“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist. And like that, poof. He’s gone.”  ~ Verbal, The Usual Suspects

Mom grew up a pretty quiet and relatively happy little red-headed girl in the bustling (very Italian) area of  Nutley, but when she and her two younger hell-raising sisters (more about them later) were approaching their teenage years, my grandfather Lewis (“Poppa”) was smitten and bitten by the “let’s move the family to a rural area” bug, and he settled on the very isolated (yeah, backwoods) Hopatcong, New Jersey.  After visiting the area for a family summer vacation, Poppa was sold on the idea lake living.  He imagined boat rides, swimming, his three daughters amazing him with their new found love of diving, family picnics, fishing, a yard with a pool -  all that Hopatcong had to offer.  Mom was most definitely not sold on any of it.  Sorry Hopatcong residents, but mom called that area “the sticks” and still does to this day. (Just remember this was back in the fifties, so it was a bit stick-ish). 

Hopatcong (go ahead, you can call it the sticks) is filled with long and winding roads,  hungry deer, possums, raccoons and plenty of mosquitoes (ugh  – I cannot stand those little blood-sucking bastards).  It’s the perfect place a guy like Tony Soprano would send out his wiseguys to dump a tattletale’s body deep in the woods (after dismembering it on the basement butcher table over a few glasses of homemade red)

Mom was not happy, she was a city girl after all, on the verge of hot guys with hot cars, but she really had no choice, so she made the best of it.  She’d get really bored with their new found country lifestyle, so to stay out of trouble, she acquired quite the appetite for reading.  Mom was a voracious reader, at night she would curl up with her novel, a bag of the always greasy Wise potato chips and bottle of Coca Cola at her side (funny, she still does this to this day). 

(Italian Lesson:  evil spirit = diavolo / the devil = il diavolo, il demonio)

Speaking of mom’s book collection, when I was a little I remember looking through her collection of books in our hallway bookshelf as if they were candies displayed at the local dime store. Those titles and spicey book jacket descriptions (many with words I did not yet understand) those colorful covers – even the authors’ photos totally fascinated me.  My imagination would run wild and I’d dream up my own little stories from mom’s books, and what made it more fun was I really didn’t know the difference from fiction and non-fiction at the time.

Besides books, mom’s teenage years in the fifties consisted of a bit of drag racing adventures, plenty of shopping and, of yeah, the Jersey Devil even made a cameo appearance.  What the heck is the Jersey Devil, you might ask? Jersey D, as he is so affectionately known throughout the region, is a supposed mythical creature which has haunted New Jersey for the past 260 years.  The rumor is that the little naughty bugger Jersey D.  has terrorized towns and even caused factories and schools to close down.  Yet, many people believe that the Jersey Devil is a legend, plan ol’ bullshit — a Sasquatch-esque beast simply originated from folklore.

Yes, mom witnessed the Jersey Devil prancing around through the woods one snowy winter day.  And yes, he was red disturbing and sinister. (Funny though, I  always pictured that little red dude with his tiny pitchfork on the cans of Underwood deviled ham I’d see in the supermarket - what a creepy little shit, if you ask me!)

Is this the little devil mom saw in the woods?

I have no idea what this actually symbolizes, but it is a fact (if you believe in that little red guy).  Over 260 people have their own personal sighting tales, although discrepancies in these stories exist, the origins provide some validity to the existence of the Jersey Devil.  OK, enough about him, I am starting to get goosebumps.

The Jersey Devil made me do it! Quickly,  let’s back to the home of  ”Madness ”:  www.madnessmomandme.com

Don’t miss out on the insanity! Sign up for the MADNESS FEED here: http://madnessmomandme.com/feed/ 

P.S.  This just in: breaking news from mom directly!  Mom wants me to be clear about the fact that when she lived in Hopatcong as a teen, she still only had eyes for the “city” boys, and although not a snob, she just wasn’t into country guys.  More about mom’s quite interesting romances, black lips, old dudes and stalkers to come.