Is the Jersey Devil the “Official” State Demon?

Is the Jersey Devil recognized by state law?

By Robert Heym, Law Librarian
Published on February 7, 2025

Myth and Monsters

New Jersey boasts an interesting array of official state symbols, adopted either by law or legislative resolution.  The State has recognized the Eastern Goldfinch as its state bird since 1935, the red oak as its state tree since 1950, and Hadrosaurus Foulkii as its state dinosaur since 1991.  

But does New Jersey officially recognize a state demon, namely the legendary “Jersey Devil”?

Over the years, various newspaper articles have labeled the Jersey Devil as New Jersey’s “official state demon”, with the earliest known article attesting to the devil’s official status appearing in the Star Ledger in 1957 Newark Star-Ledger article by Joseph R. Coyne titled “Poor Jersey Devil hasn’t got a ghost of a chance today”

Movie Night with Mother Leeds’ Child

This notion gained traction, and when the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority released a documentary on the Jersey Devil in the 1970s, TV listings in newspapers boldly stated that the Jersey Devil “was officially declared the state’s demon in 1939.”

Check out Mother Leeds’ 13^th Child for your next movie night.

Read more about the folklore and myths of the Pinelands

However, is this assertion that our Pinelands’ anti-hero is officially recognized as a state demon actually true?

A thorough search through the “Laws of New Jersey” from 1939, accessible in the State Library’s Digital Collections at 1939 Chapter/Session Laws, reveals no law or resolution officially designating the Jersey Devil as the state demon.

The misconception likely stems from the 1939 publication, New Jersey: A guide to its Present and Past, by the Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration. This book states in its “Folklore and Folkways” chapter:

By default, the title of official State demon has rested for nearly a century with the Leeds Devil, a friendly native of Atlantic County who has traveled extensively throughout southern New Jersey.

This work provides further insight into the lore the Jersey Devil and other piney traditions; you can download and read it for free in our Digital Collections.  Although fun to read, the book’s credibility is suspect; it amusingly suggests that the Jersey Devil was pursuing a doctorate from the “University of Hell” and regularly discussed politics with “old Judge French” over breakfast.

Thus, the claim of the Jersey Devil being New Jersey’s official state demon seems to be an urban legend in itself.

Can’t get enough of our beloved monster?

One of our favorite works, the New Jersey Encyclopedia has an entry on the Jersey Devil and other topics that make our state so weird and wonderful; it’s also available in many public and school libraries.

More about the Jersey Devil can be found in the New Jersey Encyclopedia.  If you’re interested in the historical Leeds family and why the family may have acquired a reputation for being cursed, a recent article in the GSNJ newsletter (Footnote: “New Jersey Folklore and Family History; The Leeds Devil and the Feud with a Founding Father” by Mary Szaro, published in the Newsletter of the Genealogical Society of New Jersey, (Volume 29, no. 1 (Summery 2024).) covered the Devil’s supposed parents, Japheth Leeds and Deborah (Smith) Leeds, and Japheth’s uncle Titan Leeds who published an astrological almanack.  Titan Leeds was a rival publisher to Benjamin Franklin, who predicted his death as a joke in Poor Richard’s Almanack.

Other books available at the State Library about the Jersey Devil include:

• In search of the Jersey Devil by Mike Mallowe,
• Phantom of the pines : more tales of the Jersey Devil by James F. McCloy
• The secret history of the Jersey Devil : how Quakers, hucksters, and Benjamin Franklin created a monster by Brian Regal.

To read more about legends of the Pinelands, try these titles in our Jerseyana collection, also available in New Jersey libraries across our spooky state:

• The Legendary Pine Barrens : New Tales from Old Haunts
• Pine Barrens legends, lore, and lies
• Folktales and legends from the New Jersey pines, a collection and a study