Jersey Devil: A Brief Look at the Intriguing Story

The Jersey Devil, is an American cryptid that appears in both South Jersey, and Philadelphia folklore. The creature is also known as the Leeds Devil. It is said that the Jersey Devil lives in the Pine Barrens forested area, in South Jersey. (South Jersey is the area in the New Jersey state, located below the I-95, and consists of the lower eight New Jersey counties. South Jersey is located between New York City, and Philadelphia).

The Jersey Devil is often described as being a flying biped, that has cloven hooves, leathery bat-like wings, horns, a forked tail, and their front arms are small and clawed. They are often described as having either a horse-like, or goat-like head, and is either a kangaroo-like creature, or like a wyvern. Witnesses claim that the creature can move extremely fast, and lets out blood-curdling, high-pitched screams.

The legend of the Jersey Devil originated with a Pine Barrens woman named Jane Leeds. She was known as ‘Mother Leeds’ to locals, and she was the mother of a dozen children. She discovered that she was pregnant yet again, with her thirteenth child. Angered and frustrated at the idea that she would yet again be with child, Jane Leeds cursed her unborn child, crying out that the baby ‘would be the devil’.

Mother Leeds went into labour on a stormy night in 1735, surrounded by her friends. The child was born as a regular human baby, but shortly after the baby was born, it changed into a truly frightening creature. It grew hooves, and bat…