newjerseynewsroom.com

One doesn't have to venture to Amityville or Salem or a famous haunted house if you are interested in phenomena lying outside the range of normal scientific investigations.

Try Asbury Park.

The Paranormal Museum, on 627 Cookman Avenue, features books and curiosities and even boosts a Jersey Devil exhibit.

Owner Kathy Kelly wants to stir your imagination. Before your very eyes, she will point out a partial skeleton of the infamous Jersey Devil and assorted artifacts and relics.

Whether you are a believer or not, everyone is invited to come and enjoy a positive, fresh perspective on the Jersey Devil legend.

The Jersey Devil, sometimes called the Leeds Devil, is a legendary creature said to inhabit the Pine Barrens in southern New Jersey.

The most accepted origin of the story, as far as New Jerseyans are concerned, started with Mother Leeds and is as follows:

"It was said that Mother Leeds had 12 children and, after giving birth to her 12th child, stated that if she had another, it would be the Devil. In 1735, Mother Leeds was in labor on a stormy night. Gathered around her were her friends. Mother Leeds was supposedly a witch and the child's father was the Devil himself. The child was born normal, but then changed form. It changed from a normal baby to a creature with hooves, a horse's head, bat wings and a forked tail.''

Reportedly in 1778, Commodore Stephen Decatur visited the Hanover Iron Works in the Barrens to test cannonballs at a firing range, where he allegedly witnessed a strange, pale white creature winging overhead. Using cannon fire, Decatur purportedly punctured the wing membrane of the creature, which continued flying — apparently unfazed — to the amazement of onlookers.

Additional legend puts this encounter at 1819 and at the behest of President James Monroe. Work on Decatur's House in D.C. from 2007-2008 has led to speculation that his Jersey Devil sighting was more than mere chance. Decatur was definitely in New Jersey testing the quality of cannonballs produced by Batsto and Hanover. Included in his entourage was Dr. James Killian, famed paranormalist and cryptid hunter from the 19th century. Legends throughout New Jersey and Southeastern Pennsylvania have these two men in scientific pursuit of the animal.

Joseph Bonaparte (eldest brother of Emperor Napoleon) is said to have witnessed the Jersey Devil while hunting on his Bordentown, New Jersey estate around 1820.

The Paranormal Museum documents it all ... and creates a museum of super Natural History when it comes to the Jersey Devil.

Leave your skepticism at the door.

For additional information about the Paranormal Museum, go to www.paranormalbooksnj.com/ or call (732) 455-3188.