The Jersey Devil: the Pine Barrens monster that shut down schools in 1909

Every state has a monster. New Jersey has the one with the best origin story, the scariest week in its history, and a pro hockey team named after it.

The legend

The most common version goes back to 1735 in the Pine Barrens of South Jersey. A woman known as Mother Leeds already had twelve children. When she found out a thirteenth was on the way, she cursed it. The baby was born with wings, a tail and claws, and flew off into the pines. Some versions make her a witch and the father the devil himself. Historian Brian Regal argues the story really grew out of the colonial-era Leeds family's reputation.

Witnesses describe a flying creature that walks on two hooved legs, with a horse- or goat-like head, bat wings, horns, clawed hands and a forked tail. It is said to move fast and let out a blood-curdling scream.

The week New Jersey lost its mind

From January 16 to 23, 1909, newspapers ran hundreds of reported encounters across South Jersey and the Philadelphia area. People claimed it attacked a trolley car in Haddon Heights and a social club in Camden. Some schools closed, workers stayed home, and groups of hunters went out into the pines. The Philadelphia Zoo was rumored to have offered a $10,000 reward, and in 1960, Camden merchants offered $10,000 again, plus a private zoo for the creature.

The explanations

Skeptics point to bogeyman stories, misidentified animals and plain old mass hysteria. One researcher suggests stray sandhill cranes, which are big and have loud, eerie calls. And in 1909, two hucksters displayed a kangaroo with fake claws and bat wings as the Devil; one of them admitted the hoax about twenty years later.

Pop culture

The NHL's New Jersey Devils took the name by fan poll in 1982, and an earlier minor-league Jersey Devils team played from 1964 to 1973. The creature has turned up in horror movies and TV, including The X-Files.

The Radazoid take

The 1909 panic is the best part of this story. A whole region convinced itself a flying demon horse was knocking on trolley cars, and the best explanation anyone had was a kangaroo in a costume. That's not a monster story. That's the most New Jersey thing that has ever happened.

If you're ever in the Pine Barrens at night and hear a scream, it's probably a crane. Probably. I'd still walk a little faster.