Folklore and media · Camden
The 1960 Camden merchants’ Jersey Devil bounty
Single source (New Jersey Historical Society) · No 1960 press account located
According to the New Jersey Historical Society, Camden merchants in 1960 offered a $10,000 reward for capturing the Jersey Devil and promised to build it a private zoo; no 1960 press account was located to confirm it.
The offer
The New Jersey Historical Society publishes an overview of Jersey Devil lore. It says that in 1960 merchants in Camden offered $10,000 to anyone who captured the creature. The same passage says the merchants promised to build a private zoo to show it off, and that no one has ever claimed the money. The page does not name any merchants or business group, and it does not cite a newspaper from the time.
The same paragraph also mentions another 1960 report: strange tracks and loud shrieks near Mays Landing.
What remains unconfirmed
For this entry, no 1960 newspaper account of the offer was found, and neither was any second independent source. An Atlantic County government page is often cited for the same claim, but it blocked access and could not be read. The bounty is presented as part of the Jersey Devil’s modern folklore history, on the strength of a single institutional source. It has not been confirmed as a documented event.
Sources and research limits
- “Legend of the New Jersey Devil,” New Jersey Historical Society — Read September 11, 2026. It is the only source for the reward amount, the private-zoo promise, the unclaimed status, and the Mays Landing tracks. An undated overview page that cites no 1960 source.
- Atlantic County, New Jersey, “Jersey Devil: Fact or Fiction?” (atlanticcountynj.gov) — Access was refused (HTTP 403) on September 11, 2026. Not relied on for anything.
- Searches of digitized newspaper databases for a 1960 report could not be completed, because the Library of Congress search service rate-limited automated requests that day.