In addition to Cynthia Lamb’s fictionalized account of her real-life family member and the alleged mother of the Jersey Devil, Deborah Leeds, another Leeds family member explored the family legend in a book that wasn’t included in my previous Jersey Devil article.
The reason was that it wasn’t fiction and its title — “The Domestic Life of the Jersey Devil or, BeBop’s Miscellany” — suggested something too hip or folksy.
When it was mentioned last fall by an historian leading a ghost tour, however, I decided to give Bill Sprouse’s 244-page work a try and found an engaging, witty, off-beat, and highly researched work.
In a disclaimer to his 2013 book, Sprouse — an Atlantic City-based historian, business, and freelance writer (whose works appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer), and co-publisher of the nascent Route 40 Newspaper — writes, “The following is a work of nonfiction on the subject of the Jersey Devil — a kind of winged, fire-breathing monster indigenous to the central and southern parts of the state of New Jersey. It’s a distant relative of mine.
“Although the Jersey Devil is an important subject, one sadly overlooked by historians and social commentators, I feel I should alert you up front that this is really an excuse for me to write about myself, my family, and the place where I grew up.”
Additionally, he says that the book published by Oyster Eye Publishing in Great Egg Harbor, is “a self-published work of nonfiction. Though my attorney will have examined the document for breaches of privacy and/or local libel statues, none of the historical claims have been vetted by the standard committees or authorities. All nonsense expressed herein is purely that of the author.”
If by nonsense, he means stationing himself in South Jersey Wawas to ask people about their knowledge of the state’s most famous legend, engaging with self-promoting Jersey Devil experts, and discussing the infamous relative with his grandmother, the titular BeBop, on their way to get Indian food or visit a relative in Mercer County, it’s winning stuff.
Same with the un-vetted history that has been written elsewhere and showing an early Leeds family publisher stirring up controversy with New Jersey Quakers and being labeled “Satan’s Harbinger” — and staining the family name.
For readers looking for a regionally connected book with a Jersey subject, sound, and attitude, this delivers.
During a recent telephone conversation, Sprouse says, “I studied history in college (Yale University), and you have to do a senior essay. I had a couple ideas and the advisor said, ‘You’re related to the Jersey Devil. You have to do that.”
Born in Atlantic City and raised in Egg Harbor Township, Sprouse says he enjoyed his grandmother’s company and her stories about growing up in Leeds Point, about 15 miles from Atlantic City, and began doing research on the family and legend. That included the tense relationship with West Jersey Quakers — an interesting and generally overlooked piece of history described in the book.
So too is the history regarding the first appearance of the “Leeds Devil” in print, its emergence as the Jersey Devil, and now something larger than fact.
Sprouse says the professor with an expertise on U.S. suburbia encouraged him to write and publish the essay.
He says along the way, he “became a reporter because I wasn’t naturally comfortable going up talking to strangers.”
About the writing process, he says, “It took a while to go through it, and I kept expanding it. It turned into a book proposal. So I got tired of people asking to give me permission. At one point I realized I had a book and I published it.”
Talking about his cousin Cynthia Lamb’s take on their common ancestor, Sprouse says, “I was really inspired by her book. When it came out, my grandmother read it. I didn’t really appreciate the simple fact in Cynthia book that the Jersey Devil is not an unwanted child. The simple fact is she is not unhappy that she is going to have another child. It makes you think it was difficult then. Deborah Leeds was 50 years old, post-partum for half of her life. We just had our first child and you can sympathize. Cynthia’s book is important. I hope she gets credit for that innovation.”
Sprouse says he began to see the story sharpen after he left South Jersey to work in Manhattan and moved to Mexico City with his Reuters News reporter wife, and that the tale became a source of inspiration and personal satisfaction.
“I might have gone through life thinking that the Jersey Devil was not that unusual, thinking lots of people had grandmothers who told them they were related to fire-breathing monsters,” he writes. “But I left South Jersey. I told my Jersey Devil story. People seemed to like hearing it. I’d never really had a story that people liked before.”
While he may have one regret — “My grandmother died in 2008, so she didn’t get to read it. She read the essay” — the overall experience of writing the book has been positive. “You put your heart into the story, so it feels good getting it out there.”
“The Domestic Life of the Jersey Devil or, BeBop’s Miscellany” by Bill Sprouse, 244 pages, Oyster Eye Publishing, $15. Available on Amazon.
