a reiteration of the Ten Commandments, an injunction to "administer to the poor and needy" and an outline for the law of consecration. An 1832 revelation called "The Vision" added to the fundamentals of sin and atonement, and introduced doctrines of life after salvation, exaltation, and a heaven with degrees of glory. Another 1832 revelation was the first to explain priesthood doctrine.

In 1833, at a time of temperance agitation, Smith delivered a revelation called the "Word of Wisdom", which counseled a diet of wholesome herbs, fruits, grains, and sparing use of meat. It also recommended that Latter Day Saints avoid "strong" alcoholic drinks, tobacco, and "hot drinks" (later interpreted to mean tea and coffee). The Word of Wisdom was originally framed as a recommendation rather than a commandment and was not strictly followed by Smith and other early Latter-Day Saints, though it later became a requirement in the LDS Church.

Before 1832, most of Smith's revelations concerned establishing the church, gathering followers, and building the city of Zion. Later revelations dealt primarily with the priesthood, endowment, and exaltation. The pace of formal revelations slowed during the autumn of 1833 and again after the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. Smith moved away from formal written revelations spoken in God's voice and instead taught more in sermons, conversations, and letters. For instance, the doctrines of baptism for the dead and the nature of God were introduced in sermons, and one of Smith's most famed statements, about there being "no such thing as immaterial matter", was recorded from a casual conversation with a Methodist preacher.

Views and teachings

Cosmology and theology

Smith taught that all existence was material, including a world of "spirit-matter" so fine that it was invisible to all but the purest mortal eyes. Matter, in Smith's view, could be neither created nor destroyed; the creation involved only the reorganization of existing matter. Like matter, Smith saw "intelligence" as co-eternal with God, and he taught that human spirits had been drawn from a pre-existing pool of eternal intelligence. Nevertheless, according to Smith, spirits could not experience a "fullness of joy" unless joined with corporeal bodies. Therefore, the work and glory of God was to create worlds across the cosmos where inferior intelligences could be embodied.

Smith taught that God was an advanced and glorified man, embodied within time and space. He publicly taught that God the Father and Jesus were distinct beings with physical bodies. Nevertheless, he conceived of the Holy Spirit as a "personage of Spirit". Smith extended this materialist conception to all existence and taught that "all spirit is matter", meaning that a person's embodiment in flesh was not a sign of fallen carnality, but a divine quality that humans shared with deity. Humans are, therefore, not so much God's creations as they are God's "kin". There is also considerable evidence that Smith taught, at least to limited audiences, that God the Father was accompanied by God the Mother. In this conception, God fully understood is plural, embodied, gendered, and both male and female.

Through the gradual acquisition of knowledge, according to Smith, those who received exaltation could eventually become like God. These teachings implied a vast hierarchy of gods, with God himself having a father. In Smith's cosmology, those who became gods would reign, unified in purpose and will, leading spirits of lesser capacity to share immortality and eternal life.

In Smith's view, the opportunity to achieve godhood (also called exaltation) extended to all humanity. Those who died with no opportunity to accept saving ordinances could achieve exaltation by accepting them in the afterlife through proxy ordinances performed on their behalf. Smith said that children who died in their innocence would be guaranteed to rise at the resurrection and receive exaltation. Apart from those who committed eternal sin, Smith taught that even the wicked and disbelieving would achieve a degree of glory in the afterlife.

Religious authority and ritual

Smith's teachings were rooted in dispensational restorationism. He taught that the Church of Christ restored through him was a latter-day restoration of the early Christian faith, which had been lost in the Great Apostasy. At first, Smith's church had little sense of hierarchy, and his religious authority was derived from his visions and revelations. Though he did not claim exclusive prophethood, an early revelation designated him as the only prophet allowed to issue commandments "as Moses". This religious authority included economic and political, as well as spiritual, matters. For instance, in the early 1830s, Smith temporarily instituted a form of religious communism, called the United Order that required Latter Day Saints to give all their property to the church, to be divided among the faithful. He also envisioned that the theocratic institutions he established would have a role in the worldwide political organization of the Millennium.

By the mid-1830s, Smith began teaching a hierarchy of three priesthoods—the Melchizedek, the Aaronic, and the Patriarchal. Each priesthood was a continuation of biblical priesthoods through lineal succession or through ordination by biblical figures appearing in visions. Upon introducing the Melchizedek or "High" Priesthood in 1831, Smith taught that its recipients would be "endowed with power from on high", fulfilling a desire for greater holiness and authority commensurate with the New Testament apostles. This doctrine of endowment evolved through the 1830s until, in 1842, the Nauvoo endowment included an elaborate ceremony containing elements similar to those of Freemasonry and the Jewish Kabbalah. Although the endowment was extended to women in 1843, Smith never clarified whether women could be ordained to priesthood offices.

Smith taught that the High Priesthood's endowment of heavenly power included the sealing powers of Elijah, allowing High Priests to perform ceremonies with effects that continued after death. For example, this power would enable proxy baptisms for the dead and marriages that would last into eternity. Elijah's sealing powers also enabled the second anointing, or "fulness of the priesthood", which, according to Smith, sealed married couples to their exaltation.

Theology of family

During the early 1840s, Smith unfolded a theology of family relations, called the "New and Everlasting Covenant", that superseded all earthly bonds. He taught that outside the covenant, marriages were simply matters of contract and that in the afterlife, individuals who were unmarried or who married outside the covenant would be limited in their progression toward Godhood. To fully enter the covenant, a man and woman must participate in a "first anointing", a "sealing" ceremony, and a "second anointing" (also called "sealing by the Holy Spirit of Promise"). When fully sealed into the covenant, Smith said that no sin or blasphemy (other than murder and apostasy) could keep them from their exaltation in the afterlife. According to a revelation Smith dictated, God appointed only one person on Earth at a time—in this case, Smith—to possess this power of sealing. According to Smith, men and women needed to be sealed to each other in this new and everlasting covenant (also called "celestial marriage") to be exalted in heaven after death, and such celestial marriage, perpetuated across generations, could reunite extended families of ancestors and descendants in the afterlife.

Plural marriage, or polygamy, was Smith's "most famous innovation", according to historian Matthew Bowman. Once Smith introduced polygamy, it became part of his "Abrahamic project," in the phrasing of historian Benjamin Park, wherein the solution to humanity's chaos would be found through accepting the divine order of the cosmos, under God's authority, in a "fusion of ecclesiastical and civic authority". Smith also taught that the highest level of exaltation could be achieved through polygamy, the ultimate manifestation of the New and Everlasting Covenant. In Smith's theology, marrying in polygamy made it possible for practitioners to unlearn the Christian tradition which identified the physical body as carnal, and to instead recognize their embodied joy as sacred. Smith also taught that the practice allowed an individual to transcend the angelic state and become a god, accelerating the expansion of one's heavenly kingdom.

Joseph Smith: Founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints Part I

Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805 – June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and the founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. Publishing the Book of Mormon at the age of 24, Smith attracted tens of thousands of followers by the time of his death fourteen years later. The religion he founded is followed to the present day by millions of global adherents and several churches, the largest of which is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

Born in Sharon, Vermont, Smith moved with his family to the western region of New York State, following a series of crop failures in 1816. Living in an area of intense religious revivalism during the Second Great Awakening, Smith reported experiencing a series of visions. The first of these was in 1820 when he saw "two personages" (whom he eventually described as God the Father and Jesus Christ). In 1823, he said he was visited by an angel who directed him to a buried book of golden plates inscribed with a Judeo-Christian history of an ancient American civilization. In 1830, Smith published the Book of Mormon, which he described as an English translation of those plates. The same year he organized the Church of Christ, calling it a restoration of the early Christian Church. Members of the church were later called "Latter Day Saints" or "Mormons".

In 1831, Smith and his followers moved west, planning to build a communal Zion in the American heartland. They first gathered in Kirtland, Ohio, and established an outpost in Independence, Missouri, which was intended to be Zion's "center place". During the 1830s, Smith sent out missionaries, published revelations, and supervised the construction of the Kirtland Temple. Because of the collapse of the church-sponsored Kirtland Safety Society, violent skirmishes with non-Mormon Missourians, and the Mormon extermination order, Smith and his followers established a new settlement at Nauvoo, Illinois, of which he was the spiritual and political leader. In 1844, when the Nauvoo Expositor criticized Smith's power and his practice of polygamy, Smith and the Nauvoo City Council ordered the destruction of its printing press, inflaming anti-Mormon sentiment. Fearing an invasion of Nauvoo, Smith rode to Carthage, Illinois, to stand trial, but was shot and killed by a mob that stormed the jailhouse.

During his ministry, Smith published numerous documents and texts, many of which he attributed to divine inspiration and revelation from God. He dictated the majority of these in the first-person, saying they were the writings of ancient prophets or expressed the voice of God. His followers accepted his teachings as prophetic and revelatory, and several of these texts were canonized by denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement, which continue to treat them as scripture. Smith's teachings discuss God's nature, cosmology, family structures, political organization, and religious community and authority. Mormons generally regard Smith as a prophet comparable to Moses and Elijah. Several religious denominations identify as the continuation of the church that he organized, including the LDS Church and the Community of Christ.

Life

Early years (1805–1827)

Joseph Smith was born on December 23, 1805, in Vermont, on the border between the villages of South Royalton and Sharon, to Lucy Mack Smith and her husband Joseph Smith Sr., a merchant and farmer. He was one of eleven children. At the age of seven, Smith suffered a crippling bone infection and, after receiving surgery, used crutches for three years. After an ill-fated business venture and three successive years of crop failures culminating in the 1816 Year Without a Summer, the Smith family left Vermont and moved to the western region of New York State, and took out a mortgage on a 100-acre (40 ha) farm in the townships of Palmyra and Manchester.

The region was a hotbed of religious enthusiasm during the Second Great Awakening. Between 1817 and 1825, there were several camp meetings and revivals in the Palmyra area. Smith's parents disagreed about religion, but the family was caught up in this excitement. Smith later recounted that he had become interested in religion by age 12, and as a teenager, may have been sympathetic to Methodism. With other family members, he also engaged in religious folk magic, a relatively common practice in that time and place. Both his parents and his maternal grandfather reported having visions or dreams that they believed communicated messages from God. Smith said that, although he had become concerned about the welfare of his soul, he was confused by the claims of competing religious denominations.

Years later, Smith wrote that he had received a vision that resolved his religious confusion. He said that in 1820, while he had been praying in a wooded area near his home, God the Father and Jesus Christ together appeared to him, told him his sins were forgiven, and said that all contemporary churches had "turned aside from the gospel." Smith said he recounted the experience to a Methodist minister, who dismissed the story "with great contempt". According to historian Steven C. Harper, "There is no evidence in the historical record that Joseph Smith told anyone but the minister of his vision for at least a decade", and Smith might have kept it private because of how uncomfortable that first dismissal was. During the 1830s, Smith orally described the vision to some of his followers, though it was not widely published among Mormons until the 1840s. This vision later grew in importance to Smith's followers, who eventually regarded it as the first event in the restoration of Christ's church to Earth. Smith himself may have originally considered the vision to be a personal conversion.

According to Smith's later accounts, while praying one night in 1823, he was visited by an angel named Moroni. Smith claimed this angel revealed the location of a buried book made of golden plates, as well as other artifacts including a breastplate and a set of interpreters composed of two seer stones set in a frame, which had been hidden in a hill near his home. Smith said he attempted to remove the plates the next morning but was unsuccessful because Moroni returned and prevented him. He reported that during the next four years, he made annual visits to the hill, but, until the fourth and final visit, each time he returned without the plates.

Meanwhile, Smith's family faced financial hardship, due in part to the death of his oldest brother Alvin. Family members supplemented their meager farm income by hiring out for odd jobs and working as treasure seekers, a type of magical supernaturalism common during the period. Smith was said to have the ability to locate lost items by looking into a seer stone, which he also used in treasure hunting, including, beginning in 1825, several unsuccessful attempts to find buried treasure sponsored by Josiah Stowell, a wealthy farmer in Chenango County. In 1826, Smith was brought before a Chenango County court for "glass-looking", or pretending to find lost treasure; Stowell's relatives accused Smith of tricking Stowell and faking an ability to perceive hidden treasure, though Stowell attested that he believed Smith had such abilities. The result of the proceeding remains unclear because primary sources report conflicting outcomes.

While boarding at the Hale house, located in the township of Harmony (now Oakland) in Pennsylvania, Smith met and courted Emma Hale. When he proposed marriage, her father, Isaac Hale, objected; he believed Smith had no means to support his daughter. Hale also considered Smith a stranger who appeared "careless" and "not very well educated." Smith and Emma eloped and married on January 18, 1827, after which the couple began boarding with Smith's parents in Manchester. Later that year, when Smith promised to abandon treasure-seeking, his father-in-law offered to let the couple live on his property in Harmony and help Smith get started in business.

Smith made his last visit to the hill shortly after midnight on September 22, 1827, taking Emma with him. This time, he said he successfully retrieved the plates. Smith said Moroni commanded him not to show the plates to anyone else, but to translate them and publish their translation. He also said the plates were a religious record of Middle-Eastern indigenous Americans and were engraved in an unknown language, called reformed Egyptian. He told associates that he was capable of reading and translating them.

Although Smith had abandoned treasure hunting, former associates believed he had double-crossed them and had taken the golden plates for himself; property they believed should be jointly shared. After they ransacked places where they believed the plates might have been hidden, Smith decided to leave Palmyra.

Founding a church (1827–1830)

In October 1827, Smith and Emma permanently moved to Harmony, aided by a relatively prosperous neighbor, Martin Harris, who began serving as Smith's scribe in April 1828. Although he and his wife, Lucy, were early supporters of Smith, by June 1828 they began to have doubts about the existence of the golden plates. Harris persuaded Smith to let him take 116 pages of the manuscript to Palmyra to show a few family members, including his wife. While Harris had the manuscript in his possession—of which there was no other copy—it was lost. Smith was devastated by this loss, especially since it came at the same time as the death of his first son, who died shortly after birth. Smith said that as punishment for his having lost the manuscript, Moroni returned, took away the plates, and revoked his ability to translate. During this period, Smith briefly attended Methodist meetings with his wife, until a cousin of hers objected to the inclusion of a "practicing necromancer" on the Methodist class roll.

Smith said that Moroni returned the plates to him in September 1828, and he then dictated some of the books to his wife Emma. In April 1829 he met Oliver Cowdery, who had also dabbled in folk magic; and with Cowdery as scribe, Smith began a period of "rapid-fire translation". Between April and early June 1829, the two worked full-time on the manuscript and then moved to Fayette, New York, where they continued the work at the home of Cowdery's friend, Peter Whitmer. When the narrative described an institutional church and a requirement for baptism, Smith and Cowdery baptized each other. Dictation was completed on July 1, 1829. According to Smith, Moroni took back the plates once Smith finished using them.

The completed work, titled the Book of Mormon, was published in Palmyra by printer Egbert Bratt Grandin and was first advertised for sale on March 26, 1830. Less than two weeks later, on April 6, 1830, Smith and his followers formally organized the Church of Christ, and small branches were established in Manchester, Fayette, and Colesville, New York. The Book of Mormon brought Smith regional notoriety and renewed the hostility of those who remembered the 1826 Chenango County trial. After Cowdery baptized several new church members, Smith's followers were threatened with mob violence. Before Smith could confirm the newly baptized, he was arrested and charged with being a "disorderly person." Although he was acquitted, both he and Cowdery fled to Colesville to escape a gathering mob. Smith later claimed that, probably around this time, Peter, James, and John had appeared to him and had ordained him and Cowdery to a higher priesthood.

Smith's authority was undermined when Cowdery, Hiram Page, and other church members also claimed to receive revelations. In response, Smith dictated a revelation that clarified his office as a prophet and an apostle, stating that only he could declare doctrine and scripture for the church. Smith then dispatched Cowdery, Peter Whitmer, and others on a mission to proselytize Native Americans. Cowdery was also assigned the task of locating the site of the New Jerusalem, which was to be "on the borders" of the United States with what was then Indian territory.

On their way to Missouri, Cowdery's party passed through northeastern Ohio, where Sidney Rigdon and over a hundred followers of his variety of Campbellite Restorationism converted to the Church of Christ, swelling the ranks of the new organization dramatically. After Rigdon visited New York, he soon became Smith's primary assistant. With growing opposition in New York, Smith announced a revelation that his followers should gather in Kirtland, Ohio, establish themselves as a people, and await word from Cowdery's mission.

Life in Ohio (1831–1838)

When Smith moved to Kirtland in January 1831, he encountered a religious culture that included enthusiastic demonstrations of spiritual gifts, including fits and trances, rolling on the ground, and speaking in tongues. Rigdon's followers were practicing a form of communalism. Smith brought the Kirtland congregation under his authority and tamed ecstatic outbursts. He had promised church elders that in Kirtland they would receive an endowment of heavenly power, and at the June 1831 general conference, he introduced the greater authority of a High ("Melchizedek") Priesthood to the church hierarchy.

Converts poured into Kirtland. By the summer of 1835, there were fifteen hundred to two thousand Latter Day Saints in the vicinity, many expecting Smith to lead them shortly to the Millennial kingdom. Though his mission to the Native Americans had been a failure, Cowdery and the other missionaries with him were charged with finding a site for "a holy city". They found Jackson County, Missouri. After Smith visited in July 1831, he pronounced the frontier hamlet of Independence the "center place" of Zion.

For most of the 1830s, the church was effectively based in Ohio. Smith lived there, though he visited Missouri again in early 1832 to prevent a rebellion of prominent church members who believed the church in Missouri was being neglected. Smith's trip was hastened by a mob of Ohio residents who were incensed over the church's presence and Smith's political power. The mob beat Smith and Rigdon unconscious, tarred and feathered them, and left them for dead.

In Jackson County, existing Missouri residents resented the Latter-Day Saint newcomers for both political and religious reasons. Additionally, their rapid growth aroused fears that they would soon constitute a majority in local elections, and thus "rule the county." Tension increased until July 1833, when non-Mormons forcibly evicted the Mormons and destroyed their property. Smith advised his followers to bear the violence patiently until after they had been attacked multiple times, after which they could fight back. Armed bands exchanged fire, killing one Mormon and two non-Mormons, until the old settlers forcibly expelled the Latter-Day Saints from the county.

In response, Smith first petitioned Missouri Governor Daniel Dunklin for redress; these efforts were unsuccessful. Smith then organized and led a small paramilitary expedition, called Zion's Camp, to aid the Latter Day Saints in Missouri. As a military endeavor, the expedition was a failure. The men of the expedition were disorganized, suffered from a cholera outbreak, and were severely outnumbered. By the end of June, Smith deescalated the confrontation, sought peace with Jackson County's residents, and disbanded Zion's Camp. Nevertheless, Zion's Camp transformed Latter-Day Saint leadership because many future church leaders came from among the participants.

After the Camp returned to Ohio, Smith drew heavily from its participants to establish various governing bodies in the church. He gave a revelation announcing that to redeem Zion; his followers would have to receive an endowment in the Kirtland Temple, which he and his followers constructed. In March 1836, at the temple's dedication, many who received the endowment reported seeing visions of angels and engaged in prophesying and speaking in tongues.

In January 1837, Smith and other church leaders created a joint stock company, called the Kirtland Safety Society, to act as a quasi-bank; the company issued banknotes partly capitalized by real estate. Smith encouraged his followers to buy the notes, in which he invested heavily himself. The bank failed within a month. As a result, Latter Day Saints in Kirtland suffered extremely high volatility and intense pressure from debt collectors. Smith was held responsible for the failure, and there were widespread defections from the church, including many of Smith's closest advisers.

The failure of the bank was but one part of a series of internal disputes that led to the demise of the Kirtland community. Cowdery had accused Smith of engaging in a sexual relationship with a teenage servant in his home, Fanny Alger. Construction of the Kirtland Temple had only added to the church's debt, and Smith was hounded by creditors. After a warrant was issued for Smith's arrest on a charge of banking fraud, he and Rigdon fled for Missouri in January 1838.

Life in Missouri (1838–39)

By 1838, Smith had abandoned plans to redeem Zion in Jackson County, and instead declared the town of Far West, Missouri, in Caldwell County, as the new "Zion". In Missouri, the church also took the name "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints", and construction began on a new temple. In the weeks and months after Smith and Rigdon arrived at Far West, thousands of Latter-Day Saints followed them from Kirtland. Smith encouraged the settlement of land outside Caldwell County, instituting a settlement in Adam-and-Ahman, in Daviess County.

Political and religious differences between old Missourians and newly arriving Latter Day Saint settlers provoked tensions between the two groups, much as they had in Jackson County. By this time, Smith's experiences with mob violence led him to believe that his faith's survival required greater militancy against anti-Mormons. Tensions between the Mormons and the native Missourians escalated quickly until, on August 6, 1838, non-Mormons in Gallatin, Missouri, tried to prevent Mormons from voting. The Election Day scuffles initiated the 1838 Mormon War. Non-Mormon vigilantes raided and burned Mormon farms, while Danites and other Mormons pillaged non-Mormon towns. In the Battle of Crooked River, a group of Mormons attacked the Missouri state militia, mistakenly believing them to be anti-Mormon vigilantes. Governor Lilburn Boggs then ordered that the Mormons be "exterminated or driven from the state". On October 30, a party of Missourians surprised and killed seventeen Mormons in the Haun's Mill massacre.

The following day, the Mormons surrendered to 2,500 state troops and agreed to forfeit their property and leave the state. Smith was immediately brought before a military court, accused of treason, and sentenced to be executed the next morning, but Alexander Doniphan, who was Smith's former attorney and a brigadier general in the Missouri militia, refused to carry out the order. Smith was then sent to a state court for a preliminary hearing, where several of his former allies testified against him. Smith and five others, including Rigdon, were charged with treason, and transferred to the jail at Liberty, Missouri, to await trial.

Smith bore his imprisonment stoically. Understanding that he was effectively on trial before his own people, many of whom considered him a fallen prophet, he wrote a personal defense and an apology for the activities of his followers. "The keys of the kingdom", he wrote, "have not been taken away from us". Though he directed his followers to collect and publish their stories of persecution, he also urged them to moderate their antagonism toward non-Mormons. On April 6, 1839, after a grand jury hearing in Daviess County, Smith and his companions escaped custody, almost certainly with the connivance of the sheriff and guards.

Life in Nauvoo, Illinois (1839–1844)

Many American newspapers criticized Missouri for the Haun's Mill massacre and the state's expulsion of the Mormons. Illinois then accepted Mormon refugees who gathered along the banks of the Mississippi River, where Smith purchased high-priced, swampy woodland in the hamlet of Commerce. He attempted to portray the Mormons as an oppressed minority and unsuccessfully petitioned the federal government for help in obtaining reparations. During the summer of 1839, while Mormons in Illinois suffered from a malaria epidemic, Smith sent Young and other apostles to missions in Europe, where they made numerous converts, many of them poor factory workers.

Smith also attracted a few wealthy and influential converts, including John C. Bennett, the Illinois quartermaster general. Bennett used his connections in the Illinois state legislature to obtain an unusually liberal charter for the new city, which Smith renamed "Nauvoo". The charter granted the city virtual autonomy, authorized a university, and granted Nauvoo habeas corpus power—which allowed Smith to fend off extradition to Missouri. Though Latter Day Saint authorities controlled Nauvoo's civil government, the city guaranteed religious freedom for its residents. The charter also authorized the Nauvoo Legion, a militia whose actions were limited only by state and federal constitutions. Smith and Bennett became its commanders and were styled Lieutenant General and Major General respectively. As such, they controlled by far the largest body of armed men in Illinois. Smith appointed Bennett as Assistant President of the Church, and Bennett was elected Nauvoo's first mayor.

The early Nauvoo years were a period of doctrinal innovation. Smith introduced baptism for the dead in 1840, and in 1841 construction began on the Nauvoo Temple as a place for recovering lost ancient knowledge. An 1841 revelation promised the restoration of the "fullness of the priesthood"; and in May 1842, Smith inaugurated a revised endowment or "first anointing". The endowment resembled the rites of Freemasonry that Smith had observed two months earlier when he had been initiated "at sight" into the Nauvoo Masonic lodge. At first, the endowment was open only to men, who were initiated into a special group called the Anointed Quorum. For women, Smith introduced the Relief Society, a service club and sorority within which Smith predicted women would receive "the keys of the kingdom". Smith also elaborated on his plan for a Millennial kingdom; no longer envisioning the building of Zion in Nauvoo, he viewed Zion as encompassing all of North and South America, with Mormon settlements being "stakes" of Zion's metaphorical tent. Zion also became less a refuge from an impending tribulation than a great building project. In the summer of 1842, Smith revealed a plan to establish the millennial Kingdom of God, which would eventually establish theocratic rule over the whole Earth.

It was around this time that Smith began secretly marrying additional wives, a practice called plural marriage. He introduced the doctrine to a few of his closest associates, including Bennett, who used it as an excuse to seduce numerous women, wed and unwed. When rumors of polygamy (called "spiritual wifery" by Bennett) got abroad, Smith forced Bennett's resignation as Nauvoo mayor. In retaliation, Bennett left Nauvoo and began publishing sensational accusations against Smith and his followers.

By mid-1842, popular opinion in Illinois had turned against the Mormons. After an unknown assailant shot and wounded Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs in May 1842, anti-Mormons circulated rumors that Smith's bodyguard, Porter Rockwell, was the gunman. Though the evidence was circumstantial, Boggs ordered Smith's extradition. Certain he would be killed if he ever returned to Missouri; Smith went into hiding twice during the next five months, until the U.S. Attorney for Illinois argued that his extradition would be unconstitutional. (Rockwell was later tried and acquitted.) In June 1843, enemies of Smith convinced a reluctant Illinois Governor Thomas Ford to extradite Smith to Missouri on an old charge of treason. Two law officers arrested Smith but were intercepted by a party of Mormons before they could reach Missouri. Smith was then released on a writ of habeas corpus from the Nauvoo municipal court. While this ended the Missourians' attempts at extradition, it caused significant political fallout in Illinois.

In December 1843, Smith petitioned Congress to make Nauvoo an independent territory with the right to call out federal troops in its defense. Smith then wrote to the leading presidential candidates, asking what they would do to protect the Mormons. After receiving noncommittal or negative responses, he announced his own independent candidacy for president of the United States, suspended regular proselytizing, and sent out the Quorum of the Twelve and hundreds of other political missionaries. In March 1844 – following a dispute with a federal bureaucrat – he organized the secret Council of Fifty, which was given the authority to decide which national or state laws Mormons should obey, as well as establish its own government for Mormons. Before his death, the Council also voted unanimously to elect Smith "Prophet, Priest, and King." The Council was likewise appointed to select a site for a large Mormon settlement in the Republic of Texas, Oregon, or California (then controlled by Mexico), where Mormons could live under theocratic law beyond the control of other governments.

10 SPOOKY LIGHTHOUSES

 1. Tybee Lighthouse and the Ghostly Girl

The Tybee Lighthouse was first built in 1736. However, several violent storms and shore erosion caused this Georgia lighthouse to become structurally unsound. As a result, the lighthouse was meticulously rebuilt. Over the years, inclement weather and erosion did away with the light a couple more times, and the lighthouse that stands today is actually the fourth one on Tybee Island.

Many people who visit this scary lighthouse have reported hearing disembodied sounds, such as phantom whistling and the sound of unseen feet. A few people have even reported seeing the apparition of a five-year-old while climbing the stairwell. The ghost girl, who wears historic clothing, warns visitors not to go any further up the staircase.

Some paranormal enthusiasts have theorized that the girl may have perished when one of the previous Tybee lighthouses crumbled to the ground in a storm.

2. Owl’s Head Lighthouse and the Loyal Captain

The Owl’s Head Light Lighthouse overlooks the beautiful Penobscot Bay in Maine. The area surrounding the lighthouse has been established as the Owl’s Head Light State Park and is protected from development. The lighthouse was first built in 1825.

Historical records have been written about a three-year-old girl who once lived in the lighthouse with her parents. One morning, the girl woke her parents up, forewarning them that a dangerous fog was about to roll into the bay. When her parents asked the girl how she knew the fog was coming, she informed them that she had an imaginary friend. Her parents discovered that this imaginary friend was, in fact, the ghost of a former sea captain.

Even though the lighthouse itself is no longer accessible to the public, many people visit the park each year and have witnessed the sea captain still wandering about the grounds. Folks who live near the haunted lighthouse year-round have reported seeing his footprints in the snow.

3. Point Lookout Lighthouse and the Dead Soldiers Who Still Linger There

The Point Lookout Lighthouse was built in Scotland, Maryland in 1830. Some people consider the structure to be one of the most haunted lighthouses in North America. Several ghostly figures have been known to appear and suddenly vanish within the lighthouse structure. Some people have reported seeing doors open and close seemingly of their own volition. The most common things experienced are disembodied voices and the sound of running footsteps.

Some researchers believe that Point Lookout is fraught with so much activity because a hospital and a prison camp for Confederate soldiers had been erected and used near the premises during the Civil War.

4. Seul Choix Lighthouse and the Basement Apparition

The 1892 Seul Choix Lighthouse overlooks Lake Michigan at Seul Choix Point. Today, the structure is available for tours from Memorial Day through mid-October. The house where the light keepers once resided has now been converted into a museum.

Tourists claim that the ghost of the former keeper, Captain Joseph Townsend, haunts Seul Choix. He died in the keeper's house during the early 1900s. It was in the middle of winter when he passed on, and the ground was too frozen for immediate burial. His body was stored in the basement until spring, and many people believe this is why he haunts the lighthouse.

Captain Townsend was very fond of cigars, and some visitors have reported smelling cigar smoke in the museum. Staff members have stated that chairs in the kitchen are often frequently disturbed even when the museum isn’t open to the public. A couple people have reported seeing the ghostly face of a bearded man peering through the windows.

5. St Simons Lighthouse and the Deadly Fight

The St. Simons Lighthouse was first built in 1810 on Saint Simons Island in Georgia. Unfortunately, the original structure was destroyed by a troop of Confederate soldiers who did not want the light from the lighthouse to aid approaching Union warships. The lighthouse was rebuilt in 1872.

Eight years later, a violent argument broke out between keeper Frederick Osborne and his assistant, John Stevens. It is uncertain what the argument was about, but Stevens wound up shooting Osborne. Stevens was never charged with the crime and took on the role of light keeper. Rumor has it that Stevens was haunted by the ghost of Osborne, and today phantom footsteps can still be heard stomping along the staircase.

6. Battery Point Lighthouse and the Wave of Death

Battery Point Lighthouse, once known as the Crescent City Light Station, was built in 1856. During low tide, the lighthouse is situated on a peninsula in Northern California, but the area becomes an island when the tide comes in. While the lighthouse was decommissioned in 1965, its automated light is still used by sea-faring vessels coming in from the Pacific Ocean.

A year before the lighthouse was automated; the keeper and his family witnessed a horrible tragedy. A large tsunami hit northern California. Seven city blocks of Crescent City were decimated before their very eyes. Since that awful day in history, many people believe Battery Point has become a haunted lighthouse. Paranormal investigators who have come to Battery Point believe three ghostly entities live there; one child and two adults.

Visitors have reported being touched by unseen hands on their shoulders and phantom footsteps. Caretakers have also stated that their shoes are often in a different place while they are asleep and that a rocking chair on the premises has been known to move on its own.

7. Presque Isle Lighthouse and Its Laughing Light Keeper

The Presque Isle lighthouse was built in 1840 on the shore of Lake Huron in Michigan. Thirty years later, another lighthouse was constructed nearby, and the original Presque Lighthouse lay abandoned for three decades. In the early 1900s, the Stebbins family fell in love with the old structure and lovingly restored it. They lived in the keeper’s house and gave tours of the original lighthouse to the public. After the Stebbins family passed away, the lighthouse remained open for tourism until George and Lorraine Parris took over managing the property sometime in the 1970s.

George was known for being fond of children and enjoying nothing more than delighting them and their families while giving tours of the lighthouse. As the lighthouse had not been used to serve boats in a long time, the Coast Guard removed the wires to its lighting system in 1979.

Eventually, George passed away, but Lorraine began to suspect that her husband’s ghost remained at the lighthouse. George enjoyed making elaborate breakfasts each morning, and Lorraine often woke to the smell of bacon after he had passed on. She felt her suspicions were confirmed when the light at the top of the lighthouse would somehow turn on, even though it should not have been possible. Both members of the Coast Guard and the National Guard witnessed this strange phenomenon.

Not long after a girl ventured to the top of the lighthouse and when she returned she told her parents that a ghostly man had made her laugh while she was at the top. Upon seeing a portrait of George Parris, the girl said he had been the man she had seen in the lighthouse.

8. Fairport Harbor Lighthouse is Home to Ghostly Whispers

The Fairport Harbor Lighthouse is located near Lake Erie in Fairport Harbor, Ohio. Both the lighthouse and the keeper’s house were originally built in 1825 but had to be rebuilt in 1871 because of structural issues. The lighthouse was used until 1925 and was overseen by two keepers in particular who have historical significance.

Samuel Butler was the first keeper. Butler was deeply involved in the Underground Railroad and used the lighthouse as a safe house for runaway slaves who attempted to flee into Canada.

Several decades later, Captain Joseph Babcock and his family managed Fairport, and Babcock was deeply devoted to his job. While he was a keeper, his son operated as his assistant and would later become a keeper himself. Babcock and his wife had two children while living at Fairport, but one of them died of smallpox when he was only five years old. Mrs. Babcock eventually became bedridden due to illness and kept many cats on the premises as a means of entertaining herself.

Paranormal investigators who have visited Fairport believe it is one of the most haunted lighthouses in existence. They believe both Babcock and Butler’s spirits remain at the house, in addition to the ghostly form of a gray cat. One paranormal investigation team brought a ghost box to the haunted lighthouse and asked a series of questions. When one of the crew members asked, “Are there any ghosts around here?” the ghost box stated, “Spirit of Babcock.” Another member of the team asked, “Where’s Captain Butler?” the boy replied, “Spirit.”

9. Sequin Island Lighthouse: Double Trouble

a) The Musical Tale

The original Seguin Island Lighthouse was constructed in 1795 by order of George Washington himself. Located in Georgetown, Maine, the lighthouse underwent two major reconstructions, first in 1819, and then again in 1857.

There are many stories about the various lightkeepers who lived at this lighthouse, but two specific tales are particularly haunting. The first is of a keeper who lived at the lighthouse with his wife in the mid-1800s. Their life was very isolated and lonely. To help combat this, the keeper’s wife had a piano delivered? Unfortunately, she only knew one song, which she played over and over again. The legend has it that this constant repetition eventually drove her husband mad. He grabbed an axe and destroyed the piano, then turned his violence on his wife and then himself.

b) The Unheeded Warning

Another story is of a young girl who passed away on the island. Multiple keepers throughout history reported seeing the apparition of the girl giggling and running up and down the stairs of the lighthouse.

Perhaps the most chilling story, however, occurred in 1985. Members of the Coast Guard had been instructed to visit the lighthouse and decommission its light. The officer in charge was sleeping in the keeper’s house when he woke up to his bed being violently shaken. At the foot was an apparition who ordered the officer not to remove the furniture from his home. While the officer was terrified of this encounter, he did not heed the ghost’s warning.

The following morning the boat that had been stocked with the furniture from the lighthouse sunk before it could reach the mainland.

Today, the lighthouse is available for tours, and the keeper’s house has been converted into a museum that is open to the public. Visitors have reported hearing disembodied music, whispers, and footsteps throughout the lighthouse and the house.

10. White River Light Station: The Most Haunted Lighthouse of All Time

The White River Light Station was built in 1875. This lighthouse sits on the White Lake channel of Lake Michigan. Its very first light keeper, Captain Willian Robinson took his post there in 1876. Robinson, along with his wife, Sara, raised eleven children within the keeper’s house. In fact, the Robinson family loved the lighthouse so much that they worked there for forty-seven years. Robinson was eighty-seven years old when he finally decided to retire. He died in the keeper’s house the night before he was set to leave the premises for good.

The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1960 and became a museum in 1970. Visitors believe that Captain Robinson and Sara are still there. Many tourists have heard the telltale sounds of Robinson’s cane as he moves about the grounds. Staff at the museum have also stated that they believe the ghost of Sara is still there, as she has been known to tidy up after them from time to time.

False Confession Killer: Henry Lee Lucas on TPKs Stories True Crime & Other Stories

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Shoe Fetish Killer: Jerry Brudas on TPKs Stories True Crime & Other Stories

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The Jersey Devil

 

In New Jersey and Philadelphia folklore in the United States, the Jersey Devil (also known as the Leeds Devil) is a legendary creature said to inhabit the forests of the Pine Barrens in South Jersey. The creature is often described as a flying bipedal with hooves, but there are many variations. The common description is that of a bipedal kangaroo-like or wyvern-like creature with a horse- or goat-like head, leathery bat-like wings, horns, small arms with clawed hands, legs with cloven hooves, and a forked or pointed tail. It has been reported to move quickly and is often described as emitting a high-pitched "blood-curdling scream".

Origin of the legend

The Lenape people who originally populated the Pine Barrens believed the area was inhabited by a spirit called M'Sing, which sometimes took the form of a "deer-like creature with leathery wings."

Mother Leeds's 13th child

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 discovering she was pregnant for the thirteenth time, cursed the child in frustration, declaring 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 transformed into 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. In some versions of the tale, Mother Leeds was supposedly a witch and the child's father was the devil himself. Some versions of the legend also state that local clergymen subsequently attempted to exorcise the creature from the Pine Barrens.

The Leeds family

Prior to the early 1900s, the Jersey Devil was referred to as the Leeds Devil or the Devil of Leeds, either in connection with the local Leeds family or the eponymous southern New Jersey town, Leeds Point.

"Mother Leeds" has been identified by some as the real-life Deborah Leeds, on grounds that Deborah Leeds' husband, Japhet Leeds, named twelve children in the will he wrote during 1736, which is compatible with the legend. Deborah and Japhet Leeds also lived in the Leeds Point section of what is now Atlantic County, New Jersey which is commonly the location of the Jersey Devil story.

Brian Regal, a historian of science at Kean University, theorizes that the story of Mother Leeds, rather than being based on a single historical person, originated from colonial southern New Jersey religio-political disputes that became the subject of folklore and gossip among the local population. According to Regal, folk legends concerning these historical disputes evolved through the years and ultimately resulted in the modern popular legend of the Jersey Devil during the early 20th century. Regal contends that "colonial-era political intrigue" involving early New Jersey politicians, Benjamin Franklin, and Franklin's rival almanac publisher Daniel Leeds (1651–1720) resulted in the Leeds family being described as "monsters", and it was Daniel Leeds' negative description as the "Leeds Devil", rather than any actual creature, that created the later legend of the Jersey Devil.

Much like the Mother Leeds of the Jersey Devil myth, Daniel Leeds' third wife had given birth to nine children, a large number of children even for the time. Leeds' second wife and first daughter had both died during childbirth. Leeds and his family were prominent in the South Jersey and Pine Barrens area. As a royal surveyor with strong allegiance to the British crown, Leeds had surveyed and acquired land in the Egg Harbor area, located within the Pine Barrens. The land was inherited by Leeds' sons and family and is now known as Leeds Point, one of the areas in the Pine Barrens currently most associated with the Jersey Devil legend and alleged Jersey Devil sightings.

Starting in the 17th century, English Quakers established settlements in southern New Jersey, the region in which the Pine Barrens are located. Daniel Leeds, a Quaker and a prominent person of pre-Revolution colonial southern New Jersey, became ostracized by his Quaker congregation after his 1687 publication of almanacs containing astrological symbols and writings. Leeds' fellow Quakers deemed the astrology in these almanacs as too "pagan" or blasphemous, and the almanacs were censored and destroyed by the local Quaker community.

In response to and in spite of this censorship, Leeds continued to publish even more esoteric astrological Christian writings and became increasingly fascinated with Christian occultism, Christian mysticism, cosmology, demonology and angelology, and natural magic. In the 1690s, after his almanacs and writings were further censored as blasphemous or heretical by the Philadelphia Quaker Meeting, Leeds continued to dispute with the Quaker community, converting to Anglicanism and publishing anti-Quaker tracts criticizing Quaker theology and accusing Quakers of being anti-monarchists. In the ensuing dispute between Leeds and the southern New Jersey Quakers over Leeds' accusations, Leeds was endorsed by the much-maligned British royal governor of New Jersey, Lord Cornbury, despised among the Quaker communities. Leeds also worked as a counselor to Lord Cornbury about this time. Considering Leeds as a traitor for aiding the Crown and rejecting Quaker beliefs, the Quaker Burlington Meeting of southern New Jersey subsequently dismissed Leeds as "evil". In 1700, the local South Jersey Quaker community retaliated against Leeds’ anti-Quaker tracts with their own tract, Satan’s Harbinger Encountered … Being Something by Way of Answer to Daniel Leeds, which publicly accused Leeds of working for the devil.

During 1716, Daniel Leeds' son, Titan Leeds, inherited his father's almanac business, which continued to use astrological content and eventually competed with Benjamin Franklin's popular Poor Richard's Almanack. The competition between the two men intensified when, during 1733, Franklin satirically used astrology in his almanac to predict Titan Leeds' death on October of that same year. Though Franklin's prediction was intended as a joke at his competitor's expense and a means to boost almanac sales, Titan Leeds was apparently offended at the death prediction, publishing a public admonition of Franklin as a "fool" and a "liar". In a published response, Franklin mocked Titan Leeds' outrage and humorously suggested that, in fact, Titan Leeds had died in accordance with the earlier prediction and was thus writing his almanacs as a ghost, resurrected from the grave to haunt and torment Franklin. Franklin continued to jokingly refer to Titan Leeds as a "ghost" even after Titan Leeds' actual death in 1738. Daniel Leeds' blasphemous and occultist reputation and his pro-monarchy stance in the largely anti-monarchist colonial south of New Jersey, combined with Benjamin Franklin's later continuous depiction of his son Titan Leeds as a ghost, may have originated or contributed to the local folk legend of a so-called "Leeds Devil" lurking in the Pine Barrens.

During 1728, Titan Leeds began to include the Leeds family crest on the masthead of his almanacs. The Leeds family crest depicted a wyvern, a bat-winged dragon-like legendary creature that stands upright on two clawed feet. Regal notes that the wyvern on the Leeds family crest is reminiscent of the popular descriptions of the Jersey Devil. The inclusion of this family crest on Leeds' almanacs may have further contributed to the Leeds family's poor reputation among locals and possibly influenced the popular descriptions of the Leeds Devil or Jersey Devil. The fearsome appearance of the crest's wyvern and the increasing animosity among local South Jersey residents towards royalty, aristocracy, and nobility (with whom family crests were associated) may have helped facilitate the legend of the Leeds Devil and the association of the Leeds family with "devils" and "monsters".

The Leeds Devil

Regal notes that, by the late 18th century and the early 19th century at the latest, the "Leeds Devil" had become an ubiquitous legendary monster or ghost story in the southern New Jersey area. Into the early to mid-19th century, stories continued to circulate in southern New Jersey of the Leeds Devil, a "monster wandering the Pine Barrens". An oral tradition of "Leeds Devil" monster/ghost stories became well-established in the Pine Barrens area.

Although the "Leeds Devil" legend has existed since the 18th century, Regal states that the more modern depiction of the Jersey Devil, as well as the now pervasive "Jersey Devil" name, first became truly standardized in current form during the early 20th century:

During the pre-Revolutionary period, the Leeds family, who called the Pine Barrens home, soured its relationship with the Quaker majority ... The Quakers saw no hurry to give their former fellow religionist an easy time in circles of gossip. His wives had all died, as had several children. His son Titan stood accused by Benjamin Franklin of being a ghost ... The family crest had winged dragons on it. In a time when thoughts of independence were being born, these issues made the Leeds family political and religious monsters. From all this over time the legend of the Leeds Devil was born. References to the 'Jersey Devil' do not appear in newspapers or other printed material until the twentieth century. The first major flap came in 1909. It is from these sightings that the popular image of the creature—batlike wings, horse head, claws, and general air of a dragon—became standardized.

Indeed, many references to a "Leeds Devil" or "Devil of Leeds" appear in earlier printed material prior to the widespread usage of the "Jersey Devil" name. During 1859, the Atlantic Monthly published an article detailing the Leeds Devil folk tales popular among Pine Barren residents (or "pine rats").  A newspaper from 1887 describes sightings of a winged creature, referred to as "the Devil of Leeds", allegedly spotted near the Pine Barrens and well known among the local populace of Burlington County, New Jersey:

Whenever he went near it, it would give a most unearthly yell that frightened the dogs. It whipped at every dog on the place. "That thing," said the colonel, "is neither a bird nor an animal, but it is the Leeds devil, according to the description, and it was born over in Evesham, Burlington County, a hundred years ago. There is no mistake about it. I never saw the horrible critter myself, but I can remember well when it was roaming around in Evesham woods fifty years ago, and when it was hunted by men and dogs and shot at by the best marksmen there were in all South Jersey but could not be killed. There isn't a family in Burlington or any of the adjoining counties that does not know of the Leeds devil, and it was the bugaboo to frighten children with when I was a boy.

Reported sightings

There have been many claims of sightings and occurrences involving the Jersey Devil.

According to legend, while visiting the Hanover Mill Works to inspect his cannonballs being forged, Commodore Stephen Decatur sighted a flying creature and fired a cannonball directly upon it, to no effect.

Joseph Bonaparte, elder brother of Napoleon, is also claimed to have seen the Jersey Devil while hunting on his Bordentown estate about 1820.

During 1840, the Jersey Devil was blamed for several livestock killings. Similar attacks were reported during 1841, accompanied by tracks and screams.

In Greenwich Township, in December 1925, a local farmer shot an unidentified animal as it attempted to steal his chickens, and then photographed the corpse. Afterward, he claimed that none of 100 people he showed it could identify it. On July 27, 1937, an unknown animal "with red eyes" seen by residents of Downingtown, Pennsylvania was compared to the Jersey Devil by a reporter for the Pennsylvania Bulletin of July 28, 1937. In 1951, a group of Gibbstown, New Jersey boys claimed to have seen a 'monster' matching the Devil's description and claims of a corpse matching the Jersey Devil's description arose in 1957. During 1960, tracks and noises heard near Mays Landing were claimed to be from the Jersey Devil. During the same year the merchants around Camden offered a $10,000 reward for the capture of the Jersey Devil, even offering to build a private zoo to house the creature if it was captured.

Wave of sightings in 1909

During the week of January 16–23, 1909, newspapers published hundreds of claimed encounters with the Jersey Devil from all over South Jersey and the Philadelphia area. Among these alleged encounters were claims the creature "attacked" a trolley car in Haddon Heights and a social club in Camden. Police in Camden and Bristol, Pennsylvania supposedly fired on the creature to no effect. Other reports initially concerned unidentified footprints in the snow, but soon sightings of creatures resembling the Jersey Devil were being reported throughout South Jersey and as far away as Delaware and western Maryland. The widespread newspaper coverage created fear throughout the Delaware Valley prompting a number of schools to close and workers to stay home. Vigilante groups and groups of hunters roamed the pines and countrysides in search of the devil. During this period, it is rumored that the Philadelphia Zoo posted a $10,000 reward for the creature. The offer prompted a variety of hoaxes, including a kangaroo equipped with artificial claws and bat wings.

Description and explanation

Skeptics believe the Jersey Devil to be nothing more than a creative manifestation upon the imaginations of the early English settlers in South Jersey, with plausible natural explanations including: bogeyman stories created and told by bored Pine Barren residents as a form of children's entertainment; the byproduct of the historical local disdain for the Leeds family; the misidentification of known animals; and rumors based on common negative perceptions of the local rural population of the Pine Barren (known as "pineys").

The frightening reputation of the Pine Barrens may indeed have contributed to the Jersey Devil legend. Historically, the Pine Barrens was considered inhospitable land. Gangs of highwaymen, such as the politically disdained Loyalist brigands, known as the Pine Robbers, were known to rob and attack travelers passing through the Barrens. During the 18th century and the 19th century, residents of the isolated Pine Barrens were deemed the dregs or outcasts of society: poor farmers, fugitives, brigands, Native Americans, poachers, moonshiners, runaway slaves, and deserting soldiers. So-called pineys have sometimes fostered certain frightening stories about themselves and the Pine Barrens to discourage outsiders or intruders from entering the Barrens. Pineys were further demonized and vilified after two eugenics studies were published during the early 20th century, which depicted pineys as congenital idiots and criminals, as seen in the research performed on "The Kallikak Family" by Henry H. Goddard, which is now considered biased, inaccurate, unscientific, and, most likely, falsified.

Due in part to their isolated and undeveloped nature, the Pine Barrens has themselves fostered various folk legends. Apart from the Jersey Devil, many other legends are associated with the Pine Barrens; supernatural creatures and ghosts said to haunt the pine forests include the ghost of the pirate Captain Kidd, who supposedly buried treasure in the Pine Barrens and is sometimes allegedly seen in the company of the Jersey Devil; the ghost of the Black Doctor, the benevolent spirit of an African-American doctor who, after being forbidden from practicing medicine due to his race, entered the Pine Barrens to practice medicine in the isolated communities of the Barrens and is said to still come to the aid of lost or injured travelers; the ghost of the Black Dog, which, unlike many black dog legends, is usually portrayed as harmless; the ghost of the Golden-Haired Girl, the spirit of a girl who is said to be staring out into the sea, dressed in white, mourning the loss of her lover at sea; and the White Stag, a ghostly white deer said to rescue travelers in the Barrens from danger. There are also folk tales concerning the Blue Hole, an unusually clear blue and rounded body of water located in the Pine Barrens between Monroe Township, Gloucester County and Winslow Township, Camden County and often associated with the Jersey Devil.

Jeff Brunner of the Humane Society of New Jersey thinks the Sandhill crane is partially the basis of the Jersey Devil stories, adding, "There are no photographs, no bones, no hard evidence whatsoever, and worst of all, no explanation of its origins that doesn't require belief in the supernatural."

 Outdoorsman and author Tom Brown Jr. spent several seasons living in the wilderness of the Pine Barrens. He recounts occasions when terrified hikers mistook him for the Jersey Devil, after he covered his whole body with mud to repel mosquitoes.

Medical sociologist Robert E. Bartholomew and author Peter Hassall cite the infamous 1909 series of sightings of the Jersey Devil (and the subsequent public panic) as a classic example of mass hysteria begun by a regional urban legend.

One New Jersey group called the "Devil Hunters" refer to themselves as "official researchers of the Jersey Devil", and devote time to collecting reports, visiting historic sites, and going on nocturnal hunts in the Pine Barrens in order to "find proof that the Jersey Devil does in fact exist."

Writing in Jan Harold Brunvand's American Folklore: An Encyclopedia, Rutgers Professor Angus Kress Gillespie called the Jersey Devil "an obscure regional legend" for most of its existence and said that "after more than 250 years in oral circulation, the legend of the 'Jersey Devil' has many variations ...". Gillespie cites the Devil's image used on T-shirts, buttons, and postcards, and cocktails named after the Devil, as indications that "the recent history of the Jersey Devil is more in the realm of popular culture than folklore".

Hoaxes

Gordon Stein in Encyclopedia of Hoaxes (1993) noted that the alleged footprints of the Jersey Devil during 1909 resembled a horse's hoof. According to Stein, a man later admitted he had faked some of these footprints.

Geoff Tibballs in The World's Greatest Hoaxes (2006) has claimed that Norman Jeffries was involved in hoaxing the Jersey Devil:

Norman Jeffries, publicist for Philadelphia's Arch Street Museum and renowned hoaxer, was well aware of the stories about the Jersey Devil. So when the museum proprietor, T. F. Hopkins, admitted that it was in danger of closure unless Jeffries came up with something to boost attendances, the publicist decided that a captive Jersey Devil would be the ideal crowd-puller.

He also planted nonfictional newspaper stories about new sightings of the Devil. During 1909, Jeffries with his friend Jacob Hope, an animal trainer, purchased a kangaroo from a circus and glued artificial claws and bat wings onto it. They declared to the public they had captured the Devil and it was displayed at the museum. Twenty years later, Jeffries admitted to the hoax.

Cultural relevance

In Man and Beast in American Comic Legend, folklorist Richard Dorson outlines a six-point criterion for establishing distinction among legendary creatures of American folklore. While the Jersey Devil was not expressly cited by Dorson, it nevertheless qualifies for this same level of relevance. Dorson specifies that the qualifier must: exist in oral tradition, inspire belief and conviction, become personalized and institutionalized, be fanciful or mythical, and contain a "comical side," which endears it to the American public.

Oral tradition of the Jersey Devil well predates printed newspaper accounts, and belief in its existence by many continues. The latter is made evident not only by commentators who elaborate on this possibility but also by investigative programs such as Mother Leeds' 13th Child, In Search of Monsters, Lore and Monsters and Mysteries in America.

Likewise, as a fixture of organizations, it is the namesake for two professional ice hockey teams. The first, the Jersey Devils of the Eastern Hockey League, played from 1964 until the league folded in 1973. The second, the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League, have played since 1982. The current team was formerly known as the Colorado Rockies, and their name was chosen by a poll shortly after the team relocated to New Jersey. This same trend towards cultural incorporation is further exemplified by the Jersey Devil's appropriation in toy lines, such as its inclusion as a vinyl figure in Cryptozoic Entertainment Cryptkins blind box, as well as its application as a motif by Six Flags Great Adventure for their Jersey Devil Coaster developed by Rocky Mountain Construction.

Moreover, the Jersey Devil's fanciful or mythical nature is explored in the numerous works of fantasy it makes an appearance in, including: The X-Files, Jersey Devil (video game), The Wolf Among Us, 13th Child, TMNT, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, The Barrens, Carny, Poptropica, A Night With The Jersey Devil, The Last Broadcast, Legend Quest, What We Do in the Shadows, Gravity Falls and Supernatural; many of which, such as TMNT and Jersey Devil (video game), not only reflect the Jersey Devil's mythical character but exemplify its comical nature as well.