The Jersey Devil, or Leeds Devil, has been an important figure in American folklore for over two centuries. Encounters with the Devil have been recorded in legends as varied as one featuring the 19th century Naval hero Stephen Decatur to The X-Files’ Special Agent Fox Mulder. But where did the myth originate?
In our second excerpt from Eerie Appalachia (2022, The History Press), Mark Muncy and Kari Schultz explore the origins of the Official State Demon of New Jersey, the Jersey Devil. Read here for our first excerpt on the Devil Spiders in the Catskills
(Keith Survell/Flickr)
The History Press
The Jersey Devil
Pine Barrens, New Jersey
The epitome of the holler tale gone viral is that of the Jersey Devil. This story has so many variations in the nearly 250 years since it originated. While many do not associate New Jersey with the Appalachian heritage and folklore tales, this legend firmly fits the mold of most mountain monster lore.
The area this creature comes from is in southeastern New Jersey, a large dense conglomeration of swamp marsh and dense cedar forest. The area was very difficult to traverse, and Native American trails were sometimes the only paths available through these great obstacles of nature. This area is known as the Pine Barrens, a name that has existed since before the Revolutionary War.
The most famous account of the birth of this legend is that on a dark and stormy night in 1735, a Quaker gave birth to a child during a great thunderstorm. Many believed her to be a witch or, at the very least, enchanted. The woman was known as Mother Leeds, and she had many children already. When this child was born deformed, she cursed it, as it would put her into further debt. Another account claims that the child became more and more deformed as it grew older.
Jersey Devil eyewitness illustration from the Philadelphia Bulletin, circa 1909.
Mother Leeds locked the child up to hide her shame. The child grew stranger every day as it turned into a monster or demon. It had a horse’s head and an elongated body. Wings sprouted from its shoulders. Its feet turned into cloven hooves. It finally grew a thick tail. The creature escaped up the chimney one night, and the rest is history.
There are other variations of this story involving a tryst between a British soldier and a young girl. Their child was cursed to become the Jersey Devil due to her act of treason against the Americans. Another claims that a young woman crossed a Romani and was cursed to bear the demonic child. A final version says that a man made a monstrous face mask to entertain children, but it became so popular that he never removed it. None of these tales is repeated as much as the Mother Leeds version. Early accounts even refer to the creature as the “Leeds Devil.”
As he is a “Devil,” his reputation expanded. If your crops failed, it was due to the Jersey Devil. Cows fail to give good milk? “The Jersey Devil has struck again.” Any livestock gone missing? “Had to be the Jersey Devil!” Stories became that he returned every seven years like locusts. He would be an omen of war, drought and other unspeakable disasters.
There were sightings reported all over the area. Many included noted witnesses like police officers, postal workers and local business people. His tracks were often seen in the snow of winter.
Famously, a naval hero of America, Commodore Stephen Decatur, spotted the creature and fired a cannonball right at it, but it did not even stagger the creature as it flew overhead. Even Napoleon’s brother once took a shot at it while he was hunting in Bordentown, New Jersey
The Devil has appeared all over New England, sticking to the woods and Appalachian foothills. He has been spotted in New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Delaware. In 1909, there was a one-week period where more than thirty sightings were reported in the papers of the area.
After Jersey Devil sightings were reported in 1960, wealthy merchants offered a $250,000 reward for the capture of the beast.
The Smithsonian Institute weighed in on the legend and claimed that it might have been some prehistoric creature that had lived in the limestone caves nearby. An extinct fissiped, some unique marsupial carnivore, a pterodactyl or the Thunderbird were all postulated in the papers by various scientific communities. Even the Mothman theory of an unusual sandhill crane migration was brought up.
The Jersey Devil sometimes has sometimes been attributed to benevolent stories. He has helped stranded travelers in the Pine Barrens by guiding them to safety. He became famous in the 1970s when the movie The Legend of Boggy Hollow brought his story to national attention.
In 1929, the Jersey Devil was declared the Official State Demon of New Jersey. This is a title only held by this creature. The twice governor of New Jersey Walter Edge was quoted, “When I was a boy … I was never threatened with the bogey man. … We were threatened with the Jersey Devil, morning, noon, and night.”
The Jersey Devil is not going anywhere anytime soon. Sightings continue to this day. Would-be monster hunters seek him out as much as Bigfoot, Nessie or any other monster—even if it is only a famous holler legend.
Mark Muncy is the creator of Hellview Cemetery, a charity haunted house in Central Florida that was so infamous it was banned by the City of St. Petersburg. An author of horror and science fiction, Mark has spent more than three decades collecting ghostly tales and reports of legendary beasts. He is also the author of Eerie Florida and Freaky Florida. He lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, on the remains of an ancient midden with his wife, Kari Schultz. Occasionally, he is visited by his daughters when they remember he is still there.
Kari Schultz is a varied illustrator at Fox Dream Studio who enjoys fantasy and horror. She has been working on art as long as she can remember and reading folklore and horror almost as long. She is the author of Eerie Appalachia, Eerie Alabama, Eerie Florida and others.
Have thoughts or reactions to this or any other piece that you’d like to share? Send us a note with the Letter to the Editor form.
