FROM LEEDS TO LORE: The Origin of the Jersey Devil

Deep in the heart of New Jersey’s Pine Barrens lurks a legend that has haunted the Garden State for nearly three centuries. The Jersey Devil, a creature of nightmares with leathery wings and glowing red eyes, was born from a curse in the 1700s and has endured ever since – with sightings still taking place today.

The Hidden Wilderness

New Jersey sits squeezed between two of America’s biggest cities — New York and Philadelphia. More people live packed together in this state than anywhere else in the country. Over 1,200 people call each square mile of New Jersey home, while Alaska has only one person per square mile. But hidden inside this crowded state lies a secret wilderness that most people never see.

The Pine Barrens stretch across 1.1 million acres of southern New Jersey. That’s nearly one-fourth of the entire state. Sandy soil covers the ground beneath thick forests of pine trees. Clean streams wind through the woods, untouched by the cities that surround this wild place. The Pinelands, as some call them, remain almost as wild today as they were hundreds of years ago.

Birth of a Monster

Something dark lives in these forests, according to local stories. The Jersey Devil prowls through the Pine Barrens on enormous leather wings. People describe a creature with the head of a horse, eyes that glow red in the darkness, and razor-sharp claws. For almost three hundred years, this beast has frightened anyone brave enough to enter the deep woods.

The most famous story tells of a stormy night in 1735. A woman named Mother Leeds lived in Leeds Point, a small town near the coast of southeastern New Jersey. She was about to give birth to her thirteenth child. The labor was long and painful. In her agony, she cried out, “Let this one be a devil!”

At first, the baby seemed normal and healthy. But moments after birth, something terrible happened. The infant grew a long tail and sprouted wings. It let out a horrible scream that echoed through the house. Then it flew straight up the chimney and disappeared into the storm.

Many Stories, One Legend

Different versions of the Jersey Devil’s origin have been told over the years. Some say Mother Leeds was a witch who made a deal with the devil himself. Another tale claims the monster came from a cursed love affair between a New Jersey girl and a British soldier during the Revolutionary War.

The Native American Lenape people who lived in southern New Jersey long before European settlers arrived had their own forest spirit. They called it M’sing — a deer-like creature with bat wings. When European settlers moved into the area, they may have mixed this ancient spirit into their own stories about the Leeds Devil.

The Real Daniel Leeds

Two professors from Kean University — Brian Regal and Frank Esposito — spent years studying the Jersey Devil legend. They discovered that the truth behind the monster might be much more ordinary than the scary stories suggest.

Daniel Leeds was a real person who lived in the 1600s. He was born around 1652 in Leeds, England, to parents who belonged to the Quaker religious group. As a young man, Daniel also became a Quaker. Around 1677, he moved his family to New Jersey and settled in Burlington with other Quakers.

Daniel worked as a surveyor, measuring and mapping land. In the 1690s, he bought property along New Jersey’s southern Atlantic coast. He built his family home there and named the area Leeds Point.

The Almanac Controversy

Daniel Leeds decided to try his hand at writing and publishing. He created an almanac — a book that showed the movements of stars and planets throughout the year. The almanac also included astrological symbols and predictions.

This caused big problems with his Quaker neighbors. The Quaker faith did not approve of astrology or fortune telling. They believed these practices went against their religious teachings. When Daniel published his almanac and other similar works, the Quaker community turned against him.

The Quakers called Daniel Leeds “evil” and “Satan’s harbinger.” They said he was doing the devil’s work by promoting astrology. This ruined Daniel’s reputation in the community. Professor Regal and Professor Esposito believe this is how the Leeds family name became connected with devils and monsters in local stories.

The Mystery of Mother Leeds

Historians have searched for proof that Mother Leeds was a real person, but they have found nothing. Daniel Leeds was married four times during his life. His first wife, Mary, died back in England before the family moved to New Jersey. After arriving in America, Daniel married three more women.

One of these wives, Dorothy Young, might have been the real Mother Leeds. She gave birth to eight of Daniel’s children before she died in 1699. But no documents from the 1600s or 1700s actually call Dorothy or any of Daniel’s wives “Mother Leeds.” This suggests that the cursed mother in the legend was probably made up.

From Dispute to Legend

The Jersey Devil legend started with the religious arguments about Daniel Leeds and his almanac. After the Quaker community branded him as evil, stories began to spread about supernatural creatures connected to the Leeds family name. These tales were passed down by word of mouth through generations.

During the 1600s and 1700s, people in the Pine Barrens region told stories about the Leeds Devil around their fires at night. Parents used the creature as a warning to keep children from wandering into the dangerous forests alone. The monster became part of the local folklore, but it remained mostly a regional story.

Growing Fame

The Jersey Devil stayed hidden in local tales until the early 1800s, when more famous people began reporting encounters with the beast. Stephen Decatur, a hero from the War of 1812, supposedly met the Leeds Devil at his iron foundry in the Pine Barrens. Joseph Bonaparte, the former king of Spain and brother of Napoleon, claimed he saw the creature on his New Jersey estate called Point Breeze.

However, historians have not been able to find the original records of these encounters in Decatur’s or Bonaparte’s personal papers. This makes it hard to know if these stories are true or if they were added to the legend later.

In 1840, several livestock attacks in the Pine Barrens were blamed on the Jersey Devil. Farmers found their animals killed and torn apart in ways that seemed too violent for normal predators.

First Written Accounts

The first time the Leeds Devil appeared in print was in 1859. The Atlantic Monthly magazine published an article about Pine Barrens folklore. The writer was not impressed with the local people or their stories, but he did mention the monster. He wrote that “Little children did be eaten and maids abused” by the creature.

Newspaper reports about the Jersey Devil became more common in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In 1893, the New York Sun printed a story about an Erie Railroad engineer who claimed the Jersey Devil attacked his train. The Trenton Times reported in 1905 that the Leeds Devil looked more like an ape or chimpanzee than the winged horse-creature of earlier stories.

The Great Panic of 1909

The Jersey Devil reached the height of its fame during the first week of January 1909. Philadelphia newspapers ran story after story about the creature. People reported finding strange footprints in the snow throughout the Pine Barrens. Some claimed the monster attacked streetcars and social clubs.

Witnesses described a red-eyed creature that looked like a “winged kangaroo.” The newspaper coverage created mass panic throughout the region. Local authorities ordered curfews to keep people indoors after dark. Groups of armed men formed hunting parties to track down and kill the beast.

The Museum Hoax

A clever trickster in Philadelphia claimed he had captured the real Jersey Devil. He put the creature on display at the Ninth and Arch Street Dime Museum and charged people money to see it. Crowds of curious visitors lined up to get a look at the legendary monster.

The “Jersey Devil” turned out to be a kangaroo that had been painted with fake wings glued to its back. The New York Times exposed this fraud in late January 1909. Even though people learned they had been fooled, the excitement about the Jersey Devil continued.

A Living Legend

The panic of 1909 eventually died down, but people never stopped reporting Jersey Devil sightings. Throughout the 1900s, hikers, hunters, and residents of the Pine Barrens continued to claim encounters with the winged creature. These reports were less frequent than during the great panic, but they never completely stopped.

Folklorists — people who study traditional stories and legends — kept collecting Jersey Devil tales from the Pine Barrens region. The creature became so famous that it inspired roller coasters at amusement parks. The National Hockey League team in New Jersey even named themselves the Devils in honor of the legendary monster.

Modern Legacy

Today, the Jersey Devil has become a source of pride for New Jersey rather than fear. Tourist companies offer guided tours through the Pine Barrens to visit places connected to the legend. Visitors can see Leeds Point, where the monster was supposedly born, and other locations mentioned in the old stories.

The creature appears on t-shirts, coffee mugs, and other souvenirs sold throughout the state. What began as a religious controversy in a small Quaker community has grown into one of America’s most famous monster legends.

The Pine Barrens remain as wild and mysterious as ever. Dense forests still cover the sandy soil, and clean streams continue to wind through the woods. Whether the Jersey Devil actually lives in this wilderness or exists only in stories, the legend continues to capture imaginations more than three centuries after Daniel Leeds first angered his Quaker neighbors with his controversial almanac.

Sources: National Geographic, Wikipedia (1), Wikipedia (2), The Little House of Horrors, Pinelands Alliance, Skeptical Inquirer, Mini Museum

NOTE: Some of this content may have been created with assistance from AI tools, but it has been reviewed, edited, narrated, produced, and approved by Darren Marlar, creator and host of Weird Darkness — who, despite popular conspiracy theories, is not an AI voice. (AI Policy)