Cryptids,  J,  New Jersey,  Urban Legends

Jersey Devil

The Jersey Devil is a cryptid from New Jersey with folkloric origins. The story of the Jersey Devil’s origin begins with a woman named Mrs. Shrouds, Mother Leeds, or Abigail Leeds. She had twelve children and cursed her hypothetical thirteenth child to the devil. She got pregnant not long after and gave birth to an inhuman creature. Another story said a woman got pregnant by a British soldier, and her child was cursed by her neighbors. This child had goat legs, a human torso, bat wings, and a long snout similar to a horse. It’s sometimes thought to be nine feet from head to tail. It’s thought to live in the Pine Barrens and was supposedly sighted by Joseph Bonaparte during exile in America.

Citations:

Maberry, Jonathan. Vampire Universe: The Dark World of Supernatural Beings That Haunt Us, Hunt Us, and Hunger for Us. United States, Kensington Publishing Corporation, 2006.

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