The legend of the Jersey Devil dates back to the 1700s, with the tale of the Leeds family. According to folklore, the matriarch of the family, Jane Leeds, had 12 children and, upon finding out she was pregnant with a 13th child, she angrily cursed the child. On a stormy night, the child was born, and at first it appeared normal. However, it soon transformed into the horned, winged, hooved beast of legend. Flying up the chimney of the Leeds home, it escaped into the Pine Barrens, where it is still sighted to this day.
There are other, less well known stories of the Jersey Devil’s beginnings. Some say a young girl was cursed after she loved a British soldier during the American Revolutionary War, with their resulting child becoming the Jersey Devil.
Sightings of the Jersey Devil have persisted for centuries. Notable individuals who claimed to have seen the creature include Commodore Stephen Decatur of the U.S. Navy, and Napoleon Bonaparte’s brother Joseph. During one week in January 1909, hundreds of people claimed to have seen or encountered the beast.
The truth about the Jersey Devil remains to be seen, although its origins likely began as simple gossip and rumors about the prominent Leeds family. The Devil’s purported home, the Pine Barrens, has long had a reputation as a foreboding and fearsome place, where one might encounter bandits or other disreputable folk. The Jersey Devil is just one of the frightening legends that have arisen surrounding the isolated and mysterious Pine Barrens.
