The Mystery Tracks

In February 1855 in the region around South Devon, England, mysterious tracks appeared in the newly-fallen snow. They continued in a straight line (or, by some accounts, zig-zagged) for tens of miles, perhaps a hundred miles, and seemed to be unbothered by the presence of obstacles like walls and roofs, continuing straight over them. They were dubbed "The Devil's Footprints."

These are not the same thing.



It's been a fairly sporadic Winter this year. Occasional snowfalls, some heavy, followed by complete thaws, and followed soon after by another snowfall. The longest between thaws has been a little more than two weeks. Last Wednesday we were brushed by a major storm that amounted to very little here in Nanticoke; the snow melted as it hit the sidewalks and streets, and added a few inches of fluff to the snow on the lawns. Then a surprise snowstorm hit Thursday night, dropping another inch or two before sunrise on Friday - almost all of which melted by mid-afternoon.

Still, each snowfall calls for a response, and each one resulted in another treatment of the roads. Often this treatment is with brine, a liquid salt solution which, when it dries, leaves a powdery layer of salt on the roads. This powder can cause tire tracks to show up very clearly on the road surface. And Saturday night, something else left a track.

I have no idea what it was. I have a feeling it's something very obvious, the sort of thing that produces an "oh, of course" realization. It looks like something, or a pair of somethings, dragged itself along the road in a straight line, leaving tracks about two feet long and terminating in a ring about four inches across.

Sometimes two rings side-by-side.

So what left these tracks? Ar first I thought some sort of vehicle, but what would make these tracks look like this? Someone scuffing their feet? Then what caused the circles? Someone bouncing a basketball? Then what are the drag marks, and why are some of the circles so close together?

With a quarter for scale.

The tracks move in straight lines that sometime pivot at the circles, leaving choppy arcs. The tracks seem to begin abruptly at the curb at one end of the block, and continue for about a hundred feet or so, terminating again at the curb near a utility pole.

Oil track left by garbage truck. Garbage trucks always dribble oil.

I have no idea what caused these, and, sadly, the evidence is currently being erased by another snowfall which may leave another three inches before I have to leave for work in the morning. Perhaps I will get a chance to see similar tracks left in snow, rather than salt dust!