The mysterious footprints went over and under fences, through fields and backyards, and across the rooftops of houses. Early in the week reports starting emerging from all across the Delaware Valley that strange tracks were being found in the snow. The most infamous of these incidents occurred during the week of January 16 through 23, 1909. Over the years the legend of the Leeds Devil grew, occasionally even overstepping the boundaries of its rural Pine Barrens haunt to terrorize local towns and cities. Unearthly wails were often reported emanating from the dark forests and swampy bogs, and the slaughter of domesticated animals would invariably be attributed to the Phantom of the Pines. In 18th and 19th centuries the Jersey Devil was spotted sporadically throughout the Pine Barrens region, frightening local residents and any of those brave enough to traverse the vast undeveloped expanses of New Jersey’s southern reaches. To this day the creature, known varyingly as the Leeds Devil and the Jersey Devil, claims the Pines as its own, and terrorizes any who are unfortunate enough to encounter it. The creature then made good its escape into the darkness and desolation of the Pine Barrens, where it has lived ever since. Those who survived to tell the tale then watched in horror as the rotten beast sprinted to the chimney and flew up it, destroying it on the way and leaving a pile of rubble in its wake. The monster then knocked down the door to the next room where its own father and siblings cowered in fear and attacked them all, killing as many as it could. It tore the midwives limb from limb, maiming some and killing others. It flew at them, clawing and biting, voicing unearthly shrieks the entire time. The creature savagely attacked its own mother, killing her, then turned its attention to the rest of the horrified onlookers who witnessed its tempestuous transformation. Its eyes began glowing bright red as they grew larger in the monster’s gnarled and snarling face. Leathery bat-like wings unfurled from its back, and hair and feathers sprouted all over the child’s body. Itsprouted horns from the top of its head and talon-like claws tore through the tips of its fingers. The wailing infant began growing at an incredible rate. Within moments it transformed from a beautiful newborn baby into a hideous creature unlike anything the world had ever seen. The baby started to change, and metamorphosed right before her very eyes.
Within minutes however, Mother Leeds’s unholy wish of months before began to come to fruition. By all accounts the birth went routinely, and the thirteenth Leeds child was a seemingly normal baby boy. Her children and husband huddled together in one room of their Leeds Point home while local midwives gathered to deliver the baby in another. Mother Leeds went into labor a few months later, on a tumultuously stormy night, no longer mindful of the curse she had utter previously regarding her unborn child. Reaching the point of absolute exasperation upon learning of her thirteenth child, she raised her hands to the heavens and proclaimed “Let this one be a devil!” Her husband was a drunkard who made few efforts to provide for his wife and twelve children. (Leeds is the name of one of New Jersey’s earliest settlers, and many descendants of the Leeds family can still be found throughout NJ to this day.) Mother Leeds was not living a wealthy lifestyle by any means. Legend has it that in 1735, a Pines resident known as Mother Leeds found herself pregnant for the thirteenth time. The recurring nature of this story begs a few questions: Why have New Jerseyans embraced this legend so steadfastly, and above all others? Is there actually some sort of creature roaming the Pine Barrens of Southern NJ, and if so, what in God’s name is it? For close to three hundred years now, Jerseyans have told tales of this mythical beast that stalks the Pine Barrens and terrorizes local residents. Without a doubt, New Jersey’s oldest, most enduring, and important pieces of folklore is the tale of the infamous Jersey Devil.
0 kommentar(er)
