On the morning of February 9, 1855 the residents of Devon England woke to a trail of footprints in the newly fallen snow.  The last snow was thought to have fallen around midnight so sometime between then and dawn the marks in the snow had been formed.  This large shire county located in the southwestern peninsula of England had been visited over night by the devil, or so many believed.

The tracks appeared to have been made by a cloven hoof and extended for hundreds of miles.  The extent of the phenomenon may be exaggerated in modern times but they did cover a fair expanse of land.  The span between prints was eight to eight and half inches and the pattern indicated they were formed by a creature which walked upright.

They extended from the River Exe to Totnes of the River Dart.  The tracks were in a straight line but when followed it became clear that either something very strange had happened or an extremely clever prankster or pranksters had pulled off a true feat.  Reports came trickling in that day of prints that appeared to indicate the creature responsible could walk through walls, fences, on rooftops and at one point squeeze through a drainpipe.  Villages had been covered with the tracks and the more scientific of the villagers had set about sketching and measuring the prints. 

Over the countryside the tracks covered large areas of land.  At one point they ended on one bank of the River Exe and then continued on the other side as if the being had walked over the water.  In some areas they stopped abruptly only to reappear and continue on as though the being had traveled on air for a period of time.  The news made the national press of the day and several possible explanations were volunteered although none of them fully explained the incident.

Sir Richard Owen (a noted biologist) explained that they were made by badgers searching for food.  He thought it was the freeze-thaw action that had produced their strange shape.  It was as good a theory as any of the others.  Other animals could have been blamed as well as badgers and would explain some of the prints.  But it was hard to attribute it all to known creatures as it hadn’t happened before (or since) in the area nor do animals typically travel in straight lines.

A hot air balloon dragging a rope which had touched along the ground and escaped kangaroos were also named as possible culprits.  It is unlikely a balloon would have left such a myriad of markings.  There were kangaroos in the the county owned by Mr. Fische who had a private zoo in Sidmouth.  Newspapers reported that the animals had escaped but it was never confirmed.  Even if they had been on the loose their tracks would not have resembled the mysterious prints.

The clergymen insisted it was the devil himself who had left the trail.  They succeeded in filling the churches for awhile after the incident.  Of all the theories presented theirs was perhaps the most convincing as the evil one was surely capable of walking on rooftops and passing through walls.

This is probably the best known of such incidents but it is not the only one. The explorer James Clark Ross encountered something similar during his stay on Kerguelen Island located in the Southern Indian Ocean when he was scouting for best places to build geomagnetic and astronomical stations.  The ship crew discovered and followed hoof footprints which stretched over the snow covered ground until they disappeared on rocky terrain. They were puzzled as there was no native wildlife that would account for the prints.  It was thought that perhaps a horse swam to shore and was responsible but this theory was never proven.

One could argue that the prints in Devon (as well as other places) were made by something from another physical dimension.  Maybe the conditions were right that winter night for the boundaries between the two worlds to become blurred and allow for something to cross over for a period of time.  Perhaps those on the other side of the curtain were treated to the unfamiliar and unexplainable sound of a cat yowling that night.  This theory is also just a theory.

There have been other strange prints reported in the world but none have gained the attention as those that appeared in Devon.  What really happened remains one of the world’s intriguing mysteries.  It is one of those shoulder shrugging events that remind people that they still have a great deal to learn about the world they live in and their place in the universe.