Freaky story, devil creature?

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Here is the source of your story:
www.unsolvedmysteries.com...

[Edited on 1-15-2004 by William One Sac]

I first heard of this particular strange event when I was a schoolkid in the 70's. I'm no closer to discovering what it was now than I was then.

I did find the Times report though:

February 16, 1855.

Considerable sensation has been evoked in he towns of Topsham, Lympstone, Exmouth, Teignmouth, and Dawlish, in the south of Devon, in consequence of the discovery of a vast number of foot tracks of a most strange and mysterious description. The superstitious go so far as to believe that they are the marks of Satan himself; and that great excitement has been produced among all classes may be judged from the fact that the subject has been descanted on from the pulpit.

It appears that on Thursday night last there was a very heavy fall of snow in the neighborhoods of Exeter and the south of Devon. On the following morning, the inhabitants of the above towns were surprised at discovering the tracks of some strange and mysterious animal, endowed with the power of ubiquity, as the foot prints were to be seen in all kinds of inaccessible places - on the tops of houses and narrow walls, in gardens and courtyards enclosed by high walls and palings, as well as in open fields. There was hardly a garden in Lympstone where the footprints were not observed.

The track appeared more like that of a biped than a quadruped, and the steps were generally eight inches in advance of each other. The impressions of the feet closely resembled that of a donkey's shoe, and measured from an inch and a half to (in some instances) tow and a half inches across. Here and there it appeared as if cloven, but in the generality of the steps the shoe was continuous, and, from the snow in the center remaining entire, merely showing the outer crest of the foot, it must have been convex [concave?].

The creature seems to have approached the doors of several houses and then to have retreated, but no one has been able to discover the standing or resting point of this mysterious visitor. On Sunday lat the Rev. Mr. Musgrave alluded to the subject in his sermon, and suggested that possibility of the footprints being those of a kangaroo,; but this could scarcely have been the case, as they were found on both sides of the estuary of the Exe.

At present it remains a mystery, and many superstitious people in the above towns are actually afraid to go outside their doors after night.

www.spartechsoftware.com...

[Edited on 14-1-2004 by ThePook]

On Sunday lat the Rev. Mr. Musgrave alluded to the subject in his sermon, and suggested that possibility of the footprints being those of a kangaroo,

Shows how much they knew about kanaroos back then...

anyway i heard of this too and it is something that has always puzzled me... does anyone know of any recurring event similar to this, or any historical reports of it happening before? i havnt heard of it for a while and my memory of it is kinda blurry (that is probably all the booze and pot) butthanks for refreshing my memory

interesting. The original post says that the tracks went STRAIGHT for 100 miles, and made it kinda seem like the animal was traveling very fast.

The 2nd post (news article) says that although it was in all the different places, it was defintely moving around, not necessarily fast either - just that the tracks were 8" apart and in odd places.

On a side note, 8" is a very small step for almost any biped. Even little kids take bigger steps than that, especially if they are running or traveling quickly.

I will refuse to beleive this until I see photographic evidence.

It's a spooky concept, but that's about it.

February 9, 1855. wa the date so i donth think you are going to get much evidence...........