Footprints in Stone

Janet Bord

From the earliest humans to the present day, there has always been a compulsion to 'leave one's mark': early cave art includes thousands of hand outlines, while many churches in Britain have foot outlines inscribed in lead and stone. These two extremes span almost 30,000 years during which time all kinds of persons, real and legendary, have left visible traces of themselves. Most of the footprints - and hand-prints, knee-prints, and impressions of other body parts - are clearly not real, having allegedly been impressed into rocks around the world by such high-profile figures as the Buddha, Vishnu, Jesus Christ, and the Virgin Mary, as well as a vast panoply of saints, whose footprint traces and associated stories occupy two chapters. The Devil has a whole chapter to himself - but giants, villains and heroes, such as King Arthur, also feature strongly alongside Witches, fairies, ghosts and assorted spirits. Modern mysterious footprints have been left by monsters such as Bigfoot, or aliens who have briefly stepped out of their spacecraft. Hundreds of imprints are described in this book, which concludes with location details for more than 100 imprint sites all around the world.