It was 2:30am when Mike and I pulled into the park in Toms River. We had just finished our shift, and we were stopping by to talk with Shawn and Jim for a little bit. Not exactly a devil hunt at all. We all stood outside in the chilly air, discussing the recent sightings from October and how, oddly enough, there seems to be a sighting close to the town that each of us live in. Jim and Shawn had a discovery to show me - the very same tracks that we had found in Leeds Point were also all over the woods in the park. We walked back into the woods a few feet to inspect.

Things started to get eerie from then on. Shawn had left the spotlight sitting on the hood of the truck. And, while we were all standing around talking, suddenly the spotlight slid off the hood and fell to the side. That set us off, and we all jumped and tried to keep a steady pulse. Our minds wandered to thoughts of the old Indian legend, the one that tells of the hunting crew who went out in search of the Jersey Devil, and never returned. They were all presumed dead, but never found. And lucky us, we had also just watched Blair Witch a few days before this evening.

The next thing we knew, the bats in the woods began sending out their radar "pings", as though something was approaching. The crickets got quiet. And we all got spooked! Shawn grabbed one of the huge spotlights from the truck, and we flooded the edge of the woods with light. We began hearing sounds in the woods - footsteps, brush rustling. The noises seemed to bounce around within the woods. Jim stepped into the woods and crouched down, listening to the sounds of the night. We all stood watching, with the spotlight shining on Jim's general location. Everything was silent. Suddenly, we heard the sound of cracking branches and Jim jumped back quickly. A stick had either fallen or been lightly tossed right at him!

Now we were scared... we all stood silently, panting in fear, shaking in the cold night wind. Noises were coming from the woods constantly, mostly the sound of something moving. At one point we heard what sounded like that same growl from our first devil hunt. As the fear calmed down in us, we began to relax and loosen up. Jim and Shawn had entered the woods earlier, and Jim then suggested to take me in and show me the strange tree formations they had found earlier. So Jim and I grabbed the floodlight and began to make our way in, armed with only a fire extinguisher.

We got in about 10 feet when we heard something drop behind us. Something had dropped in between our location, and Mike and Shawn. Jim and I suddenly felt very separated, and Mike immediately called out to us for our return. We flew out of the woods and stood on the edge of the truck...

It was now 3:15am, and I had to get back home. We returned to the cars, and re-grouped at Wawa to discuss the events of the night. Everyone heard the stick being tossed at Jim. Everyone heard the object drop in between us. Everyone had listened to the steady sound of something moving, something watching...

Who knows what it was? We have no idea. Perhaps it was the creature we are searching for. Maybe it was just a deer, or it was a person messing around with us. He'd have to be pretty damn good to pull off that stuff though, and I don't understand why a deer would have wanted to play around with us. No matter what it was, the fact remains that it was most definitely scary...

Well, that's our story for Hunt #6. Questions? Comments? E-mail us at [email protected]. Want to join us? Click here for the online application!