Devil's Footprints

The Devil's Footprints was a phenomenon that occurred during February 1855 around the Exe Estuary in east and south Devon, England. After a heavy snowfall, trails of hoof-like marks appeared overnight in the snow covering a total distance of some 40 to 100 miles (60 to 160 km). The footprints were so called because some persons suggested that they were the tracks of Satan and made comparisons to a cloven hoof. Many theories have been made to explain the incident, and some aspects of its veracity have also been questioned.

Incident

On the night of 8–9 February 1855 and one or two later nights, after a heavy snowfall, a series of hoof-like marks appeared in the snow. These footprints, most of which measured about 4 inches (10 cm) long, 3 inches (7.6 cm) across, between 8 and 16 inches (20 and 41 cm) apart and mostly in a single file, were reported from more than 30 locations across Devon and a couple in Dorset. It was estimated that the total distance of the tracks amounted to between 40 and 100 miles (60 and 160 km). Houses, rivers, haystacks and other obstacles were travelled straight over. Footprints appeared on the tops of snow-covered roofs and high walls which lay in the footprints' path as well as leading up to and exiting drain pipes as small as 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter. The 26 May 1855 issue of Bell's Life in Sydney published in its Miscellaneous Extracts column a "Weekly Dispatch" dated 18 February:

The superstitious go so far as to believe that they are the marks of Satan himself; and that great excitement has been produced among all classes may be judged from the fact that the subject has been descanted on from the pulpit.