The Devil Went Down to Devon. Hang on, that can’t be right, can it?

The Devil in Devon. Try to say it as fast as you can. Congratulations to those who saw the stolen Charlie Daniels Band lyrics from the song “The Devil went down to Georgia”. For those who haven’t heard it, check it out here. It’s an absolute banger.

Getting away from epic fiddle battles and back to the topic at hand though, did the Devil go down to Devon?

An Enduring Tale

I first read this particular tale in a big book of supernatural stories my mother had on a bookshelf. It was a big thick book, hundreds of pages deep, containing all manner of witches, fairies, ghosts and the like. I believe the opposite page had the story of the Tulip Staircase ghost with what was a terrifying picture of a ghost, at least to me as a small child.

Even with that on the opposite page, the story of the Devil in Devon always stuck out to me.

Let’s set the scene.

February 1855. Devon, specifically the area known as Dartmoor. A vast (for the UK) wild area covering 368 square miles. It has a smattering of villages and farming communities. It’s remote even now, but back then you had to be made of stern stuff to flourish in its environs. In 1789 Richard Gough, a prominent historian of the time gave his opinion of Dartmoor “a dreary mountainous tract”. Safe to say he wasn’t a fan.

Waking up to the Devils Hooves

February the 8th – 9th 1855 was bitterly cold in the Dartmoor area. Snow covered the ground everywhere. But so did something else.

Hoof prints. But not from a four legged creature. There was only two imprints, indicating a creature walking upright. And they stretched a long way. Between 40 and 100 miles depending on the account.

The full route looked a little like this:

Exmouth – Topsham – Across the water to Dawlish – Teignmouth – Torquay – Totnes – Exeter – Weymouth. Google maps calculated the full journey to be just over 100 miles.

Oh, and the tracks also went across rooftops. Two witnesses claimed that the tracks stopped at the opening to a pipe that was just 15 cm across. Following the pipe to the other side they found the tracks continued. As though the creature had just walked magically walked through the pipe!

Sometimes the tracks would stop for a few metres before carrying on as normal. Or stop at a hay bale and then continue on the other side, as though the creature had simply leapt over the obstacle.

And no other tracks, human or otherwise were ever seen alongside the hoof prints.

It’s fair to say that the locals were rattled.

Hunted

The locals actually did believe the Devil in Devon was looking for a soul to steal (last one I promise). People were so afraid that they refused to leave their homes. This was not helped by the fact that several times the tracks went right up to doors before stopping, as though the creature was looking for someone.

It got so bad that a hunt was soon formed to track the beast down. Bloodhounds followed the tracks. After some time they tracked the creature to a wood near Dawlish. The huntsmen, pressing their advantage, sent in the hounds. Rather than returning triumphant, the dogs soon returned howling with their tails between their legs.

No more hunts were attempted.

Press attention leads to an enduring tale

A local newspaper, The Western Luminary and Family Newspaper published an account stating the footprints had caused an uproar of commotion, while The Western Times stated that Exmouth had been visited by none other than his Satanic Majesty.

The Times, which is still going strong, reported the event with this amazing snippet “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.” Imagine reading that in a respected journal.

Not everyone believed the stories of the Devil in Devon. Various people have tried to debunk the case. Everything from pranksters to aliens, kangaroos, swans wearing special shoes and even an untethered balloon have been brought forward as possible causes.

However, as I sit here in the year 2023, some 178 years later, there still hasn’t been a satisfactory answer. If pranksters really did create the hoof prints I’d love to know how. Somehow they covered over 100 miles, at night, while covering their tracks, climbing over houses, across estuary’s and goodness knows what else and then went to their graves keeping quiet about it.

Then again, maybe it really was Satan himself in Devon that night. It wouldn’t have been the first time the Prince of Darkness had put in an appearance in the area.