4. The Maryland “Snallygaster” and the Jersey Devil May Be One In the Same.
For anyone reading these stories, the skeptics among us might all be thinking the same thing. It’s that these sightings are probably some kind of animal in the forest, but people are imagining that it is some otherworldly demonic creature. Maybe it’s a great horned owl, a donkey, or a very strong eagle carrying a goat. Who knows. But what we do know is that New Jersey isn’t the only state that claims they see a winged creature. In nearby Maryland, they have the legend of the “Snallygaster”.
The Snallygaster is a dragon-like beast that stalked German immigrants in the woods of central Maryland in the 1700’s. It is described as being half bird and half reptile, and that it is big enough to pick up human beings and suck out their blood. In the 1800’s, slave masters told their slaves that if they tried to leave, the Snallygaster would eat them as they ran away in the woods. Unlike the Jersey Devil, though, there are not really any modern-day sightings.