Editing Devil's Footprints (section)

== Incident ==
On the night of 8–9 February 1855 and one or two later nights,<ref>{{Cite news | title = topsham. The two-legged wonder | newspaper = Western Times | date = 24 February 1855 }}</ref> after a heavy snowfall, a series of [[hoof]]-like marks appeared in the snow. These [[footprints]], most of which measured about {{convert|4|in|cm}} long, {{convert|3|in|cm}} across, between {{convert|8|and|16|in|cm}} apart and mostly in a single file, were reported from more than 30 locations across Devon and a couple in [[Dorset]]. It was estimated that the total distance of the tracks amounted to between {{convert|40|and|100|miles|km|-1}}.<ref name=DI>Dash, 1994. Introduction.</ref> Houses, rivers, haystacks and other obstacles were travelled straight over. Footprints appeared on the tops of snow-covered roofs and high walls which lay in the footprints' path, as well as leading up to and exiting drain pipes as small as {{convert|4|in|cm}} in diameter.<ref name=DI /> The 26 May 1855 issue of ''[[Bell's Life in Sydney and Sporting Reviewer|Bell's Life in Sydney]]'' published in its ''Miscellaneous Extracts'' column a "Weekly Dispatch" dated 18 February:

{{blockquote|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 on Thursday last night, there was a very heavy snowfall in the neighbourhood of Exeter and the South of Devon. On the following morning the inhabitants of the above towns were surprised at discovering the footmarks of some strange and mysterious animal endowed with the power of ubiquity, as the footprints were to be seen in all kinds of unaccountable places – on the tops of houses and narrow walls, in gardens and court-yards, enclosed by high walls and pailings, as well in open fields.

[...]

The impressions of the foot closely resembled that of a donkey's shoe, and measured from an inch and a half to (in some instances) two 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 centre remaining entire, merely showing the outer crest of the foot, it must have been concave.<ref name=Bell>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59760254 |title=Miscellaneous Extracts. |newspaper=[[Bell's Life in Sydney and Sporting Reviewer]] (NSW : 1845–1860) |location=NSW |date=26 May 1855 |access-date=21 August 2013 |page=1 |publisher=[[National Library of Australia]]}}</ref>}}

The area in which the prints appeared extended from [[Exmouth, Devon|Exmouth]], up to [[Topsham, Devon|Topsham]], and across the [[Exe Estuary]] to [[Dawlish]] and [[Teignmouth]].<ref>''[[The Times]]'' 16 February 1855</ref> R.H. Busk, in an article published in ''[[Notes and Queries]]'' during 1890, stated that footprints also appeared further afield, as far south as [[Totnes]] and [[Torquay]], and that there were other reports of the prints as far away as [[Weymouth, Dorset|Weymouth]] (Dorset) and even [[Lincolnshire]].<ref name=Busk3>{{Cite journal | last = Busk | first = R.H. | title = Phenomenal Footprints in the Snow, S. Devon | journal = [[Notes and Queries]] | volume = s7-IX | issue = 213 | page = 70 | date = 25 January 1890 | doi = 10.1093/nq/s7-IX.213.70a}} (Cited as Document 17 in Dash 1994)</ref>