The most accepted origin of the story as far as New Jerseyians are concerned started with Mother Leeds and is as follows: It was said that Mother Leeds had 12 children and after giving birth to her 12th child she stated that if she had another it would be the Devil. In 1735, Mother Leeds was in labor on a stormy night. Gathered around her were her friends. Mother Leeds was supposedly a witch and the child's father was the Devil himself. The child was born normal, but then changed form. It changed from a normal baby to a creature with hooves, a horse's head, bat wings and a forked tail. It growled and screamed, then killed the midwife before flying up the chimney. It circled the villages and headed toward the pines. In 1740, a clergy exorcised the demon for 100 years and it wasn't seen again until 1890. Reportedly in 1778, Commodore Stephen Decatur visited the Hanover Iron Works in the Barrens to test cannonballs at a firing range, where he allegedly witnessed a strange, pale white creature winging overhead. Using cannon fire, Decatur purportedly punctured the wing membrane of the creature, which continued flying – apparently unfazed – to the amazement of onlookers. The Jersey Devil is considered a nuetral creature.