Jersey Devil: Masterpiece of Franklin's ghostwriting?
Frank Kummer
Mon, Oct. 31, 2005
Inquirer Staff Writer
Ben Franklin charted the Gulf Stream, invented bifocals, and crafted an iron
stove that bears his name.
Is it a surprise he may have spawned the Jersey Devil?
Two hundred and seventy-five years ago, Franklin likely wrote the fictitious
story of a Burlington County witch trial conducted after neighbors saw sheep
dance and sing.
Soon after, colonists concocted a story of a witch who gave birth to a devil
child. In some versions the witch is from Burlington County.
Some historians theorize that the Pennsylvania Gazette story was taken as fact
and set the stage for the myth's creation. The story appeared Oct. 22, 1730, and
is as plausible an explanation as any for why colonists conceived the terrifying
tale of the Jersey Devil, a horse-headed, winged, cloven-footed creature that
devoured livestock and caused mayhem.
The Gazette story was not signed, but historians are almost certain Franklin
wrote it. He ran the paper, after all. He enjoyed ghostwriting and once asked
the Pennsylvania Assembly to scrap a law against witchcraft.
The witch-trial story, which takes place in Mount Holly, the seat of Burlington
County, was a hoax. It may have been rooted in fact, but records are lost to
history.
Franklin's satire of a group of 300 who "were gathered together to see an
Experiment or two tried on some Persons accused of Witchcraft" pokes fun at
supernatural beliefs. Some readers may not have gotten the joke.
Gentleman's Magazine, an influential English general-interest magazine
circulating in the colonies, picked up the story in 1731. It printed an account
of the trial as fact, according to historian John Bach McMaster.
By 1735, most historical references agree, the story of the Jersey Devil, born
of a witch from the Pine Barrens, was in circulation. The Devil is usually said
to have been the 13th child of a Mother Leeds, who screamed upon its birth to
let it be taken by the devil.
Mother Leeds is said to have lived in Atlantic or Burlington County. In some
versions she is a witch, in others not, and the Devil is either a deformed child
or an outright flying fiend.
Since then, the myth has enjoyed robust longevity and many incarnations.
The possible Franklin-Devil connection was briefly noted in a 1976 book, The
Jersey Devil, by James F. McCloy and Ray Miller Jr. It was the first full-length
book devoted to the legend.
"In 1730, for example, editor Benjamin Franklin of the Pennsylvania Gazette
printed a report of a witchcraft trial near Mount Holly, New Jersey," the
authors wrote. "Could this have had any influence on the story of the Jersey
Devil's origin in nearby Burlington in 1735? It seems possible."
Much of the area surrounding Mount Holly was pinelands.
McCloy said last week that his research had turned up a 1735 Leeds family will
that left money to a "troublesome brother" who had to be "taken care of."
At the time, the mentally ill or disabled were sometimes shunned or locked away,
he noted. Neighbors could have invented the tale about such a Leeds family
member.
"In the 1730s, the Pine Barrens was pretty remote," McCloy said. "You had
settlers coming from England who may have heard strange sounds like that made by
the sandhill crane and confused it with something they didn't understand."
The Leeds family - involved in political, religious and land disputes - was a
ripe target, McCloy said.
McCloy was quick to note that there are many theories about the Jersey Devil's
origins and said the Gazette story could be a factor in one of them. Or it's
just as likely, he said, that Franklin's piece had nothing at all to do with the
rise of the legend.
The possible Franklin-Devil connection has enjoyed new life through a passing
mention on the Internet (theshadowlands.net).
Dave Juliano, a 37-year-old Philadelphia resident, runs the site. Juliano, a
history major in college, grew up in Camden County and is director of the South
Jersey Ghost Research group.
He agreed that the Gazette story could have stoked imaginations of colonists
looking to blame the supernatural for things they did not understand.
"The woods around them were thick and dense," he said. "People living in the
pines probably already had it in their mind by the time Franklin wrote that
there was a devil out there."
Juliano theorized that the Gazette's prominence could have given credibility to
beliefs that witches or their offspring roamed the woods.
"If they didn't get the joke, the story could have put the idea in people's
minds," he said. "And little by little the myth could grow. You start seeing
animals killed that you can't explain. You see other mysteries. You create a
mythical beast. Franklin could have planted the seed. It's not that
far-fetched."
Juliano, like McCloy, noted that other theories are also plausible. The Devil is
in the details.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/new_jersey/13039722.htm
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Jersey Devil: Masterpiece of Franklin's ghostwriting? Oct 31 2005
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