My Ex's cousin's were up here (NY) visiting from North Carolina and we started telling ghost stories. She told me one about the Jersey Devil. This is the story that she told me about her Grandmother... I was wondering if anyone else has heard something similar or if anyone knows the actual story behind it?

She said that her grandmother lived her whole life in New Jersey. Her Grandmother used to tell this story about when she was younger. She said that this woman had something like 8 kids (I can't remember the exact number but she had a lot of kids) and that the last one she had wouldn't stop crying and was deformed or something. So the mother decided to abandon the baby. She took it out way to the back of the backyard and left it out there under a bush with only a blanket. A few hours later she went back out to get the blanket and the baby was gone. So the other children she had all used to go to school and pick on the kid that she abandoned. Even the girls grandmother would pick on the kid. Well I guess wierd things started happening to the kids and the town claimed it was that child that the mother had abandoned. They said he was some kind of demon. He had hoof legs and could hear for miles. He could hear all the children picking on him and seeked revenge. So all the kids that had picked on him started disappearing or dying.
The Grandmother had told my X's cousin this whole story while she was visiting her in New Jersey a few years back. Her grandmother started to get sick and was bed ridden. She had a nurse with her at all times and would constantly tell the nurse that the Jersey Devil was coming after her and that he would be the death of her. One nite she told the nurse that she was going to be dead the next morning, that the devil was coming for her that nite. Sure enough the next morning she had passed away. The odd thing was that the window was open and there is no way that the grandmother could have gotten up and opened it. The nurse didn't think much of it. Later on when she was walking around the outside of the house she looked up at the grandmothers window and found huge claw marks on the outside of the window.

I don't know if I believe this story or not and I probably didn't tell it right but it definitely creeped me out when she told me it!

A while back there was a segment on Coast to Coast about the New Jersey Devil. Apparently there are still sightings and happenings today? They talked about a number of them on the show. It is a creepy one. There may be a link still on the CtoC site on this in the archived shows. Wish I could recall how they told the story and the origin of the Devil. Parts of your story sound familiar.

Who knows for sure if it is truth or tale. Loads of strange and bizarre things out there. It does make you wonder when tales like this which have had numerous ppl sharing similar experiences vs a spooky tale that is passed on that was experienced by only one or two with little substance. Then again the imagination can be a creepy thing itself.

All I know for sure is I am just fine with hearing and reading the tales and not experiencing anything first hand that would lend it to be more truth then tale.

I just found this tonite...The JERSEY DEVIL[/URL] It's a link with a story of the known history of the Jersey Devil if anyone is interested!


Candi*~

I have heard about The Jersey Devil. I can't recall the book that I read, but I will let you know. I think the woman with all the kids wanted the devil to take his next baby or something to that effect. I'm not sure if I believe it or not, but I will find out the book, & let everyone know.

*~Heather~*

Ok, the book that I read was Haunted Amercia by Michael Norman & Beth Scott. The lady's name was Mrs. Jane Leeds. The year was 1735, & she had 12 children. Story has it that she told family & friends that the devil should take the next one. Supposedly, the baby had a 20 ft. snakelike body with a horse'S head, bat's wings, pig's feet, and a forked tail.

I think I'd pee myself if I seen something like that.

*~Heather~*

Know this is an old thread, but I thought I'd add.

I believe they called the mom of Mr. Jersey Devil Mother Leeds. This was the scarry story of my childhood. We spent hours frightening eachother with the tale.

I live in Philly, and you take the summer pilgramige to the Jersey shore. The back roads are through the pine barrens. This is supposed to be where he lives. The fun part would be driving home on Route 9, and having the beejesus scared out of you. It's pitch dark, and someone would say "I see red eyes". We'd all scream, and my dad would yell. Knock it off. You prayed the car didn't break down.

People claimed to have seen him coming home from Atlantic City. Cops say they have spotted him. Personally I don't know of anyone who ever saw him. There's a place called Smithville in New Jersey that is famous for Mr. Devil.

Actually the pine barrens are home to many odd occurences. My dad was a Philly cop, and they had to go out over there to question someone about a homicide. The Liutenant told him, and his partner to not go alone. I want five guys. They laughed it off, and joked. Right. Like the Jersey Devil will get Philly cops. Well when they had to go way back in those woods, and saw all the people in the trees watching them....they'd have rather had the devil. People that live back there are in a world of their own. Their customs, and heritages are like nothing we know. My dad said that was the very first time that they had actually been afraid during an investigation.

I used to live in the Pine Barrens. A lot of the people who live there are hunters and that is probably why they were in the trees. The people who used to own the house I lived in had a tree stand out back and would also hunt from the kitchen window!

I never saw the Jersey Devil in the many years I lived and worked there and not really sure if I believe the story. There are so many different animals living there that it could be just about anything.

Hey Wacava,

My friend lives in Tabernacle. Small world. He's never saw the Jersey Devil either. He did come home from work, and have four bats hanging on his curtain rod.

As for the cop thing. It was a very true case my dad worked on. The Pine Barren man was murdered by his daughter, and his female psychiatrist. The lady Doc was from Philly. The daughter, and the Doc became lovers. They were convicted of murder. Both of them.

Maybe my dad meant Baker tree stands about the trees. He did mention emphatically though that these folks lived deep, deep in the woods, and were inbred, and that being in such unfamiliar territory scared him. I guess those folks wouldn't like the jungle of the Philly streets.

That's pretty cool that you lived out there though. Anywhere by Route 9?

I was around route 50. We were going to buy the house we were in and build something new on the land but, the Pine Barren laws are so strict, we wouldn't have been able to clear any more of the trees to build something bigger. The place I worked got fined $10,000.00 for cutting down 3 trees that weren't marked by the Pine Barren Commission...I don't have that kind of money!

My husband and I are originally from Philly so, I know what you mean about the "culture shock" from one place to the next.