Its face resembles a horse’s face. The head found atop a long, thin, fur-covered torso could be mistaken for the head of a collie. Those wings? Wings of a bat, and leathery too, measuring two-and-a-half to three feet, from wing tip to shoulder. Its thick snake-like tail? This is a tail, fitting a demon. It’s horns…the devil’s horns, no doubt, resting above piercing red-orange eyes.
Standing nearly six feet tall and weighing close to 200 pounds, the Jersey Devil prowls the dense pine forest, cedar swamps and sandy back roads we find in New Jersey’s Pine Barrens…searching for its favorite delicacies, bellowing out a high-pitched scream, if by some chance, encountered.
Although tracked by fugitives, deserting soldiers, Hessian mercenaries from Revolutionary War times and escaped slaves – each group possessing finely-tuned hunting-and-gathering skills – no soul has ever caught the Jersey Devil. The swiftness and agility of this demon has allowed it to evade trackers for centuries.
On the menu for the Jersey Devil is poultry and livestock. If it’s very, very lucky, this malevolent spirit loves to feast on pigs.
Born in the early part of the 18th Century in Estellville, the Jersey Devil is the 13th child of a witch, Deborah Leeds. Its father, the devil himself.
Mother Leeds cursed her 13th child in frustration, already tired and worn, having raised her twelve other children. Deborah Leeds cried out, “Let it be the devil.” And it was…
This curse a mother cast upon her child came to fruition. Leading to a legendary and, unfortunately, a ghoulish transformation.
This damned boy grew cloven hooves, clawed hands and wings. The doomed little boy was no longer a boy. This ill-fated boy became New Jersey’s afflicted demon.
The Jersey Devil is nocturnal. This Tempter resides in forsaken towns found among the southernmost points of the Garden State.
Desolate Pine Barrens swamps and wetlands once facilitated low-grade ore needed to manufacture Revolutionary War munitions. “Bog-iron” towns took hold.
These “bog-iron” towns are long since abandoned, left untouched within one million harrowing Pine Barrens acres.
Decrepit buildings, outmoded blast furnaces, disused and crumbling 18th Century homes – all sitting quietly and uninterrupted for decades – became perfect neighborhoods for our Jersey Devil.
In 1909, several household pets were mysteriously killed. Hundreds of locals reported Jersey Devil sightings. Tracks matching no known animal were discovered in the snow. Schools and mills wisely closed, as cautionary measures. The Jersey Devil was nearby.
With over 1,700 square Pine Barrens miles to trek through, the Jersey Devil remains free to roam his forlorn terrain.
Few rile enough courage to venture through lonesome swamplands and forests blanketing in excess of 20% of New Jersey’s land area in pursuit of this furtive, skittish gargoyle.
