Black dog (folklore)
It is usually unnaturally large with glowing red or yellow eyes, is often connected with the Devil (as an English incarnation of the hellhound), and is sometimes an omen of death.
[1] It is sometimes associated with electrical storms (such as Black Shuck's appearance at Bungay, Suffolk),[2] and also with crossroads, barrows (as a type of fairy hound), places of execution and ancient pathways.
[49][50][51] A bed and breakfast in Lyme Regis is named The Old Black Dog, and part of the legend states that the man who discovered the treasure used it to build an inn that originally stood on the site.
[57] In the parish of Tring, Hertfordshire, a chimney sweep named Thomas Colley was executed by hanging in 1751 for the drowning murder of Ruth Osborne whom he accused of being a witch.
[58][34] In one tale a pair of men who encountered the dog saw a burst of flame before it appeared in front of them, big as a Newfoundland with the usual burning eyes and long sharp teeth.
[41] In Westmorland and adjacent parts of Yorkshire there was a belief in Capelthwaite, who could take the form of any quadruped but usually appeared as a large black dog.
He performed helpful services for the people on the farm such as rounding up the sheep, but toward outsiders he was very spiteful and mischievous until one day he was banished by a vicar.
At funerals, the presiding clergyman may see the dog looking out from the churchtower and determine from its "aspect" whether the soul of the departed was bound for Heaven or Hell.
One night a herdsman was journeying home across the moors and would have been overtaken by the Dandy Dogs, but when he knelt and began praying they went off in another direction in pursuit of other prey.
Popular conceptions of the Gabriel Hounds may have been partially based on migrating flocks of wild geese when they fly at night with loud honking.
In other traditions their leader Gabriel is condemned to follow his hounds at night for the sin of having hunted on Sunday (much like the Cornish Dando), and their yelping cry is regarded as a death omen similar to the birds of folklore known as the Seven Whistlers.
Years later two convicted prisoners told the chaplain that they would have robbed and murdered the wayfarer in the forest that night but were intimidated by the presence of the black dog.
[6] The Gytrash (or Guytrash) is a black dog and death omen of Northern England that haunts solitary ways and also takes the form of a horse, mule and cow.
Such a creature, known locally as Hairy Jack, is said to haunt the fields and village lanes around Hemswell, and there have been reported sightings throughout the county from Brigg to Spalding.
Rudkin, who claimed to have seen Hairy Jack herself, formed the impression that black dogs in Lincolnshire were mainly of a gentle nature, and looked upon as a spiritual protector.
It is mentioned by Sir Walter Scott in The Lay of the Last Minstrel: In Wakefield,[14] Leeds, Pudsey and some areas of Bradford the local version of the legend is known as Padfoot.
[80] The Skriker (or Shrieker[15]) of Lancashire and Yorkshire is a death omen like many others of its type, but it also wanders invisibly in the woods at night uttering loud, piercing shrieks.
According to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, the Yeth Hound is a headless dog, said to be the spirit of an unbaptised child, that rambles through the woods at night making wailing noises.
[89] Charles Hardwick notes that black coach legends are "relatively modernised versions" of Wild Hunt and "Furious Host" traditions.
They were usually kept tied up in the brugh (fairy mound) as watchdogs, but sometimes they accompanied the women during their expeditions or were allowed to roam about alone, making their lairs among the rocks.
They moved silently, had large paws the size of adult human hands, and had a loud baying sound that could be heard far out at sea.
[96] On mainland Normandy the Rongeur d'Os wanders the streets of Bayeux on winter nights as a phantom dog, gnawing on bones and dragging chains along with it.
[99][100] According to Catholic legend, a black dog attempted to steal Italian mystic Benedetta Carlini when she was a child in the 17th century, but her screams frightened him away.
By the time her mother arrived, the dog had disappeared, and Benedetta and her parents interpreted this incident as the work of a devil disguised as an animal.
[105] In the rural backroads of upstate South Carolina dwells another frequent spotting site of a black dog haunting travelers.
The Ghost Hound of Goshem Hill is said to aggressively prowl around Old Buncombe Road in Sumter National Forest; legend claims his master had been unjustly killed for a crime.
[106] In the lore of long-haul truckers, seeing a black dog with red eyes in your peripheral vision is a sign of a fatal crash being imminent, and that you should pull off immediately.
One of the most famous ghostly black dogs in fiction appears in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, where a large dog-like creature haunts a family estate.
[108] American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift released a bonus track entitled "The Black Dog" on a special edition of her studio album The Tortured Poets Department.
[110] In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, black hound is another name for the intelligent moon dog, which counter to expectations is a helpful creature bent on hunting evil.
