Devil’s Footprint

In this little myth, a crew of construction workers from some vague time period were engaged in building a road when they came upon a boulder that proved to be immovable by natural means.

One of the construction workers climbed up on the rock and swore he’d sell his soul to the devil if that rock could be moved. The next day, the rock had been moved and the construction worker had disappeared. All that was left as evidence of the deal were some strange indentations in the rock. Apparently, that rock is now part of a cemetery wall, and it is semi-famed for holding the devil’s footprint.

The North Manchester Meeting House was built in 1793 and still serves as a church, complete with the abovementioned cemetery. The “fossilized footprint” of the devil can be found in a rock on the corner of the wall right beside the meeting house, with the impressions facing the meeting house.

The stone actually has two imprints, a triangular one that is supposed to be the mark of a cloven hoof and another that looks vaguely like a set of human footprints merged together. The arrangement of the indentations has also catalyzed another story about a man being chased by Satan across the rocks. Somebody with a can of spray paint has made the task of seeing the mark easier by painting it.

Adapted with Permission from: The New England Grimpendium by J.W. Ocker