The Jersey Devil is one of the oldest cryptid legends in the United States. People in New Jersey have been telling stories about it since at least 1735. According to the legend, the creature was born to a woman named Mother Leeds in the Pine Barrens, a huge stretch of dense pine forest in southern New Jersey.
The legend says Mother Leeds was having her thirteenth child and shouted that the new baby would be a devil. The baby was born normally, but then sprouted wings, hooves, claws, and a long horse-like head, and flew up the chimney. Ever since, people in the Pine Barrens have reported strange screams in the night and seeing a winged creature in the trees.
The biggest wave of sightings happened in January 1909, when thousands of people across New Jersey and Pennsylvania reported seeing or hearing the Jersey Devil over a single week. Schools and factories closed because people were too scared to go out. The local hockey team, the New Jersey Devils, is named after this very legend.
