STATE FILE · DE
Cryptids of Delaware
What cryptids are in Delaware? The best-known are Jersey Devil, Selbyville Swamp Monster and Zwaanendael Merman.
Delaware is the second-smallest state and mostly flat coastal plain, but its marshes, bays and one great forested swamp have produced a handful of distinctive legends. The best known comes from the Great Cypress Swamp near Selbyville in southern Sussex County – about 50 square miles of wetland, one of the northernmost natural stands of bald cypress in the country. Locals have long told of screams in the night and a hairy “Selbyville Swamp Monster.” The legend had a famous boost in the 1960s, when a local man admitted to dressing in a fur costume and leaping out at drivers on the swamp road while a friend at the newspaper wrote up the “sightings.”
Cryptids reported in Delaware
FLYING · 1735
Jersey Devil
Pine Barrens, southern New Jersey
A winged, hoofed devil said to have been born to “Mother Leeds” in the Pine Barrens, and the star of a week of panic across South Jersey in January 1909.
REGIONAL LEGEND HOMINID · Early 1900sSelbyville Swamp Monster
Great Cypress Swamp, near Selbyville, Delaware
A hairy, screaming creature of Delaware’s Great Cypress Swamp – a decades-old legend that peaked in 1964, when a local man in a fur coat played the part.
LOCAL LEGEND
LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1941
Zwaanendael Merman
Zwaanendael Museum, Lewes, Delaware
A shriveled, foot-long “merman” brought to Lewes by a sea captain – a 19th-century Asian sideshow curiosity the town loved too much to let go.
HOAX / DEBUNKEDThe legends of Delaware
The swamp’s history adds atmosphere: a peat fire in 1930 smouldered for months, earning it the nickname “Burnt Swamp.” Today much of it is protected by Delaware Wild Lands. Across Delaware Bay lies the Pine Barrens, home of the Jersey Devil, and during the famous January 1909 wave of Jersey Devil reports, claims of sightings and strange tracks spread into Delaware too. Delaware Bay and the Atlantic beaches have offered occasional sea-serpent stories, while Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island – a Civil War prison camp – is a magnet for ghost hunters rather than monster hunters.
The Selbyville story is a useful reminder of how legends are made: a real, wild landscape, a few unexplained noises and a well-timed prank can turn into a monster that outlives its creator. Enthusiasts visit the swamp’s public trails and the fort’s popular ghost tours.
Hotspots
A vast cypress wetland in southern Sussex County, home of the Selbyville Swamp Monster legend.
A Civil War fort and prison camp famous for ghost tours and paranormal stories.
Broad tidal waters and marshes that have produced occasional sea-serpent reports.
Dunes, forests and old military bunkers at the mouth of the bay, a favourite spot for local legends.
Sightings timeline
- Early 1900sScreams in the swamp Selbyville Swamp Monster
Residents near the swamp began telling of nighttime screams and of being chased by a hairy creature. The stories circulated orally and are not tied to specific dated reports.
- Late 1800s–early 1900sA sea captain’s gift Zwaanendael Merman
An old sea captain presented the merman to a member of the Martin family, who kept it for decades. Accounts differ on the exact date.
- January 16–23, 1909The week of the Jersey Devil Jersey Devil
Newspapers reported hundreds of claimed encounters in a single week, from hoofprints in the snow and a Trenton councilman’s tale of flapping wings to a creature supposedly menacing a trolley in Haddon Heights. Police were said to have fired on it in Camden and Bristol, Pennsylvania, and some schools closed and workers stayed home while hunting parties searched the woods.
- 1941First shown at the museum Zwaanendael Merman
A Martin family nephew set the merman aside for display, and it went on exhibit at the state museum.
- 1964The monster in a raccoon coat Selbyville Swamp Monster
Fred Stevens, wearing a costume made from his aunt’s raccoon fur coat, jumped out at passing motorists while his friend Ralph Grapperhaus published the encounters in the local paper. The stunt drew crowds from across Delmarva until armed monster hunters made it too risky to continue.
- 1985The town saves its merman Zwaanendael Merman
When the merman was about to be sold in an estate sale, residents and the Lewes Historical Society raised $250 to buy it and donated it to the museum.
- October 30, 2015The monster confesses Selbyville Swamp Monster
In an interview with WHYY, Stevens described how he and Grapperhaus staged the 1964 scare, and how parents had long used the swamp monster to keep children in line.
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