By Victoria Scannella, Library Assistant

This series of blog posts recounting different urban legends, in the most true New Jersey fashion, includes the story of the infamous “Jersey Devil,” of the Pine Barrens. Although that’s typically where he is described as being seen, there are numerous accounts out of towns and cities all over South Jersey claiming to have seen the Devil themselves. According to the Pinelands Alliance, the Devil was officially designated as the first-ever “state demon,” in 1938. (1) New Jersey is the only state to have an “official” state demon. However, there are many cryptids that are notorious in certain states, specifically the legend of the Mothman in West Virginia. But for our great Garden State, we have the Jersey Devil!

The Pine Barrens, a  dense forested region of South Jersey which the Jersey Devil was claimed to have been born in, is famous for being “haunted.” Whether you believe in ghosts and urban legends or not, there is something that can be unsettling about the Pine Barrens. That’s just the nature of dense, sprawling forests. With numerous former settlements present in the Pines, it’s easy to imagine how stories like the one of the Jersey Devil come to be. As stated on Only in Your State, “Lenni Lenape Indians first inhabited the area around 1200 A.D. European settlements began springing up along the Mullica River by 1694. The iron industry brought jobs and wealth to the Pine Barrens, with New Jersey producing much of the iron used during the Revolutionary War and War of 1812.” (2) Other industries also thrived in the Southern New Jersey area, specifically glass making. Once the coal industry picked up in Western Pennsylvania, the abandonment of those industry-towns was rampant, leaving everything behind for those exploring the Pine Barrens to find to this day. (2) Glass making was prominent in areas with sandy soil, including places like Batsto, Glassboro and Millville. 

One version of the story about the creation of the Jersey Devil was that a woman named Mrs. Leeds, who has been described to live in places such as Estellville, an unspecified cabin in the Pine Barrens, and down near the Batsto area of New Jersey, was unexpectedly expecting a thirteenth child around 1735. The Leeds was and still is a real family that existed in early New Jersey settlements and  descendants are still in New Jersey to this day. (3) Frustrated, she was reported to have said “Let it be the devil,” or a similar exclamation. When the child was due to arrive, he was born as a baby devil and shot up through Mrs. Leeds’s chimney and into the night. Similarly, other interpretations have the child being born as a normal boy and changed into a devil before the eyes of his mother, siblings and the midwife who had helped during the birth. There are also more violent interpretations of the story, where the devil gets violent then shoots off into the night. The version I always heard was that he was born a devil and flew up the chimney specifically. Red skin, horns, and a forked tail and tongue was always the interpretation I understood.

 The Jersey Devil has many different descriptions of him as different people have sighted him. The Devil has been mostly described as having the legs of a goat, devil horns, large bat-like wings, red glowing eyes and was reddish brown in color. Other interpretations suggest he being a “kangaroo-like creature with the face of a horse, the head of a dog, bat-like wings, horns and a tail.” (1) Legends and stories about sightings of the Jersey Devil began spreading throughout South Jersey by those that braved the Pines themselves, then by hearsay. The stories told of wails and shrieks coming from deep within the pines,  with many attributing the sounds to the Jersey Devil. There was also the occurrence of farm animals being slaughtered that was often ascribed to the Jersey Devil.  (3)

One of the first official reports of the  Jersey Devil sighting was lodged by Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon, in Bordentown, New Jersey in 1812. Bonaparte “claimed he saw the Jersey Devil while hunting near his Bordentown estate. Sightings occurred and the legend grew, fueled by animal attacks, strange footprints, and reports filed by eye witnesses who supposedly encountered the beast.” (4) Following these types of occurrences, it was specifically in January of 1909 that the legend spread like wildfire, breaking free of the Pine Barrens, to the Devil now haunting other towns and cities, such as Camden and Philadelphia. He was also allegedly spotted throughout Cumberland and Salem Counties, in Bridgeton and Millville. Many of the reports seen in newspapers from the time often claim the sighting of tracks or footprints as the reason for their certainty that it was the Devil. The Bridgeton Evening News reported on January 21, 1909, “Salem is aroused over the appearance of the tracks of the “Jersey Devil” here. That it has shown up in this section is certain…. The tracks indicate that the feet are turned outward and the right foot is larger than the left.” (5) People were up in arms about the possibility that the Jersey Devil paid the people of Salem an evening visit. 

Other stories include those that claimed to have heard and/or seen the Jersey Devil. More reports in the Bridgeton Evening News, from January 25, 1909, state:

The engineer over at the Manchester shirt factory was busy about his engine when he was startled by a strange hissing sound, such as might be heard by the “Jersey Devil.”… That strange creature with eyes like fire, a tail like a snake, fur on its body and feathers on its head. He grew rigid with fright and then the glamour passed from his eyes and he started on a hunt for the escaping steam. (6)

 

Another similar story in the same paper  asserted that the reporter cut through an empty lot and claimed to see the Jersey Devil. The reporter “almost reached the end of the lot when he saw some strange creature in a dark corner nearby. He wasn’t scared, his hair just stood on end and cold chills flew up and down that little bone in his back, that was all.” (6) By this point, multiple stories and alleged sightings had been claimed and reported in newspapers across South Jersey. Hysteria and hearsay swept through and planted the stories and sightings in people’s minds, and the fear of the dark did the rest.

Although after that week in January of 1909 the reports and sightings slowed down, though they did not end. There were reports in Gibbstown, Gloucester, and other areas of South Jersey where more reports were made about Jersey Devil sightings in the decades that followed. In 1960, after a series of reports in the Mays Landing area, there were $100,000 and $250,000 rewards being offered to catch the Jersey Devil to stop his reign of terror. (4) There is no shortage of stories and sightings of the Jersey Devil, even in recent years. In 2015, an article published on BestofNewJersey.com, a website dedicated to reporting stories and information about the Garden State, interviewed Angus Gillespie, an American Studies professor from Rutgers University on the subject of the Jersey Devil. Gillespie, in addition to outlining the history of the Jersey Devil legend and its sightings, also stated that because of its notoriety in the state, it has taken on a much different persona. The article read that “The Jersey Devil has since become a familiar, and oddly friendly, face throughout New Jersey. While Gillespie is quick to point out that hunting the Jersey Devil is “harmless fun,” he also thinks the monster and its stories deserve more respect.” (7) Gillespie also stated that the use of the Jersey Devil as the mascot and name for the NHL team “The New Jersey Devils” has made the creature significantly less of a terror and more of a fun character. 

The team was not always the New Jersey Devils, however. According to the New Jersey Devils website, “The New Jersey Devils organization began in 1982, after relocating from the Kansas City Scouts to the Colorado Rockies, and finally from Colorado to New Jersey.” (8) There is next to no shortage of interest or engagement with stories and legends of the Jersey Devil, especially because it is something that New Jersey, specifically South Jersey, holds onto. There is no historical record of the existence of the Leeds house, likely having crumbled a long time ago. There are some cabins that claim to be the original Leeds home, but it’s unclear whether those claims are false or not. (7) There are many documentaries, movies and books that are dedicated to telling stories of the Jersey Devil, both trying to prove and disprove its existence. There are a myriad of animals and other night-dwelling creatures present in the Pine Barrens, but with its sprawling 1.1 million acres, it’s possible that the Jersey Devil is lurking in there, too. 

 

  1. “The Jersey Devil and Folklore – Protecting the New Jersey Pinelands and Pine Barrens: Pinelands Preservation Alliance.” Pinelands Preservation Alliance – Protecting the New Jersey Pinelands and Pine Barrens, March 6, 2024. https://pinelandsalliance.org/learn-about-the-pinelands/pinelands-history-and-culture/the-jersey-devil-and-folklore/ 
  2. “One of the Most Haunted Forests in North America Is Right Here in New Jersey,” Only In Your State: Discover Magic In Your Own Backyard, https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/nature/new-jersey/haunted-pine-barrens-nj.  
  3. “The Jersey Devil,” (January 15, 2024,) https://weirdnj.com/stories/jersey-devil/.  
  4. Kelly Roncace, “13 Times the Jersey Devil Has Been Spotted in the Garden State.” NJ.com, (October 31, 2016,) https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2016/10/13_places_the_jersey_devil_has_been_spotted_in_the.html
  5. “Salem, City and County,” Bridgeton Evening News, (January 21, 1909,) https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A124ABFFE25150BEB%40GB3NEWS-12588F5D97F763AE%402418328-125887CCE395F745%402-125887CCE395F745%40?h=2&fname=&lname=&fullname=&kwinc=%22jersey%20devil%22&kwexc=&rgfromDate=&rgtoDate=&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&city%5B0%5D=bridgeton&city%5B1%5D=vineland&processingtime=&addedFrom=&addedTo=&sort=old&sid=otobdfdcirqoujjbfvdedoyjzfnsngyj_ip-10-166-46-175_1725549397749
  6. “More of the ‘Devil’ Stories”, The News of Cumberland County, (January 25, 1909,) https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-of-cumberland-county-more-of-th/154292624/
  7. Dan Bergstein, “Haunted NJ: The Jersey Devil.” Best of NJ, (July 25, 2022,) https://bestofnj.com/features/holidays/halloween/haunted-nj-the-jersey-devil/
  8. “New Jersey Devils Team History: New Jersey Devils.” New Jersey Devils Team History, https://www.nhl.com/devils/team/history/#:~:text=Ring%20of%20Honor-,Devils%20History,00%2C%20and%202002%2D03