The Jersey Devil

[earth-angel]

The Jersey Devil

The Jersey Devil is a legendary creature or cryptic said to inhabit the Pine Barrens of Southern New Jersey, United States. The creature is often described as a flying biped with hooves, but there are many different variations. The Jersey Devil has worked its way into the pop culture of the area, even lending its name to New Jersey's team in the National Hockey League.



In New Jersey there is a 25,000 acre woods known as the Pine Barrens...
the area is officially listed as uninhabited....
some people believed otherwise...

Locals say a hideous winged creature has lurked in these woods for over 250 years....

the jersey devil hunters are determined to track in down..




Legend

Most accounts of the Jersey Devil legend attribute the creature to a "Mother Leeds" although the tale has many variations. According to one version, she invoked the devil by saying "let it be the devil" while giving birth to her 13th child, and it either immediately or soon afterward transformed into a devil-like creature and flew off into the surrounding pines.
According to Brian Dunning of Skeptoid, folk tales of the Jersey Devil prior to 1909 calling it the "Leeds Devil" may have been created to discredit local politician Daniel Leeds who served as deputy to the colonial governor of New York and New Jersey in the 1700s. The Jersey Devil remained an obscure regional legend through most of the 18th and 19th centuries until a series of purported sightings in 1909 gained it press coverage and wider notability. Dunning writes that the Jersey Devil was described in newspapers as having "leathery batlike wings", the body of a serpent and the head of a horse, cloven hooves, two small arms, a devil's forked tail, and a "horrifying screech".
Today, the Jersey Devil is considered to be more in the realm of popular culture than folklore.