It is certainly turning out to be a busy summer for us!

A few weeks ago we got an e-mail, and along came a great opportunity and some good news! The History Channel's "Monster Quest" would like to do a Jersey Devil episode, and has asked for our assistance with the episode! Many members of our group watch the show on a fairly regular basis, so there was no way we were turning this down. The show has a proven track record of rooting itself in facts and reality, and we knew there'd be no shot of a false 'sighting' situation like Scariest Places on Earth.

Katie Brown and I (Laura Leuter) met with Tom Phillips, a producer/director for the show, and had what turned out to be a 4 hour lunch meeting discussing the plans. At that time, we set plans to take Tom on a tour of New Jersey, hitting some of the great spots that we've conducted our investigations.

And that's where our hunt comes in. We met Tom at 1pm in Batsto Village so he could get a taste of old forgotten New Jersey town. Batsto was a pretty solid hot spot for Jersey Devil activity over the years, though we haven't had many recent sightings from that area. Still, it's got great history, and film crews tend to like the view, so it seemed like the appropriate starting point.

Since we managed to get to the village early enough for the shop to be open, we finally took a tour. For any of you out there that enjoy the history of old New Jersey towns, I recommend that you go through there! They've got a walk-through section of the visitor center that talks not only about the history of the Batsto Mansion and the families that lived there, but also goes through some of the interesting facts about the Pine Barrens in general. And best yet, the gift shop even comes with some Jersey Devil related items. Naturally, our group bought several "I saw the Jersey Devil" stickers! We also took Tom to some of the more woodsy areas that we've traveled through in the past. We brought him to the Batsto area where we tend to hear noises, and shared some of the stories for our previous hunts.

We then headed south and made our way to Egg Harbor, where we introduced Tom to the family that had the great sighting in February of 2004. We spent quite a good bit of time in this area, talking with the family, hearing their stories, and discussing some of the additional events that had taken place. We walked through their yard (they own a good large bit of property out there) and re-familiarized ourselves with the grounds. Tom agreed that there was no way a bear or a cougar could have been responsible for those prints that showed up on their roof, and wouldn't have been able to make the leap from tree to rooftop (Click here if you would like to read the sighting report).