Media learned the origin of the legend of the girl with hooves, voting on the track

There are a huge number of different traces that, for various reasons, are classified as unexplained. We attribute only hoof-like tracks to this phenomenon, since in all cases of their appearance, common signs are distinguished, different from other phenomena in which the appearance of unusual tracks appears.

Hoof-like tracks in many cultures are traditionally associated with evil spirits... Different peoples consider devils, demons, devil, as well as witches with hooves instead of feet, damned, etc. as the source of their origin.

Thus, the phenomenon of "devil's footprints" will be considered hoof-like signs that have appeared on various surfaces that have certain signs of deviation from the norm (rate of occurrence, distance between prints, etc.)

The stories about "devil's footprints" are rooted in ancient times. The very first mention can be considered 929. In Japan, on the territory of the imperial palace, "devil's footprints" were observed.
The earliest written mention that we could find dates back to 1205. According to Ralph Kogeschell (who also described strange phenomena in his era), a 13th century writer, on July 19, 1205, strange hoof prints appeared after a severe thunderstorm.

The most famous incident is considered to be an incident called "Devil's Footprints in Devon", which may have taken place in February 1855 near the Aix estuary in South Devon. A brief description of this fact: On the night of February 7-8, 1855, at 1.00 or 2.00, after a heavy snowfall, hoof-like signs appeared on the snow. More than thirty locations in all of Devon and partly in Dorset. It was estimated that the total length of the route along which they met was between 40 and 100 miles. Houses, rivers, haystacks, fences, and other obstacles did not stop those who left these tracks: they were found on the roofs of houses, their walls up to 14 feet high, and even at the entrance and exit of small sewers with a diameter of four inches. The footprints were so named because some people believed they were Satan's footprints, as they were supposedly made with cloven hooves. Many theories have been put forward to explain the incident, and many aspects of it, as well as its credibility in general, were questioned even at that time; nevertheless, this event caused a rather serious (albeit short-term and quickly forgotten) mass hysteria.

There are very few primary sources for this event. The only known documents are documents found after the publication in 1950 of an article about the incident by the Devonshire Historical Society, which asked for help in finding additional information. After that, a collection of articles and letters from the 1850s Vicar Ellcombe was discovered, among which there is a letter to him from his friend Vicar McGraw, containing his letter to the newspaper The Illustrated London News, marked "Not for print" and with a drawing of footprints allegedly made from nature, and there were also found indications of other newspaper articles telling about this event; they also identified the identity of the first correspondent to tell about the traces: he turned out to be the future curator of one of Exter's museums, who at that time was 19 years old.

In total, there are four relatively reliable sources about the event, which are not far from him in time: letters from Ellacomb, a letter from McGraw, a report from Exter, and a certain letter from an anonymous author to one of the newspapers, in which he suggests that traces were left by otters. All subsequent articles, including those mentioned above, as well as the 1890 article by Busk, where he cited eyewitness accounts, reprinted in 1922, appeared much later than the events, so they should be treated with caution.

There are several other similar incidents reported in other parts of the world, although none were of the same magnitude as the Devon incident.

James Clark Ross wrote that during the Antarctic expedition of 1839-1843 on Kerguelen Island in 1840, he discovered strange horseshoe-shaped footprints - first on the ground, on the snow, and then on a rock where there was no snow. The tracks looked like the tracks of a horse or a donkey, but the expedition did not have such animals either on the island itself.

Fifteen years before the Devonian events, in 1840, The Times wrote that in Scotland, in Glen Orchy, on March 14, strange footprints, similar to prints of cloven hooves, were found at a distance of up to 12 miles. The one who left them was, judging by the depth of the tracks, large (about the size of a large foal) and limping at the same time.

The Illustrated London News in March 1855 published an article by a newspaper correspondent in Heidelberg, who, referring to an "authoritative Polish doctor of medicine", reported that on Sandy Hill in the Kingdom of Poland, on the border with Galicia, such traces were found in the snow (and sometimes in the sand) every year, and the locals believe they are being abandoned by a supernatural being.

1886: New Zealand.

1909: New Jersey, USA, beaches near Gloucester.

1945: Belgium.

1950: Devonshire (beach) again.

1952: Scotland.

1954: Brazil.

In the fall of 1957, an article by paranormal researcher Eric Dingwall titled "The Devil Walks Again" appeared in Tomorrow magazine. In it, in particular, the story of 26-year-old Colin Wilson (later a famous writer) was cited about how in the summer of 1950, on one of the deserted sea beaches of Devonshire, he saw on a smooth and dense surface of wet sand, compacted by sea waves, strange prints, similar on the footprints of the hooves.
1974: The slopes of Etna, Sicily.

1976: Alps near Nice and near Lake Siljan (Norway).

On March 12, 2009, there were reports in the press that, as if at night in Devon, the same tracks appeared again, photographs were even published, but official science did not give any comments on this matter.

This also includes various urban legends and stories about a woman with hooves. They do not have any specific geographic location. There are very similar references to people with hooves in almost the entire territory of modern Russia and neighboring countries. Distantly similar urban legends are already known in almost all parts of the world.

For example, in the Voronezh region the Verkhnyaya Khava and Kashirsky regions are famous for the appearance of "women with hooves". At the same time, the cases and stories of Upper Khava no longer describe the appearance of traces, but of the "woman" herself. The case that occurred in the Kashirsky district in 1997 is more likely similar to the Devonian one.

The hypotheses about the origin of the "devil's footprints" are similar to the hypotheses explaining the footprints from the Devon incident.

Researcher Mike Dash, who collected materials about this event over the years, summarized all the primary and secondary sources he found in the article "The Devil" s Hoofmarks: Source Material on the Great Devon Mystery of 1855. 1855 "), first published in Fortean Studies in 1994. He, without denying the reality of the fact as such, came to the conclusion that there was not and could not be any one" source "of the origin of the tracks: some of them almost certainly were hoax, some were left by quite ordinary four-legged animals - for example, donkeys or horses, and some - by mice.However, he admitted that this could not explain all the reports of footprints (especially those that were allegedly found in cities), and that "the mystery remains."

They can be conditionally divided into mystical, natural and mystification.

Natural

• Balloon. Author Jeffrey Househall speculated that an experimental balloon, mistakenly fired from Devonport, left the tracks through links at the ends of its mooring lines. The source of the story was a local resident, Major Carter, whose grandfather was working in Devonport at the time. Carter said the incident was hushed up because the balloon destroyed several conservatories, greenhouses and windows before it sank to the ground in Honton. Although this version can explain the shape of the tracks, it seems highly doubtful that the ball could follow such a strict trajectory for a long time without catching the ropes on a tree or other object.
• Jumping mice. The mentioned Mike Dash in his article points out that at least some of the tracks, especially those found on the roofs of houses, could well have been left by forest mice, which, due to the unusually cold weather, rushed into the cities. The footprint left in the snow after a mouse jump is similar to a forked hoof due to the movement of the mouse during the jump. Dash claims that the theory of the "mouse factor" appeared in The Illustrated London News in March 1855 (because an article about this event, despite the request of the vicar, was still published, the first time - on February 13). It was noticed that in some places the tracks seemed to be interrupted after all, which was explained by the attack on the mice by birds of prey (for example, owls), and supposedly even corpses of mice were sometimes found next to the tracks. The mouse could also climb walls and even crawl through pipes. Thus, to date, the version of forest mice is the only one that could at least partially explain this event from the point of view of science.
• Mass hysteria. In addition, it was often assumed that this whole story was the result of a sudden mass hysteria caused by the comparison of various traces of different origins (which could well have been left by cattle, badgers, otters, etc.) and their presentation as a single whole. This also includes the version of the origin of traces from known living beings.
• Kangaroo. In a letter to The Illustrated London News, Vicar McGrove wrote that there were rumors that a kangaroo had escaped from a private menagerie in Sidmouth. However, there are no sources of information on the reliability of this event, how a kangaroo could have crossed the estuary is not clear, and McGrove himself wrote then that he himself invented a story about a kangaroo in order to calm and distract his flock, who believed that their land had really visited Devil.

Mystical

• One-legged. According to one of the versions, expressed by an unknown person, traces were left by an animal called one-legged - it was reportedly first seen in 1001 on the island of Labrador by a certain Viking Björf Heriolsen; the animal had only one leg, but it moved with extraordinary speed. However, in the newspaper that published this version, it was said that one could rather believe that the Devil really left traces than believe in the existence of a one-legged person.
• Jack the jumper. The story of the Devil's Footprints has also been associated with Jack the Jumper, a character in the English urban legend of the time. But even if we assume that Jack the Jumper actually existed, then this version seems very doubtful. First, Jack did not appear in Devon at the time. Secondly, the description of the footprints of the "real" Jack exists, and according to it they are not similar to those found in Devon.

The Spring-Heeled Jack is a character in Victorian English folklore, a humanoid creature notable primarily for its ability to jump of astonishing heights. The earliest reports of Jack the Jumper appearing in London date from 1837. Later, its appearance was recorded in many places in England - especially in London itself, its suburbs, Liverpool, Sheffield, Midlands (central England) and even Scotland. The "peak" of messages was in the 1850s-1880s; despite the fact that a number of reports of meetings with Jack from England and even other countries came in the XX century, the last date of his appearance is considered to be 1904.

There are a large number of theories about the nature and personality of Jack the Jumper, but none of them is scientifically proven and does not give affirmative answers to all questions related to Jack's "activity". Thus, its history remains unexplained to this day, science does not know about the device with which a person could make jumps like Jack, and the fact of his real existence is disputed by a significant number of historians. The urban legend of Jack the Jumper was incredibly popular in England in the second half of the 19th century, primarily because of its unusual appearance, aggressive eccentric behavior (Jack often attacked people) and the aforementioned ability to make incredible jumps in height, up to the fact that Jack became the hero of several works of art in European "tabloid literature" of the XIX-XX centuries.

Jack the Jumper's story is significant in two ways. First, his image had a huge impact on the "comic-book culture" of the 20th century, and it was his attire that became the prototype of the "superhero (or supervillain) costume." Secondly, this is the only "rational mystical creature" in the history of mankind, whose "case" was discussed at the level of a state institution, which came to the recognition of its reality.

Hoax

• There are many versions of hoax methods. For example, that traces could have been left by some "unknown hot metal object."

Several Kazakhstani cities have one and the same urban legend at once - this is a story about a ghost girl with hooves voting on the highway, the Express-K newspaper writes.

This legend, which almost coincides in artistic details, is told in different cities - only the scene changes. In Almaty, this is a girl voting on the Kapshagai highway. And the drivers are unanimous that the ghost has such a sign as horse hooves. Most importantly, when the ghost begins to chase the car, you cannot turn around, because the driver's fear will give her strength and she will catch up with the unlucky traveler. In Astana and Karaganda, these are girls who became victims of killer taxi drivers who committed their atrocity outside the city.

And if the fellow traveler stops, then according to legend, a ghost girl, let into the car, asks to call her at home and say that everything is in order. She dictates the number, the driver calls, the girl's parents pick up the phone and say that their daughter is dead. The driver turns around. And makes sure the back seat is empty.

Note that almost every Kazakhstani knows about this legend. And she, as the newspaper notes, is not devoid of reason.

"The myth of the ghost has become so persistent that now at night some drivers, when they are driving alone, are afraid to pick up girls on the Kapshagai highway. I began to study this issue. It turns out that the legend is more than 20 years old. And, unfortunately, it is not without foundation. I found the relatives of the deceased girl - they still live in Almaty. According to them, taxi drivers constantly called them, informing them that they were taking their daughter. And then the parents took the mullah and went to the highway to read a prayer. Since then, the calls have stopped. .. Later, the legend migrated to other cities of Kazakhstan and became a part of local tales, "- quoted by the publication of an engineer from Almaty Merey Ryskeldiev.

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The story of a mystical girl with hooves, who terrorizes motorists on a night highway, is going to be filmed by director Aydar Espenbetov. He said this in an interview. The director explained that at the moment the script is already completely ready and an actress for the main role has been found.

Now he is busy solving the problem of realistic portrayal of horse legs with hooves, which are the main part of the frightening image. "There is a danger - if you make too fake, people will not believe. I want to do something semi-documentary. Therefore, we are puzzling over how to make such legs for a steppe beauty," he said. Espenbetov noted that he plans to test one experimental solution in the near future.

There are several versions of the story of the girl with hooves. In one of them, this is a woman in a raincoat, catching a ride on the Kapshagai track. According to the plot of the story, two guys stop to give a ride to a stranger. After talking with the guys, she is already starting to get into the car, but then the passenger, noticing that she has hooves, shouts to the driver to go. The guys try to escape, and the girl chases the car at breakneck speed for some time, looking straight into the eyes of the frightened people.

Another version, says Espenbetov, was told to him by people claiming to have personally seen the girl with hooves. This time, the events take place within the Almaty-Astana section of the highway behind the Shamalgan village, not far from the village of Zhangeldy. “My old acquaintance, whom we had not seen for a long time, suddenly began to tell how he and his wife were returning from Astana to Almaty in their own car. It was at night. She stood in the middle of the road, in a white dress, long black hair, Asian type of face, from under the dress, as my friend said, the lower part of a horse, a tail and two hooves. "Call", - reports the words of the eyewitness Espenbetov.

Another man told him that he saw the girl with hooves at a much closer distance. “He said that it was on this track that he was driving at night and, out of great fatigue, so as not to fall asleep, he parked and dozed off. According to the guy, from the chilling look of the girl he was paralyzed and he couldn't even move, he couldn't even look away. as he lay hunched over, he drove several kilometers, after which, apparently, the charm of the girl with hooves ceased to work, "says the director.

In conclusion, Espenbetov cited another story, this time from the perspective of three familiar drivers. “The drivers in three cars were driving to Astana. Our hero was the first in the column. The sudden appearance of a girl with hooves took him by surprise. He lost control. Attempts to keep the car on the road were unsuccessful, and he rolled over. After that accident he was called sleepyhead. According to the guys, the shepherds in that area are also some kind of strange. To my question: why? - they answer, and what would you be like when such a girl with hooves walks next to me ", - sums up the director.

Igor, Gleb and Vitya were driving along the night road. A few minutes ago, they left the city and were supposed to arrive at the sea by morning. Igor sat behind the wheel and glanced at his friends with displeasure.
“He said that we had to leave earlier!” He said.
Vitya looked at him from the passenger seat, drank beer from a bottle and said:
- Come on, grumble! The main thing is that we are already on our way!
-Yes, but I'm driving! You already didn’t let me sleep for half the night with your drunkenness, and we had to go before the morning!
-Do you want me to drive? - Gleb asked from the back seat in a drunken voice.
- You generally shut up there! - said Igor - Come back, you will wash the toilet!
Everyone fell silent. Vitya finished his beer and threw the empty bottle out the window.
“One more?” He asked, turning to Gleb.
-Let's!
- Brakes! - said Vitya to Igor.
-Yeah, now! I'll dig the worms! - Igor answered - Sit already! Or do you all want to drink, and sit on the sea and drool?
“Aren't there any shops there?” Gleb asked.
Igor did not answer anything. Calming himself, he focused on the road. Vitya and Gleb exchanged glances.
“Offended!” Vitya whispered to his friend.
- Can you shut up? - Igor asked raising his voice.
- Of course! - Vitya answered calmly and sat down in a more comfortable way.
Igor turned on the music. Gleb stared blankly out the window, but saw nothing there. Suddenly he smiled slyly:
- I'm puffy!
Igor sighed deeply, calming himself, and Vitya burst out laughing. Gleb also laughed at his joke.
- Shut up, assholes!
Suddenly Vitya stopped laughing and said:
-Look, ghost!
Everyone stared at the windshield.
On the side of the road stood a girl in a light long dress and caught a ride. The sleeves hid her arms, and the long blonde hair hid her face.
-What nafig a ghost? - said Igor.
Vitya giggled:
-The woman in white.
- Shall we take it? - Igor asked.
Vitya winked at Gleb and he nodded.
-Let's! She will stand like that until the morning!
Vitya stopped the car near the girl, at this time Gleb got out of the car and went to the trunk.
- Will I give you a lift? - asked Vitya.
-If it is possible. -Said the girl.
-Sit down!
Gleb also got into the car. In his hands he held two bottles of beer, one of which he handed to Vita.
-Where to take you to? - asked Vitya, looking at the girl in the mirror. She was sweet with lush hair, slender and, as it seemed to Vita, modest. It's amazing that she boldly got into the car with three guys she didn't know, two of whom were drunk.
-Up to the fairest village. -Said the girl.
Vitya turned to her.
-Can you find out the name of such a charming girl?
“Why do you need it?” She asked calmly.
-For communication! My name is Vitya, Gleb is sitting next to you, and our driver's name is Igor.
-Driver, then? - said Igor- Now someone will go on foot!
- Yes, I'm kidding! - Vitya patted his friend on the shoulder, then turned to the girl - We introduced ourselves, now it's your turn!
-What names are there?
Vitya choked on his beer at this answer. Gleb giggled and opened his beer bottle, dropping the lid on the floor. Igor saw it.
“Don't litter the car!” He said.
Gleb climbed to look for the cork, illuminating himself with a flashlight on the lighter, and Vitya cleared his throat and said:
-And you are a funny girl! Well, what is your name Katya?
-Beautiful.
Gleb got up from under the seats. Vitya saw that he was pale.
“Are you feeling bad?” He asked.
Gleb nodded:
-Yes, I feel bad! Stop the car!
With a sigh, Igor pulled over to the side of the road and stopped.
-Can I get in? - Gleb asked the girl pointing to the door.
She silently opened the door and left, letting Gleb through. But he slammed the door and shouted:
-Push on the gas!
-What? - in one voice the friends were surprised.
- She has hooves!
- You have a squirrel! - said Vitya.
Suddenly there was a blow to the glass, which was immediately covered with a network of cracks. Igor stepped on the gas and the car took off.
“Damn,” he shouted, “what the fuck?
Gleb was shaking, he even sobered up from fear.
“She had hooves instead of legs!” He said, “So big and covered with hair!
- Didn't it seem to you? - asked Vitya.
Gleb shook his head negatively.
Suddenly there was a strong blow and the car rocked.
-What ...- Igor did not finish. In the rear-view mirror, he saw the girl who was running after the car at a speed of at least eighty kilometers per hour!
Her dress was lifted above the knees and friends saw her powerful horse legs. Her hands were normal, but also ended in hooves.
- Turn on the gas! - shouted Gleb - She is catching up!
There was another strong blow and Igor at some point even thought that he would turn the car over. The speedometer needle rose to a hundred, the girl began to lag behind and soon disappeared into the darkness.
The friends rode in silence. Everyone was immersed in their own thoughts.
- We need to spend the night somewhere! - said Igor.
-What? - Vitya was surprised- Drive away from here!
-I want to sleep! Do you want us to roll over at that speed?
Vitya said nothing.
Igor slowed down a little and peered into the night. The music played softly. Gleb was looking at the broken glass and suddenly asked:
- I wonder where this creature came from?
Nobody answered.
-Hotel! - said Igor and turned off the road towards a pale sign illuminated by one lamp. The car stopped on a small heel near the entrance and the friends got out of the car. Looking around, they headed for the old two-story building.
Inside, it was also inconspicuous, in a small file they were met by a middle-aged man.
“I thought it seemed to me that someone had arrived!” He said.
-We would spend the night. - said Igor.
-It's possible. Until the morning or what?
-Until morning.
-Come .- the man led them to a table by the stairs. - It has been a long time since nobody was here! What brings you here?
-Girl with hooves. - Gleb whispered.
The man looked at his friends and asked:
- Have you seen the girl with hooves?
Igor glanced angrily at Gleb and answered:
-Yes. She crushed my whole car!
- Do you know what it is? - asked Vitya.
The man sighed, went to the table and sat down.
- She was once the daughter of a very famous surgeon. But once on this very track, a few kilometers from here, several guys raped her and mocked her. They cut off her hands, then her legs, and left her to die. Her father found her when she was dying. He saved her by sewing on the limbs of a horse that had settled nearby.
-But it's impossible! - said Vitya- Man and horse ...
-Her father did not hope for a miracle either! But she survived and turned into a monster!
- Where do you know this from? - asked Gleb.
Suddenly glass shattered behind them and the sound of hooves was heard. Horrified, the friends backed up the stairs. The footsteps froze.
Suddenly, a girl jumped out from around the corner and ran into three friends. She beat and trampled them with her hooves, while emitting human laughter mixed with a horse's whinny.
From somewhere in the distance, a man shouted:
-Don't do it, daughter! ..

This video not only blew up the Middle East internet, but also sparked a heated debate in Europe. Is it possible or not?

Sevda Alizade is a singer of Iranian origin living in the Netherlands. Wikipedia already gives her discography.

And what, in fact, is it? The image of a ghost girl with hooves instead of legs has long haunted not only clipmakers, but also film producers.

So, the film crew from Kazakhstan under the direction of the director Aydar Espenbetova back in 2016, she announced a short film with a similar plot. At that time, on Kazakh roads in the top there was a legend about a certain girl who stands by the road at night, wrapped in a raincoat, votes, and when one of the drivers stops, the lady throws off her raincoat and ... For the drivers, the story does not end very well.

In the case of the Kazakhs, however, the matter was never brought to an end. But the Dutch got confused and gave a video product to the mountain.

The video "Human", the one with the hooves, was released at the end of 2016 (congenially with the Kazakhs!). By and large, in Europe, disputes about scandalousness and the permissibility of such stories have already faded. And this year the Russians will have to express their opinion.

The fact is that the singer is coming to our country on a tour the other day. On August 20, she has her only performance in Moscow at the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art.

In the announcement about the singer, the following is reported:

Born in Tehran under the name Sevda Alizadeh, she lived in the Netherlands from the age of five and even managed to play for the national basketball team. But her electronic art-pop - catchy, vibrant and experimental - does not abandon her national roots. Alizade finds in the culture of Iran, closed to Europeans after the Islamic revenge, plots and stories that feed her creative impulse. Sevdaliza's career began in 2014, and the first album, released in 2017 on her own label, brought the singer comparisons with Bjork and made her a favorite of leading music publications. Approaching his recordings and performances as finished multimedia projects, Sevdaliza exploits the image of a seductive odalisque, which tells, under a hypnotizing digital beat, not intoxicating fairy tales, but hard truthful stories about modernity and the role of women in society.