Black Shuck - Hound of Hell?

Black Shuck - Hound of Hell? 

   

Black Shuck

    Black Shuck, sometimes known as ‘Old Shuck’, ‘Old Shuck’ or even just ‘Shuck’ is a legendary ghostly black dog appearing in English legends that is said to roam the coastline and countryside of East Anglia. Tales of the animal are found, for the most part, in Norfolk, Suffolk, the Cambridgeshire fens and Essex.

    One tale in particular springs to mind, that of its appearance on the 4^th of August 1577 at Bungay and Blythburgh, and it is possibly the most well -known report of the creature in which reports of the beast charging in through the entrance of St Mary's Church in Bungay, accompanied by the obligatory peals of thunder, then running up the nave, past the congregation, killing a man and boy en- route, before somehow causing the church steeple to collapse through the roof. After this the tale relates further that its rampage continued as it then ran on to Blythburgh Church where it attacked and killed more people.  Some local accounts claim it to be the work of the Devil and, strangely enough there are scorch marks still visible on the church doors there which are still called by the locals "the devil’s fingerprints"

    The event is remembered, quite darkly, in this verse -
"All down the church in midst of fire, the hellish monster flew, and, passing onward to the quire, he many people slew".

      Bungay Coat of Arms-

The Latin may loosely be translated as

‘Our ways have stood the test of time’

  

    One description, by W A Dutt, in his 1901 book ‘Highways & Byways in East reads, ‘He takes the form of a huge black dog, and prowls along dark lanes and lonesome field footpaths, where, although his howling makes the hearer's blood run cold, his footfalls make no sound. You may know him at once, should you see him, by his fiery eye; he has but one, and that, like the Cyclops', is in the middle of his head. But such an encounter might bring you the worst of luck: it is even said that to meet him is to be warned that your death will occur before the end of the year. So you will do well to shut your eyes if you hear him howling; shut them even if you are uncertain whether it is the dog fiend or the voice of the wind you hear. Should you never set eyes on our Norfolk ‘Snarleyow’ you may perhaps doubt his existence, and, like other learned folks, tell us that his story is nothing but the old Scandinavian myth of the black hound of Odin, brought to us by the Vikings who long ago settled down on the Norfolk coast’

    

‘Scorched claw marks’ of Black Shuck on the
 Church door, Holy Trinity Blythburgh

   Despite this dark tale there are, as with most legends, variants not only on the appearance of the beast but as to its nature too.  In the most southerly point of sightings, the Maldon and Dengie area of Essex, to witness the appearance of Black Shuck signifies an almost immediate death yet other stories tell of Black Shuck merely terrifying his victims but leaving them otherwise unharmed, whilst some portray him as being benign even escorting women on their way home to protect them and even helping lost travellers find their way home.

   There are Black Dogs in most regions folklore, Devon has its ‘Yeth Hound’ (or Yell Hound) - a headless dog, said to be the spirit of an unbaptised child, that rambles through the woods at night making wailing noises. It is also mentioned in the Denham Tracts, a 19th-century collection of folklore by Michael Denham. It may have been one inspiration for the ghost dog in The Sherlock Holme’s story ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ that roamed Dartmoor by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle which was described as ‘an enormous coal-black hound, but not such a hound as mortal eyes have ever seen with fire in his eyes and breath’

    In the same region can be found the tales of the ‘Wisht’ or Wish Hounds, which may well be another version of the Yeth Hounds. Wistman's Wood on Dartmoor in southern Devon is said to be their home and it from there that they are said to scour the lands in search of prey with their preferred haunts being Abbot's Way (a road) and the valley of the Dewerstone. There is even a tale that tells of  the ghost of Sir Francis Drake driving a black hearse coach on the road between Tavistock and Plymouth at night, drawn by headless horses and accompanied by demons and a pack of headless yelping hounds.

   Sidney Paget's illustration of The Hound of the Baskervilles

    As to be expected, tales of ‘Black Dogs’ can be found across the world- and yes all the legends seem to be very , very similar . A shared memory or purely down to ideas spreading as cultures intermixed?  Something to ponder on. Saying that , if you have any thoughts on this , or local legends to share please feel free to post them up here in the comment box and ...if you're feeling kindly disposed towards this blog please share it and / or recommend it to all and any who you think may like it . 

Many thanks

D W Storer 2018/2019