Bloodlines: The Jersey Devil Curse (2022) Movie Script
1
[GASPING]
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
[EERIE SOUNDS]
[PANTING AND WHIMPERING]
[SCREAMS]
[CROWD SCREAMING]
[CARNIVAL MUSIC PLAYING]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
[PLEASANT MUSIC PLAYING]
DR. BRIAN: Now, when people
think of New Jersey,
they think of North Jersey.
The highways, the cities,
the oil refineries.
You know, Springsteen,
The Sopranos.
That's North Jersey.
But you have South Jersey,
which is basically
a different State.
But it's one huge Pine forest.
DR. BRIAN: If you get into
certain parts of it at night,
I mean, it is pitch black.
You don't hear
highway sounds,
you don't see anything.
So that too has
got a kind of...
romantic, otherworldly
feeling to it,
that maybe
there are creatures
out here.
Maybe there are
monsters out here.
Well, the Pine Barrens
really is a peculiar place.
And although New Jersey
is the most densely populated
State in the union,
the Pine Barrens remains
very, very sparsely populated
part of the State.
DR. ELEANOR: I think that
it's considered a no man's land
because of the vast expanse
of forest in an otherwise
heavily human dense area.
We typically think of
the Northeastern seaboard
as a really dense space
for human population.
It's not like the Southeast,
or really the central area
of the United States,
where communities
are really spread out.
So, to have such a wide expanse
of space that's more or less
human unoccupied,
it can kind of gain
this life of its own,
or this community understanding
that it's not a safe place,
that it's not a place
where humans are welcome.
Where it really belongs
to nature or the unexplored
or the unknown.
There's some really amazing
folklore books
about the Pine Barrens
because it has
a really fascinating
representation
in popular culture
as an incredibly haunted place,
for good reason, in that
when industry moved
out of that region
the forest overgrew
and overtook a lot
of the industry buildings
that were constructed to
support the steel production
in that area.
The Pine Barrens.
I grew up in the Hudson Valley
of New York, and so
I was going around
and looking for,
you know, ghosts
and those sort of things there.
As I got older and got
a driver's license
I started expanding
my horizons.
And, oddly enough,
in the early 80s,
the Meadowlands area
of New Jersey,
sort of became a place
where if you didn't want to go
into New York City
for a concert
or for a hockey event,
you could go to New Jersey.
And so I started doing that
and then found
that the hockey team
was the New Jersey Devils
that were named
after the Leeds Devil
and I was blown away by that.
I'm like, wait a second,
what's the story there?
And they started saying,
"Well, yeah,
if you go out
to the Pine Barrens,
that's where this thing lives."
And I thought, okay,
well, why hasn't
anybody found it yet?
And thinking that
the Pine Barrens
was going to be
just a little stretch
of woods,
a couple of acres or something
like that, and then went into
the Pine Barrens,
and it was like going into
another world.
I think a devil
could live back in here
if there was something,
as well as all other sorts
of monsters.
I mean, you could go forever
back there and not find
any other people.
There's really no other legend
like the legend
of the Jersey Devil.
And, you know,
it's a unique legend in a unique
geographical location.
I think the Jersey Devil
is kind of a
really good emblem,
to kind of represent
how interesting and unique
the Pine Barrens is.
The creature itself
is kind of horsey,
sort of like a deer with wings.
But a lot of people have
actually claimed
that what they are seeing
is a creature about the size
of a Collie
or a German Shepherd that has
a head more like a horse.
It has horns.
Head of a horse.
It's got a head of a...
I've seen a head of a dog,
I saw a head of an ostrich,
I mean and cloven hooves.
DR. ELEANOR: And it's got
typically bright red eyes,
some kind of goat-like features,
and most importantly,
it's winged.
A thin body.
Either hooves or claws,
depending on the version
of the story
that you're hearing.
JAMES: So the wings
have carried through.
But this...
Does it have horse feet?
Does it have hooves
or the cloven hooves?
That all seems to go away,
and it's more of
a giant winged cryptid.
Imagine Pegasus at the wrong end
of a really bad meth addiction.
That's what the Jersey Devils
looks like.
Descriptions of
the Jersey Devil,
match with the popular concept
of what the devil
would look like
if you were to encounter him.
Even though the Bible gives
a slightly different answer
to that question.
[SCREECHING]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
MAN: [ON RADIO] Now, look,
all I'm saying is these
weird sightings taking place
in the Barrens
could really just be
some pineys
with overactive imaginations.
We're talking about people
claiming the kids
are performing
rituals in the woods now.
And they're raising the devil.
Really? This is where
we're at, really?
Supposedly, this demon
is some sort of flying horse
with wings,
and they're finding
tracks in the snow,
tracks in the sand.
And park rangers are running
into this thing and on and on.
Pineys, man.
We are in the middle
of this hysteria
over people performing rituals
by playing Dungeons & Dragons
or listening to hair metal.
Well, listen,
if this thing is a demon
summoned by hair metal,
sign me up for a look at it.
[RADIO CLICKS OFF]
[PHONE RINGING]
Ranger station.
Hello, Miss Stockwell.
Yes, we we do have a curfew
in effect.
Dusk till dawn. Yeah.
No. No, it's always been
that way.
It's no acknowledgment
of a monster. No.
Those are all rumors.
Every single one of them.
[CHUCKLES] Heavy metal freaks?
No, they're just good kids
having fun
on their bikes.
That's it. They're all in
the baseball team.
They don't hurt anything.
They clean up after themselves.
No. We've never found
any evidence of any
satanic rituals on the property.
No.
No, no, I can't arrest them. No.
All right. Thank you. Bye.
[SIGHS]
[PHONE RINGING]
God bless!
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
Just say you're chicken.
You do not have botulism.
Whatever, Jake.
I'm going to land
murder hill tonight.
I need a witness.
Nobody's going to believe me.
You suck, Jake. You suck.
I'll do it on my own.
Hey, Mom.
Yeah, I'm going with Jake.
I know. I'll be home by 9:00.
No excuses.
Love you, too.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[CAWING]
[EERIE MUSIC PLAYING]
[CRICKETS CHIRPING]
[DRIPPING SOUNDS]
[HEAVY WINGS FLAPPING]
[HEAVY WINGS FLAPPING]
Hey!
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[CRICKETS CHIRPING]
[GROANING SOUNDS]
[MUSIC INTENSIFIES]
[EERIE GROWLING]
All right. Stockwell, you win.
A master's degree in
wildlife resource management,
and I am nothing
but a glorified forest janitor.
OFFICER TOM: [ON RADIO]
Come in, Dean,
you out there buddy?
It's Tom.
Copy. Hey, Tom, what's up?
OFFICER TOM: Yeah, we got
a report of a missing kid
on a bike.
[EERIE GROWLING INTENSIFIES]
Copy that. Yeah, sorry.
I'll... I'll go check it out.
[INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
PAUL: [YELLS] No! Get away!
[PAUL SCREAMING IN DISTANCE]
DEAN: Tom?
Tom? Yeah.
I found the bike.
I think... I think it might be
your missing kid.
Send help! Send help!
[GROWLING]
[GROWLING]
Hey. Hey. Hey.
Just stay low, follow me, okay?
Come on. Come on. Come on.
OFFICER TOM: [ON RADIO]
Dean, you there? Dean?
[HEAVY WINGS FLAPPING]
What the hell
was that thing, kid?
What'd you get us into?
[BREATHING HEAVILY]
Okay, I'm gonna call...
I'm gonna call for backup.
I dropped my radio.
-What's your name?
-It's...
It's Paul.
Okay, Paul, listen.
I was in contact with the police
right before I found you.
There are other people out here
looking for us, okay?
They're gonna be here soon.
We just need to hunker down,
and we're gonna be okay.
All right?
Okay? We're going to be fine.
Just relax.
[HEAVY THUDDING]
[ROOF CREAKS]
[HEAVY FOOTSTEPS]
PAUL: We're dead. We're dead.
We're gonna have to make a run
for my station, okay?
-PAUL: Okay.
-Okay?
Run hard. Do not look back.
Do not look back.
All right. Let's move.
[SCREECHING]
DEAN: Come here!
Get back. Move.
Head down. Go! Go! Go!
[INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
DEAN: Do it! Do it now!
[COCKS GUN]
OFFICER TOM: Get down!
[SHRIEKS]
Well, in about 1982 is when
National Hockey League team
had moved to the New Jersey area
and was seeking names
for the club.
The franchise
had a contest, actually.
Over 10,000 fans
evidently wrote in
to give their suggestions.
And one of them...
The one that won
was New Jersey Devils.
And that was
a deliberate callback
to the Jersey Devil legend.
So that, as far as I know,
it's the only major league team
in any sport
that features a cryptid
as its mascot.
It really is a reference
to the Leeds' story.
Yeah, I think you'd be saying,
like the early 80s was
when it kicked in from the...
[CHANTING SATANIC VERSE]
DR. ELEANOR:The Satanic panic.
Fascinating period
in our history
that was really kicked off
in the 1980s,
where good,
God-fearing Americans
began to go
almost on witch hunts
to strike out and find
those in their own community,
who were practicing
anything related to Satan.
This included any type
of occultist beliefs in,
you know, witches
or spirituality or crystals,
sageing, incense.
In fact, I've seen people
discuss the likelihood
that trips into the
Pine Barrens will result
in finding places
where satanic sacrifices
have occurred,
or where occultists are doing
all sorts of sacrifices
and that's used as reasoning
for why people should not enter
the Pine Barrens,
is because it's this place
for satanic practice.
A possible link between the 80s,
the Satanic panic,
and then the Jersey Devil
or Leeds Devil,
I would get backlash
when I would tell people
I'm going to go look
for the Jersey Devil.
And it was,
"What are you looking
for the devil for?"
But there certainly was,
for me, the backlash being like,
"What, are you playing
your records backwards, too?"
And doing
all that sort of stuff.
This is heightened when we think
of the role of the Jersey Devil
and the stories
of the Jersey Devil's
origin as, you know,
either son of Satan
or in bonds with Satan
or offspring of Satan,
whatever it might be,
that sightings of this creature
known as the Jersey Devil
are reaching this new height,
this new purported wave.
Because it ties into
that overarching fear
that's gripping our nation.
I remember there was some kind
of a wave of sightings
in the 80s.
And isn't that the one
where the police put up signs
saying the Jersey devil
is a hoax?
The sightings, it seems
to come in like little waves,
and it's sporadic.
I don't know how
to account for that.
I think, obviously,
if somebody claims
that they saw the
Jersey Devil, it could
trigger copycat claims.
JAMES: There are
a lot of newspaper reports
into the 80s,
and several of them
make reference to the Pineys,
the people who lived out there,
saying that the Leeds Devil
was sort of like the boogeyman,
that don't go out at night
or stay home or...
There are some reports where
they're actually saying
it was almost like [CHUCKLES]
the Leeds Devil
was like Santa Claus,
that they knew
what you were doing.
And if you did anything bad,
the devil was coming for you.
Which, again, I think
is sort of interesting
when you look at and just say,
take the Leeds part out of that
and, hey, you do anything bad,
'the' devil is coming for you.
I could see how some of that
got transposed with each other.
Typically, the sighting
is of a winged creature,
you know, either from the ground
taking off and flying,
or being seen flying
through the woods themselves.
DR. ELEANOR: According to
the Asbury Park Press
of October 1988,
a man who lived
in Howell Township
encountered the devil in 1981.
He described the creature
as having a furry body,
huge feet with three toes
on each one,
large teeth and he stood
about six feet tall.
I know a hunter,
a friend of mine who's a hunter
said he got up early
one morning to go deer hunting,
and he got in his stand
and he kept hearing
some really strange,
loud noises.
And then in the opening
in the woods that was adjacent
to his hunting stand,
he saw a strange creature,
that was moving along
in the early morning.
Just barely light, you know?
It was making such
a loud noises
-and he couldn't account
for what kind of animal it was.
-[SCREECHING]
And he said he got out of
the stand and went back
to his truck and went home.
MARK: There were... I would say
there's a steady stream
of sightings.
Yeah, I mean, in the 1980s,
there are some
very 80s-style sightings.
I mean, there was one
in which there were
a group of dirt bikers
who were riding around
in the Pine Barrens.
"In the late 1980s,
a couple of my friends and I
took a camping trip
to the Pine Barrens.
I was unaware
that we were headed to the home
of the Jersey devil.
We headed out on our bikes
and did our fair share
of partying that night.
The next day,
while everyone was asleep,
three of us decided
to hit the trails
a bit earlier than usual.
We were about 100 yards away
in the woods
when my bike stalled out.
I looked and found
that my friends
had stalled also.
At first, I thought it had
something to do
with the terrain
or maybe something to do
with the nearby power plants.
Fifty feet away
from each other,
we tried to start up our bikes
when suddenly, from the woods,
we heard the most horrible,
piercing scream.
-[DISTANT SCREECH]
-It sounded inhuman.
Like something being tortured.
Once back at camp,
they asked us if we had
heard screams earlier.
They had heard them, too,
about four miles away.
That night, we headed
into the local town
because we ran out of booze.
We went into a bar
and I ordered a drink
still in shock
from what I heard that morning.
The bartender asked,
'Hey, kid, what'd you see
a ghost or something?'
After I told him the story,
he smiled and said,
'Looks like you met
our little friend.'
He then asked us
to come out back.
He showed us a tin garbage can
that was shredded to bits.
It looked like
the shreds were made
from something with three claws.
I've never returned
to the Pine Barrens since,
and I don't plan to go back."
But also in the 1980s,
there was very strange thing
that was reported.
I think that was 1980,
to be precise,
where there was some sort of
State game warden
or someone,
park ranger, perhaps,
that found, had a farm,
a group of pigs
that had been eaten
like from the top
of their heads
had been gnawed off,
but there were no tracks
around any of the poor animals
that had met that end.
So the question... Even though
there's no eyewitness report
of a creature
that was still
raising questions about
that particular part
of the State.
JAMES: There were once
State parks kind of came in
to play.
In general, you get a lot of
these generalizations about
park ranger saw this or...
Not just with the Leeds Devil,
but in general.
I think some people
will pull that in because
you now have
a credible witness.
You have a park ranger
that's going out there
and they would know the areas
so they would know
what's going on.
So, I think
some of the urban legends,
if you will,
pull in park rangers
in general. That being said,
it would stand to reason
that people
who have the most chance
of encountering the Leeds Devil
or the Jersey Devil
would be park rangers
or people that lived out there
because they spend the most time
out there, so.
By the 1980s, I think
there was a general sense
that there was a cryptid afoot
in the Pine Barrens.
I think the
public consciousness
at that point was
already had taken
pretty good form.
And there would be things
that would come
a little bit later
like Blair Witch Project,
for example,
that drew even more attention
to that region of the country.
[EERIE PIANO MUSIC PLAYING]
[MOUTHING]
[PLEASANT PIANO MUSIC PLAYING]
[MOUTHING]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[DOOR OPENS AND CREAKS]
[WIND HOWLING]
[EERIE MUSIC PLAYING]
[ROOF CREAKING]
[MUSIC INTENSIFIES]
[SCREECHING AND GROWLING]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[SCREECHING]
[COCKS GUN]
[SAM SCREAMS]
[WINGS FLAPPING]
[SHRIEKS]
[CREATURE SHRIEKS]
[GUN FIRING]
[SORROWFUL PIANO MUSIC PLAYING]
So, in 1909,
it is the turn of the century.
Right? A lot is happening.
We're ramping up to World War I,
there is a lot of social change,
there's a lot
of economic change,
and there's a ton
of industrial change.
All of that is kind of
circulating the air.
Interestingly, in January
that year between
16th and 23rd,
we see a rash
of newspaper publications
that indicate an intense series
of sightings
of the Jersey Devil.
Some reporters go poking around,
and they speak to some people
living there,
especially the Pine Barrens.
And a few older people say,
"Well, you know,
when I was a little kid,
my grandpa talked
about the Leeds Devil.
Maybe it's the Leeds Devil
who is doing...
leaving these footprints
and, you know, stealing stuff
out of people's barns
and chasing away their goats
and whatever."
And so slowly
that idea starts to build.
Well, I think
the hardest story to explain
is the story
of the multiple sightings
of the Jersey Devil
in January, 1909,
There were policemen
who fired their pistols
at the thing.
There were, you know,
people who reported
face to face encounters
with it.
People really were terrified.
The newspapers
picked up the stories.
Well, in the 1909,
sighting flap of
the Jersey devil,
I think what characterized
that more than anything else
was the tracks that were found
all throughout the Pine Barrens
and the surrounding towns.
DR. ELEANOR: So,
on the 16th of January,
which was a Saturday,
the creature was seen flying
over Woodbury, New Jersey.
On the 17th
in Bristol, Pennsylvania,
this is where several people
saw the creature in the tracks
that it created.
On Monday the 18th,
the town of Burlington
was covered in strange tracks,
which seemed to defy logic.
And then some of these
same tracks were found
in other towns.
MARK: Long track lines
that look like hoof prints
in the snow.
Those were seen all throughout
the area, even going up
onto people's roofs
and ascending and descending
and appearing and disappearing,
and that was sort of
the main feature
of all of those.
DR. ELEANOR:
Two Gloucester hunters
also tracked the
creature's perplexing trail
for about 20 or so miles.
The trail, interestingly,
appeared to jump fences
and squeeze under
eight-inch gaps.
So, not only did it have
an insane vertical leap but also
could shrink extremely small.
Newspapers even produced maps
showing all of the
different locations
where people had claimed
to have seen this thing.
They followed tracks
in the snow
to see if they could
track the thing down
and kill it, you know.
Formed posses and they tried
to track it down.
What kind of tracks
they were actually following?
I don't know.
[LOW GROWL]
When you look
at the published reports,
that's when you start to think
these are a little weird.
Because the Leeds Devil
was accused of everything
from attacking livestock
to attacking people.
In some versions,
people said that it was more
like a dragon and it was
breathing fire and that it was
setting like rail road tracks
on fire.
The one
that I've always been
fascinated with
and could never find anything,
except it was printed in
two newspaper reports,
is that police officer
was making the rounds,
and he thought, he described it
as a giant closed umbrella
leaning against a fence post,
and he went over
to sort of pull it down
or what have you,
and it opened up
and spread its wings.
And he started wrestling
[CHUCKLES] with this thing,
supposedly.
And then it just took off.
And I think
that's one of
the closest encounters,
if that really was
the Leeds Devil,
that I've found so far.
So I've always been
fascinated with that one.
DR. ELEANOR: And many towns
at this point
were panic stricken.
News had broken out
all across the area,
and they knew
that stuff was crazy.
Many businesses were closed
and schools were also closed
or they were forced to close
due to lack of attendance.
JAMES: They were
still seeing it in
the Pine Barrens area.
But it pushed up into New York
and then specifically,
it made its way
into Philadelphia.
So we're not talking any more
about these
sort of isolated reports of,
you know, the pineys
that are seeing
something weird.
You're getting into
like Philadelphia.
So you're talking about
densely populated areas
that the creature
was roaming around.
And that, again,
is what's so fascinating
about the 1909 sightings.
DR. ELEANOR: The creature
apparently was not fazed
as it continued to rampage
through Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania and
West Collingswood, New Jersey,
where it was supposedly hosed
by the local fire department.
The devil seemed poised
to attack nearby people
who defensively threw
any available objects at it.
The creature would suddenly
fly away,
and it would reemerge later
only to injure a dog,
ripping a chunk of flesh
from its cheek
before the owner drove it away.
-[RIPPING SOUNDS]
-[DOG YELPS]
JAMES: The idea of it
being seen, any cryptid,
being seen
in a densely populated
major city is,
it's unheard of.
You know, it's very unique
because most of
any cryptid sightings
and the vast majority
of the Leeds Devil story,
then Jersey Devil stories
are in remote areas
that you've got one
or two witnesses,
or if it's over
a series of days.
Maybe you've got
a handful of witnesses.
We're talking hundreds
of witnesses
allegedly taking place
in a major city.
At this time, the primary way
that people would receive news
was from the morning
and evening paper
that would be published
by local printing presses
as well as
a few regional papers.
And many communities
would have several newspapers,
so people were always vying
for the best report,
the best headlines
because they wanted their papers
to sell above everybody else's.
And, if you had
the most popular newspaper,
you were afforded a very special
and particular type of esteem
in your community.
I have heard before
that there is thought that
this story or series of stories
was concocted in order
to sell newspapers
because this area
saw the opportunity
and as one paper started to do
really well, the next paper
would make up another story
and it would only grow and grow
and grow and grow and grow.
It's really been alleged
that a lot
of the 1909 sightings,
the track finds were one thing,
but the sightings
may have been planted
in the media
by those who were looking
to sell tickets
to their Dime Museum
in Philadelphia.
DR. BRIAN: There is a place
in Philadelphia
which, unfortunately,
is no longer there,
called the 9th & Arch Street
Dime Museum.
It's a parking lot now,
in downtown, Philadelphia.
And Dime Museums
were really popular
in the late 19th,
early 20th centuries.
They were basically
circus side shows
and you know you'd have
the two-headed babies in a jar,
you'd have the skinny man
and the fat lady,
and you'd have jugglers
and all that.
All that sort of carnival stuff
that we think of.
All in this one place.
But the 9th & Arch Street
in Philadelphia
is slowly beginning to fall
on hard times.
Because just like today,
you can shock people,
but after a while
the shock wears off
and now you want a new shock.
And so they're running
out of shocks.
They're trying to figure,
"What do we do?
How do we get people
to start coming back to this?"
And they see
the newspaper reports
about these strange goings on
in the woods,
and as soon as they see that
they think, "Jackpot!"
That will bring people in.
What they ended up doing
was not only planting stories
it's alleged
in the local media newspapers,
but staging Jersey Devil Hunt,
going out and claiming
to find something
and bringing it back
to the Arch and 9th Street
Museum in Philadelphia,
where it could be viewed
for a modest fee.
And so now
they start advertising
"We've captured
the Jersey Devil."
"Come see the Jersey Devil."
And the lines
are now around the corner.
So the way they had it set up
in a big room, darkened room.
Cage on the stage.
You can't see what's in it.
They bring a bunch of people in
and there's a barker there,
you know,
"Jersey Devil eats people."
"Peek. Don't get too close.
Because you don't want to."
And they pull the curtain off.
And here's this thing.
[FABRIC FLAPS]
[GROWLS]
And what people saw
when they went into the museum,
in a cage, was a kangaroo
that had been fitted
with some sort of
contraption that made it look
like it had wings
and painted
in shades or stripes of green.
This creature,
this poor kangaroo, evidently,
there was some sort of
sharp object
that it was poked with
and make a lot of aloud sound
that would alarm the patrons
who had gone there to see it.
And so, word gets out,
you know it's not real,
and so that's the end of it.
After this, people asked them,
"Why did you fake this?"
"We're a Dime Museum.
That's what we do.
We fake stuff.
Why did you believe us
when we told you
we had this thing?"
And so after a while,
you know, it all dies down.
But why that's all important
is because now
this name Jersey Devil
has gotten into the bloodstream
and people start coming out
of the woodwork saying,
"I know it's real.
I've seen it."
There's this thought that
this story
or series of stories
was concocted in order
to sell newspapers.
Because this area
saw the opportunity
and as one paper
started to do really well,
the next paper
would make up another story
and it would only grow and grow
and grow and grow and grow.
However, in other
cryptid sightings
that have been primarily spread
by newspaper reports,
There's less of
a vested interest
in that type of one-upsmanship
hoax culture that would persist
for one week
and then completely disappear.
What we normally see is that
one paper will publish a story
and then the next will offer
rewards or potential scoops
or will maybe publish a photo.
But there's not
typically this addition
of a more complex narrative
that would quote people directly
or that would involve
the local fire department,
for instance,
that would be less likely
to be seen in that area
or that time period.
It's been alleged, you know
that the 1909 sightings
and the reports in the media
essentially launched
the Jersey Devil
as we know it today,
and that would be
very convenient.
But what is so interesting
is that it's simply a matter
of record that in 1859,
which of course predates 1909,
Atlantic Monthly
ran a lengthy story about a man
who went to the Pine Barrens
and interviewed locals,
some of whom
told him the legend
of the Jersey Devil.
And not only that,
but talking about the fact
that some strange creature
had been seen in that area
ever since.
And that occasionally
in the Pine Barrens,
there's something flying about
or messing with
people's livestock.
So that is the fly
in the ointment,
as far as saying that
there is a neat tie to 1909,
which explains it all.
It simply doesn't.
There are tribal beliefs
associated with that area,
particularly in terms
of the landscape.
So, one of the ways
that tribal communities
preserve their stories
is by having the place name
of a physical place
tied directly to a story.
In the Pine Barrens,
the Lenape tribes
knew the area as 'Poppuessing',
which meant
'The place of the dragon'.
When Swedish settlers
then came into the area,
they adopted
a form of that name
and also knew it as
the place of the dragon.
For these tribal groups,
it was more about the structure
of the place.
So the land and the interaction
between the forests
and the water
created spaces or inlets
that were reminiscent
of native tribal stories
that included those patterns
like dragons
or other type
of monstrous creatures.
And so that land
became known as that
as the result of those.
Not inherently,
because there was a dragon
that was sighted there
by those native folk.
There is good reason to believe
that the legend traces
all the way back
to the Native Americans
in this area.
The Native Americans,
in this area believed
that there was a spirit being
that lived in the wilderness,
and they had a ceremony
that they performed
for this spirit.
MARK: The Lenape tribe
had a whole variety of
folkloric figures that
they were able to describe
to the Europeans
when they arrived.
The one that corresponds
to the Jersey Devil
most closely was a
deity figure called Mising.
And Mising is the one that had
the head and body of the deer.
A male deer with antlers
and bat-like wings,
and was seen as sort of
a protector of the forest.
As the European settlers
come in,
and most of them with a very
strong religious perspective,
there would be a crossover
that would take place
between native legends
and beliefs in folklore
and beliefs
that were often rooted
in biblical Christianity.
In the case of the Lenape,
there was a religious group
that they actually were able
to coexist with quite well,
and that was the Quakers.
The Quaker people
and the Lenape
actually lived
very well together.
But what they were
able to do then,
of course,
is share their stories
in a non-threatening way.
And so from the Lenape,
Quakers would have heard
descriptions like this
that would have conjured images
that were,
at the very least, devilish,
or that would have fit
sort of the artistic renderings
of demons and devils
in the 1600s and 1700s.
So the basic story
the Jersey Devil,
and there are
variations of this,
is that 1735, a woman
named Mother Leeds living in the
depths of the Pine Barrens
gives birth to her 13th child.
Mother Leeds was either a witch
or a woman
upon whom someone had placed
a curse.
My favorite version is the one
where the child is born
and it looks
like a natural baby.
But then in a short time,
even in the immediate wake
of the delivery,
it starts to change.
When the child was born,
it looked normal.
But then immediately morphed
into this amalgam
of every sort of creature
known and unknown.
The mother's screaming.
The midwife is screaming.
Everyone's confused
and scared and terrified.
The child then
burst through the door
to the adjoining room,
where Mister Leeds
and the prior 12 children
are all huddled,
scared by the sounds
coming from this room.
The creature kills
as many as it can,
and then it flies off
into the night,
only to be seen
on rare occasions
or by people who invoke
the devil themselves.
MARK: You've heard it said
many times.
There's as many
as 30 variations.
Probably more than that.
JAMES: When Mother Leeds
comes into play
in the early versions,
she's a witch
and she is able to sort of
shape shift.
And I found a really
interesting article that made
reference to the fact that
the Leeds Devil was sort of
a European version
of a werewolf.
And I'm like,
"Okay, I get that part."
But then
there were also versions
that Mother Leeds
had a child
and the father was the devil.
But the problem
with the whole story
is that the real story,
the Jersey Devil,
has nothing
to do with a monster.
A physical monster.
It's a political story.
It is a story
that gets to the depths of
small town culture
versus big town culture,
religious culture,
land grabs
from Native Americans,
the crushing of outspoken women.
This is the beginnings
of fake news in America.
It's the beginnings
of sensationalist
media coverage.
It's an American thing
before there's an America.
This sort of thing
is already going on.
And so the the story,
the Jersey Devil
is at the heart of that.
[DISTANT SCREECHING]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[KNOCKS]
WOMAN: Hello.
I've been sent by the agency.
[KNOCKS]
Hello?
I've been summoned
by your husband.
I'm here from the agency
to offer services.
I hope there
hasn't been a mistake.
[KNOCKS]
Hello?
The agency sent me
on behalf of Mr. Leeds,
summoned for service.
Is anyone at home?
[INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
[INDISTINCT RASPING]
[DOOR CREAKING]
If no one is at home,
I shall have no choice
but to enter.
My transport
has already departed.
[DOOR SLAMS]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[ROOF CREAKS]
[COUGHING IN DISTANCE]
Hello? Mrs. Leeds?
I can hear you up there.
This is the Leeds residence,
is it not?
I'm sorry again
to have let myself in,
-but I am a long way away
from the...
-MRS. LEEDS: Rest.
I'm sorry?
MRS. LEEDS: I only need rest.
Make yourself at home,
but leave me to my rest.
Mrs. Leeds, as for my duties,
we really should--
MRS LEEDS:
Till tomorrow, girl. Tomorrow,
For now, I only need rest.
[MRS. LEEDS COUGHS]
[ROOF CREAKING]
[INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
[WINGS FLAPPING]
[CROWS CAWING]
[RUSTLING]
[GUNSHOT]
[INDISTINCT WHISPERING]
[EERIE MUSIC PLAYING]
[THUNDERCLAP]
[EERIE MUSIC PLAYING]
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
[EERIE MUSIC INTENSIFIES]
[MYSTERIOUS RASPING]
[READING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
"Concerning ritual offerings.
The 13th child is brought forth
in exchange
for a bountiful season."
[MRS. LEEDS SCREAMS]
MRS. LEEDS: The baby is here.
It's already coming.
I can't. I can't!
Don't worry. Don't worry!
I'll fetch the water.
There's no time for textbook.
It's already on its way...
[SCREAMING]
All right.
Keep breathing.
-In and out.
-[MRS. LEEDS CRYING]
Breathe well.
Keep breathing.
-In and out.
-[SHUDDERS]
It's going to be all right.
Keep breathing.
In and out. In... Good.
[INHALES AND EXHALES DEEPLY]
Very good.
It's going
to be all right, Mrs. Leeds.
[SCREAMING]
[BONES CRACKLING]
[MIDWIFE SCREAMS]
[EERIE MUSIC INTENSIFIES]
[SPLATTERING]
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
[WHIMPERING]
[PANTING]
[GROWLING]
[SCREAMING]
Daniel Leeds.
He's the central character.
He's what the whole story...
If there's no Daniel Leeds,
there's no Jersey Devil.
He's this
really interesting guy.
He's a Quaker.
The Quakers
were people in England.
They're religious people.
They are Christians
who are separatists
from the mainstream
Anglican church.
The Anglicans don't like...
the Puritans hate the Quakers.
So there are laws being passed
in England,
Anti-Quaker laws,
because they saw the Quakers
as subversive.
And so what they decide to do
is some of them come here
to what is then
British North America.
And now we're talking about
1650s, 1660s.
Young. He's like 25.
He comes from England.
He comes with his father
and his two brothers.
His contribution to life
will be,
he's gonna bring the tenants
of the scientific revolution
and the age of enlightenment
to North America.
And remember at the time,
In the late 1600s, America
is the edge of the empire.
Rather than having 13 children,
he did have 12.
One of whom was Titan Leeds,
the son of Daniel Leeds.
So one of the ways
in which Daniel made his mark
in his community
was by settling an area.
He was a land surveyor,
so he was gifted
a piece of land
in order to survey it
for the kingdom.
And he named it Leeds Town.
And while he was there,
he started his own almanac.
DR. BRIAN:
And he thinks, "Okay,
this is where I'm going
to start this thing.
I'm gonna bring education.
I want to bring area addition
to the to the wilderness."
And the Quaker fathers
of Burlington hate him.
They think it's too occulty,
they think it's unchristian
and they want to get rid of it.
And they literally go around
and they buy up
every copy that's gotten out
into circulation
and they burn them.
So Daniel Leeds, not just
the first author in New Jersey.
He's the first censored
author in New Jersey.
They viewed his almanac
as too astrological
and is promoting a more esoteric
understanding of nature
and not something grounded
in, you know,
thoughts related to God
or like God's prophecies,
or communicating with God.
So, originally, the almanac
was published
under the Quaker Society.
But after the Quakers
pushed back,
Daniel decided to publish
under his own kind of arm
or branch instead.
And so, the publishing changed,
and he leaned more
into the astrological
end of things.
MARK: He published an almanac
that was based on astrology,
he went on to write a book
called the Temple of Wisdom,
in which he tried to synthesize
all these streams of thought,
both of which the Quakers
were very much against.
They demanded an apology
from him,
which he gave under duress.
But then he went on
to write these pamphlets
that were
virulently anti-Quaker.
And again, that got him
labeled as the
Leeds Devil, essentially.
DR. BRIAN: And he flips
on the Quakers.
He converts to Anglicanism,
he starts putting out
a new version
of the almanac in which
he basically attacks Quakerism
in every issue.
The Quakers are liars.
The Quakers are this.
The Quakers are that.
The Quakers are bad people.
The Quakers get mad,
so they start publishing
anti-Daniel Leeds pamphlets.
And so there's this kind of
tennis match
going back and forth
where Leeds publishes
an anti-Quaker pamphlet,
the Quakers publish
an anti-Leeds pamphlet,
and it goes on and on
like that for a while.
There were some instances
of anti-Quaker propaganda
and then responses
that were made
by the Quaker groups,
including, you know
referring to Daniel Leeds
in some instances
as the Devil himself.
As he continued his separation
from the Quakers,
he started to include
his family crest on
the almanac, which
included dragons on it,
and that was seen
as a further evidence
of a ultimately evil
interaction with Satan
through his publication
of that text.
That whole pamphlet war
between Daniel Leeds
and the Quakers.
Quakers accusing him
of being Satan's harbinger,
of being evil.
Obviously, that's the ultimate
source of that.
There's two monsters here.
There is the Jersey Devil,
but there's also
the Leeds Devil,
which comes out first.
The Leeds Devil is much more
of a political animal.
Now, did the Quakers plan
on creating a monster legend?
You know, probably not.
I think that's
the ultimate genesis,
which takes us, you know,
two-hundred-some years later
to the thing
we know today.
Now, this is not attached
to a monster yet.
It's still just
a political idea.
Revolution comes along
and then the years go by.
By the end of the 18th
into the early 19th century,
up until around the time
of the Civil War,
the idea of the Leeds Devil
basically has gone extinct.
But in the second half
of the 19th century,
post-Civil War,
you start to get people
talking about
the Leeds Devil again.
DR. ELEANOR: When we tell
the Jersey Devil story,
how much of the details
can we change
until it's no longer
the Jersey Devil story
and it's something else?
How critical are the Leeds
to the story being understood
and replicated?
Because if we think about it,
there are tons of versions
where Mother Leeds has these
different roles that she plays.
In some, she is the wife
of a wealthy,
well-providing man.
In some, she's the wife
of a drunkard
who treats her horribly,
abuses their family,
is the worst in the world.
In some, she is
a practicing witch,
going against all of the
Christian and Quaker values
that one could possibly have.
In some, she's a scorned lover.
I mean, it ranges
all across the place
for where the origin
of this creature came from.
But all of it
ties back to her,
she becomes
this central figure.
So is she really
the protagonist of
the Jersey Devil story?
Early in the 1600,
this is like 1630, 1640,
there was a woman
named Anne Hutchinson,
who was also nonconformist,
ran into problems
with the Puritan Church
in Boston and got kicked
out of Boston, essentially.
Settled in Providence,
Rhode Island.
Had a number of children,
as many as 16.
The 16th child that she had
was by our thinking today,
our terminology,
was a miscarriage.
And somehow that became
public knowledge,
and the Puritans found out
about it and used it as a way
to smear her name.
Essentially, by saying,
look, you know, here she is,
this rebellious woman.
She's pushed
against orthodoxies
and she had this horrible birth,
you know, monstrous birth,
by some accounts.
And it's just she's getting
what she deserved,
is what they were
probably more than implying.
So, that sets in
by the mid-1600s,
this idea in some of the
public's consciousness
that a result or consequence
for pushing
against historical orthodoxies
could be that you'd be
punished in a very sad
and grotesque way.
And you see some crossover
between Hutchinson
and the story of Mother Leeds.
It's fairly obvious.
[LOW GROWL]
Our book,
The Secret Life
Of The Jersey Devil.
It is, in large part,
a biography of the Leeds family.
Because they are at the heart
of this whole thing,
especially Daniel Leeds.
And what's also interesting
is by the time
the term 'Leeds Devil'
comes along,
Daniel and Titan Leeds
are gone. [LAUGHS]
They never really know
that they've been accused,
that they played
the part in this story.
There is no monster.
MARK: I don't think necessarily
that the historical precedent,
although it's
extremely intriguing,
and the Leeds story as sort of
apocryphal and clearly folklore
rather than reporting fact.
Because as clear as
that would seem to be,
that doesn't disprove the idea
that there's something
physically strange
or at least startling
that no one could find
in the Pine Barrens.
So what that is, is if it's
a horse with bat wings,
I mean, I have my doubts
about that.
But it's not out of the realm
of possibility that
something strange or misshapen
or simply undiscovered,
people are encountering that.
That seems to be the case
wherever people are
on these spaces,
you know, away from the city,
away from the suburbs,
and, you know,
off of their comfortable turf.
We tend to bump into things
that we can't recognize
right away.
[WINGS FLAPPING
AND CROWS CAWING]
I believe that when people
were encountering
definitely the Leeds Devil,
that they were seeing
multiple creatures.
And it's just because
if you were to line up
all the different descriptions
that people, especially
in the 1909 sightings,
what they were seeing,
it can't be the same creature.
People are seeing
multiple known creatures,
but because
in the back of their mind
they've got, "There's a devil
out here somewhere.
I bet that's what I heard.
I bet that's what I saw."
Now, that being said,
those do not explain
all of the sightings.
I think that different people
have seen different things
or heard different things
and attributed that
to a Jersey Devil sighting,
even though they had
different experiences,
they're all calling it
a Jersey Devil encounter.
But I think there's also
the possibility that we all
carry around some imagery
in our minds that, you know,
is common throughout the world.
When you think about everything
from totem pole figures to
gargoyles to, you know,
demonic-looking figures
that are depicted
in China or India.
All over the world, people have
this kind of imagery
that emerges in different forms
of art.
I think it's possible that
during a frightening moment,
when you're
maybe by yourself out
in the woods and you've
heard a strange sound
or you saw a form
that startled you,
it might trigger
that kind of imagery.
I can only speculate,
but that's the only way
I can account for the fact
that so many people
have claimed
to have seen the same,
you know, or roughly
the same thing.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[EERIE MUSIC PLAYING]
[GASPING]
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
[EERIE SOUNDS]
[PANTING AND WHIMPERING]
[SCREAMS]
[CROWD SCREAMING]
[CARNIVAL MUSIC PLAYING]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
[PLEASANT MUSIC PLAYING]
DR. BRIAN: Now, when people
think of New Jersey,
they think of North Jersey.
The highways, the cities,
the oil refineries.
You know, Springsteen,
The Sopranos.
That's North Jersey.
But you have South Jersey,
which is basically
a different State.
But it's one huge Pine forest.
DR. BRIAN: If you get into
certain parts of it at night,
I mean, it is pitch black.
You don't hear
highway sounds,
you don't see anything.
So that too has
got a kind of...
romantic, otherworldly
feeling to it,
that maybe
there are creatures
out here.
Maybe there are
monsters out here.
Well, the Pine Barrens
really is a peculiar place.
And although New Jersey
is the most densely populated
State in the union,
the Pine Barrens remains
very, very sparsely populated
part of the State.
DR. ELEANOR: I think that
it's considered a no man's land
because of the vast expanse
of forest in an otherwise
heavily human dense area.
We typically think of
the Northeastern seaboard
as a really dense space
for human population.
It's not like the Southeast,
or really the central area
of the United States,
where communities
are really spread out.
So, to have such a wide expanse
of space that's more or less
human unoccupied,
it can kind of gain
this life of its own,
or this community understanding
that it's not a safe place,
that it's not a place
where humans are welcome.
Where it really belongs
to nature or the unexplored
or the unknown.
There's some really amazing
folklore books
about the Pine Barrens
because it has
a really fascinating
representation
in popular culture
as an incredibly haunted place,
for good reason, in that
when industry moved
out of that region
the forest overgrew
and overtook a lot
of the industry buildings
that were constructed to
support the steel production
in that area.
The Pine Barrens.
I grew up in the Hudson Valley
of New York, and so
I was going around
and looking for,
you know, ghosts
and those sort of things there.
As I got older and got
a driver's license
I started expanding
my horizons.
And, oddly enough,
in the early 80s,
the Meadowlands area
of New Jersey,
sort of became a place
where if you didn't want to go
into New York City
for a concert
or for a hockey event,
you could go to New Jersey.
And so I started doing that
and then found
that the hockey team
was the New Jersey Devils
that were named
after the Leeds Devil
and I was blown away by that.
I'm like, wait a second,
what's the story there?
And they started saying,
"Well, yeah,
if you go out
to the Pine Barrens,
that's where this thing lives."
And I thought, okay,
well, why hasn't
anybody found it yet?
And thinking that
the Pine Barrens
was going to be
just a little stretch
of woods,
a couple of acres or something
like that, and then went into
the Pine Barrens,
and it was like going into
another world.
I think a devil
could live back in here
if there was something,
as well as all other sorts
of monsters.
I mean, you could go forever
back there and not find
any other people.
There's really no other legend
like the legend
of the Jersey Devil.
And, you know,
it's a unique legend in a unique
geographical location.
I think the Jersey Devil
is kind of a
really good emblem,
to kind of represent
how interesting and unique
the Pine Barrens is.
The creature itself
is kind of horsey,
sort of like a deer with wings.
But a lot of people have
actually claimed
that what they are seeing
is a creature about the size
of a Collie
or a German Shepherd that has
a head more like a horse.
It has horns.
Head of a horse.
It's got a head of a...
I've seen a head of a dog,
I saw a head of an ostrich,
I mean and cloven hooves.
DR. ELEANOR: And it's got
typically bright red eyes,
some kind of goat-like features,
and most importantly,
it's winged.
A thin body.
Either hooves or claws,
depending on the version
of the story
that you're hearing.
JAMES: So the wings
have carried through.
But this...
Does it have horse feet?
Does it have hooves
or the cloven hooves?
That all seems to go away,
and it's more of
a giant winged cryptid.
Imagine Pegasus at the wrong end
of a really bad meth addiction.
That's what the Jersey Devils
looks like.
Descriptions of
the Jersey Devil,
match with the popular concept
of what the devil
would look like
if you were to encounter him.
Even though the Bible gives
a slightly different answer
to that question.
[SCREECHING]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
MAN: [ON RADIO] Now, look,
all I'm saying is these
weird sightings taking place
in the Barrens
could really just be
some pineys
with overactive imaginations.
We're talking about people
claiming the kids
are performing
rituals in the woods now.
And they're raising the devil.
Really? This is where
we're at, really?
Supposedly, this demon
is some sort of flying horse
with wings,
and they're finding
tracks in the snow,
tracks in the sand.
And park rangers are running
into this thing and on and on.
Pineys, man.
We are in the middle
of this hysteria
over people performing rituals
by playing Dungeons & Dragons
or listening to hair metal.
Well, listen,
if this thing is a demon
summoned by hair metal,
sign me up for a look at it.
[RADIO CLICKS OFF]
[PHONE RINGING]
Ranger station.
Hello, Miss Stockwell.
Yes, we we do have a curfew
in effect.
Dusk till dawn. Yeah.
No. No, it's always been
that way.
It's no acknowledgment
of a monster. No.
Those are all rumors.
Every single one of them.
[CHUCKLES] Heavy metal freaks?
No, they're just good kids
having fun
on their bikes.
That's it. They're all in
the baseball team.
They don't hurt anything.
They clean up after themselves.
No. We've never found
any evidence of any
satanic rituals on the property.
No.
No, no, I can't arrest them. No.
All right. Thank you. Bye.
[SIGHS]
[PHONE RINGING]
God bless!
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
Just say you're chicken.
You do not have botulism.
Whatever, Jake.
I'm going to land
murder hill tonight.
I need a witness.
Nobody's going to believe me.
You suck, Jake. You suck.
I'll do it on my own.
Hey, Mom.
Yeah, I'm going with Jake.
I know. I'll be home by 9:00.
No excuses.
Love you, too.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[CAWING]
[EERIE MUSIC PLAYING]
[CRICKETS CHIRPING]
[DRIPPING SOUNDS]
[HEAVY WINGS FLAPPING]
[HEAVY WINGS FLAPPING]
Hey!
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[CRICKETS CHIRPING]
[GROANING SOUNDS]
[MUSIC INTENSIFIES]
[EERIE GROWLING]
All right. Stockwell, you win.
A master's degree in
wildlife resource management,
and I am nothing
but a glorified forest janitor.
OFFICER TOM: [ON RADIO]
Come in, Dean,
you out there buddy?
It's Tom.
Copy. Hey, Tom, what's up?
OFFICER TOM: Yeah, we got
a report of a missing kid
on a bike.
[EERIE GROWLING INTENSIFIES]
Copy that. Yeah, sorry.
I'll... I'll go check it out.
[INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
PAUL: [YELLS] No! Get away!
[PAUL SCREAMING IN DISTANCE]
DEAN: Tom?
Tom? Yeah.
I found the bike.
I think... I think it might be
your missing kid.
Send help! Send help!
[GROWLING]
[GROWLING]
Hey. Hey. Hey.
Just stay low, follow me, okay?
Come on. Come on. Come on.
OFFICER TOM: [ON RADIO]
Dean, you there? Dean?
[HEAVY WINGS FLAPPING]
What the hell
was that thing, kid?
What'd you get us into?
[BREATHING HEAVILY]
Okay, I'm gonna call...
I'm gonna call for backup.
I dropped my radio.
-What's your name?
-It's...
It's Paul.
Okay, Paul, listen.
I was in contact with the police
right before I found you.
There are other people out here
looking for us, okay?
They're gonna be here soon.
We just need to hunker down,
and we're gonna be okay.
All right?
Okay? We're going to be fine.
Just relax.
[HEAVY THUDDING]
[ROOF CREAKS]
[HEAVY FOOTSTEPS]
PAUL: We're dead. We're dead.
We're gonna have to make a run
for my station, okay?
-PAUL: Okay.
-Okay?
Run hard. Do not look back.
Do not look back.
All right. Let's move.
[SCREECHING]
DEAN: Come here!
Get back. Move.
Head down. Go! Go! Go!
[INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
DEAN: Do it! Do it now!
[COCKS GUN]
OFFICER TOM: Get down!
[SHRIEKS]
Well, in about 1982 is when
National Hockey League team
had moved to the New Jersey area
and was seeking names
for the club.
The franchise
had a contest, actually.
Over 10,000 fans
evidently wrote in
to give their suggestions.
And one of them...
The one that won
was New Jersey Devils.
And that was
a deliberate callback
to the Jersey Devil legend.
So that, as far as I know,
it's the only major league team
in any sport
that features a cryptid
as its mascot.
It really is a reference
to the Leeds' story.
Yeah, I think you'd be saying,
like the early 80s was
when it kicked in from the...
[CHANTING SATANIC VERSE]
DR. ELEANOR:The Satanic panic.
Fascinating period
in our history
that was really kicked off
in the 1980s,
where good,
God-fearing Americans
began to go
almost on witch hunts
to strike out and find
those in their own community,
who were practicing
anything related to Satan.
This included any type
of occultist beliefs in,
you know, witches
or spirituality or crystals,
sageing, incense.
In fact, I've seen people
discuss the likelihood
that trips into the
Pine Barrens will result
in finding places
where satanic sacrifices
have occurred,
or where occultists are doing
all sorts of sacrifices
and that's used as reasoning
for why people should not enter
the Pine Barrens,
is because it's this place
for satanic practice.
A possible link between the 80s,
the Satanic panic,
and then the Jersey Devil
or Leeds Devil,
I would get backlash
when I would tell people
I'm going to go look
for the Jersey Devil.
And it was,
"What are you looking
for the devil for?"
But there certainly was,
for me, the backlash being like,
"What, are you playing
your records backwards, too?"
And doing
all that sort of stuff.
This is heightened when we think
of the role of the Jersey Devil
and the stories
of the Jersey Devil's
origin as, you know,
either son of Satan
or in bonds with Satan
or offspring of Satan,
whatever it might be,
that sightings of this creature
known as the Jersey Devil
are reaching this new height,
this new purported wave.
Because it ties into
that overarching fear
that's gripping our nation.
I remember there was some kind
of a wave of sightings
in the 80s.
And isn't that the one
where the police put up signs
saying the Jersey devil
is a hoax?
The sightings, it seems
to come in like little waves,
and it's sporadic.
I don't know how
to account for that.
I think, obviously,
if somebody claims
that they saw the
Jersey Devil, it could
trigger copycat claims.
JAMES: There are
a lot of newspaper reports
into the 80s,
and several of them
make reference to the Pineys,
the people who lived out there,
saying that the Leeds Devil
was sort of like the boogeyman,
that don't go out at night
or stay home or...
There are some reports where
they're actually saying
it was almost like [CHUCKLES]
the Leeds Devil
was like Santa Claus,
that they knew
what you were doing.
And if you did anything bad,
the devil was coming for you.
Which, again, I think
is sort of interesting
when you look at and just say,
take the Leeds part out of that
and, hey, you do anything bad,
'the' devil is coming for you.
I could see how some of that
got transposed with each other.
Typically, the sighting
is of a winged creature,
you know, either from the ground
taking off and flying,
or being seen flying
through the woods themselves.
DR. ELEANOR: According to
the Asbury Park Press
of October 1988,
a man who lived
in Howell Township
encountered the devil in 1981.
He described the creature
as having a furry body,
huge feet with three toes
on each one,
large teeth and he stood
about six feet tall.
I know a hunter,
a friend of mine who's a hunter
said he got up early
one morning to go deer hunting,
and he got in his stand
and he kept hearing
some really strange,
loud noises.
And then in the opening
in the woods that was adjacent
to his hunting stand,
he saw a strange creature,
that was moving along
in the early morning.
Just barely light, you know?
It was making such
a loud noises
-and he couldn't account
for what kind of animal it was.
-[SCREECHING]
And he said he got out of
the stand and went back
to his truck and went home.
MARK: There were... I would say
there's a steady stream
of sightings.
Yeah, I mean, in the 1980s,
there are some
very 80s-style sightings.
I mean, there was one
in which there were
a group of dirt bikers
who were riding around
in the Pine Barrens.
"In the late 1980s,
a couple of my friends and I
took a camping trip
to the Pine Barrens.
I was unaware
that we were headed to the home
of the Jersey devil.
We headed out on our bikes
and did our fair share
of partying that night.
The next day,
while everyone was asleep,
three of us decided
to hit the trails
a bit earlier than usual.
We were about 100 yards away
in the woods
when my bike stalled out.
I looked and found
that my friends
had stalled also.
At first, I thought it had
something to do
with the terrain
or maybe something to do
with the nearby power plants.
Fifty feet away
from each other,
we tried to start up our bikes
when suddenly, from the woods,
we heard the most horrible,
piercing scream.
-[DISTANT SCREECH]
-It sounded inhuman.
Like something being tortured.
Once back at camp,
they asked us if we had
heard screams earlier.
They had heard them, too,
about four miles away.
That night, we headed
into the local town
because we ran out of booze.
We went into a bar
and I ordered a drink
still in shock
from what I heard that morning.
The bartender asked,
'Hey, kid, what'd you see
a ghost or something?'
After I told him the story,
he smiled and said,
'Looks like you met
our little friend.'
He then asked us
to come out back.
He showed us a tin garbage can
that was shredded to bits.
It looked like
the shreds were made
from something with three claws.
I've never returned
to the Pine Barrens since,
and I don't plan to go back."
But also in the 1980s,
there was very strange thing
that was reported.
I think that was 1980,
to be precise,
where there was some sort of
State game warden
or someone,
park ranger, perhaps,
that found, had a farm,
a group of pigs
that had been eaten
like from the top
of their heads
had been gnawed off,
but there were no tracks
around any of the poor animals
that had met that end.
So the question... Even though
there's no eyewitness report
of a creature
that was still
raising questions about
that particular part
of the State.
JAMES: There were once
State parks kind of came in
to play.
In general, you get a lot of
these generalizations about
park ranger saw this or...
Not just with the Leeds Devil,
but in general.
I think some people
will pull that in because
you now have
a credible witness.
You have a park ranger
that's going out there
and they would know the areas
so they would know
what's going on.
So, I think
some of the urban legends,
if you will,
pull in park rangers
in general. That being said,
it would stand to reason
that people
who have the most chance
of encountering the Leeds Devil
or the Jersey Devil
would be park rangers
or people that lived out there
because they spend the most time
out there, so.
By the 1980s, I think
there was a general sense
that there was a cryptid afoot
in the Pine Barrens.
I think the
public consciousness
at that point was
already had taken
pretty good form.
And there would be things
that would come
a little bit later
like Blair Witch Project,
for example,
that drew even more attention
to that region of the country.
[EERIE PIANO MUSIC PLAYING]
[MOUTHING]
[PLEASANT PIANO MUSIC PLAYING]
[MOUTHING]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[DOOR OPENS AND CREAKS]
[WIND HOWLING]
[EERIE MUSIC PLAYING]
[ROOF CREAKING]
[MUSIC INTENSIFIES]
[SCREECHING AND GROWLING]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[SCREECHING]
[COCKS GUN]
[SAM SCREAMS]
[WINGS FLAPPING]
[SHRIEKS]
[CREATURE SHRIEKS]
[GUN FIRING]
[SORROWFUL PIANO MUSIC PLAYING]
So, in 1909,
it is the turn of the century.
Right? A lot is happening.
We're ramping up to World War I,
there is a lot of social change,
there's a lot
of economic change,
and there's a ton
of industrial change.
All of that is kind of
circulating the air.
Interestingly, in January
that year between
16th and 23rd,
we see a rash
of newspaper publications
that indicate an intense series
of sightings
of the Jersey Devil.
Some reporters go poking around,
and they speak to some people
living there,
especially the Pine Barrens.
And a few older people say,
"Well, you know,
when I was a little kid,
my grandpa talked
about the Leeds Devil.
Maybe it's the Leeds Devil
who is doing...
leaving these footprints
and, you know, stealing stuff
out of people's barns
and chasing away their goats
and whatever."
And so slowly
that idea starts to build.
Well, I think
the hardest story to explain
is the story
of the multiple sightings
of the Jersey Devil
in January, 1909,
There were policemen
who fired their pistols
at the thing.
There were, you know,
people who reported
face to face encounters
with it.
People really were terrified.
The newspapers
picked up the stories.
Well, in the 1909,
sighting flap of
the Jersey devil,
I think what characterized
that more than anything else
was the tracks that were found
all throughout the Pine Barrens
and the surrounding towns.
DR. ELEANOR: So,
on the 16th of January,
which was a Saturday,
the creature was seen flying
over Woodbury, New Jersey.
On the 17th
in Bristol, Pennsylvania,
this is where several people
saw the creature in the tracks
that it created.
On Monday the 18th,
the town of Burlington
was covered in strange tracks,
which seemed to defy logic.
And then some of these
same tracks were found
in other towns.
MARK: Long track lines
that look like hoof prints
in the snow.
Those were seen all throughout
the area, even going up
onto people's roofs
and ascending and descending
and appearing and disappearing,
and that was sort of
the main feature
of all of those.
DR. ELEANOR:
Two Gloucester hunters
also tracked the
creature's perplexing trail
for about 20 or so miles.
The trail, interestingly,
appeared to jump fences
and squeeze under
eight-inch gaps.
So, not only did it have
an insane vertical leap but also
could shrink extremely small.
Newspapers even produced maps
showing all of the
different locations
where people had claimed
to have seen this thing.
They followed tracks
in the snow
to see if they could
track the thing down
and kill it, you know.
Formed posses and they tried
to track it down.
What kind of tracks
they were actually following?
I don't know.
[LOW GROWL]
When you look
at the published reports,
that's when you start to think
these are a little weird.
Because the Leeds Devil
was accused of everything
from attacking livestock
to attacking people.
In some versions,
people said that it was more
like a dragon and it was
breathing fire and that it was
setting like rail road tracks
on fire.
The one
that I've always been
fascinated with
and could never find anything,
except it was printed in
two newspaper reports,
is that police officer
was making the rounds,
and he thought, he described it
as a giant closed umbrella
leaning against a fence post,
and he went over
to sort of pull it down
or what have you,
and it opened up
and spread its wings.
And he started wrestling
[CHUCKLES] with this thing,
supposedly.
And then it just took off.
And I think
that's one of
the closest encounters,
if that really was
the Leeds Devil,
that I've found so far.
So I've always been
fascinated with that one.
DR. ELEANOR: And many towns
at this point
were panic stricken.
News had broken out
all across the area,
and they knew
that stuff was crazy.
Many businesses were closed
and schools were also closed
or they were forced to close
due to lack of attendance.
JAMES: They were
still seeing it in
the Pine Barrens area.
But it pushed up into New York
and then specifically,
it made its way
into Philadelphia.
So we're not talking any more
about these
sort of isolated reports of,
you know, the pineys
that are seeing
something weird.
You're getting into
like Philadelphia.
So you're talking about
densely populated areas
that the creature
was roaming around.
And that, again,
is what's so fascinating
about the 1909 sightings.
DR. ELEANOR: The creature
apparently was not fazed
as it continued to rampage
through Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania and
West Collingswood, New Jersey,
where it was supposedly hosed
by the local fire department.
The devil seemed poised
to attack nearby people
who defensively threw
any available objects at it.
The creature would suddenly
fly away,
and it would reemerge later
only to injure a dog,
ripping a chunk of flesh
from its cheek
before the owner drove it away.
-[RIPPING SOUNDS]
-[DOG YELPS]
JAMES: The idea of it
being seen, any cryptid,
being seen
in a densely populated
major city is,
it's unheard of.
You know, it's very unique
because most of
any cryptid sightings
and the vast majority
of the Leeds Devil story,
then Jersey Devil stories
are in remote areas
that you've got one
or two witnesses,
or if it's over
a series of days.
Maybe you've got
a handful of witnesses.
We're talking hundreds
of witnesses
allegedly taking place
in a major city.
At this time, the primary way
that people would receive news
was from the morning
and evening paper
that would be published
by local printing presses
as well as
a few regional papers.
And many communities
would have several newspapers,
so people were always vying
for the best report,
the best headlines
because they wanted their papers
to sell above everybody else's.
And, if you had
the most popular newspaper,
you were afforded a very special
and particular type of esteem
in your community.
I have heard before
that there is thought that
this story or series of stories
was concocted in order
to sell newspapers
because this area
saw the opportunity
and as one paper started to do
really well, the next paper
would make up another story
and it would only grow and grow
and grow and grow and grow.
It's really been alleged
that a lot
of the 1909 sightings,
the track finds were one thing,
but the sightings
may have been planted
in the media
by those who were looking
to sell tickets
to their Dime Museum
in Philadelphia.
DR. BRIAN: There is a place
in Philadelphia
which, unfortunately,
is no longer there,
called the 9th & Arch Street
Dime Museum.
It's a parking lot now,
in downtown, Philadelphia.
And Dime Museums
were really popular
in the late 19th,
early 20th centuries.
They were basically
circus side shows
and you know you'd have
the two-headed babies in a jar,
you'd have the skinny man
and the fat lady,
and you'd have jugglers
and all that.
All that sort of carnival stuff
that we think of.
All in this one place.
But the 9th & Arch Street
in Philadelphia
is slowly beginning to fall
on hard times.
Because just like today,
you can shock people,
but after a while
the shock wears off
and now you want a new shock.
And so they're running
out of shocks.
They're trying to figure,
"What do we do?
How do we get people
to start coming back to this?"
And they see
the newspaper reports
about these strange goings on
in the woods,
and as soon as they see that
they think, "Jackpot!"
That will bring people in.
What they ended up doing
was not only planting stories
it's alleged
in the local media newspapers,
but staging Jersey Devil Hunt,
going out and claiming
to find something
and bringing it back
to the Arch and 9th Street
Museum in Philadelphia,
where it could be viewed
for a modest fee.
And so now
they start advertising
"We've captured
the Jersey Devil."
"Come see the Jersey Devil."
And the lines
are now around the corner.
So the way they had it set up
in a big room, darkened room.
Cage on the stage.
You can't see what's in it.
They bring a bunch of people in
and there's a barker there,
you know,
"Jersey Devil eats people."
"Peek. Don't get too close.
Because you don't want to."
And they pull the curtain off.
And here's this thing.
[FABRIC FLAPS]
[GROWLS]
And what people saw
when they went into the museum,
in a cage, was a kangaroo
that had been fitted
with some sort of
contraption that made it look
like it had wings
and painted
in shades or stripes of green.
This creature,
this poor kangaroo, evidently,
there was some sort of
sharp object
that it was poked with
and make a lot of aloud sound
that would alarm the patrons
who had gone there to see it.
And so, word gets out,
you know it's not real,
and so that's the end of it.
After this, people asked them,
"Why did you fake this?"
"We're a Dime Museum.
That's what we do.
We fake stuff.
Why did you believe us
when we told you
we had this thing?"
And so after a while,
you know, it all dies down.
But why that's all important
is because now
this name Jersey Devil
has gotten into the bloodstream
and people start coming out
of the woodwork saying,
"I know it's real.
I've seen it."
There's this thought that
this story
or series of stories
was concocted in order
to sell newspapers.
Because this area
saw the opportunity
and as one paper
started to do really well,
the next paper
would make up another story
and it would only grow and grow
and grow and grow and grow.
However, in other
cryptid sightings
that have been primarily spread
by newspaper reports,
There's less of
a vested interest
in that type of one-upsmanship
hoax culture that would persist
for one week
and then completely disappear.
What we normally see is that
one paper will publish a story
and then the next will offer
rewards or potential scoops
or will maybe publish a photo.
But there's not
typically this addition
of a more complex narrative
that would quote people directly
or that would involve
the local fire department,
for instance,
that would be less likely
to be seen in that area
or that time period.
It's been alleged, you know
that the 1909 sightings
and the reports in the media
essentially launched
the Jersey Devil
as we know it today,
and that would be
very convenient.
But what is so interesting
is that it's simply a matter
of record that in 1859,
which of course predates 1909,
Atlantic Monthly
ran a lengthy story about a man
who went to the Pine Barrens
and interviewed locals,
some of whom
told him the legend
of the Jersey Devil.
And not only that,
but talking about the fact
that some strange creature
had been seen in that area
ever since.
And that occasionally
in the Pine Barrens,
there's something flying about
or messing with
people's livestock.
So that is the fly
in the ointment,
as far as saying that
there is a neat tie to 1909,
which explains it all.
It simply doesn't.
There are tribal beliefs
associated with that area,
particularly in terms
of the landscape.
So, one of the ways
that tribal communities
preserve their stories
is by having the place name
of a physical place
tied directly to a story.
In the Pine Barrens,
the Lenape tribes
knew the area as 'Poppuessing',
which meant
'The place of the dragon'.
When Swedish settlers
then came into the area,
they adopted
a form of that name
and also knew it as
the place of the dragon.
For these tribal groups,
it was more about the structure
of the place.
So the land and the interaction
between the forests
and the water
created spaces or inlets
that were reminiscent
of native tribal stories
that included those patterns
like dragons
or other type
of monstrous creatures.
And so that land
became known as that
as the result of those.
Not inherently,
because there was a dragon
that was sighted there
by those native folk.
There is good reason to believe
that the legend traces
all the way back
to the Native Americans
in this area.
The Native Americans,
in this area believed
that there was a spirit being
that lived in the wilderness,
and they had a ceremony
that they performed
for this spirit.
MARK: The Lenape tribe
had a whole variety of
folkloric figures that
they were able to describe
to the Europeans
when they arrived.
The one that corresponds
to the Jersey Devil
most closely was a
deity figure called Mising.
And Mising is the one that had
the head and body of the deer.
A male deer with antlers
and bat-like wings,
and was seen as sort of
a protector of the forest.
As the European settlers
come in,
and most of them with a very
strong religious perspective,
there would be a crossover
that would take place
between native legends
and beliefs in folklore
and beliefs
that were often rooted
in biblical Christianity.
In the case of the Lenape,
there was a religious group
that they actually were able
to coexist with quite well,
and that was the Quakers.
The Quaker people
and the Lenape
actually lived
very well together.
But what they were
able to do then,
of course,
is share their stories
in a non-threatening way.
And so from the Lenape,
Quakers would have heard
descriptions like this
that would have conjured images
that were,
at the very least, devilish,
or that would have fit
sort of the artistic renderings
of demons and devils
in the 1600s and 1700s.
So the basic story
the Jersey Devil,
and there are
variations of this,
is that 1735, a woman
named Mother Leeds living in the
depths of the Pine Barrens
gives birth to her 13th child.
Mother Leeds was either a witch
or a woman
upon whom someone had placed
a curse.
My favorite version is the one
where the child is born
and it looks
like a natural baby.
But then in a short time,
even in the immediate wake
of the delivery,
it starts to change.
When the child was born,
it looked normal.
But then immediately morphed
into this amalgam
of every sort of creature
known and unknown.
The mother's screaming.
The midwife is screaming.
Everyone's confused
and scared and terrified.
The child then
burst through the door
to the adjoining room,
where Mister Leeds
and the prior 12 children
are all huddled,
scared by the sounds
coming from this room.
The creature kills
as many as it can,
and then it flies off
into the night,
only to be seen
on rare occasions
or by people who invoke
the devil themselves.
MARK: You've heard it said
many times.
There's as many
as 30 variations.
Probably more than that.
JAMES: When Mother Leeds
comes into play
in the early versions,
she's a witch
and she is able to sort of
shape shift.
And I found a really
interesting article that made
reference to the fact that
the Leeds Devil was sort of
a European version
of a werewolf.
And I'm like,
"Okay, I get that part."
But then
there were also versions
that Mother Leeds
had a child
and the father was the devil.
But the problem
with the whole story
is that the real story,
the Jersey Devil,
has nothing
to do with a monster.
A physical monster.
It's a political story.
It is a story
that gets to the depths of
small town culture
versus big town culture,
religious culture,
land grabs
from Native Americans,
the crushing of outspoken women.
This is the beginnings
of fake news in America.
It's the beginnings
of sensationalist
media coverage.
It's an American thing
before there's an America.
This sort of thing
is already going on.
And so the the story,
the Jersey Devil
is at the heart of that.
[DISTANT SCREECHING]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[KNOCKS]
WOMAN: Hello.
I've been sent by the agency.
[KNOCKS]
Hello?
I've been summoned
by your husband.
I'm here from the agency
to offer services.
I hope there
hasn't been a mistake.
[KNOCKS]
Hello?
The agency sent me
on behalf of Mr. Leeds,
summoned for service.
Is anyone at home?
[INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
[INDISTINCT RASPING]
[DOOR CREAKING]
If no one is at home,
I shall have no choice
but to enter.
My transport
has already departed.
[DOOR SLAMS]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[ROOF CREAKS]
[COUGHING IN DISTANCE]
Hello? Mrs. Leeds?
I can hear you up there.
This is the Leeds residence,
is it not?
I'm sorry again
to have let myself in,
-but I am a long way away
from the...
-MRS. LEEDS: Rest.
I'm sorry?
MRS. LEEDS: I only need rest.
Make yourself at home,
but leave me to my rest.
Mrs. Leeds, as for my duties,
we really should--
MRS LEEDS:
Till tomorrow, girl. Tomorrow,
For now, I only need rest.
[MRS. LEEDS COUGHS]
[ROOF CREAKING]
[INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
[WINGS FLAPPING]
[CROWS CAWING]
[RUSTLING]
[GUNSHOT]
[INDISTINCT WHISPERING]
[EERIE MUSIC PLAYING]
[THUNDERCLAP]
[EERIE MUSIC PLAYING]
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
[EERIE MUSIC INTENSIFIES]
[MYSTERIOUS RASPING]
[READING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
"Concerning ritual offerings.
The 13th child is brought forth
in exchange
for a bountiful season."
[MRS. LEEDS SCREAMS]
MRS. LEEDS: The baby is here.
It's already coming.
I can't. I can't!
Don't worry. Don't worry!
I'll fetch the water.
There's no time for textbook.
It's already on its way...
[SCREAMING]
All right.
Keep breathing.
-In and out.
-[MRS. LEEDS CRYING]
Breathe well.
Keep breathing.
-In and out.
-[SHUDDERS]
It's going to be all right.
Keep breathing.
In and out. In... Good.
[INHALES AND EXHALES DEEPLY]
Very good.
It's going
to be all right, Mrs. Leeds.
[SCREAMING]
[BONES CRACKLING]
[MIDWIFE SCREAMS]
[EERIE MUSIC INTENSIFIES]
[SPLATTERING]
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
[WHIMPERING]
[PANTING]
[GROWLING]
[SCREAMING]
Daniel Leeds.
He's the central character.
He's what the whole story...
If there's no Daniel Leeds,
there's no Jersey Devil.
He's this
really interesting guy.
He's a Quaker.
The Quakers
were people in England.
They're religious people.
They are Christians
who are separatists
from the mainstream
Anglican church.
The Anglicans don't like...
the Puritans hate the Quakers.
So there are laws being passed
in England,
Anti-Quaker laws,
because they saw the Quakers
as subversive.
And so what they decide to do
is some of them come here
to what is then
British North America.
And now we're talking about
1650s, 1660s.
Young. He's like 25.
He comes from England.
He comes with his father
and his two brothers.
His contribution to life
will be,
he's gonna bring the tenants
of the scientific revolution
and the age of enlightenment
to North America.
And remember at the time,
In the late 1600s, America
is the edge of the empire.
Rather than having 13 children,
he did have 12.
One of whom was Titan Leeds,
the son of Daniel Leeds.
So one of the ways
in which Daniel made his mark
in his community
was by settling an area.
He was a land surveyor,
so he was gifted
a piece of land
in order to survey it
for the kingdom.
And he named it Leeds Town.
And while he was there,
he started his own almanac.
DR. BRIAN:
And he thinks, "Okay,
this is where I'm going
to start this thing.
I'm gonna bring education.
I want to bring area addition
to the to the wilderness."
And the Quaker fathers
of Burlington hate him.
They think it's too occulty,
they think it's unchristian
and they want to get rid of it.
And they literally go around
and they buy up
every copy that's gotten out
into circulation
and they burn them.
So Daniel Leeds, not just
the first author in New Jersey.
He's the first censored
author in New Jersey.
They viewed his almanac
as too astrological
and is promoting a more esoteric
understanding of nature
and not something grounded
in, you know,
thoughts related to God
or like God's prophecies,
or communicating with God.
So, originally, the almanac
was published
under the Quaker Society.
But after the Quakers
pushed back,
Daniel decided to publish
under his own kind of arm
or branch instead.
And so, the publishing changed,
and he leaned more
into the astrological
end of things.
MARK: He published an almanac
that was based on astrology,
he went on to write a book
called the Temple of Wisdom,
in which he tried to synthesize
all these streams of thought,
both of which the Quakers
were very much against.
They demanded an apology
from him,
which he gave under duress.
But then he went on
to write these pamphlets
that were
virulently anti-Quaker.
And again, that got him
labeled as the
Leeds Devil, essentially.
DR. BRIAN: And he flips
on the Quakers.
He converts to Anglicanism,
he starts putting out
a new version
of the almanac in which
he basically attacks Quakerism
in every issue.
The Quakers are liars.
The Quakers are this.
The Quakers are that.
The Quakers are bad people.
The Quakers get mad,
so they start publishing
anti-Daniel Leeds pamphlets.
And so there's this kind of
tennis match
going back and forth
where Leeds publishes
an anti-Quaker pamphlet,
the Quakers publish
an anti-Leeds pamphlet,
and it goes on and on
like that for a while.
There were some instances
of anti-Quaker propaganda
and then responses
that were made
by the Quaker groups,
including, you know
referring to Daniel Leeds
in some instances
as the Devil himself.
As he continued his separation
from the Quakers,
he started to include
his family crest on
the almanac, which
included dragons on it,
and that was seen
as a further evidence
of a ultimately evil
interaction with Satan
through his publication
of that text.
That whole pamphlet war
between Daniel Leeds
and the Quakers.
Quakers accusing him
of being Satan's harbinger,
of being evil.
Obviously, that's the ultimate
source of that.
There's two monsters here.
There is the Jersey Devil,
but there's also
the Leeds Devil,
which comes out first.
The Leeds Devil is much more
of a political animal.
Now, did the Quakers plan
on creating a monster legend?
You know, probably not.
I think that's
the ultimate genesis,
which takes us, you know,
two-hundred-some years later
to the thing
we know today.
Now, this is not attached
to a monster yet.
It's still just
a political idea.
Revolution comes along
and then the years go by.
By the end of the 18th
into the early 19th century,
up until around the time
of the Civil War,
the idea of the Leeds Devil
basically has gone extinct.
But in the second half
of the 19th century,
post-Civil War,
you start to get people
talking about
the Leeds Devil again.
DR. ELEANOR: When we tell
the Jersey Devil story,
how much of the details
can we change
until it's no longer
the Jersey Devil story
and it's something else?
How critical are the Leeds
to the story being understood
and replicated?
Because if we think about it,
there are tons of versions
where Mother Leeds has these
different roles that she plays.
In some, she is the wife
of a wealthy,
well-providing man.
In some, she's the wife
of a drunkard
who treats her horribly,
abuses their family,
is the worst in the world.
In some, she is
a practicing witch,
going against all of the
Christian and Quaker values
that one could possibly have.
In some, she's a scorned lover.
I mean, it ranges
all across the place
for where the origin
of this creature came from.
But all of it
ties back to her,
she becomes
this central figure.
So is she really
the protagonist of
the Jersey Devil story?
Early in the 1600,
this is like 1630, 1640,
there was a woman
named Anne Hutchinson,
who was also nonconformist,
ran into problems
with the Puritan Church
in Boston and got kicked
out of Boston, essentially.
Settled in Providence,
Rhode Island.
Had a number of children,
as many as 16.
The 16th child that she had
was by our thinking today,
our terminology,
was a miscarriage.
And somehow that became
public knowledge,
and the Puritans found out
about it and used it as a way
to smear her name.
Essentially, by saying,
look, you know, here she is,
this rebellious woman.
She's pushed
against orthodoxies
and she had this horrible birth,
you know, monstrous birth,
by some accounts.
And it's just she's getting
what she deserved,
is what they were
probably more than implying.
So, that sets in
by the mid-1600s,
this idea in some of the
public's consciousness
that a result or consequence
for pushing
against historical orthodoxies
could be that you'd be
punished in a very sad
and grotesque way.
And you see some crossover
between Hutchinson
and the story of Mother Leeds.
It's fairly obvious.
[LOW GROWL]
Our book,
The Secret Life
Of The Jersey Devil.
It is, in large part,
a biography of the Leeds family.
Because they are at the heart
of this whole thing,
especially Daniel Leeds.
And what's also interesting
is by the time
the term 'Leeds Devil'
comes along,
Daniel and Titan Leeds
are gone. [LAUGHS]
They never really know
that they've been accused,
that they played
the part in this story.
There is no monster.
MARK: I don't think necessarily
that the historical precedent,
although it's
extremely intriguing,
and the Leeds story as sort of
apocryphal and clearly folklore
rather than reporting fact.
Because as clear as
that would seem to be,
that doesn't disprove the idea
that there's something
physically strange
or at least startling
that no one could find
in the Pine Barrens.
So what that is, is if it's
a horse with bat wings,
I mean, I have my doubts
about that.
But it's not out of the realm
of possibility that
something strange or misshapen
or simply undiscovered,
people are encountering that.
That seems to be the case
wherever people are
on these spaces,
you know, away from the city,
away from the suburbs,
and, you know,
off of their comfortable turf.
We tend to bump into things
that we can't recognize
right away.
[WINGS FLAPPING
AND CROWS CAWING]
I believe that when people
were encountering
definitely the Leeds Devil,
that they were seeing
multiple creatures.
And it's just because
if you were to line up
all the different descriptions
that people, especially
in the 1909 sightings,
what they were seeing,
it can't be the same creature.
People are seeing
multiple known creatures,
but because
in the back of their mind
they've got, "There's a devil
out here somewhere.
I bet that's what I heard.
I bet that's what I saw."
Now, that being said,
those do not explain
all of the sightings.
I think that different people
have seen different things
or heard different things
and attributed that
to a Jersey Devil sighting,
even though they had
different experiences,
they're all calling it
a Jersey Devil encounter.
But I think there's also
the possibility that we all
carry around some imagery
in our minds that, you know,
is common throughout the world.
When you think about everything
from totem pole figures to
gargoyles to, you know,
demonic-looking figures
that are depicted
in China or India.
All over the world, people have
this kind of imagery
that emerges in different forms
of art.
I think it's possible that
during a frightening moment,
when you're
maybe by yourself out
in the woods and you've
heard a strange sound
or you saw a form
that startled you,
it might trigger
that kind of imagery.
I can only speculate,
but that's the only way
I can account for the fact
that so many people
have claimed
to have seen the same,
you know, or roughly
the same thing.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[EERIE MUSIC PLAYING]