![]() (The Jersey Devil episode of The X-Files, by the way, aired in 1993.) The earliest mention of the Jersey Devil seems to be 1910 (which coincides with the 9th and Arch Museum's exhibition), and recounts 1909 beginning its "career joyfully with what was known as the 'Jersey Devil,'" a "combination of bat, kangaroo, and pony," and that by October a dead Jersey Devil had been found in the woods.Īccording to Google Ngrams, while mentions of Leeds Devil remain stagnant over the years, mentions of Jersey Devil go up slightly in the 1920s, reaching a small peak in the mid '40s (it was named the official state demon in 1939), rising again in the early '80s (which is when the hockey team gained its moniker) and even more rapidly in the early '90s. When the Leeds Devil became the Jersey Devil is unclear. Hopkins, and his press agent, Norman Jeffries, claimed to have captured the creature " after a terrific struggle." For two weeks crowds poured in to see the Devil - in reality, a kangaroo with wings - before the museum finally closed for good. In 1910 or 1911, the 9th and Arch Museum of Philadelphia began advertising the reappearance of the "fabulous Leeds Devil." The museum manager, T.F. "In the Pines" includes a detailed telling of the "accepted" folklore of the Leeds Devil and, we'd hazard a guess, is actually its source. The earliest mention seems to be 1859, in a story published in The Atlantic Monthly. They had sided with "the hated Lord Cornbury," the first royal governor of New Jersey, and were accused of "somehow being in the occult." When the Revolutionary War started, "the 'Leeds Devil' stood as a symbol of political ridicule and scorn."īy the mid-1800s, however, the Leeds Devil lost its political bent. In the mid-1700s, amid high anti-British sentiment, the "Leeds family made easy marks," says Regal. In 1728, Titan redesigned the masthead to include the family crest: three "dragonlike" creatures with "clawed feet" and "batlike wings" - creatures that bore a striking resemblance to the Jersey Devil. In 1716, Daniel retired and handed the almanac publishing business over to his son Titan. Quakers at that time considered astrology to be ungodly and called Daniel "Satan's Harbinger." ![]() In 1687, Daniel began publishing an almanac, which included the use of astrology, much to the consternation of his Quaker neighbors. The association between the Devil and the Leeds family seems to have started with Daniel, according to historian Brian Regal. Daniel arrived in America from England in 1677 and settled in Burlington, N.J. Deborah's husband was Japheth, a son of Daniel. Some have surmised that Mother Leeds was Deborah Leeds, who, according to genealogical records, bore 12 children between 17. The Jersey Devil Wikipedia entry says the "earliest legends" date back to "Native American folklore." While we don't doubt that there could be a Lenni Lenape myth of a dragonlike creature that haunts the forests of New Jersey, we're not so sure about a Wikipedia source that uses Wikipedia as its source. Where does the myth come from? A " Native American legend," whatever that means? Probably not. ![]() ![]() (When the beast visits my hometown, Freehold, it kicks back in Turkey Swamp Park.) For many New Jerseyans, the legend of the Jersey Devil is a fact, or fiction, of life. Since then sightings of the monster have spread to areas all over the Garden State. According to Mental Floss, he was hunting alone in the woods when he heard a "strange hissing noise" and found himself face-to-face with an animal with a "long neck, wings, legs like a crane with horse's hooves at the end, stumpy arms with paws, and a face like a horse or a camel." It hissed once more before flying away. Commodore Stephen Decatur is said to have seen it when he was “ testing cannonballs in the Pine Barrens." Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon (yes, that Napoleon) and Bordentown, N.J., resident, had his own sighting as well. Crackpots aren't the only ones who claim to have seen the creepy critter.
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