Been to Jersey so many times. I had family members, friends and former girlfriends who once lived in the Garden State. New Jersey, the place where the New Yorkers and Philadelphians go to live when the city life gets too expensive. I have a lot great memories here. However, I always wondered about the origins of the New Jersey Devil. Well, this post is to spread some information about this mythological creature.
Now the origins of this creature is not something out of a fairy tale. This story is pretty dark and disturbing. So if you get scared easily, you might not want to continue reading.
So, it was all started with a family named Leeds. The Leeds family lived in South Jersey. In a place called the Pine Barrens, a wooded area outside of the Philadelphia metropolitan. A woman of the leeds family had twelve children. In time, she was pregnant with her 13th child. In an angered state, she put a curse on the child before it was born. When the child was born, it came out normal. However, it soon changed into a monster. It’s appearance changed into a creature with a horse like head and a lower half of a goat. The devil stood up straight like a human and it had two wings like a bat. It killed the midwife, then ran off into the wilderness.
According to the locals folklure, the origin story has few differentiating details. Some say, the mother of the Devil was a witch. Others say, it was born during a stormy night and during a demonic ritual. It’s even stated that the father of the child might had been the devil himself. All these things are very interesting. The most creepy thing about this that it could be true.
In state records, there was a family that lived in the Pine Barrens. In the state census, it does shows a family with the name Leeds that had twelve children.
Safe travels everyone and much love!