The Devil's Footprints
The Devil’s Footprints
9 February, 1855
The last snowfall was at midnight
and we found the hoof marks at six o’clock
the following morning.
They stretched on for over a hundred miles,
mostly in straight lines,
over houses, hayricks and rivers,
on snow-covered walls and rooftops,
leading up to and exiting drainpipes.
We set forth with pitchforks,
and my dogs cowered in the woods.
Surely they were the cloven hooves of the Devil!
Some neighbours had other theories:
shackles from the mooring ropes of a balloon,
badgers, rats, otters, cats, swans and mice,
kangaroos, escaped from a private zoo,
mass hysteria on various different animals’ prints,
hoaxers having a joke…
But no one ever found out for sure.
Copyright © Jack Horne | Year Posted 2011
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