Junior Friends "Family Series" Legend of the Jersey Devil

On Thursday, October 10th, the Junior Friends of the Hasbrouck Heights Library in partnership with the Hasbrouck Heights Library welcomed Rutgers Professor Angus Gillespie on a talk about the ‘Legend of the New Jersey Devil’. Professor Gillespie engaged a crowd of library patrons on the story of the Leeds family and how the legend came into existence. Professor Gillespie explained his research in the Pine Barrens and his search for the true “Jersey Devil’.

Professor Gillespie is a Professor of American Studies at Rutgers University in New Brunswick and is a Fulbright Professor and a New York Times best-selling author for the book, “Twin Towers: The Life of New York City’s World Trade Center” (Rutgers Press 1999), which was on the best seller list for six weeks. Dr. Gillespie has a keen interest in the folklore of the Pine Barrens of Southern New Jersey.

Dr. Gillespie has a special interest in the legend of the Jersey Devil. The story began in the 1730’s when a woman named Jane Leeds, who had 12 children already and was over-worked and frazzled by child rearing. When she found out that she was pregnant with her 13th child, she exclaimed, “I hope it’s not a child; I hope it’s the Devil”! The legend continues that when the child was born, it immediately transformed itself into a creature with the head of a horse, the wings of a bat, the torso of a man and the feet of a goat. Legend has it that the creature still lurks in the Pine Barrens of Southern New Jersey.

For the past twenty years, Professor Gillespie has toured theaters, coffeehouses, libraries and schools over the State of New Jersey with his unique and energetic interpretation of the ‘Legend of the Jersey Devil’. He follows a detailed slide show of his research with a lecture and a Question and Answer session.

After the lecture was over, patrons young and old engaged in a Q & A session with Professor Gillespie and got to talk to him on a personal level. This was followed by light refreshments provided by the Junior Friends of the Library. Chairman Justin Watrel thanked Professor Gillespie for his entertaining and informative lecture and thanked Library Director Mimi Hui, Friends President Judy Mascis and Reference Librarian Melissa Singlevich for all their assistance and support on making the event a success. The talk was the first “Family Lecture” event that the Junior Friends of the Library assisted in sponsoring.