I was born and raised in new jersey and have never heard of the jersey devil. But what I found interesting and slightly infuriating is that folklore or myths I have heard are heavily based upon women. It could be a witch or, in the case of our lectures, mother leeds giving birth to a devil, or even the kwakiutls that were represented as women who abducted children. Women seem to play the role of chaos in many folklores. As for case number 2 on Bigfoot, this myth is particularly interesting. The only way I had heard about this story was from the viral video filmed by roger patterson. But what sparked my interest was that this myth and even the Jersey devil still live on today. We as a society have access to so many resources now; could we find definitive proof? As stated many times throughout our first two lectures: pseudoscience relies on fast thinking and heuristics, while science relies on slow thinking and critical thinking. Do I believe that are things or phenomena out there that exist? Absolutely, for example, there are organisms in the deep sea that humans cannot discover due to limited resources, but some stories are beyond farfetched and inhumanly impossible. They are called legends for a reason and most likely are created to pick up traction.
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Hi Nazma! I was really surprised while reading your post. You mentioned how many myths view women in a negative light such as Mother Leeds giving birth to the Jersey Devil. This is a thought I had never realized but agree with. I wonder why this is the case though? Is this something that society created? I think you brought up a great point and it makes me wonder if this is a pattern in many other myths and stories. You also mentioned how if we have a lot of resources and technology today, shouldn't we have more proof with myths like Bigfoot? This is a reasonable question but I think society enjoys having these myths. I feel like we crave the unknown and it lets society play with different thoughts and ideas.
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