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Another story placed the birth
in Estelville, NJ. Mrs. Leeds, of Estelville, finding out she was
pregnant with her 13th child, shouted," I hope it's a devil". She
got her wish. The child wad born with horns, a tail, wings, and a
horse-like head. The creature revisited Mrs. Leeds everyday. She
stood at her door and told it to leave. After awhile, the creature
got the hint and never returned.
Burlington, NJ, also claims to be the birthplace of the Jersey
Devil. In 1735, Mother Leeds was in labor on a stormy night.
Gathered around her were her friends. Mother Leeds was supposedly a
witch and the child's father was the devil himself. The child was
born normal, but then changed form. It changed from a normal baby to
a creature with hooves, a horses head, bat wings and a forked tail.
It beat everyone present and flew up the chimney. It circled the
villages and headed toward the pines. In 1740 a clergy exercised the
devil for 100 years and it wasn't seen again until 1890.
There are many other versions of the legend. The legends say it was
the 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, or 13th child, It was born normal or
deformed, and the mother confined it to the cellar or the attic.
Although there are many discrepancies in all of these stories, there
are 3 pieces of evidence that tie all of the legends of the Jersey
Devil's origin together.
The first thing that ties the legends together is the name "Leeds".
Whether the mothers name was Leeds or the birth place was Leeds
Point, all of the stories include the name Leeds. Alfred Heston, the
Atlantic County Historian, believes that the devil could be a Leeds
or a Shrouds baby. He discovered that a Daniel Leeds opened land in
Great Egg Harbor, NJ, in 1699. His family lived in Leeds Point. He
also discovered a Samuel Shrouds, Sr. came to Little Egg Harbor, NJ,
in 1735 and lived right across the river from the house of Mother
Leeds. The 3rd fact ties in the Burlington story with the others
stories. Professor Fred MacFadden of Coppin State College,
Baltimore, found that a "devil" was mentioned in writings from
Burlington as early as 1735. He also indicated that the word
Burlington was used to was the word used to names the area from the
city of Burlington to the Atlantic Ocean. This means that the name
that is now used for the birthplace such as Leeds point or
Estelville, could be the same place referred to in the Burlington
Legend.
The origins provide some validity to the existence of the Jersey
Devil, but the sightings are the most substantial pieces of
evidence. The sightings have been divided up into 3 time periods,
pre 1909, January 16-23, 1909, and post 1909.
From the pre 1909 era, few documented records of sightings still
exist. The ones that do confirm the existence of the devil.
In the early 19th century, Commodore Stephen Decatur, a naval hero,
was testing cannon balls on the firing range when he saw a strange
creature flying across the sky. He fired and hit the creature but it
kept right on flying across the field. Joseph Bonaparte, former king
of Spain and brother of Napoleon, saw the Jersey Devil in
Bordentown, NJ, between 1816 and 1839 while he was hunting. In
1840-41 many sheep and chickens were killed by a creature with a
piercing scream and strange tracks. In 1859-94, the Jersey Devil was
seen and numerous times and reportedly carried off anything that
moved in Haddonfield, Bridgeton, Smithville, Long Branch,
Brigantine, and Leeds Point. W.F. Mayer of New York noticed while
visiting the Pine Barrens, most of the locals would not venture out
after dark. The devil was sighted by George Saarosy, A prominent
business man, at the NJ/NY border. This was the last reported
sighting before the turn of the century.
In 1903, Charles Skinner, author of American Myths and Legends,
claimed that the legend of the devil had run it's course and that in
the new century, NJ would hear no more of the devil. New Jersey
rested easy with that thought for 6 years, until the week of January
16-23. 1909. During this week, the devil would leave his tracks all
over South Jersey and Philadelphia. He was seen by over 1,00 people.
This was his largest appearance ever.
It all started early Sunday morning, January 16, 1909. Thack Cozzens
of Woodbury, NJ, saw a flying creature with glowing eyes flying down
the street. In Bristol, PA, John Mcowen heard and saw the strange
creature on the banks of the canal. Patrol James Sackville fired at
the creature as it flew away screaming. E.W. Minister, Postmaster of
Bristol, PA, also saw a bird-like creature with a horses head that
had a piercing scream. When daylight came, the residents of Bristol
found hoof prints in the snow. Two local trappers said they had
never seen tracks like those before.
On Monday, the Lowdens of Burlington, NJ, found hoof prints in their
yard and around their trash, which was half eaten. Almost every yard
in Burlington had these strange hoof prints in them. The prints went
up trees, went from roof to roof, disappeared in the middle of the
road, and stopped in the middle of open fields. The same tracks were
also found in Columbus, Hedding, Kinhora and Rancocas. A hunt was
organized to follow the tracks but the dogs wouldn't follow the
trail.
On the 19th the Jersey Devil made his longest appearance of the
week. At 2:30 am, Mr. & Mrs. Nelson Evans of Gloucester were
awakened by a strange noise. They watched the devil from their
window for 10 minutes. Mr. Evans described the creature they saw:
It was about three feet
and half high, with a head like a collie dog and
a face like a horse. It had a long neck, wings about two
feet long, and
its back legs were like those of a crane, and it had horse's
hooves.
It walked on its back legs and held up two short front legs
with paws
on them. It didn't use the front legs at all while we were
watching.
My wife and I were scared, I tell you, but I managed to open
the
window and say, 'Shoo', and it turned around barked at me,
and flew away.
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2Tuesday afternoon 2 professional
hunters tracked the devil for 20 miles in Gloucester. The trail
jumped 5 foot fences and went under 8 inch spaces. The hoof prints
were found in more parts of South Jersey. A group of observers in
Camden, NJ, saw the devil. It barked at them and then took off into
the air.
The next day, a Burlington police
officer and the Reverend John Pursell of Pemberton saw the Jersey
Devil. Rev. Pursell said, "Never saw anything like it before".
3Posses in Haddonfield found tracks that ended abruptly. In
Collingswood, NJ, a posse watched the devil fly off toward
Moorestown. Near Moorestown, John Smith of Maple Shade saw the devil
at the Mount Carmel Cemetery. George Snyder saw the devil right
after Mr. Smith and their descriptions were identical. In Riverside,
NJ, hoof prints were found on roof tops and also around a dead
puppy.
On Thursday, the Jersey Devil was seen by the Black Hawk Social
Club. He was also seen by a trolley full of people in Clementon as
it circled above them. The witnesses descriptions matched others
from the days before. In Trenton, Councilman E.P. Weeden heard the
flapping of wings and then found hoof prints outside his door. The
prints were also found at the arsenal in Trenton. As the day wore on
the Trolleys in Trenton and New Brunswick had armed drivers to ward
off attacks. The people in Pitman filled churches. Chickens had been
missing all week throughout the Delaware Valley, but when the
farmers checked their yards that day, they found their chickens
dead, with no marks on them. The West Collingswood Fire Department
fired their hose at the devil. The devil retreated at first, but
then charged and flew away at the last second.
Later that night, Mrs. Sorbinski of Camden heard a commotion in her
yard. She opened the door to see the Jersey Devil standing there
with her dog in it's grip. She hit the devil with a broom until it
let go of her dog and flew away. She started screaming until her
neighbors came over. Two police officers arrived at her house where
over 100 people had gathered. The crowd heard a scream coming from
Kaigan Hill. The mob ran toward the creature on the hill. The
Policed shot at it and the devil flew off into the night. The
streets of Camden were empty after this.
On Friday, Camden police officer Louis Strehr saw the Jersey Devil
saw the devil drinking from a horses trough. The school in Mt
Ephraim was closed because no students came in. Mills and factories
in Gloucester and Hainesport had to close because none of the
employees came to work. Many New Jersey residents wouldn't leave
their houses, even in daylight. Officer Merchant of Blackwood drew a
sketch of the creature he saw. His sketch coincided with the
descriptions from earlier in the week. Jacob Henderson saw the devil
in Salem and described it as having "wings and a tail"
4The devil
was only seen once more in 1909 in February.
Since 1909, the Jersey Devil has continued to be sighted by people
all over New Jersey. The number of sightings that have been reported
to the authorities has dwindled over the years. This could be
attributed to the fact that people don't want to be branded as
crazy. Even though the number of reported sightings has dropped,
there's still a considerable amount of sightings in the post 1909
era.
IN 1927, a cab driver on his way to Salem got a flat tire. He
stopped to fix the tire. As he was doing this, creature that stood
upright and was covered with hair, landed on the roof of his cab.
The creature shook his car violently. He fled the scene, leaving the
tire and jack behind. Phillip Smith, who was known as a sober and
honest man, saw the devil walking down the street in 1953. The
characteristic screams of the Jersey Devil were heard in the woods
near Woodstown, NJ, in 1936.
Around 1961, 2 couples were parked in a car in the Pine Barrens.
They heard a loud screeching noise outside. Suddenly the roof of the
car was smashed in. They fled the scene, but returned later. Again
they heard the loud screech. They saw a creature flying along the
trees, taking out huge chinks of bark as it went along.
There have been other sightings since 1909, such as the Invasion of
Gibbsboro in 1951. The people there saw the devil over a 2 day
period. In 1966, a farm was raided and 31 ducks, 3 geese, 4 cats,
and 2 dogs were killed. One of the dogs was a large german Shepard
which had it's throat ripped out. In 1981, a young couple spotted
the devil at Atsion Lake in Atlantic County.
In 1987, in Vineland an aggressive german Shepard was found torn
apart and the body gnawed upon. the body was located 25 feet from
the chain which had been hooked to him. Around the body were strange
tracks that no one could identify.
The sightings and prints are the most substantial evidence that
exists. Many of the theories on the Jersey Devil are based upon that
evidence. Some theories can be proven invalid, while others seem to
provide support for the Jersey Devil's existence.
One theory is that the Jersey Devil is a bird. Mrs. Cassidy of
Clayton thought it was an invasion of scrowfoot ducks. The scrowfoot
duck is much too small to be mistaken for the devil. Others believe
the devil is really a sand hill crane. The crane used to live in
South Jersey until it was pushed out by man. The sand hill crane
weighs about 12 lbs., is 4 foot high, and a wingspan of 80 inches.
It avoids man but if confronted it will fight. It has a loud scream
whooping voice that can be heard at a distance. This could account
for the screams heard by witnesses. The crane also eats potatoes and
corn. This could account for the raids on crops. This theory doesn't
explain , however, the killing of live stock. It also doesn't
explain why people described the devil as having a horses head, bat
wings and tail, all of which the crane doesn't have.
Professor Bralhopf said that" the tracks were made by some
prehistoric animal form the Jurassic period" 5. He believes the
creature survived underground in a cavern. An expert from the
Smithsonian Institute had a theory about ancient creatures surviving
underground. He said the Jersey Devil was a Pterodactyl. The Academy
of Natural Sciences could find no record of any creature, living or
extinct, that resembles the Jersey Devil.
Jack E. Boucher, author of Absagami Yesteryear, has a theory in
which he believes the devil was a deformed child. He thinks Mrs.
Leeds had a disfigured child and kept it locked away in the house.
She grew sick and couldn't feed the child anymore. It escaped out of
hunger and raided local farms for food. This doesn't take into
account the incredible life span of the devil. The child would have
been 174 years old in 1909. It also doesn't account for the
sightings of the devil flying.
Only a small amount of the sightings and footprints could be hoaxes.
The Jersey Devil has been seen by reliable people such as police,
government officials, postmasters, businessman, and other people
whose "integrity is beyond question." 6 As for the hoof prints, even
if some were hoaxes, There is still no way to explain most of the
tracks, especially the ones on roof tops and tracks that ended
abruptly as if the creature took wing.
The last theory is the most controversial one. Many people believe
that the Jersey Devil could be the very essence of evil, embodied.
It is said that the devil is an "uncanny harbinger of war"
7. and
appears before any great conflict. The jersey devil was sighted
before the start of the Civil War. It was also seen right before the
Spanish American War and WW I. In 1939, before the start of WW II,
Mount Holly citizens were awakened by the noise of hooves on their
roof tops. The Devil was seen on December 7, 1941, right before
Pearl Harbor was bombed. He was also seen right before the Vietnam
War.
The Jersey Devil's habit of being a forerunner to wars could be
because of his possible demonic origins. In 1730, Ben Franklin
reported a story about a witchcraft trial near Mt Holly, NJ. One of
the origin legends say that Mother Leeds was a witch. The devil's
birth could have been a result of a witches curse.
Other facts support the supernatural theory are the reports of the
death of the devil. When Commodore Decatur fired a cannon ball at
the devil, it went through him and he was unaffected.
In 1909, a track walker on the electric railroad saw the devil fly
into the wires above the tracks. There was a violent explosion which
melted the track 20 feet in both directions. No body was found and
the devil was seen later in perfect health. In 1957, the Department
of Conservation found a strange corpse in a burned out area of the
pines. It was a partial skeleton, feathers, and hind legs of an
unidentifiable creature. The devil was thought to be dead, but
reappeared when the people of New Jersey thought that this time his
death was real. Each time he is reported dead, he returns. Sometimes
this year. The Jersey Devil will be 260 years old. It seems the
devil is immortal, which a supernatural being would be. Another
thing that supports this theory is the incredible distances the
devil could fly in a short period of time. No animal could travel as
fast as the devil did in 1909 when he was sighted in South Jersey,
Philadelphia, and New York through out the week.
None of these theories can give a definitive answer to what the
Jersey Devil was or is, but the sightings prove there is something
out there. Whether the Jersey devil is a bird or a demon, is still
left to speculation. The people of New Jersey have definitely seen
something out there lurking in the Pine Barrens.
By Dave Juliano (djuliano@theshadowlands.net)
Feel free to copy this file but please leave it intact so I get
credit for my hard work. Thanks
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The Jersey Devil of Pine Barrens -
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Anthony Perticaro
@ Strange Magazine
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Jersey Devil - Fact or Fiction - @ diskworks.com
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BIBLIOGRAPHY |
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Beck, Henry Charlton. Jersey Genesis. New Brunswick, NJ:Rutgers University Press, 1963.
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Boucher, Jack E. Absegami Yesteryear. Somerspoint, NJ:Atlantic County Historical Society, 1963.
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Cilik, Yvonne, "Search is on for Hoax or Hoofprint",
The[Camden} Courier Post
June 7, 1981, pp. 18-28.
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"Jersey Devil", The [Camdem]Courier Post, October 30, 1975,p.2A.
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McGloy, James F. And Ray Miller. The Jersey Devil.
Wallingford, PA: The Middle Atlantic Press, 1976.
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McMahon, William. South Jersey Twons, New Brunswick, NJ:Rutgers University Press, 1973.
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Skinner, Charles. American Myths and Legends. Philadelphia, PA:
J.B. Lippincott, 1963.
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FOOT NOTES:
| 1 |
Henry Charlton Beck, Jersey Genesis
(New Brunswick,NJ:Rutgers
Univ. Press,
1963), p.242
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| 2 |
James F Mcgloy and Ray Miller, The Jersey Devil (wallingford,
PA:The Middle
Atlantic Press,1976), p.45
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| 3 |
Ibid.,p.50
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| 4 |
Ibid.,p.69.
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| 5 |
Ibid.,p.73.
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| 6 |
Ibid.,p.102. |
| 7 |
"Jersey Devil",The[camdem] Courier Post
(Oct.30, 1975),p.2a.
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