In February 1855, after heavy snowfall across Devon in southern England, residents awoke to find strange hoof shaped tracks crossing the countryside. Reports placed them across fields, gardens, rooftops, walls, and settlements around the Exe Estuary.

Contemporary newspapers and surviving correspondence confirm that unusual tracks were genuinely reported, but descriptions varied and no investigator documented their entire supposed route. Animals, unusual snow conditions, escaped creatures, hoaxes, and even a runaway balloon have all been proposed.

Were the Devil's Footprints produced by one extraordinary event, or did frightened communities connect many unrelated tracks into a mystery that never truly had a single cause?