THE JERSEY DEVIL
Is there really such a thing as the Jersey Devil? The Jersey Devil has not
been seen much in the past 90 years, but it's still popular with the people
of New Jersey. The legend started around 1735. The details and origin of
the stories are vague, and no one knows exactly how it started. There are
some things that holds all the legends together. Although some stories use
the name Mrs. Shrouds and others use Mrs. Leeds as the mother's name, all of
them use the name Leeds in some way, either as the birthplace or the
mother's name.
The most popular version of the legend is that Mrs. Shrouds of Leeds Point,
wished that if she ever had another child, it would be a devil. She did
have another child and it was born deformed and disfigured. She kept in the
house so no one could see it. One night its arms changed to wings and flew
up into the chimney. Another legend states that the mother was a young
woman from Leeds Point, who fell in love with a British soldier during the
Revolutionary War. The people of Leeds Point were cursed since the child
was born as an act of treason. Other people believe it was punishment by
God upon the people of the town for their mistreatment of a minister. Some
people say that when Mrs. Leeds found out she was pregnant with her 13th
child, she was angry and cried, "May the devil take this one." Less popular
versions say that Mrs. Leeds was a witch, the father was a devil, or Mrs.
Leeds was simply a local slut that people hated. (Legend of Jersey Devil
and The New Jersey Devil)
Most people who saw the Jersey Devil described it as being about three and
a half feet high, with wings about two feet long. It had a long neck with a
head of a collie and a face like a horse. It had long back legs like a
crane with horse hooves. It's front legs are short and they have paws.
There is also a hairy human like version that most researchers ignore and
consider a hoax. People who have seen or heard the devil, said that it
had a piercing scream, glowing eyes, and it flies. (Legend of Jersey Devil)
Since the Jersey Devil was born in 1735, it went into hiding and was not
seen for over one hundred years, because a clergy exercised it. In 1840
many sheep and chickens were killed by a strange creature thought to be the
Jersey Devil. Between 1859-94 the devil was seen many times and reportedly
carried off anything that moved. Most residents of the Pine Barrens would
not go outside after dark. Then, in 1909, it reappeared. Over one hundred
people in thirty different towns saw it within five days. This was its
largest appearance ever. It left tracks all over Southern New Jersey and
parts of Pennsylvania. It all started early Sunday morning, January 16.
Thack Cozzens of Woodbury, New Jersey saw it flying down the street. Later,
in Bristol, New Jersey, John Mcowen saw the creature on the banks of the
canal. Patrol James Sackville fired at the creature as it flew away
screaming. When daylight came the residents of Bristol found hoof prints in
the snow and trappers said they had never seen tracks like that before. The
next day people found tracks around their garbage which was half eaten. The
prints went up trees, roof to roof, disappeared in the middle of roads, and
stopped in the middle of fields. Dogs and trackers were organized to follow
the trail but the dogs were reluctant to follow. On the 19th the devil made
it longest appearance of the week. At 2:30 AM, Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Evans of
Gloucester were awakened by a strange noise. They watched the devil from
their window for ten minutes. That afternoon, hunters tracked the devil for
20 miles, the trail jumped 5 foot fences and went under 8 inch spaces. On
January 22, Mrs. Sorbinski from Camden, New Jersey, saw the devil attack her
dog. She hit the devil with a broom until it let go of her dog and flew
away. She screamed until her neighbors came over including two police
officers and over 100 people. The next day schools in Mt Ephraim was closed
because no students came in. Mills and factories in Gloucester and
Hainesport had to close because none of the employees came to work. Many
New Jersey residents wouldn't leave their houses, even in daylight. In
February the devil was seen for the last time in 1909. (Dave Julino and
Legend of jersey Devil)
The Jersey Devil was not seen again for about twenty years. It was seen at
night in 1927 by a cab driver outside of Salem. He was outside trying to
fix a flat tire when a hairy creature jumped on the roof of his car and
shook it violently.
After that the Jersey Devil was not seen much until 1951, which is called
"Invasion of Gibbsboro." The invasion lasted two days. The first day a
young boy saw a creature looking into the window and was so shocked that he
screamed and went into convulsions. The next night another boy experienced
the same thing. Several people heard screams. They went out in search of
the creature and one man claimed that it almost grabbed him. These
sightings caused mass hysteria causing people to run through the woods with
weapons ready to fire at anything that moved. Police arrested anyone in the
woods and placed signs throughout the woods claiming the Jersey Devil was a
hoax. (Jersey Devil Legend)
In 1961, two couples parked in cars heard screeches outside. When they
got out of their car, they found scratches on the roof. They later saw the
creature flying off in the distance. In 1966 mangled dogs and livestock
were discovered around the Mullica River. One man found 31 ducks, 3 geese,
4 cats, and 2 mangled dogs. One of the dogs was a 90 lb. German Shepard
whose throat had been ripped out and body was dragged one-fourth mile from
its chain. In 1970 the Jersey Devil was blamed for pulling a child's hair
in Mercer County. In 1975, a horse was found in Willamstown, with it's
throat completely ripped out. Many people believe it was the Jersey Devil.
A gas station attendant in Jackson Mills claimed that he was constantly
followed home by the Jersey Devil in 1976. In the summer of 1977, a women
saw the Jersey Devil eating blueberries in Pines Barrens. In Penns Grove a
beast grabbed the door handle of a women's car and ran along side at speeds
up to 60 miles per hour. In 1987 a German Shepard found 25 feet away from
its chain, with its body torn apart and gnawed upon. The dogs body was
surrounded by strange tracks. A couple in Jackson heard eerie screeches
outside their home while in their backyard in 1994. The creature circled
the two for some time, screeched repeatedly and left. Later on that year,
the couple was outside again and heard the same screeches again. In 1997 a
man hiking on the Batona Trail was chased out of the woods by a creature who
was no more than 20 feet behind him. (Jersey Devil Legend and Jersey devil.
http://menin
black.com/meninblackmag/Volume4/Creatures.)
There have been eight sightings of the Jersey Devil in 1999. In March, a
teenager saw a strange creature perched in a tree around dusk at Bamber
Lake. The Jersey Devil was seen at the same lake on October 2nd. A
teenager named John was walking with a friend and claims to have heard a
strange noise. They got scared and turned to go home when they heard the
noise again, but louder. They then saw the creature sitting next to a tree.
The next sighting occurred on October 8th when a couple was outside
entertaining guests in Jacksonville. They heard a strange noise coming from
the woods. As they got closer to the woods the noise got louder. They got
scared and started walking back to the house. One woman turned around and
saw a red glowing object. Seconds later, it was gone. On October 18th, a
man was driving home around 4:00 AM and claims to have seen the Jersey
Devil. On October 23rd a man and his coworker hit an animal with there car.
They got out to see how the animal was, but as they opened the door they
saw a small creature running away. They said it made a horrible screaming
noise as it left. Three days later, a hiking class went into the Forked
River are and saw strange footprints and saw the Jersey Devil run across
their path. The sighting that was seen by the most people occurred on
November 16th. A class of twenty students witnessed a creature fly over the
woods and land in Forked River. In Stoney Brook, two guys were fishing when
they heard footsteps behind them. They turned around and saw what they
described as a small black horse with bat wings. Some people believe that
many more people have seen the Jersey Devil but they are embarrassed to
admit it because people would not believe them. (Leut's Jersey Devil Page)
There are many theories about what the Jersey Devil actually was. Many are
based on the sightings and the prints that existed. Some theories are can
be proven not true while others seem to support the legend that the Jersey
Devil existed. Some people say it was an invasion of the scrowfoot duck but
the duck would be much too small to be mistaken for the devil. Others
believe it was a sandhill crane like the "Mothman" of West Virginia. A
sandhill crane is a bird that weighs about 12 lbs., is 4 feet high, and has
a wingspan of about 80 inches. It has a loud scream that can be heard at a
distance which would account for the noise the witnesses heard. It eats
corn and potatoes which would account for the raids on crops. But it does
not explain the killing of livestock. Another possible theory is that Mrs.
Leeds had a deformed child and kept it in her house feeding it. After she
died, the creature escaped the house, raiding farms to get food. After its
death the legend of the devil child lived on. The first sighting after the
devil was born was in 1909 so the devil child would have had to be 174 years
old. That theory also doesn't explain how the sightings of the devil
flying. One professor made the theory that the tracks were made by a
prehistoric animal from the Jurassic period. He believes that the creature
survived in an underground cavern. An expert from the Smithsonian
Institute had a theory about ancient creatures surviving underground. He
said the Jersey Devil was a Pterodactyl. The Academy of Natural Sciences
could not find any record of any creature, living or extinct, that looks
like the Jersey Devil. One Philadelphia resident claims that his
grandmother knew a man named George Bishop who was a little crazy. He moved
to Pine Barrens to be alone. He was really scruffy and had a long beard. He
liked to freak people out when they were walking through the woods. He
enjoyed hearing about people seeing him and swearing they saw the Jersey
Devil.
Other people believe that it is all psychological. They think that mass
hysteria caused people to see something that wasn't there. The theory that
is most argued about is that the Jersey Devil is the essence of evil in
bodily form. It often appears before wars and other disasters. It was
sighted before the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War I, World
War II, and the Vietnam War. It was also seen on December 7, 1941, right
before Pearl Harbor was bombed. This could be because of the Jersey Devil's
possible demonic origins. In 1730, Ben Franklin reported a story about a
witchcraft trial near Mt Holly, New Jersey. One of the versions of the
legend did say that its mother was a witch and its birth may have been the
result of a witches curse. Whatever theory people believe, most New Jersey
residents believe that their is something strange in the woods of southern
New Jersey. (Dave Juliano)
Many of the people who claimed to have seen the Jersey Devil were very
respected and honest people such as government officials, police, and
postmasters. Their were some people, though, who tried to disguise other
animals as the devil or claim to kill it or find it dead in order to receive
attention and possibly reward money. In 1909, after bounties were placed on
its head, Jacob Hope and Norman Jeffries hoaxed capture of the monster. It
turned out to be a kangaroo that was disguised in green paint, feathers and
antlers. In 1925, a man in Greenwhch Township supposedly shot the creature
after he discovered it eating his chickens but the story was never proven.
Department of Conservation workers found the skeleton of a bird-like
creature in the Barrens in 1957. Locals quickly announced the Jersey Devil
dead but it turned out to be a hoax. (Jersey Devil.
http://pwl.netcom/~thefix/jdlegend.html and Jersey Devil.
http://nj.com/jeresydevil/index.ssf)
Through our research we concluded that "The Jersey Devil" could possibly be
a flock of sandhill cranes. The reason they have lasted this long is
because they have reproduced. The man who fired the cannonball at the
creature does not have witnesses, so there is no absolute proof of this
occurring or the cannonball could have missed and he didn't realize it.
Most sightings were seen at night which is a time that things can appear
different then they actually are. That would explain some of the strange
descriptions. The sandhill crane has an exotic scream such as the Jersey
Devil's was described as. The reason why so many people were seeing the
same footprints in a large area was that there was more than one bird, so
they could be seen in many different areas in a short amount of time. The
Jersey Devil was described as being approximately the same size as a
sandhill crane. Many of the physical characteristics of the sandhill crane
were the same as the Jersey Devil's were described. (Dave Julino)