Folklore of the New Jersey Shore: History, the Supernatural, and Beyond

by Richard J. Kimmel

Extending along the eastern coast of the state, the Jersey Shore is filled with folklore and strange happenings. Discover how historical events here may have given birth to legend. Read about German U-boats sneaking past Sandy Hook in shallow water defying commonsense. Drive down pineland roads leading to a tiny clearing where satanic rituals, occult meetings, and whisky stills could have flourished. Chase spirits and spies at the Seabrook-Wilson House at the Bayshore Waterfront Park or consider the famed Jersey Devil. Find out about Captain Kidd and Blackbeard who may still be looking for buried treasure. See the Devil's Tower in Cape May built so a man's wife could see the New York City skyline, but all she saw from it was her husband with another woman if you circle the tower three times, you will see "something," too. So slip into your swimsuits, don your backpacks, climb into your automobile, or mount your bicycle, and visit the Folklore Of the New Jersey Shore!

Genres: Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2012

Reviews

[Nicole Westen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Content wise, this book was fine, and I loved the 'how to tell a local' part in the beginning. The reason I gave it two stars is the editing. I don't know if it was edited or not, but if it was, the editor did a shit job of it. There were so many run on sentences, and sentences that started as statements but ended as questions. And so many problems with homonyms, like using 'site' when then meant 'sight', or saying 'bazaar' instead of 'bizarre'. Sometimes the sentence structure was so convoluted that I wasn't entirely sure what the author was trying to say.

[AllBookedUp · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give it 2 1/2 stars. I will round it up to three because it did surpass the 2 star mark. It's a collection of strange tales and I found it strange that nobody spell checked his work before it was released. There were some errors and some other strange things like the interchanging the word "site" instead of "sight." Little things such as that grates on me.

I read this because my son thought I should learn more about the state we live in. While I found the stories interesting, they unnerved me. I'm sorry but it's just the whole content of the subject. It was just not my cup of tea.