1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,160 Speaker 1: Hey, listeners, we are soon to be appearing at New 2 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:05,160 Speaker 1: York Comic Con as part of New York Comic Con 3 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: presents their evening programming. We are going to do an 4 00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:11,680 Speaker 1: episode about the creation of what is usually credited as 5 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: the first comic book, and we'll be talking about the 6 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:15,480 Speaker 1: man who did it and how that came to be 7 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:16,919 Speaker 1: and if you want to get in on that, we 8 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:18,919 Speaker 1: would love to see you for our live show. It 9 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:22,119 Speaker 1: is taking place on October six, from nine thirty to 10 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:25,120 Speaker 1: eleven at the Hudson Mercantile. Again that runs during New 11 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:28,080 Speaker 1: York Comic Con, and for more information on it, you 12 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:31,080 Speaker 1: can visit our website Missed in History dot com. You 13 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:33,080 Speaker 1: will click on the link this is live shows and 14 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:35,720 Speaker 1: you can get all the info and a link to 15 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:41,120 Speaker 1: order your tickets. We hope to see you there. Welcome 16 00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:43,960 Speaker 1: to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how Stuff 17 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:53,080 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 18 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:56,639 Speaker 1: Holly Fry and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. Tracy, we are 19 00:00:56,640 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: officially into my favorite time of year. I know you're 20 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:04,480 Speaker 1: so excited. It's spooky episodes sees uh And as regular 21 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:06,920 Speaker 1: listeners know, this is a time when we explore some 22 00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:10,240 Speaker 1: of the weirder bits of history, we get a little looser. 23 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 1: Some of our research comes from kind of crazier sources. Um. 24 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:18,080 Speaker 1: And this episode may sound spooky based on the title, 25 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:21,360 Speaker 1: and it is a history mystery, but the reality is 26 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:24,080 Speaker 1: definitely more of a fun and pretty silly mystery than 27 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:26,479 Speaker 1: anything that's scary. So if you are one of those 28 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:29,240 Speaker 1: people I know we sometimes have listeners right in and 29 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:32,480 Speaker 1: say they are a little too afraid sometimes or spooked 30 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:35,399 Speaker 1: by our October episodes, uh, this one is not going 31 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:37,399 Speaker 1: to get too frightening. You don't have to worry about 32 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: it at all on this one. Uh And I will 33 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:45,560 Speaker 1: say this too. The term the devil's footprints gets applied 34 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: to a lot of different things, but this to me 35 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:50,080 Speaker 1: seems like the most common one, which is an incident 36 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:53,520 Speaker 1: that happened in England in eighteen ft five. So if 37 00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 1: you are thinking it is another one, it is not. Yeah. 38 00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:59,680 Speaker 1: They're also like a lot of local ghost stories that 39 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:06,200 Speaker 1: have of some combination of devilish figure and walking around 40 00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:10,400 Speaker 1: like places where plants don't grow, like the Devil's tramping 41 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:14,400 Speaker 1: Ground is one I recall from my childhood. Uh And 42 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:16,080 Speaker 1: and that is actually what I thought this was going 43 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:19,080 Speaker 1: to be about before I started reading your outline, and 44 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:21,680 Speaker 1: then that is not what it's about. It is about 45 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:25,520 Speaker 1: something sillier. I do think it's sillier. It's very silly. 46 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:30,079 Speaker 1: It's very silly. In the May six, eighteen fifty five 47 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:34,760 Speaker 1: edition of Bell's Life in Sydney and Sporting Reviewer, the 48 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:40,280 Speaker 1: following headline ran Panic caused by the appearance of the 49 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: Devil in Devonshire sounds very frightening, and indeed, on February 50 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: eightifty five, and theoretically for a day or two after, 51 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:55,760 Speaker 1: depending on which account you're looking at, a very curious 52 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:58,520 Speaker 1: thing happened in Devon, which is a coastal county in 53 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:03,640 Speaker 1: the southwest of England, had an unusually cold winter for England, 54 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:07,560 Speaker 1: and there had been nothing above freezing temperature since January. 55 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 1: The rivers were totally frozen over, and there were snowfall 56 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:14,720 Speaker 1: after snowfall with no thought in between. The rivers themselves 57 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:17,519 Speaker 1: were so solidly iced over that a feast had been 58 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:20,119 Speaker 1: held on one of them. I mean, it's not uncommon 59 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:23,720 Speaker 1: for places with really cold rivers to have events on 60 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:28,120 Speaker 1: frozen lakes, but rivers are a little dicier, so it 61 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 1: had been particularly cold the night the mystery started. It 62 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:35,120 Speaker 1: had snowed really heavily and then warmed up to a 63 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 1: point that there had been some rain, and then the 64 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:40,840 Speaker 1: temperature dropped steeply once again, and all of that precipitation 65 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:44,440 Speaker 1: froze over, and the people of Devon discovered in the 66 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 1: morning that unaccountable hoof prints were everywhere everywhere. We're gonna 67 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:53,600 Speaker 1: get into that. Uh something it seemed had been tramping 68 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:57,480 Speaker 1: all around the area, even in the most peculiar of places. 69 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 1: And not long after the event, and well before the 70 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:04,880 Speaker 1: Sydney paper ran its sensational headline, the following letter appeared 71 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:07,320 Speaker 1: in an English paper describing the event. This is a 72 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:10,240 Speaker 1: very long letter, so Tracy and I will alternate reading 73 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:14,040 Speaker 1: paragraphs of it. Okay, I'm excited that I get to 74 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:19,279 Speaker 1: read this part because it begins to the editor of 75 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:23,880 Speaker 1: the Exeter and Plymouth the Gazette, Sir. Thursday night, the 76 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:26,599 Speaker 1: eighth of February was marked by a heavy fall of snow, 77 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:29,880 Speaker 1: followed by rain and boisterous wind from the east, and 78 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:33,080 Speaker 1: in the morning frost. The return of daylight revealed the 79 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:37,640 Speaker 1: ramblings of some most busy and mysterious animal endowed with 80 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:41,760 Speaker 1: the power of ubiquity, as its footprints were to be 81 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 1: seen in all kinds of unaccountable places, on the tops 82 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 1: of houses, narrow walls and gardens, and courtyards enclosed by 83 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:54,479 Speaker 1: high walls and palings, as well as in the open fields. 84 00:04:54,880 --> 00:05:00,920 Speaker 1: The creature seems to have frolic about through Exmouth, little Um, Limpstone, 85 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 1: would Bury Topsham, star Cross, Tamouth, etcetera, etcetera. The letter 86 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:10,000 Speaker 1: goes on, there is hardly a garden in Limbstone where 87 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:13,240 Speaker 1: his footprints are not observable, and in this parish he 88 00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 1: appears to have gambled with inexpressible activity. Its track appears 89 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:21,080 Speaker 1: more like that of a biped than a quadruped, and 90 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:24,240 Speaker 1: the steps are generally eight inches in advance of each other, 91 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:28,039 Speaker 1: though in some cases twelve or fourteen, and are alternate 92 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:30,359 Speaker 1: like the steps of a man, and would be included 93 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:34,560 Speaker 1: between two parallel lines six inches apart. The letter goes on, 94 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:38,279 Speaker 1: the impression of the foot closely resembles that of a 95 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:41,200 Speaker 1: donkey's shoe, and measures from an inch and a half 96 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:45,200 Speaker 1: to in some cases two inches and a half across here, 97 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:48,599 Speaker 1: and they're appearing as if the foot was cleft, but 98 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:52,120 Speaker 1: in the in the generality of its steps, the impression 99 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:56,640 Speaker 1: of the shoe was continuous and perfect. In the center 100 00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:00,200 Speaker 1: of the snow remains entire merely showing the outer dust 101 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:04,320 Speaker 1: of the foot, which therefore must have been convex. The 102 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:07,919 Speaker 1: creature seems to have advanced to the doors of several houses, 103 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:10,520 Speaker 1: and then to have rechased its steps, but no one 104 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:13,440 Speaker 1: is able to discern the starting or resting point of 105 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:17,400 Speaker 1: this mysterious visitor. Everyone is wondering, but no one is 106 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:21,320 Speaker 1: able to explain the mystery. The poor are full of superstition, 107 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 1: and consider it little short of a visit from Old 108 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:27,480 Speaker 1: Satan or some of his imps. And the letter actually 109 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:30,120 Speaker 1: goes on for some time after this uh and it 110 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:33,520 Speaker 1: describes in particular a recent sermon that was given in 111 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:36,760 Speaker 1: Limbstone by a Reverend musk Grave, in which the minister 112 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:39,640 Speaker 1: spoke at length about Satan as a tempter who wish 113 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:42,240 Speaker 1: nothing more than to take men from a virtuous path. 114 00:06:42,839 --> 00:06:44,599 Speaker 1: But he did not think that this was what was 115 00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:50,359 Speaker 1: going on in their their town. Reverend musk Grave, apparently, 116 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:53,760 Speaker 1: based on this sermon, believed, according to the letter writer, 117 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:57,839 Speaker 1: that the hoofprints were actually those of a very busy kangaroo, 118 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:05,440 Speaker 1: which hilarious kangaroos don't have. Who's just want to say that, 119 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:09,000 Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, and we're gonna revisit this kangaroo thing 120 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: in a little bit as well, along with another of 121 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:17,000 Speaker 1: other animals who don't have hooves or wear shoes. The 122 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:20,440 Speaker 1: writer measured horse prints that were left the same night 123 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:24,240 Speaker 1: and notes that they did not match these mystery prints. Additionally, 124 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:27,120 Speaker 1: he mentions that a kangaroo's foot has claws of an 125 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:31,120 Speaker 1: uneven length, so really, how could the print looks so 126 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:34,240 Speaker 1: like that of a donkey? He or she? Because we 127 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:36,720 Speaker 1: don't know who wrote the letter, then wonders if the 128 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:40,000 Speaker 1: prince couldn't have been the result of a cat. Wherein 129 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:44,600 Speaker 1: the back and front footsteps over left? Uh? The letter 130 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:47,440 Speaker 1: writer wrote, quote, I think it very likely that the 131 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 1: combined impression of a hind and four foot in the 132 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:55,559 Speaker 1: thawing snow may have produced the mystery And this letter 133 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:58,440 Speaker 1: to the editor concludes there and is then signed yours 134 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:06,880 Speaker 1: obediently sectator. So accounts of this events are a little sparse, 135 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:10,560 Speaker 1: but as a few contemporary descriptions were pieced together, it 136 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:13,600 Speaker 1: started to appear that these hoof marks had been recorded 137 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:17,400 Speaker 1: along a stretch of dozens and dozens of miles. The 138 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:20,160 Speaker 1: prints were reported in depths ranging from one and a 139 00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:23,520 Speaker 1: half to four inches, and is mentioned in the letter above. 140 00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:28,640 Speaker 1: They defied logic in their placement and a lot of 141 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:32,600 Speaker 1: cases not only did they wander vast different distances with 142 00:08:32,679 --> 00:08:36,720 Speaker 1: no apparent return trip, but they also appeared on rooftops, 143 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:39,040 Speaker 1: and they dropped off and resumed on either side of 144 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:43,240 Speaker 1: obstacles that seemed impossible for immortal being to just get over. 145 00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:47,800 Speaker 1: One account even indicated that whatever it was had passed 146 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:52,680 Speaker 1: through a haystack. And in addition to these prints in Devon, 147 00:08:52,880 --> 00:08:56,080 Speaker 1: which seemed to indicate that the mystery creature had made 148 00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:59,000 Speaker 1: its way to almost every house that had encountered, these 149 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:01,520 Speaker 1: steps went right up to doors and sometimes all of 150 00:09:01,559 --> 00:09:04,520 Speaker 1: the doors in an area. Uh there were a smaller 151 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:07,320 Speaker 1: number of these prints reported in Dorset to the East 152 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:12,000 Speaker 1: as well. All in all, thirty different locations reported visitation 153 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:15,120 Speaker 1: from whatever it was making these tracks over the course 154 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:18,000 Speaker 1: of a couple of nights. One of the oddest aspects 155 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:20,920 Speaker 1: of this whole mystery was the uniformity of the prints. 156 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:23,320 Speaker 1: They looked as though they had been left by a 157 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:26,160 Speaker 1: biped and for the most part, each print was in 158 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:29,280 Speaker 1: line with the next and single file rather than side 159 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:32,600 Speaker 1: by side. Some but not all, of the prints looked 160 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:37,200 Speaker 1: cloven as described by the Spectator and the letter, and 161 00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:40,960 Speaker 1: the steps, even the longest stride that was reported really 162 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:44,080 Speaker 1: appeared to have been quite short. Yeah, and you'll note 163 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:47,480 Speaker 1: in that Spectator letter h the writer suggests that they 164 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:50,400 Speaker 1: are side by side like a humans walking would be, 165 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:53,240 Speaker 1: with about six inches apart. But most of the accounts 166 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:56,120 Speaker 1: actually have them in a straight line, not as though 167 00:09:56,200 --> 00:10:01,400 Speaker 1: someone or something we're taking alternate steps. One calculation actually 168 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:03,760 Speaker 1: determined that all, if all of these hoof prints were 169 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:06,680 Speaker 1: the work of one creature for it to have traveled 170 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:09,320 Speaker 1: as far as it was reported and used the stride 171 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:12,440 Speaker 1: distance the prints indicated, but to have happened, you know, 172 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:14,280 Speaker 1: on a given night or over the course of a 173 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:16,160 Speaker 1: couple of nights, it would have had to have made 174 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:19,959 Speaker 1: six steps per second. So you may be thinking, what 175 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:24,080 Speaker 1: were these tracks going Somewhere? We will talk about that 176 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:26,920 Speaker 1: after we pause for a word from one of our sponsors. 177 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:34,880 Speaker 1: So it wasn't long after that first point of discovery. 178 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:38,079 Speaker 1: On the morning after the night of February eight that 179 00:10:38,200 --> 00:10:41,160 Speaker 1: the locals decided to do exactly what most people would do, 180 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:44,080 Speaker 1: I probably would do it. They tried to follow the 181 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:48,000 Speaker 1: tracks to find their source. Uh. Presumably these particular people 182 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:49,640 Speaker 1: did not think that they were going to find the 183 00:10:49,679 --> 00:10:52,160 Speaker 1: actual devil at the end of the line. Either that 184 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:55,360 Speaker 1: or they were just very brave souls. Some of the 185 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:58,480 Speaker 1: people who followed the prince did arm themselves so that 186 00:10:58,480 --> 00:11:00,880 Speaker 1: they were ready for it to pretend actually be the 187 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:04,440 Speaker 1: devil or something else dangerous. A group of men from 188 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:07,439 Speaker 1: Dollish followed the tracks for about five miles and they 189 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:11,160 Speaker 1: turned up nothing. And a pair of people and Cliff St. 190 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:13,840 Speaker 1: George followed a set of markings as well, and their 191 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:16,880 Speaker 1: effort turned up more than the Dollars group. They found 192 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:20,880 Speaker 1: four pieces of feces, each slightly larger than a grape 193 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:24,679 Speaker 1: and sort of whiteish in color. Tracings made by people 194 00:11:24,679 --> 00:11:27,760 Speaker 1: in various locations, and then compared later on showed that 195 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:30,680 Speaker 1: the prints were very much the same regardless of where 196 00:11:30,679 --> 00:11:34,120 Speaker 1: they were made. But unfortunately, no one tracked any of 197 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:36,640 Speaker 1: the print trails far enough to see if they all 198 00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:40,880 Speaker 1: linked up somewhere. And we'll actually um come back to 199 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:43,240 Speaker 1: this in just a moment so the vicar of the 200 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:48,199 Speaker 1: parish and Cliff St George, Reverend HT Ellacombe, collected assorted 201 00:11:48,280 --> 00:11:50,839 Speaker 1: letters and tracings of Hoof marks, and he actually kept 202 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:55,600 Speaker 1: all of that in the parish records for literally years 203 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:58,360 Speaker 1: and years and years. They went mostly unnoticed until about 204 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:02,080 Speaker 1: two and then they were published in the Report and 205 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:06,480 Speaker 1: Transactions of the Devonshire Association that year after the local 206 00:12:06,559 --> 00:12:08,840 Speaker 1: historian got a folklore is interested in them, so they 207 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:10,960 Speaker 1: got talked about again, but they had just been sitting 208 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:15,079 Speaker 1: there since the mid eighteen hundreds. The reverend also compiled 209 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:18,840 Speaker 1: accounts from his parishioners as well as his own observations, 210 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:22,160 Speaker 1: and also sent a sample of this Whitish execrament to 211 00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:26,280 Speaker 1: naturalist Richard Owen, the scholar who had become famous for 212 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:29,960 Speaker 1: his work in anatomy and paleontology, and was superintendent of 213 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:33,600 Speaker 1: the British Museum's National Natural History Department starting in eighteen 214 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:37,640 Speaker 1: fifty six, which was the year after the mysterious Hoof 215 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:40,760 Speaker 1: prints had appeared. He never got back to him, no, 216 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:44,640 Speaker 1: but he does weigh in on the subject later on. 217 00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:47,719 Speaker 1: One of the accounts that Ellacombe had collected indicated that 218 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:51,520 Speaker 1: at least one set of prints was obviously isolated and 219 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:54,720 Speaker 1: not connected to any others, and this was a series 220 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:57,520 Speaker 1: of tracks in the middle of a field. Uh So 221 00:12:57,600 --> 00:12:59,920 Speaker 1: this suggests that it could not have been a single 222 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:04,200 Speaker 1: entity that caused this. And additionally, there were fairly organic 223 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:08,040 Speaker 1: variations in sizes of prints that were found in different locations, 224 00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:11,600 Speaker 1: so it makes it really unlikely that just one animal 225 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:17,319 Speaker 1: or even human hoaxers provide the explanation. To further complicate 226 00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:22,000 Speaker 1: the whole mystery from modern salutes or theorists, forty years 227 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:23,959 Speaker 1: after the fact, some of the people who had been 228 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:26,840 Speaker 1: in Devon at the time of the odd footprints recalled 229 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:30,760 Speaker 1: that icy February, but their recollections get a lot more varied. 230 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:33,199 Speaker 1: Some of this is surely because of how much time 231 00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:37,240 Speaker 1: had passed and the legend sort of degrading their actual 232 00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:40,440 Speaker 1: memories that were being recounted. Yeah, we've talked about on 233 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:43,800 Speaker 1: the show so many times that one eyewitness accounts are 234 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:46,600 Speaker 1: not reliable anyway, and as time goes on they get 235 00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:49,200 Speaker 1: less and less and less reliable. And in this case, 236 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:52,640 Speaker 1: the legend had grown completely up around this incident, so 237 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:56,480 Speaker 1: undoubtedly their recollections were colored by things they had repeated 238 00:13:56,600 --> 00:14:00,360 Speaker 1: or heard or discussed along the way, and so this 239 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:03,040 Speaker 1: has built up a series of eyewitness accounts that are 240 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:05,920 Speaker 1: flatly wrong and have completely muddied the waters as to 241 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:09,640 Speaker 1: what exactly happened. For example, several of the count the 242 00:14:09,679 --> 00:14:12,840 Speaker 1: accounts relayed decades later, kind of upp to the spooky 243 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:15,920 Speaker 1: factor of the prints, including details such as all the 244 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:19,200 Speaker 1: prints being in oddly straight lines, which they absolutely were 245 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:23,520 Speaker 1: not so in the face of such an odd mystery, 246 00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:26,280 Speaker 1: naturally all kinds of theories have come up, and we 247 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:28,880 Speaker 1: are going to walk through a few of the most common. 248 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:33,080 Speaker 1: So this is where it gets really fun to me, 249 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:36,040 Speaker 1: because it's absurd. There's a lot of crazy animal theories. 250 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:39,240 Speaker 1: River otters have been offered up as the culprits, and 251 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:42,440 Speaker 1: otters certainly could have passed through some of the narrow 252 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:45,600 Speaker 1: openings that the perpetrator of the so called Devil's footprints 253 00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:48,120 Speaker 1: allegedly traversed. That was one of the things that people 254 00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:49,640 Speaker 1: found so odd that it would go through like a 255 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:53,000 Speaker 1: hole in a hedge. River otters would likely have been 256 00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:55,800 Speaker 1: desperate for food in the icy winter, and these tracks 257 00:14:55,840 --> 00:14:59,000 Speaker 1: were all close to rivers or smaller streams, but the 258 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:01,640 Speaker 1: sheer number of prints and the ones that are way 259 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:05,840 Speaker 1: up in high places make this a very unlikely solution. Uh. 260 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:08,480 Speaker 1: One thing we should point out is that like, yes, 261 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:12,400 Speaker 1: many of these animals have feet that are not hoofs, 262 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:16,720 Speaker 1: but there's always this this thing that comes up in 263 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:19,720 Speaker 1: these discussions of animals that are not hoofed of like, well, 264 00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:21,800 Speaker 1: but if they put their feet together in a certain way, 265 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:24,440 Speaker 1: and because there was a little bit of a rainfall 266 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:26,800 Speaker 1: and then a refreeze, they may have frozen in a 267 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:30,160 Speaker 1: more uniform shape than they actually made. But really, river 268 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:35,040 Speaker 1: rotters very unlike like I get, I live in a 269 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:38,560 Speaker 1: place where there's lots of snow, and it's definitely true 270 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:42,480 Speaker 1: that when an animal tracks through somewhere and then there's 271 00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:45,000 Speaker 1: a freeze, at a thought, a bunch of changes in 272 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:47,200 Speaker 1: the weather, like the shape of those tracks does not 273 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:52,000 Speaker 1: hold up. But having a bunch of otters, or even 274 00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:57,160 Speaker 1: one very industrious otter who's entire track all over everywhere 275 00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:02,480 Speaker 1: uniformly suddenly became a horshoe shape like stretch right, Well, 276 00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:04,680 Speaker 1: my thing too is like how odd would it have 277 00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:07,480 Speaker 1: been like an army of any one of these animals 278 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:10,560 Speaker 1: just ran through Devon one night and then never again 279 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:19,200 Speaker 1: another theory. Naturalist Richard Owen, the one who never answered 280 00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:22,800 Speaker 1: the reverend in his inquiry, put forth an idea that 281 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:27,520 Speaker 1: the prince worthy work of badgers. This theory wasn't developed 282 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:29,560 Speaker 1: so much with the Prince themselves in mind. It was 283 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:32,800 Speaker 1: more of a Knockham's razor situation. Badgers are the only 284 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:36,440 Speaker 1: animal that would have been near enough, nocturnal and known 285 00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:40,520 Speaker 1: to travel long distances in search of food and cold temperatures. 286 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:44,600 Speaker 1: Of course, leaving out the prints as part of the 287 00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:48,560 Speaker 1: set of requirements opened this theory up to naysayers, and 288 00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:52,520 Speaker 1: rightly so. Badgers have a really wide, staggered tread that 289 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:55,880 Speaker 1: would have resulted in parallel tracks, uh which most of 290 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:58,720 Speaker 1: these were not, and badgers are certainly not known for 291 00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:02,000 Speaker 1: being able to hop on two roofs or over walls. 292 00:17:03,520 --> 00:17:09,920 Speaker 1: Also in the same category, rodents, A lot of rice 293 00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:12,440 Speaker 1: mice and rats are known to hop with their feet 294 00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:15,199 Speaker 1: together in a way that does kind of resemble the 295 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:18,160 Speaker 1: hoof marks. But the volume of prince and the idea 296 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:21,000 Speaker 1: that this huge number of rodents had all been hopping 297 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:24,480 Speaker 1: about lots of long distance makes that fall apart pretty quickly. 298 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:29,040 Speaker 1: If it had been rodent tracks, one would think that 299 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:34,160 Speaker 1: anyone ever nearby had seemed to something similar before. Yeah, 300 00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:37,720 Speaker 1: rodents are common. So we get back to my favorite, 301 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:41,600 Speaker 1: which is the kangaroo theory, which was one of the 302 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:46,480 Speaker 1: most popular at the time. So Reverend GM Musgrave, who 303 00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:50,119 Speaker 1: we referenced earlier, actually wrote to the Illustrated London News 304 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:53,399 Speaker 1: to counter the account of a person who had signed 305 00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:55,840 Speaker 1: their letter as South Devon. We'll talk about that more 306 00:17:55,880 --> 00:17:59,680 Speaker 1: in a bit uh and asserted the data that was 307 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:02,119 Speaker 1: lied by South Devon's letter, who claimed to be a 308 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:05,960 Speaker 1: tracker and have some ideas about this, was inaccurate. Musgrave 309 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:09,080 Speaker 1: was the reverend referenced in the Spectator letter who told 310 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:12,800 Speaker 1: his congregation that he believed an escaped kangaroo was to blame. 311 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:17,000 Speaker 1: Musgrave himself did not actually believe this theory, but he 312 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:20,240 Speaker 1: was really concerned that the idea of the double loose 313 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:23,480 Speaker 1: in their area was far more damaging to his congregation 314 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:26,360 Speaker 1: than letting them believe that a kangaroo was on the loose. 315 00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:30,960 Speaker 1: There were two kangaroos and a nearby private zoo, but 316 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:34,040 Speaker 1: neither of them is known to have escaped. There were 317 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:37,200 Speaker 1: similar theories about an escaped monkey or a wolf, and 318 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:40,040 Speaker 1: missing monkey has never appeared in the records, and wolves 319 00:18:40,280 --> 00:18:43,119 Speaker 1: have been extinct in England since the fourteenth century. I 320 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:46,240 Speaker 1: also sort of think with this whole kangaroo situation. This 321 00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:49,399 Speaker 1: isn't an acronym, but this is like a bugs bunny 322 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:56,959 Speaker 1: level of kangaroo behavior. It really is. Uh. The prince 323 00:18:57,200 --> 00:19:02,399 Speaker 1: certainly looked like those of a donkey, which was another theory, 324 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:05,199 Speaker 1: And it turns out that donkeys do often plant their 325 00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:08,240 Speaker 1: feet in a single line behind one another, so that 326 00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:11,439 Speaker 1: gives that some credence, and for a moment, the idea 327 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:14,480 Speaker 1: that the prince were left by a donkey seems perfectly 328 00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:19,480 Speaker 1: reasonable exampt for those pesky roof tracks and instances where 329 00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:22,040 Speaker 1: the tracks stopped and started on either side of an obstacle. 330 00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:24,679 Speaker 1: I am very on board with the idea that they 331 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:29,440 Speaker 1: were flying donkeys. So these are not the only absurd ideas. 332 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:32,040 Speaker 1: And we are going to talk about some more, including 333 00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:35,399 Speaker 1: a lengthy discussion about birds after we first take a 334 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:44,240 Speaker 1: quick sponsor break. So still unraveling this mystery of the 335 00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:48,840 Speaker 1: devon footprints or hoofprints. While agile cats certainly could have 336 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:51,760 Speaker 1: gotten up to roof level, the theory that it was 337 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:54,760 Speaker 1: cats has the obvious flaw of the hoof prints, and 338 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:56,760 Speaker 1: as you may recall, that writer of the first letter 339 00:19:56,800 --> 00:20:00,320 Speaker 1: we mentioned suggested that if a cat's back paw landed 340 00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:02,320 Speaker 1: in the same spot as the front pot, it could 341 00:20:02,359 --> 00:20:05,800 Speaker 1: maybe make the right print. That this seems really far fetched, 342 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:08,080 Speaker 1: as all of the cats involved would have had to 343 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:13,080 Speaker 1: make that perfect print every single time, all over the place. Yeah, 344 00:20:13,600 --> 00:20:16,160 Speaker 1: I have cats. It goes back to all the other 345 00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:19,760 Speaker 1: theories about non hooved animals that may have done it, 346 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:22,920 Speaker 1: like the idea that that that many prints over miles 347 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:26,680 Speaker 1: and miles and miles of tracks would have uniformly made 348 00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:30,680 Speaker 1: that shape. If it's so far fetched, Yeah, I mean 349 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:33,639 Speaker 1: we've both had cats. I still have a lot of cats. 350 00:20:34,359 --> 00:20:37,560 Speaker 1: They they sometimes fall down just while they're walking. I 351 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:40,119 Speaker 1: can't imagine they would they would get that level of 352 00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:46,359 Speaker 1: precision every single time, especially on ice. Yeah. Uh. Birds 353 00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:49,639 Speaker 1: have become one of the most popular explanations for the 354 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:53,280 Speaker 1: devil's footprints, and this theory was already popular back in 355 00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:57,600 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty five. Birds could alight at random intervals, They 356 00:20:57,640 --> 00:20:59,760 Speaker 1: could easily leave prints on top of buildings or other 357 00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:03,440 Speaker 1: high places. They could hop over fences easily, but of 358 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:07,720 Speaker 1: course they don't have hooves, although now I want to 359 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:10,240 Speaker 1: make a bird drawing that has a hoof, and it 360 00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:14,120 Speaker 1: would be funny to counter the bird flock idea. There 361 00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:16,639 Speaker 1: are the writings in the Illustrated London News by the 362 00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:20,119 Speaker 1: signer that we referenced earlier named South Devon, and he 363 00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:24,199 Speaker 1: starts birds could not have left these marks, as no 364 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:27,359 Speaker 1: bird's foot leaves the impression of a hoof, or even 365 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:30,040 Speaker 1: were there a bird capable of doing so, could it 366 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:33,639 Speaker 1: proceed in the direct manner above stated? Nor would birds, 367 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:37,240 Speaker 1: even if they had donkey's feet, confine themselves to one 368 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:40,359 Speaker 1: direct line but hop here and there. But the nature 369 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:42,879 Speaker 1: of the mark at once sets aside it's being the 370 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:46,200 Speaker 1: track of a bird. The effect of the atmosphere upon 371 00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:49,439 Speaker 1: these marks is given by many as a solution. But 372 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:52,200 Speaker 1: how could it be possible for the atmosphere to affect 373 00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:55,960 Speaker 1: one impression and not affect another. On the morning that 374 00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:58,840 Speaker 1: the above was observed, the snow bore the fresh marks 375 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:04,600 Speaker 1: of cats, dog, rabbits, birds and men clearly defined. Why then, 376 00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:08,600 Speaker 1: should a continuous track far more clearly defined, so clearly 377 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:11,160 Speaker 1: even that the raising in the center of the frog 378 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:14,159 Speaker 1: of the foot could be plainly seen. Why then should 379 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:17,040 Speaker 1: this particular mark be the only one which was affected 380 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:21,159 Speaker 1: by the atmosphere and all the others left as they were. Besides, 381 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:24,240 Speaker 1: the most singular circumstance connected with it was that this 382 00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:28,560 Speaker 1: particular mark removed the snow wherever it appeared, clear as 383 00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:31,280 Speaker 1: if cut with a diamond or branded with a hot iron. 384 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:34,720 Speaker 1: In one instance, this track entered a covered shed and 385 00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:36,840 Speaker 1: passed through it out of a broken part of the 386 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:39,560 Speaker 1: wall at the other end, where the atmosphere could not 387 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:42,800 Speaker 1: affect it. The letter continues, the writer of the above 388 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:45,280 Speaker 1: has passed a five months of winter in the backwoods 389 00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:49,000 Speaker 1: of Canada and has had much experience in tracking wild 390 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:51,880 Speaker 1: animals and birds upon the snow, and can safely say 391 00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:54,840 Speaker 1: he has never seen him were clearly defined track, or 392 00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:57,520 Speaker 1: one that appeared to be less altered by the atmosphere 393 00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:00,639 Speaker 1: than the one in question. Marks left upon thin snow, 394 00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:03,400 Speaker 1: especially may after a time blur a little, but never 395 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:06,760 Speaker 1: lose their distinctive character. As everyone will know who has 396 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:09,960 Speaker 1: been accustomed to follow the track of the American partridge, 397 00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:13,840 Speaker 1: and it was later discovered through the Reverend Ellacomb's record, 398 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:16,080 Speaker 1: so that the person that had signed the name South 399 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:19,000 Speaker 1: Devon was actually a young man named Durban who was 400 00:23:19,119 --> 00:23:21,800 Speaker 1: nineteen at the time that all this happened. So in 401 00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:25,440 Speaker 1: a paper about the so called Devil's footprints, Mike Dash 402 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:28,600 Speaker 1: asserts that it is certainly worth considering that Durban's youth 403 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:32,359 Speaker 1: may have colored his dismissal of a relatively mundane source 404 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:34,920 Speaker 1: for the Prince. And now we get to the thing 405 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:38,159 Speaker 1: that I might have thought of first, the possibility of 406 00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:41,879 Speaker 1: human hoaxers, and so naturally that has come up over time. 407 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:45,840 Speaker 1: It's entirely conceivable that somebody wanted to make a bunch 408 00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:48,560 Speaker 1: of their fellow neighbors think the devil was larking about 409 00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:51,320 Speaker 1: right outside their homes just for a laugh. We have, 410 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:54,040 Speaker 1: of course seen this be the case in other houses 411 00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:58,000 Speaker 1: throughout history, not specifically with devils outside the door, but 412 00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:02,600 Speaker 1: other weird, unexplained stuff. Working against this theory is the 413 00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:05,959 Speaker 1: sheer number of prints and the variation in the prince 414 00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:09,760 Speaker 1: that the thought and the refreeze could be but likely 415 00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:13,119 Speaker 1: isn't an explanation there, Yeah, And it would have just 416 00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:16,159 Speaker 1: had to have been a massive number of people involved. Um, 417 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:19,960 Speaker 1: there is a secondary people theory that we'll talk about 418 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:23,119 Speaker 1: here in just a moment. Uh. There have been some 419 00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:25,639 Speaker 1: modern theories about the tracks that were not part of 420 00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:28,240 Speaker 1: the contemporary theory set. Like at the time this was 421 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:30,040 Speaker 1: going on, pretty much all of the theories we've just 422 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:33,919 Speaker 1: talked about, we're all being discussed and analyzed. But in 423 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:37,679 Speaker 1: the modern era many new ideas have come up, including UFOs, 424 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:40,280 Speaker 1: which we aren't really going to get into, but basically 425 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:44,560 Speaker 1: some people think UFOs. One less sensational theory suggests that 426 00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:47,600 Speaker 1: a balloon with a dangling rope that was maybe kind 427 00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:51,480 Speaker 1: of uh hopping along the ground may have made the marks, 428 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:53,760 Speaker 1: but the consistent shape of the tracks kind of shoots 429 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:57,720 Speaker 1: that one down pretty quickly. Another fairly recent theory is 430 00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:00,639 Speaker 1: that a group of Romani tribes put on animal like 431 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:02,920 Speaker 1: stilts to make the tracks and to try to scare 432 00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:07,600 Speaker 1: away superstitious arrivals. Sort of how I was imagining that 433 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:09,560 Speaker 1: these tracks might have been made in the first place, 434 00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:12,320 Speaker 1: But backing up the serious kind of a stretch, it 435 00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:15,600 Speaker 1: seems kind of unlikely when you consider that hundreds of 436 00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:18,280 Speaker 1: people would have needed to be involved, and yet nobody 437 00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:22,080 Speaker 1: was witnessed doing it like it it does. It does 438 00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:26,080 Speaker 1: seem like there's a huge crowd of people on hoof stilts, 439 00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:29,320 Speaker 1: someone probably would have noticed. But I love the idea 440 00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:31,320 Speaker 1: of a huge crowd of people trumping through the snow 441 00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:33,879 Speaker 1: on hoof stilts. That's a beautiful image. There's also a 442 00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:36,400 Speaker 1: whole thing that's been cooked up about why this wouldn't work, 443 00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:38,560 Speaker 1: involving how like they would have had to have used 444 00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:41,720 Speaker 1: ladders to get on some of the places that they were, 445 00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:45,080 Speaker 1: and whether or not they were doing that but still 446 00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:48,080 Speaker 1: trying to get the same impression if they were using 447 00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:50,560 Speaker 1: some sort of hand stamp versus their feet, or if 448 00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:53,720 Speaker 1: they were trying to get on ladders on these stilts. Basically, 449 00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:57,480 Speaker 1: it's it's a popular theory in recent times, but it's 450 00:25:57,520 --> 00:26:01,400 Speaker 1: also very tricky to kind of back up. Uh. One 451 00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:04,040 Speaker 1: of the more plausible, though it's still pretty weird, twentieth 452 00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:07,120 Speaker 1: century theories, has to do with a weather event creating 453 00:26:07,119 --> 00:26:11,720 Speaker 1: the tracks. According to a Scotland native named j Ellen Renny, 454 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:15,760 Speaker 1: warm air coming into contact with extremely cold temperatures could 455 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:18,760 Speaker 1: create condensation in such a way that it fell as 456 00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:22,000 Speaker 1: large blobs rather than drops the way the rain is 457 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:25,560 Speaker 1: normally seen. And Rennie claimed to have seen this phenomenon 458 00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:28,480 Speaker 1: several times in his life, and this would certainly account 459 00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:31,840 Speaker 1: for the vast assortment of odd places that the Prince 460 00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:38,399 Speaker 1: or rain blob marks were found. So this explanation seems 461 00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:41,640 Speaker 1: pretty sensible. But by Rennie's own account, the instances where 462 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:45,960 Speaker 1: he encountered it happening resulted in much larger marks that 463 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:49,000 Speaker 1: were spaced much farther apart. They tended to fall in 464 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:52,560 Speaker 1: a long line, not in the meandering patterns that were 465 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:57,040 Speaker 1: seen in Devon in eighteen fifty five. Additionally, meteorologists have 466 00:26:57,160 --> 00:27:01,840 Speaker 1: dismissed this phenomenon, which only Renny claimed that he has seen. Yeah, 467 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:05,320 Speaker 1: no one else has ever claimed to see anything like it. Uh. 468 00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:08,120 Speaker 1: In any case, part of what makes the Devin footprints 469 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:12,119 Speaker 1: so unusual, aside from their characteristics that we've already discussed, 470 00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:14,679 Speaker 1: is the fact that this was a one time event, 471 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:19,359 Speaker 1: at least it probably was. Allegedly a woman in Devon 472 00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:21,920 Speaker 1: had a similar phenomenon happened in her garden in two 473 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:24,840 Speaker 1: thousand nine, but the primary source on that is the 474 00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:27,080 Speaker 1: Daily Mail, which is a tabloid, so that is not 475 00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:31,439 Speaker 1: really a serious claim. I kind of here's what I 476 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:36,240 Speaker 1: think happened. Yes, I think we have a small number 477 00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:41,560 Speaker 1: of people on hoof stilts, also carrying hoof pokers, and 478 00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:45,280 Speaker 1: so they are both walking and poking the ground, and 479 00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:50,119 Speaker 1: then it's a giant made made hoax combining pokers and stilts. 480 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:52,800 Speaker 1: But that's the That's one of the contradictions of the 481 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:56,600 Speaker 1: Romani theory is that they were making the exact same 482 00:27:56,720 --> 00:27:59,280 Speaker 1: kind of imprints if they had hand stamps that they 483 00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:01,600 Speaker 1: made with their foot and that's almost impossible to do, 484 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:05,280 Speaker 1: So that was the that was the why maybe not 485 00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:07,560 Speaker 1: on that one, but then how did they pass through 486 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:12,560 Speaker 1: tiny holes? That's a fine One of the things that's 487 00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:16,000 Speaker 1: a wonderful sort of exhilarating and frustrating thing about this 488 00:28:16,119 --> 00:28:19,680 Speaker 1: is that no one theory can really cover all the bases. 489 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:24,639 Speaker 1: But I like the hoax theory myself as well. Regardless, 490 00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:27,840 Speaker 1: for now and probably forever, we don't really know what 491 00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:31,160 Speaker 1: causes odd spade of footprints. In one instance in Devon 492 00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:35,480 Speaker 1: in eight, it is pretty fun to speculate odds are 493 00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:41,160 Speaker 1: regardless of what the real answer is probably pretty benign, really, 494 00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:44,760 Speaker 1: not the devil walking along the English coast. The kangaroo 495 00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:47,600 Speaker 1: sounds fun, I really think though, if a kangaroo jumped 496 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:51,120 Speaker 1: up on your roof, you'd hear it and maybe see it. 497 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:55,480 Speaker 1: When it came through your roof into your kitchen and 498 00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:57,840 Speaker 1: I'd be like, Hi, kangaroo, please don't kick me to 499 00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:02,760 Speaker 1: my death. Would you like a snack? I mean, you know, 500 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:06,600 Speaker 1: kangaroos are good stuff. Um, do you have listener mail 501 00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:11,440 Speaker 1: for us? I do. This listener mail is a little 502 00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:14,920 Speaker 1: gift parcel from our listener, Angie. She writes, Hello, Tracy 503 00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:16,840 Speaker 1: and Holly. First off, I wanted to tell you guys 504 00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:19,120 Speaker 1: that I love listening to your podcast. I am a 505 00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:22,600 Speaker 1: grower at a greenhouse of flowers and veggies, and some 506 00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:25,280 Speaker 1: of my daily tasks can get a little boring, so 507 00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:28,320 Speaker 1: your podcast keeps me entertained in thinking. I've been making 508 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:30,680 Speaker 1: my way through the archives and I came across the Pluto, 509 00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:34,280 Speaker 1: the demoted dwarf planet from and I got super excited 510 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:38,440 Speaker 1: because my hometown is street Or, Illinois, home of Clyde Tombaugh, 511 00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:41,720 Speaker 1: the man credited for discovering Pluto. It was so cool 512 00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:44,280 Speaker 1: to hear my hometown mentioned in one of my favorite podcasts. 513 00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:46,560 Speaker 1: I just had to write and tell you guys about 514 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:52,640 Speaker 1: my hometown, Proud Pluto Town. Recently, Streeter has established Pluto Fest. Basically, 515 00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:55,080 Speaker 1: it's like a little festival with live music and vendors 516 00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:58,479 Speaker 1: and food trucks to celebrate Pluto. The City Park has 517 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:00,920 Speaker 1: a Pluto statue and there is a mural on Main 518 00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:03,920 Speaker 1: Street of Clyde and his telescope. I've included a couple 519 00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:06,719 Speaker 1: of couzies and some collectible stamps from Pluto Fest with 520 00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:10,240 Speaker 1: the pictures of Clyde and Pluto. Keep up the great 521 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:12,600 Speaker 1: podcast and enjoy the coozies. Thank you so much. This 522 00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:14,760 Speaker 1: is so cute and it's really cool to have a 523 00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:19,480 Speaker 1: like a little cooler beverage cooler with Clyde Tamba on it. Uh. 524 00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:22,280 Speaker 1: And the stamps are lovely, so I will make sure 525 00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:24,920 Speaker 1: that Tracy gets hers. And I just love them and 526 00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:28,120 Speaker 1: I love anytime we talked about space specifically, and Clyde 527 00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:30,920 Speaker 1: Tombos seemed to have been such a delightful man that 528 00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:33,800 Speaker 1: it's great to have him celebrated. UH. If you would 529 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:35,239 Speaker 1: like to write to us, you can do so at 530 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:37,840 Speaker 1: History Podcast at how Stuff works dot com. You can 531 00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:40,600 Speaker 1: also find us across the spectrum of social media as 532 00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:46,240 Speaker 1: Missed in History That includes Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest. 533 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:49,000 Speaker 1: You can just find us everywhere. UH. You can also 534 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:51,440 Speaker 1: come and visit our website which is Missed in History 535 00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:54,840 Speaker 1: dot com, and there you will find every episode that's 536 00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:57,840 Speaker 1: ever existed of the show ever, going all the way 537 00:30:57,840 --> 00:30:59,800 Speaker 1: back to the original host which were long before our 538 00:30:59,840 --> 00:31:02,720 Speaker 1: time time. If you were looking at episodes that Tracy 539 00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:04,360 Speaker 1: and I have worked on, there are also show notes 540 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:06,440 Speaker 1: for you to peruse, so we encourage you come and 541 00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:09,200 Speaker 1: visit us at missed in History dot com and you 542 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:17,120 Speaker 1: can check out all that we have to offer. For 543 00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:19,719 Speaker 1: more on this and thousands of other topics, visit how 544 00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:29,120 Speaker 1: staff works dot com