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The Legend of the Jersey Devil (Part 3)
That is the most common and widely accepted version of the legend, however there are several variations to the story. Let's start with the name Leeds. There are two names of the Jersey Devil's mother- Mrs. Leeds and Mrs. Shourds.Carrie Bowen, a local of Leeds Point, once asserted that the name was Shourds, and the actual house that the creature was born in was the Shourds house. According to Atlantic County historian Alfred Heston, both names are possible.
Heston's research showed that both a Daniel Leeds and a Samuel Shourds lived in Leeds Point around the time of the legend. Heston also discovered that Shourds had lived directly across the river from the Leeds house. This fact adds to another variation- perhaps the Jersey Devil had been an illegitimate child who was cursed by the townspeople before birth.
The father of the Jersey Devil has always been a disputable topic. Some do not believe that either Mr. Leeds or Mr Shourds were the actual father. In fact, they do not believe the Jersey Devil has a human father; they believe the creature to be a product of Satan himself, mixed with human flesh to give it a body.
Another variation of the story of the Jersey Devil's creator is that it was the direct result of a curse from a gypsy. This variation states that Mrs. Leeds/Shourds had denied food to a starving gypsy, who then placed a curse on the pregnant woman. Still another variation says that Mrs. Leeds/Shourds could have been involved in witchcraft (there are even reports of a witch trial held around this time period in Mt. Holly, NJ). It is also believed that the Jersey Devil's mother could have been cursed by locals because she fell in love with a British soldier, and because of the time period (before revolutionary war) was shunned.