The Jersey Devil

The Jersey Devil is a legendary creature said to inhabit the Pine Barrens in southern New Jersey. The creature is often described as a flying biped with hooves, but there are many variations. And many differnt people have described it many differnt ways over the years.

Below you can read several stories of things " The Jersey Devil " is said to have done over the years. It has been reported in several differnt forms over the years and as late as 2005 it was reported as alive and well still enjoying the Jersey Pine Barrens.

The most popular version of the Jersey Devil legend begins in the 18th century when Deborah Smith from England immigrated to the Pine Barrens in southern New Jersey to marry a Mr. Leeds, a rather vain man who wanted several heirs to continue the family name.

Consequently, the new wife was continually pregnant. After bearing twelve healthy children, she was dismayed to be pregnant with her thirteenth. She cursed the unborn child, declaring a preference to bear the Devil's child rather than another Leeds. Apparently, her wish was granted as the new child had cloven hooves, claws, and a tail. The horrific newborn proceeded to eat the other Leeds children and the parents, before escaping through the chimney to begin its reign of terror.

This version is contradicted by the fact that Mother Leeds has descendants that, as of 1998, still lived in Atlantic County New Jersey according to a New York Times article dated April 26, 1998 . There are several variations of the

Leeds tale, such as one claiming that when Mrs Leeds became pregnant with her thirteenth child, she remarked, "May it be a devil!"The belief that a deformed child was the work of Satan or a curse was still common during the 1800s.

There is another account of the Jersey Devil's origin known to local people in South Jersey. It can be summarized as follows:

A South Jersey woman was expecting her first baby, which she naturally hoped would be perfect. But the newborn turned out to be the ugliest anyone had seen. Distraught, the mother exclaimed, "This isn't my son. This is the devil's son. May God give the thing back to him!" She threw the infant into the river, where he drowned. To this day, a rock at the riverbottom is said to be haunted by a malevolent air-sucking devil who pulled many swimmers under the rock until they drowned, after which the bodies would eventually rise to the surface.[citation needed]

It should be noted that this description of an air-sucking entity sounds much like a distorted account of a whirlpool, with the bodies rising to the surface due to decompositional gases.

In contrast, Native American legends depict the devil as a friendly protector of the Pines. Sightings of the devil were believed to be signs of good fortune, a view widely espoused by locals from the late 1700s until 1909.

My friend says his grandmother always told him that long before he was born that she lived out in the Jersey Pine Barrens and one night a large winged creature raided their farm and took the familys two pigs in the night and some days later it returned and slashed the familys cow down its side.

She told that the cow had two long claw marks down its side. And she said for days the family kept big bon fires burning all night outside. And that the neighbors kept fires going to. The remains of one of the pigs was found about a mile away in the top of a tree. Before the pig was taken it had weighed 150 pounds or more. When it was found in the tree top only its front half was left. And local people at the time in the mid 1920's thought it was the real devil not some mythical creature that was doing the killing of animails and eating of animails. She said she remembers stories even being told at the time that children were even taken. And she told of a neighbors house that was attacked in the night one night.

She said there was a deep hole in one part of the woods that had strange tracks around the entrance and a horrible smell like rotting dead flesh coming from it. She said her father and other men threw sticks of dynamite into the hole and they heard screams of rage and anger come up out of the hole but nothing came out. She said however that the next fall after cold weather that the flying devil as it was called then was right back attacking live stock and terrorizing the people. She said she and her family moved away to Kentucky when she was 14 and that was the last she heard of the Flying Devil.

His grandmother says that for years the neighbors and other local people saw the Devil flying and that from time to time livestock would vanish or be injured and people would blame it on the devil. And her aunt who still lived in the area would write and tell of the things the Devil was still doing in the Jersey Pine Barrens.

In 1778, Commodore Stephen Decatur, a naval hero, visited the Hanover Iron Works in the Barrens to test cannonballs at a firing range, where he allegedly witnessed a strange, pale white creature winging overhead. Using cannonfire, Decatur punctured the wing membrane of the creature, which continued flying apparently unfazed to the amazement of onlookers.It turned its head and let out a horrible scream at them but it continued flying.

In 1840, the devil was blamed for several livestock killings. 1841 saw similar attacks, accompanied by strange tracks and unearthly screams. The devil made an 1859 appearance in Haddonfield. Bridgeton witnessed a flurry of sightings during the winter of 1873. And above you can read about where it raided and killed Live Stock in the 1920's. It would appear that there had to have been something to the story.

Joseph Bonaparte (eldest brother of Emperor Napoleon) is said to have witnessed the Jersey Devil while hunting on his Bordentown, New Jersey estate. He was said to have shot at it several times with little or no effect. It is said that it landed one night on the roof of the house where Bonaparte was staying and tried to tear thru the roof. The next morning there were holes torn in the roof and Bonaparte fled that day back to New York City. He later wrote that he feared the beast was after him because he had shot at it.

January 1909, however, saw the most frenetic period of devil sightings ever recorded. Thousands of people claimed to witness the Jersey Devil during the week of January 16 – 23. Newspapers nationwide followed the story and published eyewitness reports. Hysteria gripped the entire state during this terrible week.

During this week a 13 year old boy vanished and some people claimed to have seen the devil flying with the limp form of a young boy in its clutches. Was it the missing boy. And what could this creature have been.