AMERICAN FOLKLORE.NET: Birth of the Jersey Devil

http://www.americanfolklore.net/

Corinna recently discovered this website and sent me some stories for the blog:

Birth of the Jersey Devil
A New Jersey Legend
retold by S.E. Schlosser

A storm was raging that night in 1735, when Mother Leeds was brought to bed in childbirth. The room was full of woman folk gathered to help her, more out of curiosity than good will. They had all heard the rumors that Mother Leeds was involved in witchcraft, and had sworn she would give birth to a devil.
Tension mounted when at last the baby arrived. It was a relief (and to some a disappointment), when the baby was born completely normal. But a few moments later, before their terrified eyes, the child began to change. The room erupted with screams as the child grew at an enormous rate, becoming taller than a man and changing into a beast which resembled a dragon, with a head like a horse, a snake-like body and bat's wings.

As soon as it was full-grown, the monster began beating all the woman (including his mother) with its thick, forked tail. With a harsh cry, it flew through the chimney and vanished into the storm.

The Monster of Leeds, or the Jersey Devil as he was later called, still haunts the pines of New Jersey, wrecking havoc upon farmer's crops and livestock, poisoning pools and creeks, and appearing on the New Jersey shore just before a ship wreck.

'DEMO TRAILER' FOR JERSEY DEVIL MOVIE

DALE DRINNON: Attempting a Composite Jersey Devil Profile

The Jersey Devil, sometimes called the Leeds Devil, is a legendary creature or cryptid 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. [1] The Jersey Devil has worked its way into the pop culture of the area, even lending its name to New Jersey's team in the National Hockey League.

...Throughout the 1800s, the Jersey Devil was blamed for livestock killings, strange tracks, and reported sounds. In the early 1900s, a number of people in New Jersey and neighboring states claimed to witness the Jersey Devil or see its tracks. Claims of a corpse matching the Jersey Devil's description arose in 1957[Generallysaid to be a hoax]. In 1960, the merchants around Camden offered a $10,000 reward for the capture of the Jersey Devil, even offering to build a private zoo to house the creature if captured.[3]

[1,3] McCrann, Grace-Ellen (26 October 2000). "Legend of the New Jersey Devil". The New Jersey Historical Society. http://www.jerseyhistory.org/legend_jerseydevil.html. Retrieved 16 February 2010.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Devil




As many readers might know, I was at one time a major contributor to the SITU and had full access to Ivan Sanderson's library and archives before they were broken up and sent away to various other institutions (I am currently in contact with an organisation that has retrieved most of the files).


After an initial survey of Jersey Devil reports subitted by Loren Coleman and Jerome Clark in the early 1970s, Ivan Sanderson sent them a letter (which I have seen) explaining that he considered the Jersey Devil sightings to be based on a large condor-like bird or 'Thunderbird' and he explained why. He also said that there was a secret society at work in New Jersey that would attack undesirable neighbours with acts of terrorism, framing the Jersey Devil as the cause (something out of Scooby Doo, but more deadly serious: the perpetrators would destroy livestock and leave faked tracks among other things). This secret society had been in existance since colonial times and was largely perpetrated by certain member families, operating along similar lines to the Ku Klux Klan.

However, once the obvious hoaxes and mistakes are sorted out, there are still any number of alleged Jersey Devil sightings, particularly in the 'Flying Horrible' category. There is something generally like a huge eagle that leaves large three-toed footprints and then again assorted other 'devils', which include trails of 'Devil's Footprints' such as seen in Devonshire in 1855 and 2009 (these would seem to have a natural origin not requiring the invention of a 'devil' to explain them). It seems that anything out of the ordinary in New Jersey gets slapped with the 'Jersey Devil' tag, and this includes sightings of bears, pumas, kangaroos and even a possible 'Mothman' or two, and unfortunately the inevitable bald dogs more recently. But most of the sightings are 'Jabberwocks' seen just once apiece for any sort of detailed description given.

In January 1909 came the most impressive series of Jersey Devil sightings when about a hundred individuals in Northern New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania claimed to have seen it. The only scientific opinion advanced was that it could have been a relic pterodactyl that people were describing. Any or all of the sightings during this 'flap' period could be lies or hallucinations based on fear aroused by the 'Devil's Hoofprints' that were appearing at the same time. No single blanket explanation would cover all of the 'Devil' experiences at the time, unless it really was an outbreak of amorphous demons, since all the sightings described something different.

The following is a sampler of the reported traits: large crane-like bird; glowing head (eyes?); ram-like horns curling around the back of the head (this may have been an appearance caused by wrinkled and warty skin rather than actual horns); long thin legs and long thin wings; short useless forelegs pressed to the chest (which might be imaginary); squawking and whistling; red glowing eyes; bird legs and horse's head; bat wings; long tail with barb at the end; forked tail; alligator skin; breathed fire; one horn on the head; tail like an ostrich; monkey-like face; dogface; 3 feet high; 11 foot wingspan; winged kangaroo; head like (the size of?) a collie dog and face like a horse; long neck; 3 1/2 feet high; legs like a crane; horse's hoofs (probably to match the alleged footprints); split hoofs; human-like feet; 3-toed bird-like feet; wings about 2 feet long folded up (which meant possibly about a 10-12 foot wingspan with wings spread); 6 feet tall; 6-foot-long bird (beak to tail); feet hanging down as it flew; hopping on the ground; awkward flight close to the ground; effortless soaring high in the sky; hair and feathers; scales; red head; black, brown or grey colour on the rest of the body-occasionally reported as green or some other colour.

Some of the traits are possibly only imaginary or remembered incorrectly and exaggerated in the retelling. But there is no internal sorting criteria by which it could be guessed, which traits are more likely to be real and which ones might be false, as measured by the consensus of opinion. There is very little consensus of opinion.

This being in January with snow-covered ground, the 'fire-breathing' probably means no more than its breath made condensation or 'steam.' If it actually was a large condor-like bird, many of the reported traits would fit. These include the regularly-reported bird legs, feathers on the body and scales on the legs but a bald head and a ruff that looks like hair around the neck, the tail like an ostrich's, and even the different flight patters at different altitudes, even including the feet hanging down when it is flying at low level (this was a bird report but it was also the one that said 'human-like feet').

The comparison of the head to that of a horse or collie dog means that the head is an elongated oval, but the hooked beak is only very rarely mentioned. The size is also consistent if we take 3 to 3 and a half feet as the height and about ten feet as the wingspan: stretched out head to tail might be estimated as six feet long but probably that would be exaggerated.

This is, however, only after digging out the details. The reports as they stand sound nothing like condors at face value. Perhaps witnesses were so unnerved at seeing THE DEVIL at night that they all freaked out and were all confused about it afterwards. Perhaps some journalists took liberties with recording the reports afterwards

But basically all that can be said in summary is that if most of the witnesses are describing the same thing and that thing is a sort of a condor, then most of the reports that we have on record are remarkably bad reports.

• Bord, Janet and Bord, Colin. Alien Animals. Harrisburg, PA, Stackpoole books, 1981


• Clark, Jerome. UNEXPLAINED! Washington, DC, Visible Ink,1993


• MacDougall, Curtis D. Hoaxes. New York, Dover Books, 1958

LINDSAY SELBY: The Jersey Devil

The Jersey Devil, sometimes called the Leeds Devil, is a creature said to live in the Pine Barrens in southern New Jersey. The creature is often described as a flying biped with hooves. The story of its exist has been around for over 260 years. There are apparently over 2,000 eyewitnesses reports and its sighting has been responsible for the closing of schools and factories at times when it was at its peak.

The origin of the creature lies in a legend concerning a Mrs Jane Leeds who came from a poor family in the Pine Barrens of Jersey. In 1735 she was pregnant with her 13th child and she said to friends and relatives that the “Devil can take the next one”, and supposedly he did. When the baby was born it was said to be a deformed monster. It supposedly grew to more than 20 feet long, with a reptilian body, a horse’s head, bat wings and a long, forked tail. It then escaped up the chimney (or out of a window depending on the version of the tale) and began haunting the Pine Barrens. Some said Mrs Leeds was a witch and the father of the child was the devil. Another legend says a young girl fell in love with a British soldier during the Revolutionary War and the people of Leeds Point cursed the girl. When she gave birth to a child it looked like the devil. In 1740 a priest was brought in to exorcise the devil from the area and for years it was not seen.

Alfred Heston, the local historian for the area, believes that the Jersey Devil could have been born to either the Leeds or the Shrouds families. Mr Heston discovered that a Daniel Leeds had land in Great Egg Harbour in 1699 and the family home was in Leeds Point.

Sightings of the devil started again when it was seen in the 1800s.

Joseph Bonaparte, former king of Spain and brother of the famous Napoleon Bonaparte, reported seeing the Jersey Devil in Bordentown between 1816 and 1839 when out hunting.

In the 1840s a strange creature with a piercing scream and odd hoof-like footprints was reported to be killing livestock in the area around the Pine Barrens.

On January 16th 1909 it was seen by many people:

Thack Cozzens of Woodbury reported seeing a flying creature with glowing eyes. John Mcowen heard and saw the creature on the banks of a canal. Policeman James Sackville fired on a strange creature as it flew away. E. W. Minister, Postmaster for Bristol, also reported seeing a bird-like creature with a horse head and a piercing scream. Mr and Mrs Nelson Evans of Gloucester were awakened by a strange noise and on looking out of the window, Mr Nelson watched what he claimed was the Jersey Devil for 10 minutes.

On January 19th 1909 a Burlington police officer and the Reverend John Pursell of Pemberton reported seeing the Jersey Devil. Reverend John Pursell was quoted as saying “Never saw anything like it before.”

On January 20th 1909 it was seen by members of by the Black Hawk Social Club and also seen by a trolley full of people in Clementon. Mrs Sorbinski of Camden heard a commotion in her back yard. Upon inspection, she discovered the Jersey Devil with her dog in its grasp. Mrs Sorbinski beat the Jersey Devil with a broom until it dropped her dog and flew off into the night.

Then on January 21st 1909 Camden police officer Louis Strehr witnessed the Jersey Devil drinking from his horse’s trough.

The next documented sighting was in 1927 when a cab driver on his way to Salem got flat tyre and whilst he was fixing it, an upright-standing creature landed on the roof of his cab. The creature shook the cab violently and the cab driver ran away. When he returned it had gone.

In August 1930 berry pickers at Leeds Point and Mays Landing reported seeing the Devil in the fields eating blueberries and cranberries. It was reported again two weeks later in the north.

In November 1951 a group of children were allegedly cornered by the Devil at the Duport Clubhouse in Gibbstown. The creature left without causing any harm.

In 1960 a group of people near Mays Landing were scared by strange cries and screams. State officials tried to calm the nervous residents but no explanation could be found for the strange sounds. Harry Hunt, who owned the Hunt Brothers Circus, offered $100,000 for the capture of the creature.

In 1961 a couple were parked up along a road in the Pine Barrens when they heard a loud screeching noise outside. Suddenly the roof of their car smashed and the screeching sound was now right on top of them. The couple fled but later said when they returned they saw an unknown creature flying along the treeline making the same screeching noise.

In 1966 the Jersey Devil was blamed for the death of 31 ducks, 3 geese, 4 cats and two dogs at a local farm. One of the dogs was a large German shepherd found with its throat ripped out.

In 1987 in Vinland, another German shepherd was found torn apart and the body apparently gnawed upon. The body was located 25 feet from where the dog was chained up. Around the body were strange tracks.

In 1993 a forest ranger named John Irwin was driving along the Mullica River in southern New Jersey. He found the road ahead of him blocked by what looked like the Jersey Devil. He described it as being about six feet tall with horns and matted black fur. Irwin stated that he and the creature stared at one another for several minutes before the monster finally turned and ran into the forest.

More recently, in 2004 on a snowy winter night the Winkelmann children were playing outside when they were scared by a creature and headed indoors. Later that night Mrs Winkelmann and her 11-year-old son headed outside to unplug Christmas lights and they noticed a two-legged winged creature in the trees above. The woman and her child ran back to the house as the creature landed on their roof. For the rest of the night the entire family stayed safely locked inside the house. The next morning when they went outside they noticed footprints on the roof and took pictures as evidence to prove the story was real.

This site: http://www.njdevilhunters.com/ claims to be official jersey devil hunters site includes reports of sightings up to 2003.

So myth, reality or mistaken identity? It has certainly been around a long time.