The Church Where People Line Up To Stand In The Devil's Footprint

Publish date: 2024-04-22

The story of The Devil's Footprint says that von Halsbach, dismayed at his cathedral's progress, made a deal (exactly how isn't specified) with the Devil to help him complete construction. In return, the Devil wanted the cathedral built to honor him and not God, by blocking all light from entering the building. Indeed, the current cathedral is a bit on the dark side, and there are big white columns that block a lot of light coming in from the windows, but there are still windows. Von Halsbach completed the cathedral — good on him — and didn't pass along the blueprints to the Devil. The Lord of Darkness showed up after-the-fact, and blammo, he was upset that von Halsbach had gone back on his word. (No mention at this point whether or not von Halsbach received any otherworldly punishment for his transgression.)

And the footprint? Naturally, the Devil slammed his foot into the floor in the narthex (near the entrance) and left an imprint there. Since then, the cathedral has been pummeled by the "devil's wind," but continues to stand strong, thanks to some super-duper architectural skills on the part of von Halsbach. And yes, the cathedral is a rather wind-buffeted place. At present, visitors can stand in line and wait to plant their foot in the outline of Der Teiufelstritt, and imagine that they're stepping into the shoes of an immortal entity. 

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