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URECAT - UFO Related Entities Catalog

URECAT is a formal catalog of UFO related entities sightings reports with the goal of providing quality information for accurate studies of the topic. Additional information, corrections and reviews are welcome at patrick.gross@inbox.com, please state if you wish to be credited for your contribution or not. The main page of the URECAT catalog is here.

FEBRUARY 24, 1909, SALEM COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, USA, LESLIE GARRISON:

Brief summary of the event and follow-up:

Several late sources including a ufology catalogue say that on February 24, 1909, Salem county farmer Leslie Garrison had a "fleeting glimpse" or a sighting of "a six-foot long bird" sailing over his property; whose feet were like a man's.

Basic information table:

Case number: URECAT-001469
Date of event: February 24, 1909
Earliest report of event: 1909?
Delay of report: Days, weeks, years?
Witness reported via: Not known.
First alleged record by: Not known
First certain record by: Book on unexplained phenomena Jerome Clark.
First alleged record type: Not known
First certain record type: Book on unexplained phenomena Jerome Clark.
This file created on: July 19, 2013
This file last updated on: July 19, 2013
Country of event: USA
State/Department: Pennsylvania
Type of location: Above farmer's property.
Lighting conditions: Not reported.
UFO observed: No
UFO arrival observed: N/A
UFO departure observed: N/A
UFO/Entity Relation: None
Witnesses numbers: 1
Witnesses ages: Not reported. Adult or aged.
Witnesses types: Not reported. Ma, farmer.
Photograph(s): No.
Witnesses drawing: No.
Witnesses-approved drawing: No.
Number of entities: 1
Type of entities: Bird
Entities height: 1.80 meters
Entities outfit type: None reported.
Entities outfit color: Not reported or N/A.
Entities skin color: Not reported.
Entities body: Not reported. Bird.
Entities head: Not reported.
Entities eyes: Not reported.
Entities mouth: Not reported.
Entities nose: Not reported.
Entities feet: Like a man's.
Entities arms: Not reported.
Entities fingers: Not reported.
Entities fingers number: Not reported.
Entities hair: Not reported.
Entities voice: None reported.
Entities actions: Flew by.
Entities/witness interactions: None.
Witness(es) reactions: Observed.
Witness(es) feelings: Not reported.
Witness(es) interpretation: Not reported.
Explanation category: Probable bird, sandhill crane.
Explanation certainty: High.

Narratives:

[Ref. jc1:] JEROME CLARK:

Jerome Clark says that on February 24, 1909, Salem county Farmer Leslie Garrison reported seeing a six-foot long bird sailing over his property. It's feet were like a man's.

[Ref. ar1:] ALBERT ROSALES:

Albert Rosales indicates that in Salem County, Pennsylvania, on February 24, 1909, at an unknown time, "Local farmer Leslie Garrison reported seeing a six-foot long bird-like creature as it sailed over his property. It reportedly had feet like those of a man. No other information."

Albert Rosales indicates that the source is "Jerome Clark, Unexplained!".

[Ref. ma1:] MATT ALLAIR:

There were no other sightings until February twenty-fourth when Leslie Garrison, a Salem County farmer spotted the Devil flying over his property. Mr. Garrison described it as a six-foot-long bird with human feet.

[Ref. ap1:] ANTHONY PERTICARO:

In February of 1909, Leslie Garrison caught a fleeting glimpse of the creature flying over a clump of trees and out of sight for several years.

Points to consider:

Before discussing this particular case, I must make some general remarks about what was called the "Jersey Devil".

In Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, for nearly two centuries at least, some people give reports of encounters with a "creature" whose descriptions suggested that it was some sort of "devil", though in my opinion it was often merely a large bird in migration there, the sandhill crane.

Ufologically, these stories are mostly not considered as related in any way with UFOs or UFO occupants, in my opinion too they should not be part of a catalog of "close encounters of the third kind".

However, some ufologists included such stories in such catalogs, thinking for some reason it does have something to do with the UFO question. Most of the time, they do not include all the Jersey Devil reports, but only a few of them, maybe due to lack of documentation or maybe for some other reason I do not understand.

So I have to include all these stories, because if some source considers, rightly or wrongly, that this a UFO-related, then it is within my scope, not to immediately and arbitrarily disregard their idea, but to evaluate it, and thus to collect the documentation and the comments about it. And therefore, I have to check and document all reported, not just those selected arbitrarily by these ufologists who believed this is UFO material. This is why you cans see I have a file for each Jersey Devil reports, even those that were never included in the ufology literature.

I should note that most stories are fragmentary, often because the sources write about several observations, and what is said about one report is supposed to be implicitly true for the others. I do not do it that way; I publish case files individually and discuss each on its own merits or issues, and offer a specific assessment for each case. But of course, generalities can be said on these reports. As I do not want to disconnect individual reports from these generalities, I make the following notes.

I want to first list the various explanations offered for the "Jersey Devil" - they could apply its late equivalent the West Virginia "Mothman" which was introduced in UFO books the 1960s:

Now let's see this report.

There is no real description of the entity, seen at an unknown distance, maybe in the day, maybe in the dark night. It may have been a sandhill crane. Sone of the sources say the sighting was just a "fleeting glimpse."

There is not enough information to make this explanation a certainty, but there is not a single piece of information that would support she saw a real devil, or an alien, or a pterodactyl, "Bigfoot" or anything extraordinary.

"Sandhill Crane" (Grus canadensis) - pictures above - is a species of big crane living in North America, Canada, and in the extreme northeast of Siberia. Some are resident, some are migratory, passing sometimes indeed by the states where the "Jersey Devil" was reported.

Its wingspan can reach more than 2 meters.

List of issues:

Id: Topic: Severity: Date noted: Raised by: Noted by: Description: Proposal: Status:
1 Data Severe July 19, 2013 Patrick Gross Patrick Gross Primary source not known and not available. Help needed. Opened.
2 Ufology Severe July 19, 2013 Patrick Gross Patrick Gross Basic data missing: day or night? Distance? Duration...? Help needed. Opened.

Evaluation:

Probable bird, sandhill crane.

Sources references:

* = Source I checked.
? = Source I am told about but could not check yet. Help appreciated.

Document history:

Authoring

Main Author: Patrick Gross
Contributors: None
Reviewers: None
Editor: Patrick Gross

Changes history

Version: Created/Changed By: Date: Change Description:
0.1 Patrick Gross July 19, 2013 Creation, [jc1], [ar1], [ma1], [ap1].
1.0 Patrick Gross July 19, 2013 First published.

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This page was last updated on July 19, 2013