Show Notes
In February 1855, mysterious hoof-shaped footprints appeared across the snow-covered countryside of Devon, England.
They stretched for miles, seemingly crossing rooftops, walls, and other obstacles no ordinary animal should have been able to navigate.
Terrified residents believed the Devil himself had walked through their villages.
But across the Atlantic, New England had its own stories about the Devil leaving his mark.
Tonight, we're exploring the strange history of the Devil's footprints and the supernatural legends that took root in colonial America.
From a Massachusetts preacher who supposedly threw Satan from a church steeple to wealthy men accused of selling their souls, we'll investigate the mysterious marks left in stone, the bargains that allegedly ended in damnation, and the places where the Devil was believed to walk among ordinary people.
We'll also uncover how English colonists transformed Indigenous spiritual traditions into stories about Satan, why the Puritans outlawed Christmas, and how New England's forgotten Pope Night celebrations shared surprising similarities with the Halloween traditions that followed.
Because in early New England, the Devil wasn't simply a figure from the Bible.
He was a stranger on a lonely road, a footprint in the rocks, a noise beneath the earth, and sometimes an explanation for things people didn't understand.
Welcome to Day 26 of 31 Days of Halloween
More from Haunted American History
On July 10, 1706, a woman named Grace Sherwood was bound and thrown into the Lynnhaven River in colonial Virginia.
In the winter of 1879, a Cree hunter named Swift Runner returned from the Canadian wilderness without his family.
In February 1927, William Fuld fell to his death from the roof of his factory in Baltimore.
In the winter of 1590, an elderly Scottish healer named Agnes Sampson was brought before King James VI of Scotland.
In 1967, the RMS Queen Mary arrived in Long Beach, California, after more than three decades crossing the Atlantic.