Jersey Devil, Monster in My Pocket, Series 4 (Super Scary) by Matchbox

Series 4 of the Monster in My Pocket line was the company’s first drastic change, with slightly larger figures, and painted elements, instead of the charming solid colored figures. Each figure was one color, with two elements painted, showing a total of three colors. Because of this, sometimes I feel like the detail of the actual figure is sometimes lost.

The Jersey Devil is considered a cryptid, a creature that is believed to be real by some, but lacks enough evidence to be considered actually prove its existence. Unlike more famous cryptids, like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster, which at least have what can be considered SOME evidence (despite being easily debunkable), the Jersey Devil is known purely from word of mouth and is widely considered more folklore or tall tale than anything else. The first story involving the creature takes place back in 1735 in what is now New Jersey, United States. A woman, upon finding out she was pregnant with what would be her thirteenth child, exclaims in frustration “Let this one be a devil!”. When she finally gave birth, the newborn (according to legend) promptly transformed into a monster, exited the house through the chimney, and has been living in the vast forest of south and central New Jersey (called the Pine Barrens) ever since.

Since then people have claimed to have seen the Jersey Devil over the years. In the 1700s someone apparently shot it with a cannon, which apparently didn’t phase it as it flew away unscathed. Napolean’s brother, Joseph Bonaparte, claims to have seen the creature on a hunting trip near his estate. Later on in 1909 there was a surge of literally hundreds of calls to local police stations by people claiming to have seen the Jersey Devil. (What’s funny is the physical description of the monster varies from witness to witness, showing that the majority of these accounts were likely lies for attention and the rest may have simply been misidentified regular animals.) The most famous physical description of the Jersey Devil has the head of a horse, clawed front limbs, hoofed back limbs (sometimes singular like a horse, sometimes cloven like a deer), bat-like wings on the back, and a serpentine tail with three prongs on the tip. More modern descriptions (yes people occasionally still claim to have see the Jersey Devil occasionally) often add horns or antlers, and glowing or reflective red eyes.

The Monster in My Pocket version of this bizarre monster actually strays a lot from the traditional description. While it does have a horse’s head, it possesses what I can only describe as a quiff hairstyle in the front (No idea why they went with something so specific like that), that turns into a horse’s mane further down the neck. The horse face looks gaunt and almost zombified, with an angry snarling expression (probably because a more realistic horse’s face would be more cute than scary) and lacks ears, but does have goat-like horns sculpted into the sides of the head. The bat-like wings are outstretched in a threatening pose, and also aid as points of connection to whatever surface the figure is on. Despite original descriptions, this rendition of the Jersey Devil has no legs. To my knowledge, despite all the variation, there was never a witness who claimed the creature had no legs, but this version of the toy went with a simple serpentine body all the way down. The body also has a scaly and almost segmented pattern to it.

Like all figures of this line, there is a number molded into the back, representing its “power level” compared to other monsters, in this case “60”. In the fold out pamphlet that comes with the product the information blurb states “American; Born in the pine barrens of New Jersey from a gypsy’s curse on a young girl, he escaped into the woods and still lives there.” To my knowledge as someone who considers himself more knowledgable on the Jersey Devil than most, the “gypsy curse” was never in any version of the lore. (Also lets note that the the vocabulary “gypsy” is now considered an offensive slur to the Romani community but during the 90s and earlier was used a lot more casually.)

As is the case with pretty much all Monster in My Pockets, this figure came in at least two color variants. The version I have has a bright orange base with black wings and a green mane painted on. The second version has a bright green base with red wings and orange mane painted on.

Overall this is a very interesting and stylized representation of this cryptid. This toy is actually what sparked my awareness of and lifelong infatuation with an otherwise very obscure creature. (and you can tell mine was well-loved with by the condition of the paint!)