5. The Descendent of Mother Leeds Sees His Ancestor
In a documentary about the Jersey Devil in Smithville from the 1990’s, a man named Harry Leeds said, “I see this heaviest creature looking at me. It was hard to identify at night time, but the most distinguishing factor of that encounter was the piercing red eyes.” Leeds claims to be a descendent of the original Leeds family, including the famous “Mother Leeds”.
It is interesting that a descendent of the Leeds would be willing to perpetuate this story, because the story of the Jersey Devil was concocted to make their family look bad. It is true that the Leeds family had 12 children, and they were one of the earliest settlers in Southern New Jersey. The family was so large, there is an entire town called Leeds Point that is named after them.