Pine Barrens Folklore: The Jersey Devil

We want to believe in a Jersey Devil.  The X-Files

I don't typically write very much about cryptozoology, which some people call a science but most people consider a pseudo-science. Wikipedia defines it as the search and study of unknown, legendary, or extinct animals whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated. Such species are popular in folklore, including Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, Yeti, or the chupacabra. The only one I would consider part of this site's domain is, of course, the Jersey Devil.  

The Jersey Devil even figured into the plot of an episode of The X-Files TV series (Season 1, Episode 5) when Mulder and Scully track the legendary creature who is here a maneater that haunts the back alleys and woods surrounding Atlantic City. The "x-files" is definitely where we place this creature. 

I haven't seen any recent sightings of the Jersey Devil in the news, but there are at least 13 places where it has supposedly been seen from Bridgeton to Haddonfield in 1859; to the New York border in 1899; and from Gloucester City to Trenton in 1909. 

The legend is of a creature living in South Jersey. The Jersey Devil is also known as the Leeds Devil and is said to inhabit the Pine Barrens area.

Descriptions of the creature often describe a flying biped with hooves, with a horse- or goat-like head, leathery bat-like wings, horns, small arms with clawed hands, legs with cloven hooves, and a forked tail. It has been reported to move quickly and is often described as emitting a high-pitched "blood-curdling scream." 

Japhet Leeds House, Moss Mill Road,
Leeds Point, Atlantic County, NJ, 1937 - NPS photo

Earlier this year, I received an email from Corinne Adams who describes herself as "a maven of the Jersey Devil." Her interest is different from many people's because she is a descendant of Grandma Leeds. The folklore origin of the Jersey Devil points to Jane Leeds, known as "Mother Leeds," who had twelve children and, after finding she was pregnant for the thirteenth time, cursed the child in frustration, crying that the child would be the "devil."

The birth of that 13th child in 1735 was on a stormy night. The child appeared normal at birth but then changed to a creature with hooves, a goat's head, bat wings, and a forked tail. Growling and screaming, the child beat everyone with its tail before flying up the chimney and heading into the pines. Variations on the legend say Mother Leeds was a witch or that the child's father was Satan. 

Corrine grew up in Northfield, NJ but her father, S. Earl Jeffries, told his kids about his grandmother, Grandma Leeds.

As part of the Scarlet Speakers from Rutgers series, I watched a program on the Jersey Devil by Angus Kress Gillespie, professor of American Studies at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. He is a Fulbright professor and a New York Times best-selling author. A Yale University graduate, he did his graduate work in folklore at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The author of several books and numerous articles, Dr. Gillespie has a keen interest in the folklore of the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey. Professor Gillespie has toured theaters, coffeehouses, libraries and schools all over the State of New Jersey with his unique interpretation of the legend of the Jersey Devil.

Jersey Devil - Protector of the Pinelands

Mësingw

According to The Paris Review, in the collections of Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, there is a round ceramic disk, about the size and shape of a cobblestone, with the barest image of a face on it. There are two eyes in a mushroom-shaped head, and a mouth opened in a howl or scream. Radiocarbon dating puts its age at about seven hundred years old, which would make it one of the earliest known images of the Jersey Devil.

Growing up in New Jersey, I heard about the Jersey Devil long before I ever went into the Pinelands (AKA The Pine Barrens) of southern Jersey where the creature is supposed to live.

The first story I heard was that it was called originally the "Leeds Devil." Mother Leeds was in labor with her thirteenth child when she cried out “Let this one be a devil!” Apparently, the real Devil heard and took up the invitation and the hideous creature that came forth was able to flee the house on its own immediately.

One depiction of the European Jersey Devil

That legend may have had some basis in the story of Anne Hutchinson, the Puritan leader who was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637. After her expulsion, she gave birth to a “disturbing mass that bore little resemblance to a child. The Puritan devil-child explanation is now thought to have been "a molar pregnancy, in which a non-viable fertilized egg implants in the womb, resulting in a malformed mass of cells."

But a similar creature legend was known to the Lenape Indians who lived in Jersey before it was Jersey and before Europeans settled there, and that may have inspired our Jersey Devil.

The Lenape called it Mësingw. What is interesting - especially in the context of this blog - is that they did not view it as a monster but as a spirit that helped preserve the balance of the forest. 

Mësingw (“Living Solid Face,” “Masked Being,” or “Keeper of the Game”), according to Herbert C. Kraft, was one of the manetuwàk spirits who care for the world. Mësingw's job was to protect the animals of the forest, ensuring their health and safety. 

Mësingw doesn't resemble the more modern depictions of the Jersey Devil. It could sometimes be seen riding through the forest on a large buck, cov­ered in long, black hair from head to toe like a bear. The right side of his large, round face was colored bright red, the left side colored black. It was revered and feared. It both assured game in the forest and could avenge the mistreatment of the animals. It was a mediator.

White set­tlers saw Lenape images and masks of a strange creature who was supposed to live in the Pine Barrens which were at the edge of their settled world. To the Europeans, it looked more dangerous than benevolent.

But back to the Leeds connection. Daniel Leeds was an early New Jersey writer who brought English astrology to America and published astrological charts in his popular almanacs. This Devil legend was a warning to colonials about the dangers of living out­side of the carefully controlled Puritan rules. 

Like the monsters of sea and land that appear on the edge of civilization on old maps, the Jersey Devil lived in that strange Pinelands at the edge of civilization. 

It is one of many cryptids — strange creatures that exist beyond the reach of civilized humanity. They live in those not easily accessible places, at the edges and in ld maps in the spaces that were blank because they were unknown.

I have written earlier about the legend of the Jersey Devil and it's a good tale to tell around a campfire, late at night, deep in the Pine Barrens - or on a chilly December night when there are strange sounds outside your window at the edge of your property. It is New Jersey's Bigfoot, Loch Ness monster, or whatever cryptid you imagine lives in your dark woods.

 

Monsters at the edge of the Olaus Magnus, Carta Marina map, 1539

Hiking a Haunted Trail

This is a guest post by Leigh Marcos who wrote to me about her experiences over the last year with her family hiking some of the scariest hiking trails in the U.S. She defines "scary" not as being dangerous, but haunted. One of her recent expeditions and posts was in Texas.  She asked if I would want a post about a New Jersey trail. 

To most people, New Jersey is either "seashore" or "suburban sprawl." Many are surprised to find that inland from the East Coast there is an abundance of hiking trails. The largest is the Batona Trail located in Washington Township. For avid hikers, Batona is the perfect opportunity to explore the depth of nature that exists in this amazing forested area of the state.

The Batona Trail includes the Bass River State Forest, Wharton State Forest, the Ong's Hat Ghost Town and Franklin Park Preserve. The Batona Trail is approximately 52 miles long. It is lush with nature's flora and fauna. Start your hiking of the Batona Trail at the former Lebanon State Forest, now known as the Brendan T. Byrne State Forest. Choose the season of the year for optimal hiking weather.

Since the Batona Trail is located in the southern part of the state, the climate is less harsh. Hiking the Batona Trail in autumn is riot of color and relief from daily stress. Cool off in summer beneath an enormous canopy of green trees and scrub pines while you hike in clean, fresh, piney air. In winter, hike the trail in snowshoes and in spring, return to hike amid an extensive carpet of newly sprouting flowers, mushrooms and ferns.

Every state in the U.S. has at least one hiking trail that is reported to be a "haunted trail."

For New Jersey, the Pine Barrens' Batona Hiking Trail is the one that gets the haunted label and that sometimes attracts the public. As far back as the 1700’s hikers have reported seeing the Jersey Devil in these woods. Depending on the storyteller, the Jersey Devil can be described as a prehistoric pterodactyl or the misshapen spawn of a woman who was cursed.

Then, there is Ong's Hat, a ghost town where many ghost hunters converge to revisit the story of Jacob Ong, whose ghost haunts the small, centrally located with Pemberton Township. As with all ghost stories and folklore, it is left to the individual to decide fact from fiction. Still, these special places enhance the enjoyment of hiking the Batona, New Jersey trail.

Avid hiking enthusiasts find much to love about hiking the Batona, New Jersey trail. The trail was created in the mid 1960s and has grown in popularity for hikers and students of nature. Even the name, “Batona,” rings with the essence of nature. It was derived from the words, “Back to Nature.”


More Batona Trail and Hauntings Reading

• https://njmonthly.com/articles/jersey-living/a-walk-on-the-wild-side/
• http://www.backpacker.com/trips/new-jersey/rip-go-batona-trail-wharton-state-forest-nj/
• http://weirdnj.com/stories/jersey-devil/

The Jersey Devil Reappears

The Jersey Devils hockey team has started its season. Halloween is about two weeks away. And the legendary Jersey Devil has reappeared. Maybe. Well, it has at least reappeared in the media.

The legend of the Jersey Devil dates back for centuries. Hundreds of people have reported seeing the creature, but despite extensive searches, no one has proven its existence.

These tales are more likely the domain of places like StuffTheyDontWantYouToKnow.com and Weird N.J. than this blog, but I do find it fun.

And, starting with much doubt about authenticity but keeping in mind that Halloween is closing in, I present this latest installment of the JDevil.

This time the report comes via an article on the legitimate news site NJ.com. A Little Egg Harbor resident says he has captured the Jersey Devil in a photo, and then good ol' weirdnj.com posted a video from a woman who claims to have recorded the Jersey Devil flying by.

My much younger sons prepared for
a Jersey Devil search in the Pine Barrens

When my sons were a lot younger and we did a lot of camping, we would sometimes stay in the Jersey Pine Barrens (AKA Pinelands). Those overnighters always included a hunt for the creature.

I would read them a a kid's book about the legend as we sat in front of the campfire and watch the shadows moving around us and heard creepy night sounds like the call of a barred owl. (I would tell them that some people say that owl is saying "Who cooks for you?" but I said what we were hearing was more like "He wants to get you."

We even had a TV show visit the state in search of Bigfoot (AKA Sasquatch).

If you like to play armchair cryptozoologist, and if you were to search for either of these creatures, you would certainly want to look for them in the Pine Barrens.

The Pine Barrens (AKA the Pinelands or simply the Pines) is a large, heavily forested area of coastal plain. Congress created the New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve, the country's first National Reserve, to protect the area under the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978.

The New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve contains approximately 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) of land, and occupies 22% of New Jersey's land area, including territory of much of seven counties. Counties affected by the Act are Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Ocean.

The name "pine barrens" is kind of a misnomer because it is hardly barren. The name refers to the area's sandy, acidic, nutrient-poor soil in which colonists could not cultivate their familiar crops. It actually has a great diversity of plant life, including orchids and carnivorous plants, and several threatened and endangered species of wildlife. It is known for its cranberry bogs and the rare pygmy Pitch Pines and other plant species that actually depend on the frequent fires of the Pine Barrens to reproduce.

The Pinelands are a great place to visit, and a great place to live if you are a legendary creature.

In case you were wondering, there is a Jersey Devil action figure.

---

Not that Bruce believes in Mrs. Leed's 13th child, but he did record

 "A Night With The Jersey Devil." 

Here is Episode 102 on The Jersey Devil from Stuff They Don't Want You To Know

More Jersey Devil Fun, Reading and Viewing

• Wikipedia has a nice page on the Jersey Devil 
• Sightings have been collected at www.njdevilhunters.com
• The Jersey Devil
• Tales Of The Jersey Devil
• Mystery of the Jersey Devil 

In Search of the Jersey Devil

I can't say that the Jersey Devil is endangered or threatened because I can't say that it ever existed, but the legend of the Jersey Devil dates back for centuries. Hundreds of people have reported seeing the creature, but despite extensive searches, no one has proven its existence.

The folks at StuffTheyDontWantYouToKnow.com love this kind of stuff. They love conspiracy theories  (Their Facebook page is facebook.com/ConspiracyStuff ) and fringe science and beliefs, and I'll admit to enjoying watching their little videos (like the one below) even if I think almost all of it is untrue.

I will also read issues of Weird N.J. in search of oddities in my part of Jersey.

When my sons were quite young and we would go camping in the Pinelands, we always were looking for signs of the Jersey Devil.

I read them the story and showed them the pictures. It made for some great bedtime stories around the fire before they curled up in their sleeping bags.

After storytime, if they heard the call of a barred owl outside our tent, they did not hear it saying "Who cooks for you?" but rather something more sinister like "He wants to get you."

When you're 5 years old, it's easier to believe. 

Jersey Devil Hike

Jersey Devil Hike

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28

9 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Leeds Point, Atlantic County

Gather your courage and join New Jersey Conservation Foundation's Chris Jage, Assistant Director for South Jersey, on an 8-mile hike in Leeds Point, Atlantic County, birthplace of the mythical Jersey Devil.

The legend of the Jersey Devil dates back to the 1700s when Mother Leeds - reputed to be a witch - gave birth to her 13th child, supposedly the son of the Devil himself. Jersey Devil sightings and encounters have been reported throughout the Pine Barrens in the years since.

The cost of the tour is $5 per person, and advance registration is required.  Limited to 25 people. To register online, click here. For more information, contact Carol Banhart at carol@njconservation.org or 908-234-1225, ext.126.

Searching for the Jersey Devil

The Jersey Devil. No, we're not talking hockey (though that's where the team gets its name), but that legendary creature said to inhabit the Pine Barrens in southern New Jersey.

The Pine Barrens has a rich folklore in its oddly-named towns (Double Trouble, Ong's Hat, Mount Misery - even a few "ghost towns" like Martha and Colliers), and it also has rich
ecosystems.

There are many studied and protected birds, animals and rare flora in the 1.1 million acres. And lovers of nature walk the the white-sand trails and paddle tea-colored cedar rivers.

And most natives of New Jersey have heard of the Jersey Devil, a creature whose legend dates back more than two centuries.

If you had to pick a place in NJ to be the home of a strange and elusive creature, the isolated Pinelands would be it.

Once, the area was known for its ironworks, but if you find the 18th-century ironmaking town of Martha, you'll find that it has been deserted and swallowed up by the Pinelands.
The remaining stone foundations and cellars where houses once stood would be a good habitat for the Jersey Devil.

"Pineys" (the not-so-complimentary but common term for residents of the Barrens) go back three to five generations. They are an independent group. Their musical tastes often go to fiddle, mandolin, harmonica, banjo, guitar, and dulcimer tunes. It's a part of NJ that most outsiders would have trouble identifying with Jersey. Here is where the legend of the Jersey Devil took root.

It probably started with Lenni Lenape Indians who called the region Popuessing, or "place of the dragon."

Following the Native Americans of the area, Swedish explorers named the area "Drake Kill" - "drake" being a Swedish word for dragon, and "kill" meaning channel or arm of the sea, river, or stream.

The Jersey Devil (AKA the Leeds Devil) is a legendary creature (cryptid) and it's hard to even find agreement on a description of it. Commonly, it has been described as a flying biped with hooves.

As far as the Leeds Devil story:  Mother Leeds had 12 children and, after giving birth to her 12th child, stated that if she had another, it would be the Devil. In 1735, Mother Leeds (supposedly a witch) gave birth (on a stormy night) to #13. Though it looked normal at birth, she claimed the father was the Devil himself.

Soon after the birth, the baby changed form to a creature with hooves, a horse's head, bat wings and a forked tail. It growled, killed the midwife, flew up the chimney and headed for the pines.

History-checkers say Deborah Leeds was the mother. Her husband, Japhet Leeds, named twelve children in the will he wrote in 1736. They lived in the Leeds Point section of what is now Atlantic County.

There are records of searches for the creature. Joseph Bonaparte (brother of Emperor Napoleon) is said to have witnessed the Jersey Devil while hunting on his Bordentown, New Jersey estate around 1820.

Reports of sightings peaked 101 years ago in January 1909. 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 about the creature flying over Woodbury, leaving tracks in Bristol, Pennsylvania and Burlington.

A Gloucester couple saw the creature outside their window and said: "It was about three feet and a half high, with a head like a collie dog and a face like a horse. It had a long neck, wings about two feet long, and its back legs were like those of a crane, and it had horse's hooves. It walked on its back legs and held up two short front legs with paws on them. It didn't use the front legs at all while we were watching. My wife and I were scared, I tell you, but I managed to open the window and say, 'Shoo!' and it turned around, barked at me, and flew away."

In Haddonfield and Collingswood, posses were formed to find the devil. They supposedly watched the creature fly toward Moorestown, where it was later seen by at least two more people. It got bolder and attacked a trolley car in Haddon Heights.

Despite several reports of a few rifle shots hitting the creature, it always seemed to get away.

And, even though the Jersey Devil terrified people, a report of it biting a dog that month was one of the few reported attacks on a living creature - and there are no reports of an attack on a human.

The Philadelphia Zoo supposedly posted a $10,000 reward for the creature's capture that year. In 1960, the merchants around Camden also offered a $10,000 reward for the capture of the Jersey Devil. (A pretty safe offer to make for a legendary creature.)


Sightings after the 1909 frenzy have been infrequent. In Freehold in 2007, a woman supposedly saw a huge creature with bat-like wings near her home. In August of the same year, a young man driving home near the border of Mount Laurel and Moorestown, reported a similar sighting. He claimed that he spotted a "a creature resembling a gargoyle with enormous bat-like wings" perched in some trees near the road.

In 2008, the Jersey Devil was supposedly spotted in Litchfield, Pennsylvania by a resident that claims to have seen the creature come barreling out of the roof of his barn.

Last September, a young man driving home on Interstate 80 near Parsippany, NJ (far from the Pine Barrens in North Jersey, but not the only North Jersey sighting) claimed he saw "a black long-necked creature with a with a long tail" run across the road, and disappear into the darkness on the other side of the road.

Some have credited the sightings to misinterpreted encounters in the dark with bears, wild dogs, sandhill cranes and even antlered deer. Most people think it's a fun legend to scare kids with on a visit to the Barrens. (I am guilty of doing that with my own sons on camping trips to Wharton State Forest - and it was fun.)

Outdoorsman and author Tom Brown, Jr. says he has scared hikers who mistook him for the Jersey Devil, when he emerged from the woods covered in mud (to repel mosquitoes).

Not surprisingly, the Jersey Devil legend is fueled by the various testimonials from alleged eyewitnesses who have reported to have encountered the creature, from precolonial times to the present day, as there are still reported sightings within the New Jersey area.

Those who study the creature with cryptozoological interest point out that for it to exist over a span of several hundred years, we are talking a species rather than a single creature. Could it be a pterosaur or a dimorphodon? Oh, that would be great!

People have been adding to the Wikipedia entry on the creature since the wiki began. 

Sightings have been collected at http://www.njdevilhunters.com/sightings.html


More Reading


The Jersey Devil
Tales Of The Jersey Devil
Mystery of the Jersey Devil 

Yes, there is a Jersey Devil action figure.