Need help with "The Devil's Footprint"

[Zebra]

Hello all,

I just returned from trying to locate the devils footprint in North Kingston......No luck.

I should have had more specific directions, but being the intrepid idiot I am I pulled the ole "I'll figure it out."

I did find the Chief Sachem Canonicus grave marker, and thought the footprint was on that same granite outcrop. After returning I came to the website and re-visited the DF album and now realize that although the two location are close, they are not part of the same rock.

Can anyone give me a more specific guideline to follow to find the DF rock? Any reference from the Chief Sachem Canonicus  marker would make it even easier.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Zebra

[skully]

I'm hoping either Dakiel or Clutch pops on to answer this.  It's been a while since I've been there and with the recent clearing of the area, Clutch may have some better landmarks for you.  Clutch?  Dakiel?

[Zebra]

Thanks Skully...That would be great.

I'm planning on going back Thursday. I downloaded a Satelite Image of the area and placed a Red Dot on the spot where the Chief Sachem Canonicus grave marker is.


So if one of those guys or anyone who might know could grap the image below and place an "X" or a Dot where the actual footprint is it would be very much apprciated.

Thanks Again

~Zebra

[Zebra]

UPDATE:

Just got back from DFR and I found it this time......If it had teeth I would be in the Emergency Room getting stitched up right now.

Unfortunetely the print was filled with rock hard frozen water, so the pics aren't very impressive. I'll return in Spring for better photos, and post an album in the Member's Galleries with what I have today.

~Zebra

[skully]

Way cool Zebra.  How far from the red dot is the location?

[Zebra]

Right on the South side of the Railroad tracks......You can actually see the ledge through the tree from Post Road if you look hard enough.

Sorry for the blur in the text. BMPs don't transfer well to JPG with text, but the rock is the lower Red Dot.

[Zebra]

Damn Winter Ice.....LOL

I was going to chip at it but figured I might hit the actual rock and damage it......Then lighting a fire over it came to mind....Dropped that idea when I saw all the dry leaves and pine needles close by.....Oh well...It's only 20 minutes away and I know where it is now so I can wait until spring.

~Zebra

[holoroses]

I'm intrigued to see this as a topic here!  When I was a kid I went to summer camp at URI's Alton Jones campus and Devil's Foot Rock was one of the sites our camp counselors took us to.  The story they told to explain it was that a farmer who lived nearby had been experiencing a lot of livestock deaths, and had set up alarms and traps to ward off predators, but to no avail.  His barn or shed soon burned down.  He became really angry/scared/etc. and sat awake one night trying to catch whoever was doing this and ended up chasing a mysterious creature into the woods, where it jumped on the rock which then cracked or something, and vanished into the earth.

My memories of this a really hazy so that might be a bit off, but that's the gist of what they told us.

They also made us play a game of lying above tombstones in an old graveyard and not moving.  Kind of morbid for summer camp, now that I think about it

[skully]

Great story.  I guess that there are a couple different stories floating around.  Just love that folklore!

[Zebra]

There are 3 stories I am aware of. (Two before reading the above post.)

The first is that it is the devil's own footprint made when he went to jump over to Pergatory Chasm (In Middletown) to dump in an Indian Girl that had killed a "White Man"...This folklore probably comes from early colonists trying to sway the native americans into christanity.

The 2nd is it is the hoof print of the Devil's Horse as it rode through the countryside pulling Peter Rugg's carriage. Peter Rugg is some person from the 1700s, that along with his young daughter went missing on a carriage ride to south county....They are supposed to be seen today on stormy nights reacting their ride.........If you believe in that kinda stuff.

My conclusion...after much research...is that it is a wonderfully, strange, geologic formation.....Basically....a dumb rock.

~Zebra