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131-505: According to popular folklore, the Jersey Devil originated with a Pine Barrens resident named Deborah Leeds, known as "Mother Leeds." The legend states that Mother Leeds had twelve children and, after discovering she was pregnant for the thirteenth time, cursed the child in frustration, declaring that the child would be the " devil ." In 1735, Mother Leeds was in labour on a stormy night while her friends gathered around her. The thirteenth child

262-578: A cosmic egg . Pangu emerged (or woke up) and separated Yin from Yang with a swing of his giant axe, creating the Earth (murky Yin ) and the Sky (clear Yang ). To keep them separated, Pangu stood between them and pushed up the Sky. After Pangu died, he became everything. Gnostic teachings were contemporary with those of Neoplatonism. Gnosticism is an imprecise label, covering monistic as well as dualistic conceptions. Usually

393-457: A ghost , resurrected from the grave to haunt and torment Franklin. Franklin continued to jokingly refer to Titan Leeds as a "ghost" even after Titan Leeds' actual death in 1738. Daniel Leeds' blasphemous and occultist reputation and his pro-monarchy stance in the largely anti-monarchist colonial south of New Jersey, combined with Benjamin Franklin's later continuous depiction of his son Titan Leeds as

524-559: A horse's hoof . According to Stein, a man later admitted he had faked some of these footprints. Geoff Tibballs in The World's Greatest Hoaxes (2006) has claimed that Norman Jeffries was involved in hoaxing the Jersey Devil: Norman Jeffries, publicist for Philadelphia 's Arch Street Museum and renowned hoaxer, was well aware of the stories about the Jersey Devil. So when the museum proprietor, T. F. Hopkins, admitted that it

655-420: A spiritual being ( Geistwesen ), having no relation to any form of sensual pleasure. It is necessarily required for the devil to be a spiritual being because if the devil were also a sensual being, it would be possible that the devil does evil to satisfy lower sensual desires, and does not act from the mind alone. The devil acts against morals, not to satisfy sensual lust, but solely for the sake of evil. As such,

786-600: A trolley car in Haddon Heights and a social club in Camden . Police in Camden and Bristol, Pennsylvania supposedly fired on the creature to no effect. Other reports initially concerned unidentified footprints in the snow , but soon sightings of creatures resembling the Jersey Devil were being reported throughout South Jersey and as far away as Delaware and western Maryland . The widespread newspaper coverage created fear throughout

917-476: A "monster wandering the Pine Barrens." An oral tradition of "Leeds Devil" monster/ghost stories became well-established in the Pine Barrens area. Although the "Leeds Devil" legend has existed since the 18th century, Regal states that the more modern depiction of the Jersey Devil, as well as the now pervasive "Jersey Devil" name, first became truly standardized in current form during the early 20th century: During

1048-622: A dragon—became standardized. Indeed, many references to a "Leeds Devil" or "Devil of Leeds" appear in earlier printed material prior to the widespread usage of the "Jersey Devil" name. During 1859, the Atlantic Monthly published an article detailing the Leeds Devil folk tales popular among Pine Barren residents (or " pine rats ".) A newspaper from 1887 describes sightings of a winged creature, referred to as "the Devil of Leeds", allegedly spotted near

1179-705: A fixture of organizations, it is the namesake for two professional ice hockey teams. The first, the Jersey Devils of the Eastern Hockey League , played from 1964 until the league folded in 1973. The second, the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League , have played since 1982. The current team was formerly known as the Colorado Rockies , and their name was chosen by a poll shortly after

1310-460: A ghost, may have originated or contributed to the local folk legend of a so-called "Leeds Devil" lurking in the Pine Barrens. During 1728, Titan Leeds began to include the Leeds family crest on the masthead of his almanacs. The Leeds family crest depicted a wyvern , a bat-winged dragon -like legendary creature that stands upright on two clawed feet. Regal notes that the wyvern on the Leeds family crest

1441-893: A god, but an evil angel. These writings commonly refer to the Creator of the material world as "a demiurgus " to distinguish him from the One true God . Some texts, such as the Apocryphon of John and On the Origin of the World , not only demonized the Creator God but also called him by the name of the devil in some Jewish writings, Samael . In the 12th century in Europe the Cathars , who were rooted in Gnosticism , dealt with

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1572-478: A good soul will be brought to Paradise by a Yayutshi sent by Ulgen. Some shamans also made sacrifices to Erlik, for gaining a higher rank in the Underworld, if they should be damned to Hell. According to Yazidism there is no entity that represents evil in opposition to God; such dualism is rejected by Yazidis, and evil is regarded as nonexistent. Yazidis adhere to strict monism and are prohibited from uttering

1703-546: A hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of the devil can be summed up as 1) a principle of evil independent from God , 2) an aspect of God, 3) a created being turning evil (a fallen angel ) or 4) a symbol of human evil. Each tradition, culture, and religion with a devil in its mythos offers a different lens on manifestations of evil. The history of these perspectives intertwines with theology, mythology, psychiatry, art, and literature, developing independently within each of

1834-593: A list of six realms of rebirth, adding demi-gods ( asuras ). The "hungry ghost, heavenly, hellish realms" respectively formulate the ritual, literary and moral spheres of many contemporary Buddhist traditions. According to Akira Sadakata, the Buddhist cosmology is far more complex and uses extraordinarily larger numbers than those found in Vedic and post-Vedic Hindu traditions. It also shares many ideas and concepts, such as those about Mount Meru. The Buddhist thought holds that

1965-523: A secondary deity, a demiurgus , who was god, in a sense, but not the supreme God; he was just, rigidly just, he had his good qualities, but he was not the good god, who was Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. John Arendzen (1909) in the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) mentions that Eusebius accused Apelles , the 2nd-century AD Gnostic, of considering the Inspirer of Old Testament prophecies to be not

2096-440: A sensual joy or relief still accompanies the destruction of the tulip and therefore cannot be thought of solely as a violation of morality. Kant further argues that a (spiritual) devil would be a contradiction. If the devil would be defined by doing evil, the devil had no free choice in the first place. But if the devil had no free-choice, the devil could not have been held accountable for his actions, since he had no free will but

2227-464: A single mandatory view point even in its oldest known Vedic scriptures, the Rigveda . Alternate theories include a universe cyclically created and destroyed by god, or goddess, or no creator at all, or a golden egg or womb ( Hiranyagarbha ), or self-created multitude of universes with enormous lengths and time scales. The Vedic literature includes a number of cosmology speculations, one of which questions

2358-515: A son of God and a brother to Christ. To explain this, they used the parable of the prodigal son, with Christ as the good son, and Lucifer as the son that strayed into evilness. The Catholic Church responded to dualism in AD 1215 in the Fourth Lateran Council , saying that God created everything from nothing, and the devil was good when he was created, but he made himself bad by his own free will. In

2489-458: A time when thoughts of independence were being born, these issues made the Leeds family political and religious monsters. From all this over time the legend of the Leeds Devil was born. References to the 'Jersey Devil' do not appear in newspapers or other printed material until the twentieth century. The first major flap came in 1909. It is from these sightings that the popular image of the creature—batlike wings, horse head, claws, and general air of

2620-436: A tulip seller who was in possession of a rare tulip, but when he learned that another seller had the same tulip, he bought it from him and then destroyed it instead of keeping it for himself. If he had acted according to his sensual urges, the seller would have kept the tulip for himself to make a profit, but not have destroyed it. Nevertheless, the destruction of the tulip cannot be completely absolved from sensual impulses, since

2751-441: A variety of definitions for the meaning of "devil", supported by a range of citations: "Devil" may refer to Satan, the supreme spirit of evil, or one of Satan's emissaries or demons that populate Hell, or to one of the spirits that possess a demoniac person; "devil" may refer to one of the "malignant deities" feared and worshiped by "heathen people", a demon, a malignant being of superhuman powers; figuratively "devil" may be applied to

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2882-669: A wicked person, or playfully to a rogue or rascal, or in empathy often accompanied by the word "poor" to a person—"poor devil". In the Baháʼí Faith , a malevolent, superhuman entity such as a devil or satan is not believed to exist. However, these terms do appear in the Baháʼí writings, where they are used as metaphors for the lower nature of man. Human beings are seen to have free will , and are thus able to turn towards God and develop spiritual qualities or turn away from God and become immersed in their self-centered desires. Individuals who follow

3013-449: Is Ahriman . They are in eternal struggle and neither is all-powerful, especially Angra Mainyu is limited to space and time: in the end of time, he will be finally defeated. While Ahura Mazda creates what is good, Angra Mainyu is responsible for every evil and suffering in the world, such as toads and scorpions. Iranian Zoroastrians also considered the Daeva as devil creature, because of this in

3144-634: Is also used in the New Testament as a synonym for the devil. A corrupted version, "Belzeboub", appears in The Divine Comedy ( Inferno XXXIV). In other, non-mainstream, Christian beliefs (e.g. the beliefs of the Christadelphians ) the word "satan" in the Bible is not regarded as referring to a supernatural, personal being but to any 'adversary' and figuratively refers to human sin and temptation. In

3275-449: Is an explanation of the origin, evolution, and eventual fate of the universe from a religious perspective. This may include beliefs on origin in the form of a creation myth , subsequent evolution, current organizational form and nature, and eventual fate or destiny. There are various traditions in religion or religious mythology asserting how and why everything is the way it is and the significance of it all. Religious cosmologies describe

3406-453: Is compatible with the legend. Deborah and Japhet Leeds also lived in the Leeds Point section of what is now Atlantic County, New Jersey , which is commonly the location of the Jersey Devil story. Brian Regal , a historian of science at Kean University , theorizes that the story of Mother Leeds, rather than being based on a single historical person alone, originated from the reputation of

3537-516: Is good, the evil in the world must be part of God's plan. Actually, God allowed the devil to seduce humanity. Evil and suffering are regarded as a test or a chance to prove confidence in God. Some philosophers and mystics emphasized Iblis himself as a role model of confidence in God. Because God ordered the angels to prostrate themselves, Iblis was forced to choose between God's command and God's will (not to praise someone other than God). He successfully passed

3668-454: Is he now? How could God have made this world without any raw material? If you say that he made this first, and then the world, you are faced with an endless regression. There is a "primordial universe" Wuji (philosophy) , and Hongjun Laozu , water or qi . It transformed into Taiji then multiplied into everything known as the Wuxing . The Pangu legend tells a formless chaos coalesced into

3799-463: Is in stark contrast to Islamists, such as Osama bin Laden , who justifies his violence against the infidels by contrary assertions. While in classical hadiths , devils ( shayāṭīn ) and jinn are responsible for ritual impurity, many Salafis substitute local demons by an omnipresent threat through the Devil himself. Only through remembrance of God and ritual purity, the devil can be kept away. As such,

3930-602: Is inherently evil. The One true God is remote, beyond the material universe; therefore, this universe must be governed by an inferior imposter deity. This deity was identified with the deity of the Old Testament by some sects, such as the Sethians and the Marcions . Tertullian accuses Marcion of Sinope , that he [held that] the Old Testament was a scandal to the faithful … and … accounted for it by postulating [that Jehovah was]

4061-506: Is more inclusive than a strictly scientific cosmology ( physical cosmology and quantum cosmology ) in that religious cosmology is not limited to experiential observation, testing of hypotheses, and proposals of theories; for example, religious cosmology may explain why everything is the way it is or seems to be the way it is and prescribing what humans should do in context. Variations in religious cosmology include Zoroastrian cosmology , those such as from India Buddhism , Hindu , and Jain ;

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4192-415: Is narrow at the top, broad at the middle and once again becomes broad at the bottom. Mahāpurāṇa of Ācārya Jinasena is famous for this quote: Some foolish men declare that a creator made the world. The doctrine that the world was created is ill advised and should be rejected. If God created the world, where was he before the creation? If you say he was transcendent then and needed no support, where

4323-545: Is no mistake about it. I never saw the horrible critter myself, but I can remember well when it was roaming around in Evesham woods fifty years ago, and when it was hunted by men and dogs and shot at by the best marksmen there were in all South Jersey but could not be killed. There isn't a family in Burlington or any of the adjoining counties that does not know of the Leeds devil, and it was the bugaboo to frighten children with when I

4454-686: Is no ultimate beginning nor final end to the universe. It considers all existence as eternal, and believes there is no creator god. Buddhism views the universe as impermanent and always in flux. This cosmology is the foundation of its Samsara theory, that evolved over time the mechanistic details on how the wheel of mundane existence works over the endless cycles of rebirth and redeath. In early Buddhist traditions, Saṃsāra cosmology consisted of five realms through which wheel of existence recycled. This included hells ( niraya ), hungry ghosts ( pretas ), animals ( tiryak ), humans ( manushya ), and gods ( devas , heavenly). In latter traditions, this list grew to

4585-456: Is not necessarily seen as opposed to God. The devil activates the selfish desires of the psyche, leading the human astray from the Divine. Thus, it is the I that is regarded as evil, and both Iblis and Pharao are present as symbols for uttering "I" in ones own behavior. Therefore, it is recommended to use the term I as little as possible. It is only God who has the right to say "I", since it

4716-481: Is not unique and are also found in Greek, Roman, Irish and Babylonian mythologies, where each age becomes more sinful and of suffering. Jain cosmology considers the loka , or universe, as an uncreated entity, existing since infinity, having no beginning or an end. Jain texts describe the shape of the universe as similar to a man standing with legs apart and arm resting on his waist. This Universe, according to Jainism,

4847-440: Is only God who is self-subsistent. Uttering "I" is therefore a way to compare oneself to God, regarded as shirk . Many Salafi strands emphasize a dualistic worldview between believers and unbelievers, The unbelievers are considered to be under the domain of the Devil and are the enemies of the faithful. The former are credited with tempting the latter to sin and away from God's path. The Devil will ultimately be defeated by

4978-431: Is portrayed as a large, ferocious dragon or snake and is considered the king of the World of Darkness. Together they rule the underworld and create the seven planets and twelve zodiac constellations . Also found in the underworld is Krun , the greatest of the five Mandaean Lords of the underworld. He dwells in the lowest depths of creation and his epithet is the 'mountain of flesh'. Prominent infernal beings found in

5109-510: Is reminiscent of the popular descriptions of the Jersey Devil. The inclusion of this family crest on Leeds' almanacs may have further contributed to the Leeds family's poor reputation among locals and possibly influenced the popular descriptions of the Leeds Devil or Jersey Devil. The fearsome appearance of the crest's wyvern and the increasing animosity among local South Jersey residents towards royalty , aristocracy , and nobility (with whom family crests were associated) may have helped facilitate

5240-465: Is the manifestation of a cosmic conflict between Existence and non-existence, Good and evil and light and darkness which spans over a period of 12000 years. It is subdivided into four equal periods of 3000 years each. The first period is known as Infinite Time. During this period the good and the evil remained in perfect balance in their respective spheres. For 3000 years Ahura Mazda dwelt in the region of light, while his opponent Ahirman or Angra Mainyu ,

5371-502: The Gospel of the Secret Supper , Lucifer, just as in prior Gnostic systems, appears as a demiurge, who created the material world. In Islam, the principle of evil is expressed by two terms referring to the same entity: Shaitan (meaning astray , distant or devil ) and Iblis . Iblis is the proper name of the devil representing the characteristics of evil. Iblis is mentioned in

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5502-549: The Book of Wisdom , the devil is represented as the one who brought death into the world. The Second Book of Enoch contains references to a Watcher called Satanael, describing him as the prince of the Grigori who was cast out of heaven and an evil spirit who knew the difference between what was "righteous" and "sinful". In the Book of Jubilees , Satan rules over a host of angels. Mastema , who induced God to test Abraham through

5633-536: The Delaware Valley prompting a number of schools to close and workers to stay home. Vigilante groups and groups of hunters roamed the pines and countrysides in search of the devil. During this period, it is rumored that the Philadelphia Zoo posted a $ 10,000 reward for the creature. The offer prompted a variety of hoaxes, including a kangaroo equipped with artificial claws and bat wings. Skeptics believe

5764-640: The Lake of Fire . He is described as hating all humanity (or more accurately all creation), opposing God, spreading lies and wreaking havoc on their souls. In the Bible , the devil is identified as "the dragon" and "the old serpent" in the Book of Revelation, as "the prince of this world" in the Gospel of John ; "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" in the Epistle to

5895-847: The Middle English devel , from the Old English dēofol , that in turn represents an early Germanic borrowing of the Latin diabolus . This in turn was borrowed from the Greek διάβολος diábolos , "slanderer", from διαβάλλειν diabállein , "to slander" from διά diá , "across, through" and βάλλειν bállein , "to hurl", probably akin to the Sanskrit gurate , "he lifts up". In his book The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity , Jeffrey Burton Russell discusses various meanings and difficulties that are encountered when using

6026-556: The Philadelphia Quaker Meeting , Leeds continued to dispute with the Quaker community, converting to Anglicanism and publishing anti-Quaker tracts criticizing Quaker theology and accusing Quakers of being anti-monarchists . In the ensuing dispute between Leeds and the southern New Jersey Quakers over Leeds' accusations, Leeds was endorsed by the much-maligned British royal governor of New Jersey, Lord Cornbury , despised among

6157-619: The Quranic narrative about the creation of humanity. When God created Adam , he ordered the angels to prostrate themselves before him. Out of pride, Iblis refused and claimed to be superior to Adam. Therefore, pride but also envy became a sign of "unbelief" in Islam. Thereafter, Iblis was condemned to Hell, but God granted him a request to lead humanity astray, knowing the righteous would resist Iblis' attempts to misguide them. In Islam, both good and evil are ultimately created by God. But since God's will

6288-455: The Shahnameh , it is mentioned as both Ahriman Div ( Persian : اهریمن دیو , romanized :  Ahriman Div ) as a devil. A non-published manuscript of Spinoza 's Ethics contained a chapter (Chapter XXI) on the devil, where Spinoza examined whether the devil may exist or not. He defines the devil as an entity which is contrary to God. However, if the devil is the opposite of God,

6419-489: The centre of a number of concentric heavens . The belief that God created matter from nothing is called creatio ex nihilo (as opposed to creatio ex materia ). It is the accepted orthodoxy of most denominations of Judaism and Christianity . Most denominations of Christianity and Judaism believe that a single, uncreated God was responsible for the creation of the cosmos. In his 2023 apostolic exhortation , Laudate Deum , Pope Francis outlines several ways in which

6550-407: The sacrifice of Isaac , is identical with Satan in both name and nature. The Book of Enoch contains references to Sathariel , thought also to be Sataniel and Satan'el . The similar spellings mirror that of his angelic brethren Michael , Raphael , Uriel , and Gabriel , previous to his expulsion from Heaven. Gnostic and Gnostic-influenced religions postulate the idea that the material world

6681-586: The "Devil Hunters" refer to themselves as "official researchers of the Jersey Devil", and devote time to collecting reports, visiting historic sites, and going on nocturnal hunts in the Pine Barrens in order to "find proof that the Jersey Devil does in fact exist." Writing in Jan Harold Brunvand 's American Folklore: An Encyclopedia , Rutgers Professor Angus Kress Gillespie called the Jersey Devil "an obscure regional legend" for most of its existence, and said that "after more than 250 years in oral circulation,

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6812-515: The 17th century, English Quakers established settlements in Southern Jersey, the region in which the Pine Barrens are located. Daniel Leeds, a Quaker and a prominent person of pre-Revolution colonial southern New Jersey, became ostracized by his Quaker congregation after his 1687 publication of almanacs containing astrological symbols and writings. Leeds' fellow Quakers deemed the astrology in these almanacs as too " pagan " or blasphemous, and

6943-485: The Barrens. During the 18th century and the 19th century, residents of the isolated Pine Barrens were deemed the dregs or outcasts of society: poor farmers , fugitives , brigands , Native Americans , poachers , moonshiners , runaway slaves , and deserting soldiers . So-called pineys have sometimes fostered certain frightening stories about themselves and the Pine Barrens to discourage outsiders or intruders from entering

7074-420: The Barrens. Pineys were further demonized and vilified after two eugenics studies were published during the early 20th century, which depicted pineys as congenital idiots and criminals, as seen in the research performed on " The Kallikak Family " by Henry H. Goddard , which is now considered biased, inaccurate, unscientific, and, most likely, falsified. Due in part to their isolated and undeveloped nature,

7205-594: The Devil becomes an increasinly powerful entity who is believed to interfer with both personal and political life. For example, many Salafis blame the Devil for Western emancipation . Yahweh , the god in pre-exilic Judaism , created both good and evil, as stated in Isaiah 45:7: "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things." The devil does not exist in Jewish scriptures. However,

7336-527: The Ephesians ; and "the god of this world" in 2 Corinthians 4:4. He is also identified as the tempter of the Gospels . Satan is traditionally identified as the serpent who convinced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit ; thus, Satan has often been depicted as a serpent. Beelzebub is originally the name of a Philistine god (more specifically a certain type of Baal , from Ba‘al Zebûb , lit. "Lord of Flies") but

7467-501: The Jersey Devil to be nothing more than a creative manifestation upon the imaginations of the early English settlers in South Jersey, with plausible natural explanations including: bogeyman stories created and told by bored Pine Barren residents as a form of children's entertainment; the byproduct of the historical local disdain for the Leeds family; the misidentification of known animals; and rumors based on common negative perceptions of

7598-534: The Jersey Devil was blamed for several livestock killings. Similar attacks were reported during 1841, accompanied by tracks and screams. In Greenwich Township , in December 1925, a local farmer shot an unidentified animal as it attempted to steal his chickens , and then photographed the corpse. Afterward, he claimed that none of 100 people he showed it to could identify it. On July 27, 1937, an unknown animal "with red eyes" seen by residents of Downingtown, Pennsylvania

7729-403: The Jersey Devil's fanciful or mythical nature is explored in the numerous works of fantasy it makes an appearance in, including: The X-Files , Jersey Devil (video game) , The Wolf Among Us , 13th Child , TMNT , The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest , The Barrens , Carny , Poptropica , A Night With The Jersey Devil , The Last Broadcast , Legend Quest , What We Do in

7860-477: The Jersey Devil. Jeff Brunner of the Humane Society of New Jersey thinks that “ vagrant ” sandhill cranes are partially the basis of the Jersey Devil stories, adding, "There are no photographs, no bones, no hard evidence whatsoever, and worst of all, no explanation of its origins that doesn't require belief in the supernatural." Sandhill cranes are not indigenous or well-known to South Jersey, are approximately

7991-414: The Jewish idea of the devil as yetzer hara . On the other hand, Shaitan refers unilaterally to forces of evil, including the devil Iblis who causes mischief. Shaitan is also linked to humans' psychological nature, appearing in dreams, causing anger, or interrupting the mental preparation for prayer. Furthermore, the term Shaitan also refers to beings who follow the evil suggestions of Iblis. Also,

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8122-524: The Leeds family being described as "monsters", and it was Daniel Leeds' negative description as the "Leeds Devil", rather than any actual creature, that created the later legend of the Jersey Devil. Much like the Mother Leeds of the Jersey Devil myth, Daniel Leeds' third wife had given birth to nine children, a large number of children even for the time. Leeds' second wife and first daughter had both died during childbirth. Leeds and his family were prominent in

8253-524: The Limits of Reason Alone , Immanuel Kant uses the devil as the personification of maximum moral reprehensibility. Deviating from the common Christian idea, Kant does not locate the morally reprehensible in sensual urges. Since evil has to be intelligible , only when the sensual is consciously placed above the moral obligation can something be regarded as morally evil. Thus, to be evil, the devil must be able to comprehend morality but consciously reject it, and, as

8384-471: The Pine Barrens and well known among the local populace of Burlington County, New Jersey : Whenever he went near it, it would give a most unearthly yell that frightened the dogs. It whipped at every dog on the place. "That thing," said the colonel, "is not a bird nor an animal, but it is the Leeds devil, according to the description, and it was born over in Evesham , Burlington County , a hundred years ago. There

8515-518: The Pine Barrens have themselves fostered various folk legends. Apart from the Jersey Devil, many other legends are associated with the Pine Barrens ; supernatural creatures and ghosts said to haunt the pine forests include the ghost of the pirate Captain Kidd , who supposedly buried treasure in the Pine Barrens and is sometimes allegedly seen in the company of the Jersey Devil; the ghost of the Black Doctor,

8646-630: The Quaker communities. Leeds also worked as a councilor to Lord Cornbury about this time. Considering Leeds as a traitor for aiding the Crown and rejecting Quaker beliefs, the Quaker Burlington Meeting of southern New Jersey subsequently dismissed Leeds as " evil ". In 1700, the local South Jersey Quaker community retaliated against Leeds’ anti-Quaker tracts with their own tract, Satan’s Harbinger Encountered … Being Something by Way of Answer to Daniel Leeds , which publicly accused Leeds of working for

8777-459: The Shadows , Gravity Falls , Fallout 76 , and Supernatural ; many of which, such as TMNT and Jersey Devil (video game), not only reflect the Jersey Devil's mythical character but exemplify its comical nature as well. Devil A devil is the mythical personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of

8908-585: The South Jersey and Pine Barrens area. As a royal surveyor with strong allegiance to the British crown , Leeds had surveyed and acquired land in the Egg Harbor area, located within the Pine Barrens . The land was inherited by Leeds' sons and family and is now known as Leeds Point, one of the areas in the Pine Barrens currently most associated with the Jersey Devil legend and alleged Jersey Devil sightings. Starting in

9039-557: The Sufi idea of seeing "Many as One" and considering the creation in its essence as the Absolute, leads to the idea of the dissolution of any dualism between the ego substance and the "external" substantial objects. The rebellion against God, mentioned in the Quran, takes place on the level of the psyche that must be trained and disciplined for its union with the spirit that is pure. Since psyche drives

9170-465: The World of Darkness include lilith , nalai ( vampire ), niuli ( hobgoblin ), latabi (devil), gadalta ( ghost ), satani ( Satan ) and various other demons and evil spirits. In Manichaeism , God and the devil are two unrelated principles. God created good and inhabits the realm of light, while the devil (also called the prince of darkness ) created evil and inhabits the kingdom of darkness. The contemporary world came into existence, when

9301-453: The almanacs were censored and destroyed by the local Quaker community. In response to and in spite of this censorship, Leeds continued to publish even more esoteric astrological Christian writings and became increasingly fascinated with Christian occultism , Christian mysticism , cosmology , demonology and angelology , and natural magic . In the 1690s, after his almanacs and writings were further censored as blasphemous or heretical by

9432-530: The benevolent spirit of an African-American doctor who, after being forbidden from practicing medicine due to his race, entered the Pine Barrens to practice medicine in the isolated communities of the Barrens and is said to still come to the aid of lost or injured travelers; the ghost of the Black Dog, which, unlike many black dog legends , is usually portrayed as harmless; the ghost of the Golden-Haired Girl,

9563-411: The body, flesh is not the obstacle to humans but rather an unawareness that allows the impulsive forces to cause rebellion against God on the level of the psyche. Yet it is not a dualism between body, psyche and spirit, since the spirit embraces both psyche and corporeal aspects of humanity. Since the world is held to be the mirror in which God's attributes are reflected, participation in worldly affairs

9694-648: The creator deity, is the point of departure and conclusion. As farming people, trees play an important role in Serer religious cosmology and creation mythology. The Serer high priests and priestesses (the Saltigues ) chart the star Sirius , known as "Yoonir" in the Serer language and some of the Cangin languages . This star enables them to give accurate information as to when Serer farmers should start planting seeds among other things relevant to Serer lives and Serer country. "Yoonir"

9825-588: The creature from the Pine Barrens. Prior to the early 1900s, the Jersey Devil was referred to as the Leeds Devil or the Devil of Leeds , either in connection with the local Leeds family or the eponymous Leeds Point in South Jersey . "Mother Leeds" has been identified by some as the real-life Deborah Leeds, on grounds that Deborah Leeds' husband, Japhet Leeds, named twelve children in the will he wrote during 1736, which

9956-438: The devil . During 1716, Daniel Leeds' son, Titan Leeds, inherited his father's almanac business, which continued to use astrological content and eventually competed with Benjamin Franklin 's popular Poor Richard's Almanack . The competition between the two men intensified when, during 1733, Franklin satirically used astrology in his almanac to predict Titan Leeds' death on October of that same year. Though Franklin's prediction

10087-529: The devil as an independent force of evil besides God. After the apocalyptic period , references to Satan in the Tanakh are thought to be allegorical . In Mandaean mythology , Ruha fell apart from the World of Light and became the queen of the World of Darkness , also referred to as Sheol . She is considered evil and a liar, sorcerer and seductress. She gives birth to Ur , also referred to as Leviathan . He

10218-421: The devil is blamed for could be explained without the proposal of a devil. Thus, the devil does not have any explanatory power and should be dismissed ( Occam's razor ). Regarding evil through free choice, Spinoza asks how it can be that Adam would have chosen sin over his own well-being. Theology traditionally responds to this by asserting it is the devil who tempts humans into sin, but who would have tempted

10349-400: The devil is unselfish, for he does not benefit from his evil deeds. However, Kant denies that a human being could ever be completely devilish. Kant admits that there are devilish vices (ingratitude, envy, and malicious joy), i.e., vices that do not bring any personal advantage, but a person can never be completely a devil. In his Lecture on Moral Philosophy (1774/75) Kant gives an example of

10480-538: The devil is usually referred to as Satan . This is because Christian beliefs in Satan are inspired directly by the dominant view of Second Temple Judaism (recorded in the Enochian books ), as expressed/practiced by Jesus , and with some minor variations. Some modern Christians consider the devil to be an angel who, along with one-third of the angelic host (the demons), rebelled against God and has consequently been condemned to

10611-520: The devil or Satan is a fallen angel who is the primary opponent of God . Some Christians also considered the Roman and Greek deities to be devils. Christianity describes Satan as a fallen angel who terrorizes the world through evil, is opposed to truth , and shall be condemned, together with the fallen angels who follow him, to eternal fire at the Last Judgment . In mainstream Christianity ,

10742-491: The devil would consist of Nothingness, which does not exist. In a paper called On Devils , he writes that we can a priori find out that such a thing cannot exist. Because the duration of a thing results in its degree of perfection, and the more essence a thing possess the more lasting it is, and since the devil has no perfection at all, it is impossible for the devil to be an existing thing. Evil or immoral behaviour in humans, such as anger, hate, envy, and all things for which

10873-433: The devil? According to Spinoza, a rational being, such as the devil must have been, could not choose his own damnation. The devil must have known his sin would lead to doom, thus the devil was not knowing, or the devil did not know his sin will lead to doom, thus the devil would not have been a rational being. Spinoza deducts a strict determinism in which moral agency as a free choice, cannot exist. In Religion Within

11004-498: The entire creation. He creates the six Amesha Spentas or the Holy Immortals and several angel spirits or Yazatas . He brought forth the primeval Ox and the primeval man (Gayomart). Then he creates the material creation such as water, air, earth and the metals. The universe of the ancient Israelites was made up of a flat disc-shaped Earth floating on water, heaven above, underworld below. Humans inhabited Earth during life and

11135-481: The evil spirit, remained confined to the region of darkness. A great Void separated them both. At the end of the first period, Ahirman crossed the void and attacked Ahura Mazda. Knowing that the battle would continue forever, Ahura Mazda recited Ahuna Vairya, the most sacred hymn of Avesta and repelled him back. Having lost the battle, Angra Mainyu withdrew hastily into his dark world and remained there for another 3000 years. During this interlude, Ahura Mazda brings forth

11266-549: The figure in the Abrahamic religions . In the Introduction to his book Satan: A Biography , Henry Ansgar Kelly discusses various considerations and meanings that he has encountered in using terms such as devil and Satan , etc. While not offering a general definition, he describes that in his book "whenever diabolos is used as the proper name of Satan", he signals it by using "small caps". The Oxford English Dictionary has

11397-400: The first human. He desired to create a human just as Ulgen did, thereupon Ulgen reacted by punishing Erlik, casting him into the Underworld where he becomes its ruler. According to Tengrism, there is no death, meaning that, when life comes to an end, it is merely a transition into the invisible world. As the ruler of Hell, Erlik enslaves the souls, who are damned to Hell. Further, he lurks on

11528-612: The higher worlds of Light, called the Pleroma or "fullness", are radically distinct from the lower world of Matter. The emanation of the Pleroma and its godheads (called Aeons ) is described in detail in the various Gnostic tracts, as is the pre-creation crisis (a cosmic equivalent to the "fall" in Christian thought) from which the material world comes about, and the way that the divine spark can attain salvation. Serer religion posits that, Roog ,

11659-558: The highest heavens, He alone knows or perhaps He does not know." Time is conceptualized as a cyclic Yuga with trillions of years. In some models, Mount Meru plays a central role. Beyond its creation, Hindu cosmology posits divergent theories on the structure of the universe, from being 3 lokas to 12 lokas (worlds) which play a part in its theories about rebirth, samsara and karma . The complex cosmological speculations found in Hinduism and other Indian religions , states Bolton,

11790-457: The human relationship with the created cosmos might be understood: Islam teaches that God created the universe, including Earth's physical environment and human beings. The highest goal is to visualize the cosmos as a book of symbols for meditation and contemplation for spiritual upliftment or as a prison from which the human soul must escape to attain true freedom in the spiritual journey to God. In Buddhism , like other Indian religions, there

11921-398: The idea that Satan is an opponent of God and the implied struggle between God and the devil . Iblis might either be regarded as the most monotheistic or the greatest sinner , but remains only a creature of God. Iblis did not become an unbeliever due to his disobedience, but because of attributing injustice to God; that is, by asserting that the command to prostrate himself before Adam

12052-631: The influence of Zoroastrianism during the Achaemenid Empire introduced evil as a separate principle into the Jewish belief system, which gradually externalized the opposition until the Hebrew term satan developed into a specific type of supernatural entity, changing the monistic view of Judaism into a dualistic one. Later, Rabbinic Judaism rejected the Enochian books (written during the Second Temple period under Persian influence), which depicted

12183-554: The kingdom of darkness assaulted the kingdom of light and mingled with the spiritual world. At the end, the devil and his followers will be sealed forever and the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness will continue to co-exist eternally, never to commingle again. Hegemonius (4th century CE) accuses that the Persian prophet Mani , founder of the Manichaean sect in the 3rd century CE, identified Jehovah as "the devil god which created

12314-469: The legend of the 'Jersey Devil' has many variations ...". Gillespie cites the Devil's image used on T-shirts, buttons, and postcards, and cocktails named after the Devil, as indications that "the recent history of the Jersey Devil is more in the realm of popular culture than folklore". Gordon Stein in Encyclopedia of Hoaxes (1993) noted that the alleged footprints of the Jersey Devil during 1909 resembled

12445-405: The legend of the Leeds Devil and the association of the Leeds family with "devils" and "monsters". Regal notes that, by the late 18th century and the early 19th century at the latest, the "Leeds Devil" had become an ubiquitous legendary monster or ghost story in present-day South Jersey . In the early to mid-19th century, stories continued to circulate in southern New Jersey of the Leeds Devil,

12576-461: The line taken by Irenaeus instead of the later Christian consensus that the devil did not rebel against God but against humanity. Further, although Iblis is generally regarded as a real bodily entity, he plays a less significant role as the personification of evil than in Christianity. Iblis is merely a tempter, notable for inciting humans into sin by whispering into humans minds (waswās), akin to

12707-602: The local prominent Leeds family in the southern portion of the colonial-era Province of New Jersey , where religious-political disputes became the subject of folklore and gossip among the local population. Regal contends that folk legends concerning these historical disputes evolved through the years and ultimately resulted in the modern popular legend of the Jersey Devil during the early 20th century. Regal contends that "colonial-era political intrigue" involving early New Jersey politicians, Benjamin Franklin , and Franklin's rival almanac publisher Daniel Leeds (1651–1720) resulted in

12838-512: The local rural population of the Pine Barren (known as " pineys "). The frightening reputation of the Pine Barrens may indeed have contributed to the Jersey Devil legend. Historically, the Pine Barrens was considered inhospitable land. Gangs of highwaymen , such as the politically disdained Loyalist brigands , known as the Pine Robbers , were known to rob and attack travelers passing through

12969-463: The merchants around Camden offered a $ 10,000 reward for the capture of the Jersey Devil, even offering to build a private zoo to house the creature if it was captured. During the week of January 16–23, 1909, newspapers published hundreds of claimed encounters with the Jersey Devil from all over South Jersey and the Philadelphia area . Among these alleged encounters were claims the creature "attacked"

13100-537: The origin of the cosmos and is called the Nasadiya sukta : Neither being (sat) nor non-being was as yet. What was concealed? And where? And in whose protection?…Who really knows? Who can declare it? Whence was it born, and whence came this creation? The devas (gods) were born later than this world's creation, so who knows from where it came into existence? None can know from where creation has arisen, and whether he has or has not produced it. He who surveys it in

13231-616: The power of God, but remains until then a serious threat for the believer. The notion of a substantial reality of evil (or a form of dualism between God and the Devil) has no precedence in the Quran or earlier Muslim traditions. Neither in the writings of ibn Sina, Ghazali, nor ibn Taimiyya, has evil any positive existence, but is described as the absence of good. Accordingly, infidelity among humans, civilizations, and empires are not described evil or devilish in Classical Islamic sources. This

13362-399: The pre-Revolutionary period, the Leeds family, who called the Pine Barrens home, soured its relationship with the Quaker majority ... The Quakers saw no hurry to give their former fellow religionist an easy time in circles of gossip. His wives had all died, as had several children. His son Titan stood accused by Benjamin Franklin of being a ghost ... The family crest had winged dragons on it. In

13493-416: The principle of shaitan is in many ways a symbol of spiritual impurity, representing humans' own deficits, in contrast to a " true Muslim ", who is free from anger, lust and other devilish desires. In Muslim culture, devils are believed to be hermaphrodite creatures created from hell-fire, with one male and one female thigh, and able to procreate without a mate. It is generally believed that devils can harm

13624-455: The problem of evil, and developed ideas of dualism and demonology. The Cathars were seen as a serious potential challenge to the Catholic church of the time. The Cathars split into two camps. The first is absolute dualism, which held that evil was completely separate from the good God, and that God and the devil each had power. The second camp is mitigated dualism, which considers Lucifer to be

13755-505: The public they had captured the Devil and it was displayed at the museum . Twenty years later, Jeffries admitted to the hoax. In Man and Beast in American Comic Legend , folklorist Richard Dorson outlines six criteria for establishing distinction among legendary creatures of American folklore. While the Jersey Devil was not expressly cited by Dorson, it nevertheless qualifies for this same level of relevance. Dorson specifies that

13886-681: The qualifier must: exist in oral tradition, inspire belief and conviction, become personalized and institutionalized, be fanciful or mythical , and contain a "comical side," which endears it to the American public. Oral tradition of the Jersey Devil well predates printed newspaper accounts, and belief in its existence by many continues. The latter is made evident not only by commentators who elaborate on this possibility but also by investigative programs such as Mother Leeds' 13th Child, In Search of Monsters , Lore and Monsters and Mysteries in America . As

14017-435: The religious beliefs of China, Chinese Buddhism , Taoism and Confucianism , Japan's Shintoisim and the beliefs of the Abrahamic faiths , such as Judaism , Christianity , and Islam . Religious cosmologies have often developed into the formal logics of metaphysical systems , such as Platonism , Neoplatonism , Gnosticism , Taoism , Kabbalah , Wuxing or the great chain of being . In Zoroastrian cosmology, universe

14148-455: The same size as the alleged Jersey Devil, and produce distinctive loud vocalizations; as unfamiliar animals with a distinctively loud, trumpeting call, wayward or vagrant migrating Sandhill cranes that ended up in South Jersey would thus potentially startle or frighten Pine Barren residents at night or under other circumstances in which the animal’s true appearance was unclear. Outdoorsman and author Tom Brown Jr. spent several seasons living in

14279-473: The six cosmological realms are interconnected, and everyone cycles life after life, through these realms, because of a combination of ignorance, desires and purposeful karma , or ethical and unethical actions. The Hindu cosmology, like the Buddhist and Jain cosmology, considers all existence as cyclic. With its ancient roots, Hindu texts propose and discuss numerous cosmological theories. Hindu culture accepts this diversity in cosmological ideas and has lacked

14410-400: The souls of humans through their whisperings. While whisperings tempt humans to sin, the devils might enter the hearth ( qalb ) of an individual. If the devils take over the soul of a person, this would render them aggressive or insane. In extreme cases, the alterings of the soul are believed to have effect on the body, matching its spiritual qualities. In contrast to Occidental philosophy,

14541-452: The souls of those humans living on Earth by causing death, disease and illnesses. At the time of birth, Erlik sends a Kormos to seize the soul of the newborn, following him for the rest of his life in an attempt to seize his soul by hampering, misguiding, and injuring him. When Erlik succeeds in destroying a human's body, the Kormos sent by Erlik will try take him down into the Underworld. However

14672-429: The spatial lay-out of the universe in terms of the world in which people typically dwell as well as other dimensions, such as the seven dimensions of religion; these are ritual, experiential and emotional, narrative and mythical, doctrinal, ethical, social, and material. Religious mythologies may include descriptions of an act or process of creation by a creator deity or a larger pantheon of deities, explanations of

14803-562: The spirit of a girl who is said to be staring out into the sea, dressed in white, mourning the loss of her lover at sea; and the White Stag , a ghostly white deer said to rescue travelers in the Barrens from danger. There are also folk tales concerning the Blue Hole , an unusually clear blue and rounded body of water located in the Pine Barrens between Monroe Township, Gloucester County and Winslow Township, Camden County and often associated with

14934-534: The team relocated to New Jersey. This same trend towards cultural incorporation is further exemplified by the Jersey Devil's appropriation in toy lines, such as its inclusion as a vinyl figure in Cryptozoic Entertainment Cryptkins blind box, as well as its application as a motif by Six Flags Great Adventure for their Jersey Devil Coaster developed by Rocky Mountain Construction . Moreover,

15065-456: The temptations of the self and do not develop spiritual virtues are often described in the Baháʼí writings with the word satanic . The Baháʼí writings also state that the devil is a metaphor for the "insistent self" or "lower self", which is a self-serving inclination within each individual. Those who follow their lower nature are also described as followers of "the Evil One". In Christianity ,

15196-408: The term devil . He does not claim to define the word in a general sense, but he describes the limited use that he intends for the word in his book—limited in order to "minimize this difficulty" and "for the sake of clarity". In this book Russell uses the word devil as "the personification of evil found in a variety of cultures", as opposed to the word Satan , which he reserves specifically for

15327-405: The test, yet his disobedience caused his punishment and therefore suffering. However, he stays patient and is rewarded in the end. Muslims hold that the pre-Islamic jinn , tutelary deities , became subject under Islam to the judgment of God, and that those who did not submit to the law of God are devils . Although Iblis is often compared to the devil in Christian theology , Islam rejects

15458-405: The traditions. It occurs historically in many contexts and cultures, and is given many different names— Satan (Judaism), Lucifer (Christianity), Beelzebub (Judeo-Christian), Mephistopheles (German), Iblis (Islam)—and attributes: it is portrayed as blue, black, or red; it is portrayed as having horns on its head, and without horns, and so on. The Modern English word devil derives from

15589-447: The transformation of chaos into order, or the assertion that existence is a matter of endless cyclical transformations. Religious cosmology differs from a strictly scientific cosmology informed by contemporary astronomy , physics , and similar fields, and may differ in conceptualizations of the world's physical structure and place in the universe, its creation, and forecasts or predictions on its future. The scope of religious cosmology

15720-461: The underworld after death, and the underworld was morally neutral; only in Hellenistic times (after c.330 BC) did Jews begin to adopt the Greek idea that it would be a place of punishment for misdeeds, and that the righteous would enjoy an afterlife in heaven. In this period too the older three-level cosmology was widely replaced by the Greek concept of a spherical Earth suspended in space at

15851-473: The waters and collect some mud. Erlik hid some inside his mouth to later create his own world. But when God commanded the Earth to expand, Erlik got troubled by the mud in his mouth. God aided Erlik to spit it out. The mud carried by Erlik gave place to the unpleasant areas of the world. Because of his sin, he was assigned to evil. In another variant, the creator-god is identified with Ulgen . Again, Erlik appears to be

15982-447: The wilderness of the Pine Barrens. He recounts occasions when terrified hikers mistook him for the Jersey Devil, after he covered his whole body with mud to repel mosquitoes. Medical sociologist Robert E. Bartholomew and author Peter Hassall cite the infamous 1909 series of sightings of the Jersey Devil (and the subsequent public panic) as a classic example of mass hysteria begun by a regional urban legend . One New Jersey group called

16113-475: The word "devil" and from speaking of anything related to Hell . Zoroastrianism probably introduced the first idea of the devil; a principle of evil independently existing apart from God. In Zoroastrianism, good and evil derive from two ultimately opposed forces. The force of good is called Ahura Mazda and the "destructive spirit" in the Avestan language is called Angra Mainyu . The Middle Persian equivalent

16244-535: The world" and said that "he who spoke with Moses, the Jews, and the priests … is the [Prince] of Darkness, … not the god of truth." Among the Tengristic myths of central Asia, Erlik refers to a devil-like figure as the ruler of Tamag (Hell), who was also the first human. According to one narrative, Erlik and God swam together over the primordial waters. When God was about to create the Earth, he sent Erlik to dive into

16375-535: Was a boy. There have been many claims of sightings and occurrences involving the Jersey Devil. According to legend, while visiting the Hanover Mill Works to inspect his cannonballs being forged, Commodore Stephen Decatur sighted a flying creature and fired a cannonball directly upon it, to no effect. Joseph Bonaparte , elder brother of Napoleon , is also claimed to have seen the Jersey Devil while hunting on his Bordentown estate about 1820. During 1840,

16506-449: Was born normally. However, it transformed into a creature with hooves, a goat's head, bat wings, and a forked tail. Growling and screaming, the child beat everyone with its tail before flying up the chimney and heading into the pines. In some versions of the tale, Mother Leeds was supposedly a witch and the child's father was the devil himself. Some versions of the legend also state that local clergymen subsequently attempted to exorcise

16637-473: Was compared to the Jersey Devil by a reporter for the Pennsylvania Bulletin of July 28, 1937. In 1951, a group of Gibbstown, New Jersey boys claimed to have seen a 'monster' matching the Devil's description and claims of a corpse matching the Jersey Devil's description arose in 1957. During 1960, tracks and noises heard near Mays Landing were claimed to be from the Jersey Devil. During the same year

16768-425: Was in danger of closure unless Jeffries came up with something to boost attendances, the publicist decided that a captive Jersey Devil would be the ideal crowd-puller. He also planted nonfictional newspaper stories about new sightings of the Devil. During 1909, Jeffries with his friend Jacob Hope, an animal trainer, purchased a kangaroo from a circus and glued artificial claws and bat wings onto it. They declared to

16899-558: Was inappropriate. There is no reference to angelic revolt in the Quran and no mention of Iblis trying to take God's throne, and Iblis's sin could be forgiven at any time by God. According to the Quran, Iblis's disobedience was due to his disdain for humanity , a narrative already occurring in early New Testament apocrypha . As in Christianity, Iblis was once a pious creature of God but later cast out of Heaven due to his pride. However, to maintain God's absolute sovereignty, Islam matches

17030-418: Was intended as a joke at his competitor's expense and a means to boost almanac sales, Titan Leeds was apparently offended at the death prediction, publishing a public admonition of Franklin as a "fool" and a "liar". In a published response, Franklin mocked Titan Leeds' outrage and humorously suggested that, in fact, Titan Leeds had died in accordance with the earlier prediction and was thus writing his almanacs as

17161-536: Was only following his nature. Honorifics or styles of address used to indicate devil-figures. Opinion polls show that belief in the devil in Western countries is more common in the United States ... where it is more common among the religious, regular church goers, political conservatives, and the older and less well educated, ... but has declined in recent decades. Religious cosmology Religious cosmology

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