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