Halloween Horror Stories: Search for the Jersey Devil

Every place has a regional myth: Folk tales, tall tales or just plain false tales, which relate something unique, weird or even supernatural. For residents of New Jersey, it's the Jersey Devil.

I was born in the garden state and lived quite close to scene of the myth's creation. The pine barrens of NJ are incredibly beautiful, but they cover an area so vast and in spots are so thick with foliage, that one could concoct virtually any bizarre creature living in them nearly undiscovered by the general populace. With enough imagination, you could create a true folk icon - even a devil.

As a kid, you couldn't find anyone in our town of Lanoka Harbor, NJ who hadn't either heard about the Jersey Devil or wanted to hear more. With every new telling of the story, as in all fun folklore, things are added or subtracted. I wanted to believe the tale, for the pure fun of it, but it was difficult to take it seriously as so many of the facts conveniently changed with the storyteller.

Origins Of The Devil

The most popular form of the birth of the beast was it being the doomed, even cursed child of a New Jersey couple. In the 18th century, Pine Barrens dweller Mrs. Leeds had given her demanding husband twelve beautiful babies. On the thirteenth pregnancy, she was tired and frustrated with another mouth to feed. She screamed, "May it be the Devil's son!" Some variations on the tale have her saying, "May it be a Devil!" This account of the baby cursing is followed by the child being born horribly deformed, complete with wings and fangs. The beast promptly eats Mrs. Leeds, her children and flies off into the huge refuge of the Pine Barrens.

An interesting element to the Jersey Devil tale describes the creature as drowning unfortunate trespassers who wander into the Pine Barrens. In Winslow, New Jersey there' s a water hole that's said to be "bottomless" with the water being incredibly cold even in summer. Geologists have theorized that it's a glacier carved spring or a prehistoric meteorite hole. Whatever the origin, people who venture into it describe a strange and strong whirlpool effect, which could lend credence to the Jersey Devil drowning victims.