When I saw the challenge over at Haunted Design House - HDH #153 - Creepy Cryptids I knew right away what I wanted to do...The Jersey Devil! Being a former Jersey Girl myself I know all too well about the Jersey Devil.
Legend has it that in 1735, a Pines resident known as Mother Leeds found herself pregnant for the thirteenth time. (Leeds is the name of one of New Jersey’s earliest settlers, and many descendants of the Leeds family can still be found throughout NJ to this day.) Mother Leeds was not living a wealthy lifestyle by any means. Her husband was a drunkard who made few efforts to provide for his wife and twelve children. Reaching the point of absolute exasperation upon learning of her thirteenth child, she raised her hands to the heavens and proclaimed “Let this one be a devil!”
Mother Leeds went into labor a few months later, on a tumultuously stormy night, no longer mindful of the curse she had utter previously regarding her unborn child. Her children and husband huddled together in one room of their Leeds Point home while local midwives gathered to deliver the baby in another. By all accounts the birth went routinely, and the thirteenth Leeds child was a seemingly normal baby boy.
Within minutes however, Mother Leeds’s unholy wish of months before began to come to fruition. The baby started to change, and metamorphosed right before her very eyes. Within moments it transformed from a beautiful newborn baby into a hideous creature unlike anything the world had ever seen. The wailing infant began growing at an incredible rate. It sprouted horns from the top of its head and talon-like claws tore through the tips of its fingers. Leathery bat-like wings unfurled from its back, and hair and feathers sprouted all over the child’s body. Its eyes began glowing bright red as they grew larger in the monster’s gnarled and snarling face. The creature savagely attacked its own mother, killing her, then turned its attention to the rest of the horrified onlookers who witnessed its tempestuous transformation. It flew at them, clawing and biting, voicing unearthly shrieks the entire time. It tore the midwives limb from limb, maiming some and killing others.
You can read more about The Jersey Devil HERE
Here is a closer look at the title and the devil's wings, to show off the texture:
I used the following items to create this layout:
- Design Studio - I welded the wings, the horse body, horns, tail, and claws to the wings
- Wrap It Up Cricut cartridge - wings
- Old West Cricut cartridge - horse
- Animal Kingdom Cricut cartridge - horns and claws on the wings
- Accent Essentials Cricut cartridge - tail
- DCWV The Immortal Love Stack - background paper
- Fiskers Texture plate (leather) - on the wings
- Black Sharpie Marker - wings, mane, claws, claws on the wongs, tail, hooves and horns
- black ink - title
- Glossy Accents - title, claws, claws on the wings, and hooves
- foam squares - behind the title
- Pop-up glue spots - behind the devil
I am entering this layout about The Jersey Devil in the following challenges:
- Haunted Design House - HDH #153 - Creepy Cryptids - You are to create a dark, Gothic, or Halloween-based art piece that has something to do with a creature or plant whose existance has been suggested but is unrecognized by scientific consensus and often regarded unlikely! - open til 10/7
- Forever Night Challenges - Freaky Friday #48 - Anything but a Card - open til 10/11
What a fantastic story! I'm glad I won't be having that many children. Thank you for sharing this with us at MM @ HDH
ReplyDeletelove the whole story and History behind this piece. a true urban legend.
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining us at haunted design house