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shy
Crypt Keeper
Australia
265 Posts |
 Posted - 10 March 2003 : 20:25:11
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Uncanny black dogs are no strangers to east Anglia, for in a great storm in 1577 a black demon dog appeared in Bungay church yard and brought havoc with him. According to an old pamphlet, he departed leaving two parishioners dead at their prayers and another 'as shrunken as a piece of leather burned in a hot fire'.
Demon dogs have haunted different parts of England, and particularly East Anglia, for over a thousand years. In the eastern counties, the spectral hound is generally known as black shuck; shuck being derived from the Celtic scucca, the Anglo-Saxon for demon.
Unlike dogs of this world, black shuck seems more attached to places than to people. he has always walked alone, loping along river banks and lonely roads, or leaping over churchyard walls and vanishing amongst the tombstones. The appearance and characteristics of black shuck vary from place to place. he seems to emerge only at dusk, and is usually described as a shaggy creature the size of a calf, easily recognisable by his saucer sized eyes ( or sometimes eye) weeping red or green fire.
In Suffolk, black shuck is believed to be fairly harmless if left alone, but when challenged he has been known to strike his aggressor senseless, and death usually follows. At Clopton Hall, Stowmarket, where he guards a hoard of gold, his appearance is especially frightening, for he has the body of a monk and the head of a hound. Often, in Suffolk, he can only be detected by
the touch of his rough coat as he passes.
The Norfolk shuck is a more sinister hound, more akin to the werewolves that
supposedly haunted this area in the middle ages. He is an awful creature, as black as ebony, whose fiendish howls have been heard above the shrieks of the wildest gales. Terrified people have sensed black shuck padding behind them and felt his icy breath on the back of their necks. Even today, motorists have reported swerving to avoid him whilst crossing the road.
There is a popular belief in Norfolk that no one can set eyes on black shuck and live. In east Anglia generally, when anyone was dying, people used to say 'the black dog is at his heels'.
The Essex shuck, however, is a kindly hound and has been known to protect travellers on lonely roads.
The Cambridgeshire shuck, like the Norfolk counterpart, is sinister. He is sometimes seen between Wicken and the marshes of Spinney Abbey. Those who encounter him should look the other way, since his appearance is said to warn of death in the family.
The black dogs are heard of all over the British Isles, especially on deserted roads. They are roughly the size of a calf and they move in utter silence, except of the clicking of their claws. The chill despondency and despair these dogs cause is the reason why there are no detailed descriptions of their appearance. While a companion is no guarantee for safety, since one might see the dog and the other not, it offers a better protection than walking alone. It is said that the best companion is a descendant of Ean MacEndroe of Loch Ewe. He rescued a fairy once and in return he and his descendants were given perpetual immunity from the power of the black dogs.
A monstrous dog with huge teeth and claws from the area around Yorkshire, northern England. It only appears at night. People believe that anyone who sees the dog clearly will die soon after the encounter. In Wales, they have the red-eyed Gwyllgi, the Dog of Darkness. On the Isle of Man it is called Mauthe Doog.
From: "James Whyley" james@joinme.demon.co.uk
Shy
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Black Dogs
