NEW ENGLAND FOLKLORE
The Devil’s Footprints in Rhode Island
Has Satan himself visited Southern New England?
There’s a road in Rhode Island called Devil’s Foot Road. I often turn onto it because it leads to the alternate entrance of a Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru window. But I always remembered in the back of my head somewhere that there are stories about the footprints of the Devil somewhere in Rhode Island. It makes sense that they would be near Devil’s Foot Road, so I set off to find them.
There are a few legends that surround the unusual markings on the rocky ledge above the railroad line running into Quonset. The most commonly accepted dates to around 1850, when Christians were still busy trying to convert the Narragansett and other Indigenous Americans in the region. It is said that an Indigenous woman (as far as I can tell her tribal affiliation is never used) murdered a white man nearby. The evil spirit who came to take her away was eventually referred to as Satan. When Satan stamped his foot in anger, it left marks on the granite. These footprints were also left in several other Rhode Island and possibly Connecticut locations.
In another story, the Devil and his dogs are enjoying themselves leaping from rock to rock before grabbing a bride and splashing into the Narragansett Bay. The quickness of his jumps and the heat of his cloven hooves left marks in the granite.
Time erased the stories from people’s memories and erased the rocky imprints from view until nearly 100 years later. In 1939 the land was given to the Rhode Island Historical Society and two years later the marks were spotted when the land was cleared for the construction of a railway line.
The rocky ledge is preserved now, and a safe distance from the roads and the railway line, but still difficult to find without a GPS and a sense of adventure. Be sure to stop at the nearby Dunkin’ Donuts or the Del’s Lemonade after your search, for a truly Rhode Island afternoon.
References:
I searched Medium to see if anyone else had written about the Devil’s footprints in Rhode Island, and it wasn’t long before the search results merged into “devil’s food cake,” after some articles about “devilish” “footballers.” I did find this one:
and this one:
both about the Devil’s footprints in Devon, England.
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