PLUMSTED – Under the glow of a full moon, a crowd of approximately 50 people came out to Town Hall to learn the strange history of the state’s most famous cryptid, the Jersey Devil.
The Pine Barrens beast, known for his goat-like head, bat-like wings and hooved feet has been sighted in various locations in the state for over 100 years.
It was the mission of New Egypt Historical Society member Kate Tallon and her 8-year-old son Logan O’Callaghan (who also helps with programs at Whitesbog Historic Village) to provide more insight about the creature and those linked to his appearances.
Tallon wasn’t sure how many people would turn out on a Friday night during Halloween weekend but the New Egypt Historical Society came prepared with models, drawings, books and other items at two display tables. There were also specially made cookies on a stick that featured the early folklore sketches of the Jersey Devil. You could also enjoy some chilled apple cider and a cupcake before and after hearing about the origin of the mysterious monster.
“I am actually amazed at the turnout. I am a history buff. I love the Pinelands and I love the story of the Jersey Devil.” Tallon said.
A sketch of the mythical Jersey Devil is seen as part of an elaborate display featured at a New Egypt Historical Society forum that explored the history of the strange Pine Barren creature. (Photo by Bob Vosseller)
Her husband John assisted with the PowerPoint presentation that featured graphics of the winged creature and individuals like Daniel Leeds who are part of the creature’s background. Along with the beast’s origin, the Leeds family and the environment, her program touched on some of the colonial politics that took place during around 1735 concerning colonists and loyalists.
“The Pine Barrens are the perfect place for a myth that is dark and scary like this to happen. When the colonists first came over, they didn’t know anything about the Pine Barrens. Currently it is 1.1 million acres of preserved land. They didn’t know how to farm this. This soil was highly acidic. All the crops they’ve been planting in Europe for years and years were not growing here,” she added.
Tallon said, “they consider it barren until they looked at the Lenape who lived here first for thousands of years and they were thriving here. They knew how to live on this land. We had the Puritans, the Quakers and some Anglicans but it was the Quakers that really settled western and they started working with the Lenape who had their own stories and history and one of their forest spirits, “Mesingw” was said to ride on the back of deer and had a face half black and half red.”
“He watched over the hunters and watched over the creatures and to see if all of the tribes had enough food to eat and he was also a bit of a trickster. If you misbehaved or treated the forest poorly Mesingw would come after you,” Tallon said, showing a photo of tribesman wearing a Mesingw headdress “that looks a little Jersey Devilish.”
“The Lenape called the Pine Barrens the land of the dragon. One of the reasons that the Lenape got along with the Quakers is that their religious perspectives were very similar. They both believed men and women were equal under God. The Lenape also believed that that you did not need a spiritual guide to help you find God. The Quakers feel this way as well. The Quakers don’t feel you need a minister or preacher to help you find God as God is within you.”
One of two nearly identical Jersey Devil figurines is seen beside some of the specially made snacks for the occasion of a Jersey Devil forum. (Photo by Bob Vosseller)
As to what the Jersey Devil looks like, sightings have ranged from his being a three-foot beast to a 10-foot beast. “He comes in all shapes and sizes. One of the things that make it so fun and so unique is that you can create whatever monster you think of in your head,” she added.
Some of the sightings resemble the hammerhead bat. Tallon asked while pointing to a photo of it, “how similar does that look to the Jersey Devil? Isn’t that amazing? There are several stories that describe it to look exactly like this creature.”
She noted that “it is very possible that at some point in time someone brought a hammerhead bat over here and there might have been a population of them. It is just a theory but it is a cool one.”
Japhet Leeds, son of Daniel Leeds who was ex-communicated from his Quaker church, married Deborah. They had nine children and Japhet also had four children from a previous marriage.
“Deborah Smith is most likely the famed Mother Leeds,” Tallon said.
This made her a mother of 12 children, Logan remarked that Deborah Leeds was pregnant “and back in the day 13 was still an unlucky number. There were no hospitals around. She screamed ‘let it be a devil, let it be a devil!’”
Various books on the Jersey Devil and crypto-zoology were on display. (Photo by Bob Vosseller)
The program noted that the Leeds family had a bad reputation among the Quaker community with accusations of being involved in the occult and so it wasn’t surprising that a story emerged about their 13th child being a demon.
“At this time, she would have been 50 years old so it is possible she could have given birth and it is possible there could have been a deformity or a problem that could have led to this myth,” Tallon said.
New Egypt has its own documented Jersey Devil sighting. Area author Bill Lewis, who produced the film “The Reluctant Piney,” remarked that during the 1960s on Hopkins Road, “a gentleman was going through the woods and he saw what he thought was the Jersey Devil. When he caught up to his friends’ house where he was going, they knew that the Jersey Devil he saw was really the head of a hog that had just been slaughtered.”
“The police department was out there looking. The gentleman was adamant that he saw the Jersey Devil and they didn’t have the heart to tell him it was a hog’s head,” Lewis added.
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