The Jersey Devil, a disturbing folktale origin story of a beast or demon that terrified locals for a time in New Jersey. It inspired a contest in 1982 to have New Jersey’s Hockey team adopt the name: New Jersey Devils. If having a Hockey team named after you isn’t enough, the Jersey Devil Sony Playstation action game released in 1997 where you play as the character collecting coins and taking out the bad guys.

What is the Jersey Devil? This cryptid allegedly originated from the Pine Barrons of southern New Jersey. The legend is, in 1735, Mother Leeds, mother of twelve, is about to birth her thirteenth child, which she didn’t want. One source states that before she gives birth to number thirteen, she wishes the Devil would take the child away from her after birth. When the child is born we are to believe it changed into something out of a nightmare described as a kangaroo body, wings like a bat, hooves for feet, a serpent tail, and a horse-like head. After birth the little monster escaped the house to forever haunt the wetlands in the area. It doesn’t attack or hurt anyone. It seeks them out to scare them either with his creepy appearance, or a loud shrieking scream.

There’s an almost identical tale, but it happens after Mother Leeds births the child. She sees the demon-like baby and wishes it away. Lastly, a different tale states that the child is born and appears to be normal-looking, but takes on the characteristics of the Devil as he gets older. He’s confined to the cellar until he escapes to go out haunting the marshes.

A String of Sightings in 1909

In January of 1909, a five day span of sightings flooded eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. The hundreds of reports in that time frame birthed the name: The Jersey Devil’s Finest Hour. People reported seeing the beast, hearing its screams, and finding hoof prints in the snow. Schools and businesses shut down due to the chaos the sightings were causing. Apparently the event was a hoax to sell real estate property at a lower price. “Scared residents would be more likely to sell the property at lower prices to developers.” Fake feet used to make the foot-prints in the snow were found nearby to provide further evidence of the hoax.

Most folktales have multiple versions to their stories whether it’s their origin story or sightings. This is no different other than they all end with a child being born that looks different either at birth or later on. Is it possible a woman birthed a devil child? I’ve always felt like anything is possible. If the Jersey Devil exists, I feel as though we’d have some rock hard proof only because he’s confined to one area. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t do anything in the wetlands other than scream and look scary, so hunters and authorities don’t spend the money and time looking for him. Maybe, that hoax in 1909 was more telling than anything though—that it’s likely the entire tale is a hoax. It’s not for me to decide, as we can all come to our own conclusions.

What I find most fun about this particular cryptid is the Hockey team being named after it, and the Jersey Devil having his own video game. It certainly has a fan club. For having ‘Devil’ in its name, you would assume it is a terrifying and violent beast. Based on my research, it’s terrifying to look at if you believe the drawings and photos to be accurate. Shrieking in the woods at night would likely send shivers through your body, but it doesn’t seem like it would go any further than that. If he’s out there, I think if we just stay in our own lane, he’ll leave us alone.

While I find the origin story of the Jersey Devil to be a little on the fantastical side of things, I still believe it’s possible for a creepy beast to roam the wetlands or woods at night. If I didn’t believe in it to some level, why would I write about him? I ask you, what do you believe? Would you go looking for the Jersey Devil at night?