The Devil's Footprint in Ipswich: Did the Devil Really Leave His Mark on a Rock?

On September 30, 1740, a young English preacher named George Whitefield arrived in Ipswich during a period of intense religious revival known as the First Great Awakening. Whitefield wasn't an ordinary visiting minister. He was one of the most celebrated preachers of his time, known for his powerful voice and dramatic sermons, and people traveled considerable distances to hear him speak.

On that September morning, thousands reportedly gathered to listen. The crowd was so large that, according to local tradition, Whitefield preached outdoors near the meetinghouse on Town Hill. This part of the story has a real historical foundation: Whitefield documented his Ipswich appearance in his journal, recording that he preached to thousands and that his sermon deeply moved the congregation.

What happened next, however, belongs to the world of North Shore folklore.

According to one version of the legend, the Devil had been hiding inside the church. Some storytellers placed him behind a large mirror near the pulpit. Others said he had made himself comfortable in the church's upper structure, watching the townspeople and listening to their prayers. On this particular morning, he apparently picked the wrong sermon to attend.

As Whitefield preached about sin, judgment, and repentance, his words became too much for the unwelcome listener, and the Devil burst from his hiding place. Imagine the scene as generations of storytellers have described it: a crowd gathered outside the meetinghouse, a preacher delivering an impassioned sermon, and suddenly a supernatural visitor making a dramatic appearance.

In some versions, Whitefield confronted the Devil and chased him toward the top of the church. In others, the preacher's commanding voice alone was enough to send him fleeing. Whatever version you hear, the ending is nearly always the same. The Devil leaped from the church and landed on the rocks below, and when he struck the granite, one of his cloven hooves supposedly left a deep impression.

Terrified by the preacher, he fled Ipswich, never to return. At least, that's what the legend says.

The curious thing about this story is that the rock really exists. On the northwest side of Meetinghouse Green, near First Church, an indentation in an exposed ledge has long been identified as the Devil's Footprint. The church buildings have changed over the centuries, and generations of Ipswich residents have come and gone, yet the mark remains.

The explanation offered by geology is considerably less dramatic than the legend. The rock is ancient, and the indentation is understood to be a naturally formed feature resulting from geological processes and weathering. The ledge itself is far older than the story told about it, which puts the mark in perspective.

But geology doesn't explain why people began associating this particular mark with the Devil. For that, we have to look at the beliefs and imagination of colonial New England.

In eighteenth-century Massachusetts, religion played a central role in public and private life. The First Great Awakening brought powerful sermons, large gatherings, and intense discussions about salvation, morality, and the supernatural. The Devil was not simply a character in an entertaining story. Many colonists believed Satan could actively interfere in human affairs.

Ipswich had already experienced the anxieties surrounding witchcraft accusations during the previous century. Against that background, a dramatic legend about a famous preacher defeating the Devil would have been particularly memorable.

But here's an important historical detail. Although Whitefield's 1740 sermon is documented, the earliest identified published version of the Devil's Footprint legend appeared more than a century later, around 1845. Researchers associated with the Devil's Footprint Project note that Whitefield was not explicitly connected to the story in print until later in the nineteenth century. That doesn't tell us exactly when the story first circulated orally, but it does mean we cannot treat the supernatural confrontation as an eyewitness account from 1740.

When we picture the Devil leaping from a New England church steeple, it's easy to imagine the tall white spire familiar in so many historic Massachusetts towns. But the building standing on Meetinghouse Green in 1740 looked quite different. It was the third meetinghouse of First Church, constructed in 1699.

Historical descriptions indicate a substantial timber-framed structure with multiple roof gables, galleries, and a central turret. The soaring church steeple commonly imagined in retellings belongs more naturally to later church architecture.

This is one of my favorite details, because it shows how legends change over time. As the physical town changed, the story changed with it.

What makes the Devil's Footprint particularly fascinating is that the legend hasn't simply been forgotten or confined to old history books. In September 2025, Ipswich held its first Devil's Footprint folklore event, bringing together historical storytelling, music, and a reenactment inspired by Whitefield's famous visit. The event returned on October 4, 2026, with another celebration of the town's unusual history.

Imagine that. A strange indentation in a rock has inspired generations of stories and now an annual community celebration.

The footprint is in the exposed rock on the northwest side of Meetinghouse Green, near North Main Street, right beside First Church at 1 Meetinghouse Green, Ipswich, MA 01938. It's easy to pass the church, admire the historic buildings, and continue on your way without realizing that one of the North Shore's strangest legends is literally beneath your feet.

The next time you're in downtown Ipswich, take a few minutes to look for it. And if you're curious about what it's like to call this town home, this answer about living in Ipswich is a good place to start.

So, did the Devil really leave his footprint in Ipswich? There's no historical evidence of a supernatural encounter. The unusual mark in the rock has a natural geological explanation.

But George Whitefield really did preach in Ipswich in 1740. Thousands reportedly gathered to hear him. And sometime afterward, an extraordinary story grew around that event and a curious indentation in the stone. More than two centuries later, the legend is still being told, and perhaps that's the most interesting part of all.

How many other ordinary-looking places around the North Shore have extraordinary stories waiting to be discovered? That's one of the reasons I enjoy exploring the history of our coastal communities. From Ipswich and Essex to Beverly, Gloucester, and Rockport, there is so much more to these towns than what we see driving through them.