The Dance Hall Devil is the subject of an urban legend common to the American southwest. According to the stories, a small town is holding a festival and dance at night when a handsome and charming young gentleman shows up. He asks to dance with a lady, and she accepts, though something seems off about him. During the dance, she happens to look down at his feet, and sees that they are cloven hooves (in some versions of the story, he has the feet of a chicken or a forked tail). Realizing that he has been discovered, the man, who is actually the Devil in disguise, laughs and disappears in a flash of fire and brimstone. In some versions of the story, he takes the lady he was dancing with away with him. In others, it is the band at the dance hall who realize the stranger's true identity, and they drive him away by playing a church hymn.
In a similar story, the Devil appears in disguise to a group of men gambling at cards, joining their game. One of the men accidentally drops one of his cards and, when he leans under the table to pick it up, he sees the stranger's inhuman feet. The Devil disappears, melting the silver coins on the table into the shape of a cross.