According to a centuries-old legend from Ipswich, Massachusetts, one of the most famous preachers of the Great Awakening once got into a literal fight with Satan.
On September 30, 1740, the Rev. George Whitefield really did preach in Ipswich. The legend that grew around that visit claims his sermon made the Devil so furious that he revealed himself, confronted Whitefield, and started a fight that eventually carried them all the way up the church steeple.
That was a mistake.
Whitefield supposedly threw Satan from the church, sending him crashing onto the rocks below. The Devil escaped, but according to the story, he left behind a scorched hoofprint in the stone.
And you can still see the mark today.
The strange indentation known as the Devil’s Footprint sits beside First Church in Ipswich. The story itself developed long after Whitefield's actual visit, with the earliest known printed version appearing in the nineteenth century. Over time, Satan has been described as jumping, falling, fleeing, and getting straight-up yeeted off the church by an angry preacher.
Personally, I prefer that last version.
So join me for the history, folklore, changing versions of the legend, and the very important question of whether Satan ever left Reverend Whitefield a bad Yelp review.
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Sources:
The Devil’s Footprint Project, Ipswich, Massachusetts
Roadside America, “Devil’s Footprint”
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