Origin of the Legend

According to popular Folklore, the jersey devil originated with a pine Barrens resident named Deborah Leeds, known as “Mother Leeds.” The legend states that Mother Leeds had twelve children and, after discovering she was pregnant for the thirteenth time, cursed the child in frustration, declaring that the child would be the “Devil.” In 1735, Mother Leeds was in labour on a stormy night while her friends gathered around her. The thirteenth child was born normally. However, it transformed into a creature with hooves, a goats head, a bat wings, and a forked tail. Growling and screaming, the child beat everyone with its tail before flying up the chimney and heading into the pines. In some versions of the tale, mother Leeds supposedly a witch and the child’s father was the devil himself. some versions of the legend state that local clergymen subsequently attempted to exorcise the creature from the Pine Barrens. According to legend the creature still roams around the forest to this day.

The Leeds Family 

Prior to the early 1900s, the Jersey Devil was referred to as the Leeds Devil or the Devil Of Leeds, either in connection with the local Leeds family or the self-named Leeds point in South Jersey “Mother Leeds” has been identified by some as the real-life Deborah Leeds, on grounds that Deborah Leeds’ husband, Japhet Leeds, named twelve children in the will he wrote during 1736, which is compatible with the legend. Deborah and Japheth Leeds also lived in the Leeds, Named twelve children in the will he wrote during 1736, which compatible with the legend. Deborah and Japheth Leeds also lived in the Leeds Point section of what is now Atlantic County, New Jersey, which commonly the location of the Jersey Devil story. Brian Regal, a historian of science at Kean University, theorizes that the story of Mother Leeds, rather than being based on a single historical person alone, originated from the reputation of the local prominent Leeds family.