Jersey Devil is a legendary monster said to haunt the forested Pine Barrens region of southern New Jersey . The Jersey Devil is commonly described as a horselike creature with batlike wings and with hooves, claws, and a forked tail.
The legend of the Jersey Devil originated during the American colonial period , which ended in 1775. Originally called the Leeds Devil, the creature was reputed to be the 13th child born to a local witch named Mother Leeds. The earliest mention of the monster in print was in an 1859 article about the Pine Barrens published in the Atlantic Monthly. In 1909, a small-town newspaper in southern New Jersey reported the discovery of strange hooflike tracks in the snow. This report led to a surge of sensationally reported sightings and encounters with the creature in nearby towns, and interest in the legend grew. Soon after, the Ninth and Arch Street Dime Museum in Philadelphia claimed to have captured the Leeds Devil and placed it on display. The museum actually displayed a live kangaroo painted with green stripes and affixed with fake wings. From then on, the monster was known as the Jersey Devil.
Historians have shown that the Jersey Devil legend is a hoax that originated with the life and career of the American colonist Daniel Leeds (1652-1720). Leeds came to America from England in the late 1670’s and settled in Burlington, West Jersey. He published the first almanac in New Jersey with the help of the early American printer William Bradford . The quirky thoughts and ideas Leeds published made him suspicious in the eyes of the local Quaker community, and his books were burned. Leeds became an opponent of the Quaker community, which responded by publicly associating him with devilish forces. Later, the rival publisher Benjamin Franklin mocked Leed’s son Titan as part of an ongoing feud . Franklin jokingly published in his Poor Richard’s Almanac that Titan had died and become a ghost . Over the years, suspicions and accusations merged with local Native American tales of evil forest spirits, and the legend of the Jersey Devil was born. Reports of encounters with the Jersey Devil continue today.
