Dr. Japheth Leeds, also known as the Jersey Devil, is a villain in the third season of Sleepy Hollow, serving as a servant of the Hidden One and a rival to Benjamin Franklin.
Ichabod Crane met Leeds when he was writing in the woods. Leeds approached Ichabod and asked if he intends to be another of Benjamin's whipping boys. Leeds insisted that Benjamin is no rival because of his lack of skill, and told Ichabod to pass on his message that he'll bring Benjamin if he keeps demeaning his work. Ichabod wonders why Leeds' Electrostatic Inducer is superior to Benjamin's lightning, and Leeds merely tells him that he chose the wrong mentor.
Among Leeds' work was isolating animal traits and using them to augment humanity: genetic manipulation. He finds Benjamin's comments about Leeds in his Almanac, and finds a coded message. Benjamin says that Leeds had turned to alchemy and ancient magic, turning his back on the scientific community. Leeds experimented on himself, altering his body. Leeds drunk his formula and screams in pain, and then mutates into the creature that will be known as the Jersey Devil.
LOTM: Witnesses of Sleepy Hollow[]
Leeds appears in LOTM: Witnesses of Sleepy Hollow - Pandora Saga as a major antagonist. Instead of appearing in the middle of the story as an one-shot villain, Leeds will appear at the beginning of the story and started to do the Hidden One's bidding, trying to hunt down Carl Robinson to use his blood for the Hidden One's descendant ritual. His death will still be the same as the story, being electrocuted to death by lightning after Ichabod said to him, "Benjamin Franklin sends his regards."