History Main / FootprintsOfMuck

* Subverted in ''Literature/BreakfastOfChampions''. When Kilgore Trout arrives in Midland City, he takes off his shoes and socks, rolls up his trouser legs and wades through the concrete trough of Sugar Creek. He intends to walk into the new Holiday Inn leaving muddy footprints on the front carpet to make somebody outraged and to answer them with an artistic statement about "man's first printing press." However, his feet leave no marks on the carpet, having been encased in a fast-drying clear plastic substance being illegally dumped into Sugar Creek by Barrytron.

* In ''Film/{{Constantine}}'', when Satan appears in a fairly well-dressed manner, but his feet are bare and covered in muck.

* In the 1941 film ''Film/CatPeople'', there is a trail of muddy animal prints that turn into a human [[MagicPants shoe prints]].

[[quoteright:350:[[FirstEncounterAssaultRecon http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monoliths-paranormal-project-2-untitled-20070807044812054-000.jpg]]]]

* A version happens in the first ''Literature/KaraNoKyoukai'' movie with a puppy dog that walks by the main character tracking blood. We then see the body of someone who just jumped off a building and the resulting pool of blood.
* In the opening sequence of ''Visualnovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'', Rena walks barefoot on some broken glass and drips blood onto the floor.
* ''ElfenLied'': Lucy in the beginning of the first episode [[spoiler: where she's naked and walks through the pools of blood of the people she slaughtered]] and in the second episode when she's fighting Bandou.
** In the tenth episode [[spoiler: after she kills Kouta's father and sister]], she's seen standing in a pool of their blood.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''{{Asterix}} in Switzerland''. After falling in the river, Asterix and Obelisk hide from the Romans in a hotel owned by a sympathiser, but unfortunately end up tracking muddy footprints all over the place. The obsessively neat Swiss isn't happy about the prints, especially when he has to muck up the place even more by walking around in their muddy shoes to convince a Roman search party that he left the footprints himself after going for a stroll.

* In the movie ''Film/{{Constantine}}'', when Satan appears in a fairly well-dressed manner, but his feet are bare and covered in muck.
* Played for laughs in ''ScaryMovie II''. The characters find a trail of bright red footprints leading down the hallway, prompting one of the male characters to comment "Ew! Someone's on the rag!"

* ''Series/TheGoodies''. In the Kitten Kong episode the ComicTrio follow the [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever huge paw prints]] of Tinkles the Kitten across London on their three-seater bicycle, and keep running into things because the giant purrball can just step over objects they can't.

* ''Franchise/SilentHill''. Several of the games, if not every one of them. The first game and some of the others actually measure how far your trail of monster-blood footprint is.
** In ''SilentHill3'', there are disembodied bloody footprints acompanied by the sounds of a crying young girl that lead you past a few obstacles and help you find hidden areas. No explanation is given for this.

* ''You'' do this in ''SecondSight'' if you step in blood, and the {{Mook}}s freak out accordingly, particularly if you're in their line of sight but invisible.
* In ''{{Kuon}}'', if your character walks through a pool of blood they will trail bloody footprints for a while afterwards.
* The Footprint Passages in ''YumeNikki''. This being a SurrealHorror game, there's no explanation, but it's still creepy.

* At the beginning of ''{{Exmortis}} 2'' the player encounters an invisible being that reveals itself to you by treading across the floor with bloody feet.
----

* In the ''FirstEncounterAssaultRecon'' games, bloody footprints mean Alma's child version (this page's poster girl) is around.

* Scrying in ''CliveBarkersUndying'' will sometimes show bloody footprints, showing you how to get through some puzzles.

* Played entirely straight in ''TheLastSamurai'', when Tom Cruise walks in the Japanese house with his boots on, and he realizes when he sees his host cleaning the muddy footprints behind him that this just ''isn't'' done.

* In the 1941 film ''Film/CatPeople'', there is a trail of muddy animal prints that turn into a human shoe prints.

* Child Alma in the first ''FirstEncounterAssaultRecon'' game.

FootFocus typically comes into play here. If the footprints appear to have been made by a werewolf or some other sort of beast then it's HumanToWerewolfFootprints.

* In the opening sequence of ''Visualnovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'', Rena walks on some broken glass and drips blood onto the floor.

* ''SilentHill''. Several of the games, if not every one of them. The first game and some of the others actually measure how far your trail of monster-blood footprint is.
** In SilentHill3, there are disembodied bloody footprints acompanied by the sounds of a crying young girl that lead you past a few obstacles and help you find hidden areas. No explanation is given for this.

* ''TheRing'' did this with Samara after she came out of the television, in the form of water from an old well.

* This happens in the ''Fathers Day'' segment of ''{{Creepshow}}''.
* In the 1941 film ''Cat People'', there is a trail of muddy animal prints that turn into a human shoe prints.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''{{Asterix}} in Switzerland''. After falling in the river, Asterix and Obelisk hide from the Romans in the house of a sympathiser, but unfortunately end up tracking muddy footprints all over his house. The obsessively neat Swiss isn't happy about the prints, especially when he has to muck up his house even more by walking around in their muddy shoes to convince a Roman search party that he left the footprints himself after going for a walk.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''{{Asterix}} in Switzerland''. After falling in the river, Asterix and Obelisk hide from the Romans in the house of a sympathiser, but unfortunately end up tracking muddy footprints all over his house. The obsessively neat Swiss isn't happy about the prints, especially when he has to muck up his house even more by walking around in their muddy shoes to convice a Roman search party that he left the footprints himself after going for a walk.

* ''{{Asterix}} in Switzerland''. After falling in the river, Asterix and Obelisk hide from the Romans in the house of a sympathiser, but unfortunately end up tracking muddy footprints all over his house. The obsessively neat Swiss isn't happy about the prints, especially when he has to muck up his house even more by walking around in their muddy shoes to convice a Roman search party that he left the footprints himself after going for a walk.

* This also occurs in ''Film/HowlsMovingCastle'', when Howl [[spoiler: turns into his true form and leaves wet footprints across the floor, waking up Sophie]].

----

[[quoteright:350:[[{{FirstEncounterAssaultRecon}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monoliths-paranormal-project-2-untitled-20070807044812054-000.jpg]]]]

Remember when your parents wanted to keep the floors in the house looking nice and clean so they'd remind you to wipe your shoes off before you came in?

This trope is typically used to increase suspense. Therefore it happens in horror or drama themed works.

* ''{{Doom}}'' 3 pulls off one scare by having bloody footprints appearing out of nowhere as something invisible walks away from you towards a locked door.

<<|HorrorTropes|>>

* In the movie ''{{Constantine}}'', when Satan appears in a fairly well-dressed manner, but his feet are bare and covered in muck.

* ''TheGoodies''. In the Kitten Kong episode the ComicTrio follow the [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever huge paw prints]] of Tinkles the Kitten across London on their three-seater bicycle, and keep running into things because the giant purrball can just step over objects they can't.

* A version happens in the first ''KaraNoKyoukai'' movie with a puppy dog that walks by the main character tracking blood. We then see the body of someone who just jumped off a building and the resulting pool of blood.
* In the opening sequence of ''HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'', Rena walks on some broken glass and drips blood onto the floor.

* Done subtly on the first page of ''{{Watchmen}}'' when the red-head prophet-of-doom walks casually across the puddle of the Comedian's blood, trailing bloody footprints.

** In SilentHill3, there are adisembodied bloody footprints acompanied by the sounds of a crying young girl that lead you past a few obstacles and help you find hidden areas. No explanation is given for this.

[[AC:Literature]]
* This also occurs in ''HowlsMovingCastle'', when Howl [[spoiler: turns into his true form and leaves wet footprints across the floor, waking up Sophie]].
** Dude, example misfiled: the only transforming the ''book'' Howl does is into a dog to go to his mentor's funeral, and then in the dramatic WizardsDuel with the Witch of the Waste afterward. Sophie does not sleep through this. The freaky bird thing was all on Miyazaki.

* Done subtly on the first page of ''{{Watchmen}}'' when [[spoiler: Rorschach]] walks casually across the puddle of the Comedian's blood, trailing bloody footprints.

[[{{FirstEncounterAssaultRecon}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monoliths-paranormal-project-2-untitled-20070807044812054-000.jpg]]

* ''{{Doom}}'' 3 pulls of one scare by having bloody footprints appearing out of nowhere as something invisible walks away from you towards a locked door.