Līdumnieki Devil’s Foot Stone

When inspecting the Līdumnieki Devil’s Foot Stone in 1976, it was found immured in the foundation of the Līdumnieki residential house to the right from the porch; the footprint sign had been left in the outward edge and was well visible. At the end of 1980s the house was built anew and the stone was immured in the W side foundation of the new building so that the footprint is bound outwards. This situation was documented in 1996. At the moment of the inspection there was a lack of information on the building reconstruction therefore the stone was not recorded. The Līdumnieki Devil’s Foot Stone has been widely described and measured in earlier times. The stone was blasted already at the beginning of 1920s, however, the fragment with the footprint has luckily survived and immured in the foundation of the old Līdumnieki residential house. The initial location of the footprint stone was at the side of the Kolterkalns Hill valley about 200 m to the south from the Līdumnieki manor. The big stone with approximately one cubic metre volume had not just a human footprint, but also those of several animals – as if those of a dog, cat or hare. After blasting the stone, another – bigger – stone turned out to be below this one. Nearby the footprint stone there were two other big stones. The Līdumnieki Devil’s Foot Stone might have been mentioned in the book by F. Krūze Necrolivonica already in 1842. The Līdumnieki Devil’s Foot Stone appears in many legends about the Devil’s actions in carrying and losing the stone. There are still other concrete sites nearby mentioned in the legends: Turķi homestead, Hell Corner, Jāņupe River, Kolterkalns Hill, Dzirciems village etc. The Līdumnieki Devil’s Foot Stone is a typical footprint stone which has once been a typical element of the ancient sacred landscape.