The Devil's Footprints of Devon, England

Feb 5

On February 9th, 1855 the residents of Devon, England awoke to find another blanket of snow dropped on the town. It was a common occurrence that year as the area had seen unusually frigid winter months.

But something different was found in the snow that morning. Something that would frighten many of the residents into staying in their homes, afraid of what may come looking for them should they go out into the night.

That day, what they found were the Devil’s footprints.

During the winter months of 1855, Devon, England experienced continuous freezing temperatures preventing prior snowfall from melting. Each new snowfall would layer atop the previous hardening the snow below it.

When another night of snowfall occurred on the night of February 8th, many of the residents believed that would be the only thing to come from the snow. But the next morning the town was treated to a new terrifying sight.

In the snow stretching for up to one hundred miles were tracks, cloven footprints, in a single line. But these were not just superficial prints, these horseshoe-like prints dug into the snow as if whatever left the prints had burned through the snow to the ground.

A weekly newspaper running from 1845 to 1870 wrote an article about the events,

"The impressions of the foot closely resembled that of a donkey's shoe, and measured from an inch and a half to (in some instances) two and a half inches across. Here and there it appeared as if cloven, but in the generality of the steps the shoe was continuous, and, from the snow in the centre remaining entire, merely showing the outer crest of the foot, it must have been concave."

And further goes on to say, "The superstitious go so far as to believe that they are the marks of Satan himself…”

The prints also seemed to not be impeded by any obstacle, they crossed through gardens, up and over walls, across pipes, frozen rivers, and alarmingly; atop the homes of the residents.

The now horror-stricken people believed the cause of these hoof prints was left by none other than the devil himself, looking for sinners in the night to possibly take with him.

Over the following months, many refused to leave their homes, fearing the devil was wandering the town looking for victims while others tried to find reasonable explanations for the cause.

In a few articles unearthed in 1950, written during the events of the devil’s footprints, some theories that were proposed were the possibility of a rodent hopping or badger hunting through the snow and leaving the marks.

Another was the theory of it possibly being a kangaroo that left the prints.

Both of these theories do not explain the heights at which some of the prints were found or how no one would have heard a kangaroo on their roofs. Another question was how would the animals have entered closed-off gardens and walls.

Another theory floated around during the time was the thought that the naval base in Devonport had accidentally released an experimental balloon that caused the tracks.

This theory was thought to be improbable by some due to questions on how a balloon could travel about one hundred miles and not get caught or entangled in anything during its trek.

Since 1855 there hasn’t been a concrete answer given as to why these footprints appeared in the snow in Devon, England that fateful night. It is possible the tracks were made by animals, an experimental balloon, or a hoaxer who traveled up to a hundred miles in the night.

And as far as being called the devil’s footprints, could this just have been a ploy by the clergymen in the area to scare the town into coming into the church and to prevent sin from running rampant in the area?

But how about you? Do you believe what left the cloven prints in the snow on the night of February 8th, 1855 was the devil himself?