1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:14,120 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:16,960 Speaker 1: a show that shines a light on the darkest corners 4 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:22,200 Speaker 1: of everyday history. I'm Gay Bluesier, and today we're examining 5 00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:25,320 Speaker 1: one of the most enduring mysteries of the Victorian era, 6 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:29,280 Speaker 1: a series of hoof like marks that became known as 7 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:41,159 Speaker 1: the Devil's footprints. The day was February eight, eighteen fifty. 8 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:46,080 Speaker 1: A trail of unusual footprints caused a religious panic in 9 00:00:46,159 --> 00:00:50,560 Speaker 1: southwest England on the evening of February eight, then into 10 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:54,120 Speaker 1: the morning of the ninth, a snowstorm blanketed the scenic 11 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:58,400 Speaker 1: region of Devon County. When the storm subsided, a series 12 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 1: of mysterious tracks were found scattered throughout the fields and countryside. 13 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:07,240 Speaker 1: The prints were reported from thirty different locations in Devon, 14 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:11,039 Speaker 1: forming a trail that stretched nearly a hundred miles along 15 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:15,760 Speaker 1: the southern coastline. Residents were baffled by the footprints for 16 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:18,720 Speaker 1: a number of reasons, and while many theories were put 17 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:21,800 Speaker 1: forward as to what it created the tracks, the most 18 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:25,399 Speaker 1: prevalent and far fetched was that they belonged to the 19 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:30,760 Speaker 1: devil himself. In the nineteenth century, popular stories, poems, and 20 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:34,839 Speaker 1: artwork portrayed the devil as having goat like features, including 21 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:38,840 Speaker 1: horns and cloven hoofs. The reason for this well known 22 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:43,360 Speaker 1: depiction isn't entirely clear, but many historians ascribe it to 23 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:46,400 Speaker 1: the Neo pagan revival that was going on in Europe 24 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: at that time. Practitioners had a highly romantic view of nature, 25 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:54,440 Speaker 1: and their Greek god Pan, a satyr with the horns 26 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:57,160 Speaker 1: and legs of a goat, became a common symbol of 27 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:00,640 Speaker 1: their beliefs. The resurgence of pagan is m was a 28 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:05,320 Speaker 1: growing concern among the predominantly Christian population, and that unease 29 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:09,760 Speaker 1: likely informed the goat like depictions of the devil. Imagine 30 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:12,360 Speaker 1: how alarmed the people of Devon must have been then, 31 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:16,440 Speaker 1: when they discovered hundreds of cloven hooflike imprints in the snow. 32 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 1: At first glance, the marks resembled those of a donkey. 33 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:23,600 Speaker 1: They measured about three inches wide and four inches long, 34 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 1: and had a similar split toe at the front. However, 35 00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:30,600 Speaker 1: the spacing of the tracks was much smaller than that 36 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:33,400 Speaker 1: of a donkey or of any other kind of cattle. 37 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:37,800 Speaker 1: They were spaced only eight to sixteen inches apart and 38 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:41,400 Speaker 1: seemed to progress in single file, suggesting they'd been made 39 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:44,160 Speaker 1: by a two legged creature instead of one that walks 40 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:48,760 Speaker 1: on all fours. The imprints were surprisingly deep as well, 41 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 1: with some reports claiming they nearly touched the ground beneath 42 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:55,840 Speaker 1: the snow, almost as if they had been burned straight through. 43 00:02:56,840 --> 00:03:00,000 Speaker 1: The placement of the tracks was another detail that made 44 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:04,239 Speaker 1: them seems supernatural. They were found not only in fields 45 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 1: and on footpaths, but on rooftops and on either side 46 00:03:07,919 --> 00:03:12,040 Speaker 1: of barriers such as walls and haystacks. One set of 47 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:14,680 Speaker 1: prints were said to have been found on both sides 48 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: of the River x, as if the creature had leapt 49 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:20,680 Speaker 1: from one bank to the other, or perhaps walked straight 50 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:24,880 Speaker 1: across the water. Another report claimed the tracks led into 51 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:27,960 Speaker 1: and out of drain pipes that were as narrow as 52 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:32,160 Speaker 1: four inches wide. Most disturbing of all, though, were the 53 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:36,040 Speaker 1: cloven hoof prints found circling homes and churches, some of 54 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 1: which led right up to the doorsteps. These nighttime visitations 55 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:44,760 Speaker 1: carried religious undertones for some residents, bringing to mind the 56 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:48,040 Speaker 1: story from Exodus when the Angel of Death travels from 57 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: house to house In Egypt, claiming the lives of firstborn sons. 58 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 1: The site of bipedal hoofprints on their thresholds convinced many 59 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:59,480 Speaker 1: locals that the devil was loose in the County of Devon, 60 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:03,400 Speaker 1: sir ching for sinners to carry back to Hell. Over 61 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:06,960 Speaker 1: the next two weeks, the story of the devil's footprints 62 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 1: was widely reported in both local and national newspapers. No 63 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:15,600 Speaker 1: photographs exist, but most outlets included detailed drawings of the 64 00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:21,000 Speaker 1: prints based on firsthand accounts. Many articles mentioned the rumors 65 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: of a roaming demon, but they were also quick to 66 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:28,359 Speaker 1: supply several other, more grounded possibilities. One theory was that 67 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: a kangaroo had escaped from a private zoo and x 68 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: smouth and hopped his way across the county, clearing walls 69 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:38,600 Speaker 1: and other impediments in a single bound. Some set of 70 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:41,560 Speaker 1: bird was more likely, especially since it would account for 71 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 1: the princes found on rooftops and on opposing sides of rivers. 72 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:50,960 Speaker 1: Other potential culprits included back heavy frogs, rabbits, badgers, rats, 73 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:55,880 Speaker 1: and hopping wood mice. However, none of the theories accounting 74 00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 1: for the vast distance that was supposedly covered over a 75 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 1: period of just about six hours. It was doubtful that 76 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:05,919 Speaker 1: any of the animals suggested could have traveled upwards of 77 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 1: a hundred miles in the snow in such a short time, 78 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:14,320 Speaker 1: especially while walking upright. Many took that discrepancy is further 79 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:17,479 Speaker 1: proof of the devil's involvement, though it's worth noting that 80 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:20,919 Speaker 1: with footprints just a couple inches wide, he would have 81 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:24,599 Speaker 1: been a pretty dinky devil. With all that in mind, 82 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:30,360 Speaker 1: British novelist Jeffrey Household proposed an altogether different explanation, one 83 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:34,560 Speaker 1: that didn't involve a living creature at all. He theorized 84 00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:38,080 Speaker 1: that an experimental weather balloon had somehow gotten loose from 85 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:42,040 Speaker 1: the Devonport dockyard. According to him, the balloon was then 86 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:44,880 Speaker 1: blown all over Devon, with the tracks in the snow 87 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:47,760 Speaker 1: being made by the metal anchors that dangled from the 88 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:52,320 Speaker 1: ends of its mooring ropes. Of course, as detractors pointed 89 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:55,400 Speaker 1: out at the time, no balloon had been reported missing, 90 00:05:55,640 --> 00:05:57,920 Speaker 1: and if it had been a balloon, it likely would 91 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:00,200 Speaker 1: have gotten tangled up in a tree at some point 92 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:04,320 Speaker 1: on its journey. The most plausible theory is that the 93 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:07,520 Speaker 1: footprints weren't left by a single animal trekking its way 94 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:11,560 Speaker 1: across Devon. Instead, they probably belonged to a bunch of 95 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:15,000 Speaker 1: different animals, perhaps of the same species, and when people 96 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:18,479 Speaker 1: heard reports of similar prints and other communities, they just 97 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:22,840 Speaker 1: assumed the incidents were connected. That's not nearly as exciting 98 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: as the Prince of Darkness prowling outside your door, which 99 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:29,320 Speaker 1: is probably why the multiple animals theory gained the least 100 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 1: traction in the press. Still, the general lack of evidence 101 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:36,839 Speaker 1: and witnesses means that we can't say for certain what 102 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 1: did or didn't make the tracks that night. My own 103 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:44,000 Speaker 1: theory combines the kangaroo, the weather balloon, and the back 104 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:47,000 Speaker 1: heavy frog, and at the end of the day, it's 105 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:56,159 Speaker 1: just about as plausible as a tiny devil. I'm gave 106 00:06:56,279 --> 00:06:59,479 Speaker 1: Louisier and hopefully you now know a little more about 107 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:03,160 Speaker 1: history today than you did yesterday. You can learn even 108 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:06,359 Speaker 1: more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and 109 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:10,560 Speaker 1: Instagram at t d I HC Show, and if you 110 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:13,560 Speaker 1: have any comments or suggestions, feel free to send them 111 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:17,560 Speaker 1: my way at this day at I heart media dot com. 112 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:20,400 Speaker 1: Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thanks 113 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 1: to you for listening. I'll see you back here again 114 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:25,840 Speaker 1: tomorrow for another day in history class.