The Mantis Man - Part Two

The Devil Within

EVIO Creative

True Crime

3.2 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2025

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

🌙EPISODE 2 🕸 “The Mantis Man of the Musconetcong — Part Two: The River Keeps Its Secrets” In Part Two, we zoom out from my childhood river to the global phenomenon hiding behind the Mantis Man legend. Ancient mantis gods. Insectoid aliens. Evolutionary fears wired straight into our DNA. Biological impossibilities. Folklore that refuses to die. Then we return home — to the Musconetcong, to Jefferson, to the quiet bridge where something tall and translucent allegedly stepped out of the water and vanished into the trees. 📚 Chapters 4. 🪳 The Insect Gods 5. 🧠 Why Bugs Terrify Us 6. 🌫 The River Keeps Its Secrets A final reflection on childhood landscapes, memory, fear, and why certain places cling to the monsters we project onto them. 📣 CALL TO ACTION • 📸 Follow us on Instagram: @thedevilwithinpod • @eviocreative • @idesofaprilpod • ⭐ Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen • 📝 Leave a rating & review — it really helps • 👁 Share this episode with someone who loves folklore anthropology or hometown hauntings 💼 SPONSORS 🧥 QUINCE Luxury essentials at affordable prices. Free shipping + 365-day returns: www.QUINCE.com/MISCHIEF (http://www.quince.com/MISCHIEF) 📱 MINT MOBILE Premium wireless for just $15/month. Switch and get free shipping: http://www.mintmobil.com/DEVILWITHIN 🛰️ EXPRESSVPN Protect your data anywhere. Get up to 4 months free: www.ExpressVPN.com/DEVILWITHIN 🌿 MOOD CBD and THC gummies shipped nationwide. 20% off: http://www.mood.com/DEVILWITHIN 🐶 OLLIE DOG FOOD Real, fresh, human-grade meals for your dog. 60% off your first box: http://www.ollie.com/IDES 🔥 MONARCH The only finance app you’ll ever need. For 50% off your first year: http://www.monarch.com/IDES Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Head home for the holidays with Abercrombie and Fitch.
0:02.8	Between family dinners and making time to catch up with friends, my calendar gets booked up.
0:08.3	When I need to look put together, Abercrombie makes it easy to find outfits for all of my fans.
0:13.4	With their classic jumpers, essential hoodies and Abercrombie denim, I've got my holiday fits covered for the whole season.
0:20.6	Shop Abercrombie in the app, online and in stores. Welcome back to the Devil Within. This is part two of the Mantis Man of the Muscanetcom.
0:48.3	Chapter 4. The Insect Gods.
0:59.3	So welcome back to part two of our journey into the strangest, most thinly documented.
1:04.4	Let's be honest, most Jefferson Township adjacent crypted I've ever accidentally overlooked.
1:11.6	On the last episode, we went home. Back to Lake of Paccon, back to the narrow spillway
1:16.7	that becomes the Muscanetcon River. Back to the water where my brother and his friends
1:21.3	fished, where I swam, where summers felt endless, and where a handful of adults reported
1:27.3	something that absolutely
1:28.8	should not exist. A fisherman waist deep in the current watching a tall mantis-like creature
1:35.0	glide through the reeds. Another man caught in fog, paralyzed by the sensation of being studied
1:40.9	by something thin and inhuman. And finally, the driver who saw a semi-translucin,
1:47.4	eight-foot humanoid insect step out of the river
1:50.2	and disappear into the trees.
1:54.0	Mantis Man, born of rumor,
1:56.7	witnessed by a frightened few,
1:58.0	and lurking allegedly in the water that helps shape my childhood.
2:03.7	And now the question becomes bigger. If something this strange can take root in a small
2:08.5	stretch of a New Jersey River, why is it shaped so familiar worldwide? Because here's the part I
	...

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