In searching for the origins of the Jersey Devil legend, evidence seems to show the connection of the Leeds family to the supernatural had its roots in the humorous writings of Ben Franklin in Poor Richard’s Almanac. How a local tale gained national prominence is one of the urban elites versus the rural masses.
This chapter shifts to Boston in the 1850s, which at the time believed it was the center of American culture and refinement. At that time Moses Dresser Phillips wrote to a friend.
“I must tell you about a little dinner-party I gave about two weeks ago.
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