For a state as small as New Jersey and as densely populated, we have amazing species diversity. According to N.J. Division of Fish and Wildlife, New Jersey hosts 90 mammal species, 80 reptile and amphibian species, over 400 species of fish and has documented over 450 species of birds in the State. In total New Jersey has 1,020 spices of animals, not counting humans, but some Crypyozoologists say we may have overlooked one.

What is Cryptozoology, you ask? Cryptozoology is the term for the pseudoscience study of animals that are rumored to exist. These “animals” are called “cryptids.” Some examples of cryptids, (which also includes animals that lack physical evidence but appear in legends and myths or are reported) are Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and the Chupacabra.

New Jersey has one of the most famous Cryptids “species” of all, so much so that a professional hockey team is named after it. I am of course talking about the most important piece of N.J. folklore, and the country’s only state designated demon, The Jersey Devil.

For close to 300 years, New Jerseyans have told the tale of a beast that lives deep within the forests and bogs of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. It is described as resembling a six foot tall “kangaroo-like” bat-winged hairy beast. It is said to have the head of a dog and the face of a horse, horns on its head and it stands upright on cloven-hoofed feet and has large claws and a serpentine tail. The creature is said to be nocturnal and terrorizes local residents and farm animals.

There are many versions of how the monster came to be, but most who tell the tale say it is the thirteenth child to Deborah Leeds who lived in the Pine Barrens. The legend says that in 1735, upon finding out that she was pregnant with her thirteenth child; Mother Leeds, as she was known, said that if she were to have one more child, “may it be a devil."

Minutes later she went into labor and on that stormy night she gave birth to a baby boy. But the baby started to immediately transform. It sprouted horns from its head, talon-like claws from its fingers and bat-wings from its back. As the baby’s body grew larger in size and became disfigured, hair and a long forked tail sprouted from its skin. Its eyes began to glow fiery red and then it attacked its own mother.

The creature maimed the other rest of the family and midwives whereupon it knocked down the door to the next room and then flew up the chimney and made its escape into the dark forests of the Pine Barrens.

Over the years the creature has been said to have carried off pets, small livestock and even occasionally children. The beast is also said to dry up the milk of cows by breathing on them, as well as kill off the fish in the streams and lakes it bathes in. The Devil is also reported to ruin farm fields and consume blueberries and cranberries crops.

There have been numerous “sightings” of the creature throughout New Jersey, as well as in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New York. One of the most famous “sightings” to date was in 1909 when thousands of people reported seeing the beast over a one week period.

During that week of sightings in 1909, Councilman E.P. Weedon of Trenton reported that he was woke from his sleep by the “flapping of wings” outside his bedroom window. The next day he said he had found “cloven footprints in the snow” outside his bedroom window.

Since that time many people have reported “strange tracks” as well as seeing “red glowing eyes” and hearing “loud shrieks” in the Pinelands of Southern New Jersey which have been claimed to be those of the “Jersey Devil."

The belief in the Devil was so strong that twice, the latest being in 1960, a $10,000 bounty for capture of the Jersey Devil has been posted…but to date the reward for the beast have never been claimed.

In more recent times only a handful of sightings of the Jersey Devil have occurred but many sightings have been thought to be that of misidentified great horned owls, deer, coyotes and other animals that thrive in the Pinelands region. However, if one has a sense of adventure and is willing to embrace the myth, the remote regions of the N.J. Pine Barrens on a moonlit night could be where it is just waiting to be found.

Happy Halloween!

This story is a weekly feature that runs with the cooperation of New Jersey Audubon. For more information about NJ Audubon or how to perform conservation efforts on your property, contact John Parke of NJ Audubon at john.parke@njaudubon.org or visit njaudubon.org