Dawlish News

February 7, 1855 was a cold night in Devon, England, cold enough for a heavy snowfall that kept many would-be travelers inside-- all except one, according to some reports. And that one may have been the Devil himself.

Our story begins on the morning of February 8th, when the citizens of Devon awoke to find a set of strange tracks lying on the ground.

The prints were u-shaped, as if made by a cloven hoof. They were approximately four inches long and eight inches apart and the impression was that of a bipedal animal as opposed to a quadruped such as a cow or a goat.

They seemed all the more prominent due to the fresh blanket of snow that lay on the ground. And while many people thought they were odd, they had mouths to feed and work to do. Many of them dismissed the prints and went about their business.

At least at first.

Before long, someone noticed that the trail seemed to stretch on for quite some way and their neighbors from Topsham to Dawlish were talking about the same prints. In fact, the strange trail seemed to meander over a 100 miles before coming to a dead stop in Totnes.