The Jersey Devil, Everything You Could Ever Want To Know.

The Jersey Devil is a legendary creature 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. And many different people have described it many different ways over the years.

Below you can read several stories of things " The Jersey Devil " is said to have done over the years. It has been reported in several different forms over the years and as late as 2014 it was reported as alive and well still enjoying the Jersey Pine Barrens.

The very earliest legends about the Jersey Devil date back to the time of the early Native Americans who lived in the area where the New Jersey Pine Barrens are now located.

The Delaware Indian Tribe called this area "Popuessing" which translates in English to the place of the dragon. The very early Native Americans warned the first English settlers that came into the area that there was a very evil creature that lived in the Pine Barrens and that it was a dragon.

And there are some people who have traced the Legend Of The Jersey Devil to present day Atlantic County New Jersey. In that legend it is said that a woman known as Mother Leeds had 12 children and when she discovered that she was pregnant with the 13th child she was said to have told anyone that would listen that the 13th child would be the Devil. Mother Leeds has been identified as Deborah Leeds and it is said that her husband Japhet Leeds named 12 children in the will he wrote in 1736. The Leeds lived in the same area where the Jersey Devil is most often seen.

The legend says that when the 13th child was born to Mrs Leeds that when it came near to the time when the child was to be born that a violent horrible creature tore its way out of the mothers stomach and then it ran off into the woods. Mrs Leeds lost her life that day and with in a few years people were telling of seeing the creature that has come to be called The Jersey Devil.

Most people who live in the area today will tell you that the Jersey Devil is very real and that it can fly through the air. They say that as the creature flies along that it will scream a hideous scream that will chill the soul of any man.

If you were an X Files fan then you probably saw the episode about the Jersey Devil. If not then you should look up that particular episode and watch it.

A lot of people make the claim that the Jersey Devil is only an urban myth or legend but then there will be sightings of the creature flying over the New Jersey pine barrens and this leads to some people knowing that the Jersey Devil is a very real living creature that lives out there somewhere in the New Jersey pine barrens.

If you'll check out the photo below you will see what looks like the real Jersey Devil chasing a deer. Is that a real creature in the photo below? If not then what is it?

There is a local group located in Atlantic County New Jersey that have hunted for the Jersey Devil now for 40 or more years. Almost every year they will make the local newspapers when they report a Jersey Devil sighting or the finding of the Jersey Devils lair or nest.

In January of 2010 a man looking for scrap metal located a really strange nest that looked like a large overgrown birds nest located in the top of the old burned out Drexel building in northern Atlantic County New Jersey. The nest was investigated by the Devil Hunters and they reported that it was clear that some large creature was living in the nest.

Members of the group camped out and spent several nights in the area but the Jersey Devil never put in an appearance. Though on the third night loud terrifying screams were heard coming from the south and a sound that sounded like large leather wings was heard. But nothing was ever seen of the creature or creatures that was making the sounds.

Hairs were located in the nest and were sent off to be analyzed but the results were inconclusive. The lab that did the analysis thought some one was messing with them. Carbon 14 testing that was done on the hairs said that the hair was at least 10,000 years old and possibly older.

DNA testing later done on the hair were just as strange. The DNA tests said that the creature the hairs came from were related to raptor dinosaurs. And of course no raptor dinosaurs are currently roaming around New Jersey or anywhere near there.

There is further testing being done on the hairs and other strange materials from the nest but nothing new has been reported in more than a year now.

The most popular version of the Jersey Devil legend begins in the 18th century when Deborah Smith from England immigrated to the Pine Barrens in southern New Jersey to marry a Mr. Leeds, a rather vain man who wanted several heirs to continue the family name.

Consequently, the new wife was continually pregnant. After bearing twelve healthy children, she was dismayed to be pregnant with her thirteenth. She cursed the unborn child, declaring a preference to bear the Devil's child rather than another Leeds. Apparently, her wish was granted as the new child had cloven hooves, claws, and a tail. The horrific newborn proceeded to eat the other Leeds children and the parents, before escaping through the chimney to begin its reign of terror.

This version is contradicted by the fact that Mother Leeds has descendants that, as of 1998, still lived in Atlantic County New Jersey according to a New York Times article dated April 26, 1998 . There are several variations of the

Leeds tale, such as one claiming that when Mrs Leeds became pregnant with her thirteenth child, she remarked, "May it be a devil!"The belief that a deformed child was the work of Satan or a curse was still common during the 1800s.

There is another account of the Jersey Devil's origin known to local people in South Jersey. It can be summarized as follows:

A South Jersey woman was expecting her first baby, which she naturally hoped would be perfect. But the newborn turned out to be the ugliest anyone had seen. Distraught, the mother exclaimed, "This isn't my son. This is the devil's son. May God give the thing back to him!" She threw the infant into the river, where he drowned. To this day, a rock at the riverbottom is said to be haunted by a malevolent air-sucking devil who pulled many swimmers under the rock until they drowned, after which the bodies would eventually rise to the surface.[citation needed]

It should be noted that this description of an air-sucking entity sounds much like a distorted account of a whirlpool, with the bodies rising to the surface due to decompositional gases.

In contrast, Native American legends depict the devil as a friendly protector of the Pines. Sightings of the devil were believed to be signs of good fortune, a view widely espoused by locals from the late 1700s until 1909.

My friend says his grandmother always told him that long before he was born that she lived out in the Jersey Pine Barrens and one night a large winged creature raided their farm and took the familys two pigs in the night and some days later it returned and slashed the familys cow down its side.

She told that the cow had two long claw marks down its side. And she said for days the family kept big bon fires burning all night outside. And that the neighbors kept fires going to. The remains of one of the pigs was found about a mile away in the top of a tree. Before the pig was taken it had weighed 150 pounds or more. When it was found in the tree top only its front half was left. And local people at the time in the mid 1920s thought it was the real devil not some mythical creature that was doing the killing of animails and eating of animails. She said she remembers stories even being told at the time that children were even taken. And she told of a neighbors house that was attacked in the night one night.

She said there was a deep hole in one part of the woods that had strange tracks around the entrance and a horrible smell like rotting dead flesh coming from it. She said her father and other men threw sticks of dynamite into the hole and they heard screams of rage and anger come up out of the hole but nothing came out. She said however that the next fall after cold weather that the flying devil as it was called then was right back attacking livestock and terrorizing the people. She said she and her family moved away to Kentucky when she was 14 and that was the last she heard of the Flying Devil.

His grandmother says that for years the neighbors and other local people saw the Devil flying and that from time to time livestock would vanish or be injured and people would blame it on the devil. And her aunt who still lived in the area would write and tell of the things the Devil was still doing in the Jersey Pine Barrens.

In 1778, Commodore Stephen Decatur, a naval hero, visited the Hanover Iron Works in the Barrens to test cannonballs at a firing range, where he allegedly witnessed a strange, pale white creature winging overhead. Using cannonfire, Decatur punctured the wing membrane of the creature, which continued flying apparently unfazed to the amazement of onlookers.It turned its head and let out a horrible scream at them but it continued flying.

In 1840, the devil was blamed for several livestock killings. 1841 saw similar attacks, accompanied by strange tracks and unearthly screams. The devil made an 1859 appearance in Haddonfield. Bridgeton witnessed a flurry of sightings during the winter of 1873. And above you can read about where it raided and killed Live Stock in the 1920s. It would appear that there had to have been something to the story.

Joseph Bonaparte (eldest brother of Emperor Napoleon) is said to have witnessed the Jersey Devil while hunting on his Bordentown, New Jersey estate. He was said to have shot at it several times with little or no effect. It is said that it landed one night on the roof of the house where Bonaparte was staying and tried to tear thru the roof. The next morning there were holes torn in the roof and Bonaparte fled that day back to New York City. He later wrote that he feared the beast was after him because he had shot at it.

January 1909, however, saw the most frenetic period of devil sightings ever recorded. Thousands of people claimed to witness the Jersey Devil during the week of January 16 – 23. Newspapers nationwide followed the story and published eyewitness reports. Hysteria gripped the entire state during this terrible week.

During this week a 13 year old boy vanished and some people claimed to have seen the devil flying with the limp form of a young boy in its clutches. Was it the missing boy. And what could this creature have been.

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