(12-26-2021, 08:48 AM)F2d5thCav Wrote:@"BIAD"
You're correct. They are better known as the Devon Hoofprints.
But Wolverhampton was also involved the month prior :
Quote:In January 1855, near Wolverhampton, England, about 200 miles north of Devon, hoofprints were said to have appeared on vertical walls and the roofs of pubs. According to Dash, Elizabeth Brown, landlady of The Lion pub in this region, told a public meeting that “her house was mainly frequented by quarrymen and the tracks were nothing new to them. Similar hoofmarks were to be seen burnt into the rock at Pearl Quarry, on Timmins Hill.”
Quarrymen ... hmm. Would be kind of neat to visit that Pearl Quarry and just get a sense of the area's "feel".
Lots to read about it here --> https://www.academia.edu/251735/The_Devi...ry_of_1855
Cheers
Thank you @F2d5thCav for the links and this thread helps in understanding just how a narrative can become ingrained
into how we -today, perceive those who came before us. When looking at anomalies such as 'The Devil's Footprints',
we tend to take the stories at face-value and even though we may not believe them, we never grasp the idea that folks
in cities, rural areas and the coast, were no different from who we are today.
In the case of Jack The Ripper, the media attempted to heighten the tension and due to their funding situations, failed to
hold those in powerful positions to account for the terrible living conditions in the area where the murders took place.
Today, many investigators into the Ripper murders believe the media were responsible for -at least, one of the so-called
'Dear Boss' letters.
With the Devon 'Devil's Footprints' situation, another symptom of media attention is displayed, the need to garner ratings
by mimicking a successful campaign through the public's fascination with the unknown. Don't get me wrong, at face-value
the reports of hoof-marks running between forty and a hundred miles are a mystery, but the inability to estimate a more
precise distance of the weird journey is indicative of a media-stirred 'craze', a need to be included into something that is
attention-catching in a medium that benefits from such enthusiasm.
The question of what could have produced these prints seems to be the lead fundamental here and not was the situation
an exaggerated account of something simple -although unusual. Maybe it was a bird, a heron or crane that left tracks on
someone's roof in the dead of winter and maybe the locals of Exmouth, Topsham, Dawlish and Teignmouth just jumped on
the band-wagon of a reporter creating a jigsaw of separate incidents.
The clues to such theme-connecting are usually in the written manner of the articles. Today, most mediums use phrases like
'Experts say...' and 'Scientists suggest...', the composition of the prose carries the captivation that a reader genuinely wants.
It's been like this for a very long time!
The basic setting is always the same when dealing with past mysteries. Rustic, working-class people are too uneducated
to lie due to their religious superstitions and ergo, a reader is massaged into moving onto puzzling what the mystery was,
without pondering whether it was merely a prank or an error in observation.
I don't mean to be a 'Debbie-Downer' when it comes to mysteries such as the Devil's Hoof-prints, but one cannot just
accept an account based on a suggestive title. I know my input to many subjects here on Rogue Nation tends to berate
the media's participation in these weird topics, but since the ingredients for a topic tends to originate from a business
that desires income, we have to be wary and possibly watch out certain doctrinal wording that helps in convincing us
the story is just as presented
The Jack the Ripper murders were emulated in other areas of Britain, but the unique title of the Whitechapel killer was
only hinted at by the newspapers of those regions because such a scary moniker will hopefully enhance print-circulation.
No science-backed evidence has ever connected such atrocities, but the thought of a country-roaming monster does
foment intrigue and where else would someone interested in such an idea draw their information from?
The newspaper that suggested such a possibility, of course.
Spring-Heeled Jack another London phenomena, the Victorian fire-breathing Hellion that scared ladies and thwarting the
local Constabulary in the capital appeared in Liverpool and other towns of England for over sixty years. The same 'creature'
or an odd incident coupled to a more well-known folklore-label by a local newspaper?
But in the case of the Devil's footprints in Wolverhampton, it's not surprising that the story arrived in the same year as the
Devon account. A cynical person might suggest that such a story drew readership that could easily be copied in another
part of the England or maybe the Devil was touring the country as offered within the wording.
(Note: The term 'Black Country' refers to an area of the Midlands and derives from the soot that the heavy industries created)
Quote:"...The Black Country did not escape the scare. In 1855 in Old Hill, customers at The Cross Inn swore that they saw a
frightening figure with cloven hoofs and horns leap from roof to roof straight across the road to the roof of the butchers
shop opposite.
Police who investigated the sighting confirmed the presence of cloven hoof prints on nearby rooftops.
Speculation soon grew that some two legged fiend was roaming the Black Country. Similar reports of hellish hoof prints
were apparently frequently reported by quarrymen at Timmins Hill, Dudley and by the landlords of The Gate Hangs Well
and The Boat on Slack Hillock.
What makes this story so interesting is that in the same year, cloven hoof prints appeared in the snow around Devon,
leading many to speculate that the Devil himself was stalking the countryside!..."
In the 'Mysterious Britain' article, the title contains the name 'Spring-Heeled Jack' and almost immediately, he and 'Jack
the Ripper' are mentioned. Granted, the piece is a folklore-affiliated essay, but media-like formula is still in play.
Oddly enough -and just like many of today's news accounts, a more pragmatic 'down-to-earth' circumstance is offered to
explain part of what was supposed terrifying tavern customers around the rural areas of Wolverhampton at the time.
Quote:"...In Netherton a terrified old lady was carried into the police station babbling about Spring Heeled Jack and how she
had seen him jump “across the cut” near Jaw-bone bridge, with flames coming out of his mouth.
An immediate investigation was carried out by the local police. As they approached the bridge at midnight they were
startled to see a light flying through the air, going from one side of the canal to the other! The brave boys in blue made
an arrest, but not of Spring Heeled Jack!
The culprit turned out to be a young Joseph Darby wearing a miner’s helmet with lamp attached, as he practiced jumping
over the canal! This strange, nocturnal exercise, lead Joseph to become the World Spring Jumping Champion, defeating
the American holder of the title, W.G. Hamlington, in 1887..."
Here's a bit more that isn't in the article and doesn't support the supernatural-side, probably because it's mundane!
Quote:"...Joseph Darby (1861–1937) was a renowned jumper from the Black Country village of Netherton.SOURCE:
He specialised in spring jumping (jumping starting from a stationary position) often using weights in his hands to help
propel him.
After taking part in competitive jumping at venues in the Midlands and North of England in the 1880s, he went on to perform
at theatres in London and Paris and crossed the Atlantic to exhibit in North America. He entertained crowds by performing
trick jumps and earned money in wagers with competitors.
Joseph Darby... Canal-Jumper or Constipated?
Highlights in his career included defeating the American World Champion spring-jumper in 1887 and appearing before the
future King Edward VII in Covent Garden, London in 1898. After finishing his jumping career, he became a publican in the
English town of Dudley..."
Now, the year of 1855 is six years before Mr Darby was born and yet, a connection is somehow made from Devil-hoof prints
in Devon to a Victorian ghost-story of Spring-Heeled Jack and then to this chap who vaults over waterways!! Apart from the
promotion for the district and this seemingly-energetic canal-leaper, the spooky intrigue seeps away and all we're left with
is a calculated set of words to entertain the reader.
My heart wants to accept the Devil-Went-Down-To-Devon tale as it stands, but my head keeps getting in the way!!!
(I still enjoy the threads, though!!)
Edith Head Gives Good Wardrobe.