Short horror stories: Urban Legend edition

Jersey devil

"Come quickly, mother Leeds is giving birth!" Sadie called out, and I follow behind to see the woman Leeds giving birth on the wooden floor of her home. Six of her boys, and six of her girls came running to see what all of the screaming, and hollering was about. Witnessing their mother on the ground with sweat, and tears, her dress exposing herself as she was to give birth any moment now.
"Irene, take them to their rooms. They shall not see this." Sadie ordered me while she helped Leeds calm her breathing down. One by one, I gathered them into their rooms while they tried to ask questions about what was happening to their mother but, I didn't know what much to say, I was new to this kind of thing. All I could tell them was; Your mother will be okay, She's just having some pain right now. Once I made sure all of her children were put away, and out of sight, I overhear Leeds cursing.
"This child is a curse! It's the devil." She bellowed out, her fingernails scrapping against the wood flooring, and I'd even seen her nail snap once she did so.
"What-what do I do?" I stuttered to Sadie.
"Help me keep her down!" She hollered to me through the thundering of the storm, and the wailing of Leeds.
I gently grabbed onto Leed's hand, caressing it to try and help calm her. "You're going to be okay, just breathe deeply." With a quick snap of her neck, she turned towards me, and lightning had shined through the window, lighting up the room with an ominous blue shade.
"This is him. We're cursed." She spoke calmly right before screaming with pain, and there he was coming out. Then, looking to Sadie's face; She appeared horrified. Hazel eyes widening,
and widening even more before crawling away, and bumping into the wall. Clack, clack. The hooves hit the ground, and his forked tail whipped us all on his way out as his wings took him out of the home, and through the chimney.

Sometime around the early 1900's

"What do you have it, Sean? You think this Jersey devil is real? Or a fake?" I questioned him while we sat outside, fishing at the local pond.
"I'm not so sure what to think about it but, I do know there's something out there killing way too many livestock," He adds on, "And I don't know...I-I don't think it's killing because it needs to survive. At this rate, I think it's killing because it enjoys it."
"There's many folk in town saying they've done seen the thing, it's starting to make me believe in it. Bonaparte, he seen it while on a hunting trip."
Sean leaned back in the wood chair, placing his fishing pole down in defeat due to the lack of fish in the pond, taking a heavy sigh. "My wife, not a day goes by I ain't thinking about her."
I stopped reeling to look at him, "Oh, that's right. Your wife was there when it happened, wasn't she?"
"Yes sir. It's been twenty years but, I still think about it. When I found her body in that house, she had a deep cut on her cheek yet at the same time, it looked like a burn mark." Sean shared the morbid memory with me. The rest of the evening, the conversation toned down, and we silently fished for something that we both knew wasn't even there. I suppose it was more of a distraction from the terrifying creature that haunted us.

It'd been months since we last tried fishing, and soon enough the sweet scent of grass turned into freezing piles of snow. After cooking I went outside, and made it to the chopping area to gather more logs for the fire. I completed the chore but, when I went to go back indoors I was stopped by a group of men on a sort of wagon vehicle.
"Hey mister, just wondering if you've seen any kinds of strange looking animal around these parts. Very aggressive, hooves, and looks to be a goat." He described the animal to the best of his ability.
I shook my head while snowflakes flew from my hat, "No sir."
"You ain't no Pine Robber, are you?"
"No, no, I just live here, and been doing home errands." I explain to the men.
"Not a poacher, moonshiner, runaway. What is you then?" Another asks me.
"I might just be a poor farmer, sir." I replied, and they smirk.
"Alright well if you do see that animal, don't approach it, and stay indoors tonight." He ordered me, and they went off down the trail while talking amongst themselves.
"He's only the twelfth person we've had to tell to stay indoors tonight, and we have to tell almost the entire city that same damn thing." One complained.

That night while I drifted off, I heard thumping come from outside my front door of the cabin. I tiptoed down the hall, and the thumping became clearer, and louder. Could this be what everyone has been speaking of? The Jersey devil, will he be revealing himself to me? Closing in on the door, I hear sounds of a grunting man, and quickly I opened the door, and the man behind flinched at the sudden movement.
"Wh- relax! I mean you no harm!" The man exclaimed with worry, suspending his arms in the air.
"What the hell are you?" I inquired.
"I'm just an explorer of sorts; an outdoorsmen, may I please come in to be warm?" He asked, wiping off the snow from his coat. I step aside carefully, and he shuffles in making a straight line for the fireplace. Once I close, and locked the door, I sit across from the strange man.
"So, tell me why you're here."
"I've spent all of my seasons outdoors, let me tell you winter hasn't been easy but, summer wasn't either." He laughs before speaking again, "You wouldn't believe how many people thought I was the Jersey devil; just because a man puts a little mud on himself to protect him from mosquitoes." He says. Then, the fire stopped burning, and sizzled down to nothing, and the room was a void.
"What happened?" He whispered. I shrugged in silence, and we began hearing sounds of thumping come from above us, the roof. The strange man, and I backed away from the fireplace, and what noises came from the chimney finally had revealed itself to us that night. Standing on its hind legs, a forked tail swaying, and a head of a goat stared right back at us.

The Jersey devil