Cryptid Compendium: The Jersey Devil
Welcome to Field Notes from the Beyond!
Each month, we will feature a cryptid during the second week of the month. Our first Cryptid of the Month is the Jersey Devil, located in the Pine Barrens of the Garden State. Also known as the Leeds Devil, the Jersey Devil is a huge bat-like creature that stands 3 to 4 feet tall and boasts a 4- to 9-foot wingspan. It is said to be covered in brown or black fur, except for on its wings, which are bare-skinned. Another common description terms it a kangaroo-like creature with the face of a horse, the head of a dog, bat-like wings, horns, and a tail. There are some who claim that the Jersey Devil is not a cryptid, but rather a demon, leading to it being designated the country’s only state demon in 1938. Local oral tradition says that ministers have tried many times to exorcise the Pine Barrens to no avail.
The Jersey Devil began his reign in 1735. There are several versions of his origin, but most go back to Mrs. or Mother Leeds, a woman living in Estellville, NJ (now Estell Manor), with 12 children, expecting her 13th. It is said that she complained to her friends and relatives during her pregnancy about having so many children already, saying, “The Devil can take the next one”, or “Let it be the Devil”. When her 13th child, a son, was born on a stormy night, he was a grotesque monster. Some stories claim the child was born normal, but quickly (within minutes) grew and sprouted wings, talons, and horns. There is one version of the story that rumors an intimate relationship between Mrs. Leeds, said to be a witch in this story, and Satan, leading to the child’s conception.
Right after being born, some say the child kicked the assisting midwife and then flew out of the house. Others claim the child attacked the entire family before leaving through the chimney. Still others will say that he simply flew away into the surrounding swamp. Regardless, he does not stay with the Leeds family past moments after his birth.
There is another version of the story that takes place in Leeds Point, NJ, rather than Estellville, and involves a woman named Mrs. Shrouds who wished for a devil child or cursed her child, resulting in the Jersey Devil. The Shroud House, the supposed birthing house in Leeds Point in the 1600s, no longer exists. The location is said to be past Moss Mill and Leeds Point Roads, but all that is left is a depression in the ground.
Since leaving its birthplace, the Jersey Devil has lived in the Pine Barrens, according to legend, eating children. There have been over 2000 sightings in central and southern New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. Almost 1000 of these were in 1909! During the 1909 sightings, there was mass hysteria. Deaths of pets and chickens were blamed on him. Newspapers and local authorities took reports seriously, even closing schools in some cases. These sightings reached into Pennsylvania towns like Bristol and Williamsport, as well as Philadelphia. Supposedly, the Philadelphia Zoo even offered a $10,000 reward for capturing him!
Two particularly famous sightings occurred in the early 1800s. In 1820, Napoleon Bonaparte’s older brother Joseph claimed he saw the Jersey Devil near his home in Bordentown, NJ. Also in the early 1800s, Stephen Decatur, a US Naval war hero, saw the Jersey Devil fly across the sky while he was checking equipment on a firing range. He claimed that he hit the Jersey Devil with a cannonball, but it kept going.
There have been several explanations posited for what the Jersey Devil is, other than the 13th child of Mrs. Leeds. One possible explanation is a misidentified sandhill crane, a large bird found in the area. Another possibility is the claim that it could be a misidentified African hammerhead fruit bat that came to the state after stowing away on a fruit ship from Africa to America. This claim is particularly popular to explain the 1909 sightings, but there is no explanation for how the tropical bat would have survived in the freezing climate of New Jersey’s winters.
Yet another possible explanation is that the Jersey Devil is, in fact, a pterodactyl that survived the mass extinctions of the Late Jurassic and Cretaceous epochs.
A final explanation of the Jersey Devil that does not explain the thousands of sightings over a few hundred years, but may explain the origins of the story, is that Mrs. Leeds (or Mrs. Shrouds) gave birth to a child with a physical disability. Given the thinking of the time period, that child would have been labeled as cursed. Let’s hope this is not the true story of the state demon of New Jersey. If it is, hopefully we’ve come a long way since then.
Do you think this is the Jersey Devil?
For more information:
https://www.pinelandsadventures.org/the-legend-of-the-jersey-devil/
This day in paranormal history…
July 7, 1947: William “Mac” Brazel reports recovering debris from a flying saucer near his ranch in Roswell, New Mexico.
July 8, 2008: Premiere date for Australia’s The One, a reality TV show that pitted alleged psychics against one another to determine Australia’s “top psychic”.
July 9, 1945: Birthday of Dean Koontz, author of numerous novels with paranormal themes, such as The House at the End of the World, The Darkest Evening of the Year, and the Odd-Thomas books.
July 10, 1856: Birthday of Nikola Tesla, Serbian engineer, futurist, and inventor.
July 11, 1991: Hundreds of people witness a UFO over Mexico City during a solar eclipse.
July 12, 1990: 600-foot long East Field Pictogram appears near the parishes Alton Barnes, Alton Priors, and Honeystreet in the Vale of Pewsey, Wiltshire, ushering in the modern era of crop circles.
July 13, 2021: Publication date of The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix.
Defining the Paranormal
Each week, Field Notes from the Beyond will give you definitions of terms related to paranormal, supernatural, and anomalous phenomena, including one in each category below.
General Studies
Supernatural – Things that are beyond the natural world
Ghosts & Hauntings
Haunting – The presence of a non-corporeal being of human or non-human origins that exists in one form or another in a time and space where it is not supposed to exist
Cryptids
Cryptozoology - The study of cryptids
Aliens & UFOs
UFO - Unidentified Flying Object, typically implies an alien spacecraft
Non-Human Entities
Demon - Malevolent, non-human entities who seek to cause physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual pain and harm to humans, as well as possibly cause death
Psychic Abilities
ESP - Extrasensory perception; the ability to perceive things that are outside the normal range of human senses, also called a sixth sense
Magic
Sympathetic magic - a type of magic based on imitation or correspondence, may use effigies, fetishes, poppets, etc.; based on the idea that like produces like
Coming Up Next
Next Week in Field Notes from the Beyond: Next we begin to explore The Haunted World, bringing you a different haunted location each month. First up - Gettysburg Battlefield!
Next Month on Beyond the Human: Our Experiences at the Sallie House
Upcoming Events:
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