Hopewell Valley Student Podcasting Network

Show Name: Unraveling the Unknown

Episode Title: Bigfoot Banter

You are listening to Unraveling the Unknown with your hosts Lily and Tessa.

In this episode of Unraveling the Unknown, the Podcast we will discuss: bigfoot.

• In 1958, Ray Wallace would make mastings of alleged Bigfoot Footprints

• Bigfoot or Sasquatch may have originated from Native American legends and the Tsonoqua legend
• But the legend goes beyond recorded history
• most commonly attributed to North American western forests and mountains, originating from increasing sightings throughout history.
• Cryptid - a creature that is suggested to exist but it's existence has not been confirmed by the scientific community.
• 1800s- 1900s bigfoot sightings, footprint evidence, video and photo evidence coming up
• the word Sasq’ets from the north american Salish language. In Salish, Sasq’ets means “hairy man” or “wild man”. Native american tribes which used this dialect were found in present day British Columbia, Canada, and Montana, washington, and Idaho in The U.S.
• Humanoid creature around 8 ft tall, hairy, strong, powerful. Known to give off a foul smell.
• Some say bigfoot is silent and some say it gives off a high pitch cry.
• Many indigenous legends around the world such as, the Yeti of Asia, the Abominable snowman of The Himalayas, the Sasquatch of North America, the Grassman of ohio, the Yeren of China, the Yowie of Australia, and even more.
• Some believe that the sasquatch is a homanid creature that lives in isolation, nearly extinct, while others think that this creature is merely a made up legend or hoax, or a piece of folklore.

• How believable is the bigfoot story?
• Real scale 1-10 (1 being not beviable 10 being super real)

• Missing Persons by Jeremy Blake
• Dead Wrong by Jeremy Blake
• Devil’s Organ by Jimena Contreras
• Frightmare by Jimena Contreras

Hopewell Valley Student Podcasting Network

Show Name: Unraveling the Unknown

Episode Title: The Devil in Jersey

You are listening to Unraveling the Unknown with your hosts Lily and Tessa.

In this episode of Unraveling the Unknown, the Podcast we will discuss: The Jersey Devil,

Segment 1: Story

Mary Ritzer Christianson was driving at night in 1972 in the dark when she spotted the Jersey Devil on Greentree Road. She said she had never been so scared in her life. Mary was driving from Blackwood to Glassboro when she said she saw a towering figure crossing the road around 25 feet behind her car. She described the figure to be extremely tall, taller than an average man, with goat-like features, and a wooly head with horns. Again in 1980, there was a brutal scene on a South Jersey farm where a pack of pigs had been killed. Their heads were eaten and their bodies were scratched and torn apart. This attack was unexplainable, could it be the Jersey Devil?

Wow, what a crazy story Tessa. Have you ever driven through the pine barrens?

No, I haven't, but now I'm not sure I ever want to. Have you?

Yes, I drive through the pine barrens when I go to visit my grandfather who lives close to the Jersey Shore.

Have you ever noticed or felt anything unusual driving through it?

I don't know if it's just at night, but whenever I drive through the pines it seems to be never-ending, and when I stare out of my window, it's like my mind is playing tricks on me. I can’t tell if what I’m seeing is real or not.

Do you think the Jersey Devil could have actually killed those pigs or could it have been something else?

I think it's possible that the Jersey Devil could have killed them. Pigs aren't small, so to eat the whole head and leave them lacerated would have had to be done by a large animal., I can't think of any carnivorous animal, especially not in New Jersey that would be big enough to eat the entire head of a pig.

Black bears are the largest land animals in New Jersey, which means they could have killed the pigs in this way, however, their diet mostly consists of berries and vegetation. Most of the meat they hunt is fish, not pigs.

For cougars and coyotes, it is very unlikely that they will eat the head off of an animal.

The pine barrens lost most of its top predators such as the American black bear, wolves, and cougars long ago to humans hunting and trapping. This leaves only one plausible predator, the New Jersey devil.

Segment 2: Origins, The Pine Barrens

Most of the lore surrounding the Jersey Devil involves a woman named Jane Leeds. In 1735 in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, this woman gave birth to her 13th child. It was a very difficult pregnancy, and apparently, before giving birth, Mother Leeds exclaimed “Let this one be the devil”. According to legend, instead of a human baby, Jane Leeds gave birth to a devilish creature with wings, horns, hooves, and a tail, The Jersey Devil. This creature then reportedly flew away out the chimney, howling through the night, Going on to terrorize residents of New Jersey for years to come.

Over the years, the original story and sightings of the Jersey devil have been questioned by historians. The origin story of the Jersey Devil, or Leed Devil, has been historically corrected by some as a child with deformities at birth that became exaggerated.

I think this was definitely an exaggerated story that got passed down and stretched to what it is now.

Interesting how oral storytelling changes events

One explanation of the Jersey devil's origins goes back to the surname Leed. Leed in Leed Devil may correspond to Daniel Leeds, a...

Hopewell Valley Student Podcasting Network

Show Name: Unraveling the Unknown

Episode Title: Tails of the Sea

You are listening to Unraveling the Unknown with your hosts Lily and Tessa.

In this episode of Unraveling the Unknown, the Podcast we will discuss: mermaids and sirens, compared.

Segment 1: Origins and Appearance

First, we are going to discuss the origin of where mermaids and Sirens come from.

The sirens of Greek mythology first appeared in text in the 3rd century BC, in Homer’s epic novel, The Odyssey. Legends of sirens were first used to account for lost sailors who were lured into dangerous waters by the beautiful voices of the treacherous half-bird half-woman monsters.

The main hero of the Odyssey, Odysseus, and his crew were warned by the goddess of sorcery, Circe (sir see), to put soft wax in their ears so that they would not be affected by the siren's fatal voices. Odysseus, wanting to hear the voice of the sirens, doesn't clog his ears, but instead asks his crew to tie him to the mast of the ship so he wont be enchanted to his death in the water. However, in this epic, a physical description of the sirens Odysseus faces is missing.

So where does the image of a half-bird, half-woman come from Lily?

In ancient Greek artistry on everything from pots to vases, perfume bottles, and terracotta figurines, the siren is often depicted as a part woman, part bird.

Even earlier than in ancient Greece, ancient Egyptian depictions of half-human, half-bird figures sometimes appeared in correlation with death and the afterlife. The Egyptian symbol of half-human, half-bird could have been translated into ancient Greece’s half- human, half-bird legends of sirens used to symbolize the death of sailors.

Some say that the half-bird half-woman version of Sirens originally came from the Middle East, and over time was passed to Greece through trade routes.

Ovid, an ancient Roman poet, claims that Sirens were originally beautiful women who were turned into bloodthirsty monsters. In some Greek mythology, sirens, were originally nymphs and handmaidens of the goddess Persephone. When she was abducted by the god of the underworld, Hades, Persephone’s mother, Demeter, goddess of harvest and agriculture, sent the nymphs to search for Persephone.

Demeter gave the Nymphs half-bird bodies in order to assist in the search for her daughter. It is said that they eventually retired from the search and settled on the island of Anthemoessa. (ant e mossa), rumored to be near the southwestern coast of Italy. Some legends claim that Demeter cursed the sirens with half-bird bodies in her grief for her daughter because they failed to find her, and banished them to an island.

Over time, sirens being depicted near the sea and water, mixed the...