| The Legend of the Jersey Devil |
When the fan voting for naming the new NHL hockey team in New Jersey was going on, there were
many choices such as the Blades, the Americans, and the God-awful name of the Meadowlanders. But
there was one that stood above the rest.
... You're not really gonna make me restate the obvious, are you?
But what about the story of the creature that the team is named after? What about the Jersey Devil?
There are many different versions of the story, but one of the more popular ones goes like this:
Back in the 1700s, an English woman named Deborah Smith immigrated to the Pine Barrens, an area of
mostly forest in the southern part of what would become New Jersey. (Also an area that is largely
undeveloped even today, despite being between Philadelphia and Atlantic City.) She would meet a Mr.
Leeds (Sorry, don't know his first name.) and marry him. His plan was to have a large family in order to
continue his family name. Hence, she was continually pregnant, and ultimately, they had 12 healthy
children.
When Mrs. Leeds learned that she was pregnant yet again, she was dismayed. She had stated that she
would rather bear the devil than another Leeds.
And that's just what happened according to this story. The child supposedly was born with claws,
hooves, and a tail. It also supposedly ate its other siblings and its parents (Later debunked/contradicted
by an article in the New York Times about a few Leeds descendents living in Atlantic City as late as the
1990s.) and escaped through the chimney to run roughshod though the area.
Another variation states that Mrs. Leeds said "May it be the devil," (Not much different than what I had
already stated.), as in deformed. During that period, deformed children were looked at as being a work
of Satan.
It supposedly took up residence at a clear-watered, unusually cold lake just outside of Winslow (near
Camden) called the Blue Hole. The lake has a very steep shoreline, leading to the belief that it's
bottomless, and was also billed as a portal to Hell.
From that point, the Jersey Devil would terrorize those that entered the forest. So there were many
sightings of it, although sightings in the last century have decreased. Descriptions of the beast have varied
throughout the years, but all of them have three things in common: the long neck, wings, and hooves. (As
you can see in the picture above.) Most descriptions also include a head and tail similar to a horse, red
glowing eyes, and a high-pitched humanlike scream. How tall the beast is varies from person to person;
it has been reported as anywhere from 3 feet tall to 7. The basis of the story many believe to stem from
the Sandhill Crane, a bird which doesn't even inhabit anywhere in New Jersey.
January 16 through the 23rd, 1909 was the busiest time for the Devil. Many sightings of the beast were
reported during that week, going as far east as Atlantic City, and even terrorizing Philadelphia. By the
end of that week, many school and local businesses were closed out of fear of the beast, and during that
period, the Philadelphia Zoo offered a $1,000,000 reward for the capture of the beast, an offer that still
stands today, but also brought on numerous blatant hoaxes.
Supposedly (I know I use that word a lot.), the beast was found dead in 1957. A rotting corpse that
matched the Devil's descrption was discovered. (Where, I don't have any info on.) But reported
sightings of the beast still raged on, even as recent as January, 2008 up at a farm in Pennsylvania.
Hmm... Pennsylvanians being terrorized by a mythical creature from New Jersey. That's probably why
the Flyers haven't won a game in the state for a lot of years.
many choices such as the Blades, the Americans, and the God-awful name of the Meadowlanders. But
there was one that stood above the rest.
... You're not really gonna make me restate the obvious, are you?
But what about the story of the creature that the team is named after? What about the Jersey Devil?
There are many different versions of the story, but one of the more popular ones goes like this:
Back in the 1700s, an English woman named Deborah Smith immigrated to the Pine Barrens, an area of
mostly forest in the southern part of what would become New Jersey. (Also an area that is largely
undeveloped even today, despite being between Philadelphia and Atlantic City.) She would meet a Mr.
Leeds (Sorry, don't know his first name.) and marry him. His plan was to have a large family in order to
continue his family name. Hence, she was continually pregnant, and ultimately, they had 12 healthy
children.
When Mrs. Leeds learned that she was pregnant yet again, she was dismayed. She had stated that she
would rather bear the devil than another Leeds.
And that's just what happened according to this story. The child supposedly was born with claws,
hooves, and a tail. It also supposedly ate its other siblings and its parents (Later debunked/contradicted
by an article in the New York Times about a few Leeds descendents living in Atlantic City as late as the
1990s.) and escaped through the chimney to run roughshod though the area.
Another variation states that Mrs. Leeds said "May it be the devil," (Not much different than what I had
already stated.), as in deformed. During that period, deformed children were looked at as being a work
of Satan.
It supposedly took up residence at a clear-watered, unusually cold lake just outside of Winslow (near
Camden) called the Blue Hole. The lake has a very steep shoreline, leading to the belief that it's
bottomless, and was also billed as a portal to Hell.
From that point, the Jersey Devil would terrorize those that entered the forest. So there were many
sightings of it, although sightings in the last century have decreased. Descriptions of the beast have varied
throughout the years, but all of them have three things in common: the long neck, wings, and hooves. (As
you can see in the picture above.) Most descriptions also include a head and tail similar to a horse, red
glowing eyes, and a high-pitched humanlike scream. How tall the beast is varies from person to person;
it has been reported as anywhere from 3 feet tall to 7. The basis of the story many believe to stem from
the Sandhill Crane, a bird which doesn't even inhabit anywhere in New Jersey.
January 16 through the 23rd, 1909 was the busiest time for the Devil. Many sightings of the beast were
reported during that week, going as far east as Atlantic City, and even terrorizing Philadelphia. By the
end of that week, many school and local businesses were closed out of fear of the beast, and during that
period, the Philadelphia Zoo offered a $1,000,000 reward for the capture of the beast, an offer that still
stands today, but also brought on numerous blatant hoaxes.
Supposedly (I know I use that word a lot.), the beast was found dead in 1957. A rotting corpse that
matched the Devil's descrption was discovered. (Where, I don't have any info on.) But reported
sightings of the beast still raged on, even as recent as January, 2008 up at a farm in Pennsylvania.
Hmm... Pennsylvanians being terrorized by a mythical creature from New Jersey. That's probably why
the Flyers haven't won a game in the state for a lot of years.
| Source: Wikipedia |
