The Man Who Left Footprints on the Ceiling, 1976

In February 1976, police in Allerton, Pennsylvania, kicked open the door of an abandoned row house and found a trail of muddy footprints stepping in a straight line across the living room ceiling, five feet above the floor. The soles matched a size twelve men’s work boot, dried so fresh the mud hadn’t cracked. Below, there wasn’t a single speck of dirt on the floor-just dust, and untouched furniture covered in sheets. No ladders or ropes, nothing that could’ve reached the ceiling, and the windows were nailed shut from the inside. Neighbors told officers the house had been empty for three months, and yet, the prints seemed almost new. Curious townspeople crowded in, some trying and failing to match the prints to their own boots, others insisting it was a prank. But the officers never found a way up, and no one ever claimed the size twelve boots-and today, the ceiling with those footprints is still there, unfaded, in the house no one wants to live in.