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Devil's Footprints in Devon SnowParanormal Anomalous Phantom, Possible Cryptoid or Alien, Ran AmokEngland is no stranger to the paranormal, with its ghosts, phantom panthers, hauntings and more eerie phenomena. What caused the prints is still an enigma.
The snow fell heavily through the night, covering Southern Devon. It was thought the white invasion stopped around midnight. Sometime between that hour and 6 AM, something made its presence known. Bizarre Prints SightedThe inhabitants saw strange tracks in the snow. They were shaped almost like horseshoes. The innumerable prints covered miles of land. They went over the tops of roofs and through walls. The strange hoof prints stopped at the Exe River, then appeared on the other side as if their creator leapt over the water or walked on it. Some stopped, then appeared to leap on the ground. Others seemed to travel through narrow openings, while still others stopped at 14 feet walls, then appeared to hop to the other side or walk through the barrier. A curious naturalist measured the distance between them and discovered it was a constant eight and a half inches. It looked like the creature or creatures walked like bipeds, not four-leggeds. Theories and SpeculationsThe locals kept watch to see if the hoof prints would return. They didn’t. Some of the braver citizens, armed with guns and pitchforks searched for the unknown creature that made its presence know. Others locked themselves in their homes after dark. Word spread and the press publicized the strange event. Scientists, the clergy and laypeople had their own thoughts about what made the prints. Some members of the clergy preached that the Devil made the prints while he was searching for sinners. Other clergymen debunked this as superstition. One sermonized that the cause was cats leaving their paw prints. The papers found out that some kangaroos escaped from a private zoo. There were those who thought the fugitive marsupials made the mystery tracks, although they did not look like kangaroo paw prints. A prominent biologist proclaimed the badgers looking for food were responsible for the phenomenon. He further explained that the tracks looked weird because they thawed, then froze. Other animals including swans, raccoons, otters and rats, were similarly blamed. A writer speculated that the hoof prints were made by two or more unknown creatures that traveled in a way as to make their paths look like one long one. Other theories were that a hot air balloon was trailing a rope that made the tracks or it was unusual atmospheric conditions. Or could it have been an alien life form? There was no indication of a space craft having landed or being sighted. Ralph of Coggeshall, a thirteenth century English author recorded that, in the early 1200s, there was a very violent lightning and thunder storm. Hoof prints of an unknown creature appeared after the storm ended. They were still visible in the soft ground several weeks later. Speculation is that these prints were caused by unknown natural phenomena; however, this happened only once. In investigating the paranormal, human fraud has to be taken into account. It would have been impossible for a prankster to create the prints because of the way they tracked and the amount of them. There have been other similar cases from places other than Britain; however they have not received the same publicity. The case of the Devil’s Footprints remains an intriguing mystery. Maybe, one day, these tracks will, again, appear and modern science, with its methods and instruments, might discover the cause of this phenomena. Sources: Edwards, Frank, Stranger than Science, (Bantam Books, 1973) Wilson, Colin and Damon Wilson, The Mammoth Encyclopedia of the Unsolved, (Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2000)
The copyright of the article Devil's Footprints in Devon Snow in Paranormal is owned by Jill Stefko . Permission to republish Devil's Footprints in Devon Snow in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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