Plot
On the road in Roland's Mustang, the team is heading toward the town of Hanover and then on to Ecto-Con, a paranormal conference in Atlantic City. Eduardo complains about a toll and about spending Spring Break with "geeks," while Garrett gripes that he is missing March Madness. Roland is carrying an antique sword he needs authenticated for his history professor; it may have belonged to the early American naval hero Commodore Stephen Decatur.
A flying monster swoops down and breathes on the car, dissolving the roof. Roland spots a gaping hole in the creature's belly as it makes another pass, then loses it by ducking into a tunnel. A sheriff pulls them over, recognizes the description, and identifies the attacker as the Jersey Devil before racing off to warn the town. Kylie decides they should call Egon and stay to help.
In Hanover, where a bicentennial celebration is underway, the townsfolk turn cold once they learn who the team is, blaming them for stirring up the Devil. While the others eat at the Rusty Mine Shaft Diner and get the rudest possible service, Roland takes the sword to the Museum of Ironworks. The curator, an old man named Ben, tells him the legend: more than two hundred years ago the Devil came out of the museum's forge, and Commodore Decatur stopped it from destroying Hanover by shooting it in the gut with a cannonball. Ben confirms the sword is genuine and says it was forged from the Devil's own heart.
The Devil returns. Ordinary bullets bounce off it and its breath atomizes the sheriff's rifle and Garrett's wheelchair, but Ben reveals the creature's weakness: Hanover iron, which burns it on contact. Driving the Devil off with thrown iron, the team learns from Ben that Decatur's cannonball tore a chunk from the monster, which he then forged into the sword. Eduardo realizes that is why the Devil has been chasing them.
Egon is stuck in traffic in Ecto-1 with Janine and a carsick Slimer, unable to bring the team's gear. Over the phone he classifies the Jersey Devil as a Class 3, a demonic life force inhabiting iron ore and minerals; the smelting process gave it access to the physical plane and left behind residual ecto matter that is harmful to it.
When Kylie tries to lead the Devil out of town with the sword, the creature snatches and swallows it, filling the hole in its belly and growing strong enough to rust whole buildings with a single breath. The sheriff, convinced the only way to appease the Devil is to hand the team over, handcuffs the Ghostbusters to a gazebo until the Devil's breath frees them by atomizing it. Roland's plan is to lure the Devil back into the museum forge so it melts down to its original form. With Ben and the others firing a cannon and the townspeople finally pitching in with Hanover iron, Roland tosses the iron fragment from earlier into the air; the Devil dives after it and is blasted point blank into the furnace, where it is destroyed. The damage to the town and to Roland's Mustang reverses, and Ben sends the team off with a laugh.
Cast
The regular voice cast features Tara Charendoff (credited as Tara Charendoff), Maurice LaMarche, Jason Marsden, Pat Musick, Alfonso Ribeiro, Rino Romano, and Billy West. Guest voices are Eddie Albert, Edward Albert, and April Winchell. Eddie Albert and Edward Albert, two of the three guest performers, were father and son.1
Production
Altbacker and Krieg pitched two ideas that were rejected before Altbacker, a Long Island native who knew the regional legend, suggested the Jersey Devil and the episode was approved. The first draft of the script is dated April 14, 1997.2 That draft included a character cut from the finished episode, Ben's granddaughter Sarah, a young girl saved by Eduardo who in turn helps the team.34 In the first draft Roland's history professor was named Lipnicki rather than going unnamed.5
Notes and references
The episode draws on real New Jersey folklore. The sheriff mentions the Pine Barrens, the region long associated with the legend, and Ben names Bruce Springsteen as the area's most famous native.6 Commodore Stephen Decatur, invoked as the man who once fought the Devil, was a genuine early American naval hero.
The script is dense with pop-culture references. Garrett, hearing "Jersey Devil," first assumes the sheriff means the New Jersey Devils hockey team. He quotes "Nice shootin', Tex" from the first Ghostbusters film, compares the sheriff to the Sheriff of Nottingham, and, handed an old wooden wheelchair, references Morticia of the Addams Family. Eduardo invokes Tom and Jerry when given the iron to throw, and Kylie tells Egon the Hanover iron is "like Kryptonite" to the creature. Eduardo also says he had voted to spend Spring Break in Daytona Beach, placing the episode in the last week of March.
In the broadcast order this episode followed "Greased" and preceded "Dry Spell."
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Spook Central, "The Jersey Devil" page.
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Ernie Altbacker and James Krieg (1997). Extreme Ghostbusters "The Jersey Devil Made Me Do It" (First Draft April 14, 1997) (Script Title Page).
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Ernie Altbacker and James Krieg (1997). Extreme Ghostbusters "The Jersey Devil Made Me Do It" (Cast List April 14, 1997) (Cast List p. 01). Line reads: "Sarah - Little girl who is saved by Eduardo and in turn helps the EGBs."
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Ernie Altbacker and James Krieg (1997). Extreme Ghostbusters "The Jersey Devil Made Me Do It" (First Draft April 14, 1997) (Script p. 08). Line reads: "Eduardo exits a grocery store and sees Sarah, a 8 year old, chase her ball into Main Street. A truck approaching, Eduardo scoops her up in time."
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Ernie Altbacker and James Krieg (1997). Extreme Ghostbusters "The Jersey Devil Made Me Do It" (First Draft April 14, 1997) (Script p. 02). Roland says: "I told you! My history professor, Prof. Lipnicki asked me to authenticate that this actually belonged to Commodore Stephen Decatur, the famous early American naval hero."
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Old Ben (1997). Extreme Ghostbusters, "The Jersey Devil Made Me Do It." Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Ben says: "Jersey's most famous native. After that Springsteen kid."
