The Devil Visits England....Again

via The Sun

The hoof-like marks were a chilling echo of a phenomenon first recorded in 1855 — and Jill Wade now hopes to solve the ancient mystery.

Pensioner Jill woke to find the marks in fresh snow in her back garden in Woolsery.

She said: �I couldn’t believe it — the footprints were in the shape of a cloven hoof. There were no other marks at all in the snow. I’d love to know what it was.�

Scientists from the Centre for Fortean Zoology inspected the prints, which were 5ins long with a stride of between 11 and 17ins.

The prints matched a mysterious 100-mile trail that was found in Devon 154 years ago and blamed on Satan.

But the CFZ experts believe both tracks could have been made by an animal such as a deer — and aim to solve the riddle through further research.

LEGEND has it that a 100-mile trail of hoof-like marks appeared in snow-covered Devon on February 8 1855.

The tracks continued unbroken on both sides of 14ft walls, locked gates and the Exe estuary — as if they posed no barrier.

Villagers were already angry at the church for changing their prayer book, and accused vicars of letting in the Devil.

Others blamed animals and pranksters, but the phenomenon was never explained — and became known as the Great Devon Mystery

The best part of this article are the comments posted after it:

•Thats Satan all right! We all know that he enjoys long walks across Devonshire, it has to be him.

•I do not believe it for one minute,as where I live we spotted Satans cycle tyre tracks,he has moved on since his walking days,and can get around a lot quicker by bike.

•Well, it's not like Satan would take the bus