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while poking around online i found a site that talked about The black dog. here is a little on it, and the web site can people tell any more about this or tell what you have heard?

http://www2.prestel.co.uk/aspen/sussex/blackdog.html

The Beasts Many Names In Britain

The black dogs go under many names depending on which county you are in, here are some of the more common ones. In the north of England in counties such as Yorkshire and Lancashire you will hear names such as Guytrash, Shriker or Barguest, in East Anglia and Norfolk you will hear Black Shuck, Skeff or Moddey Dhoo and in the south of England you will hear names like Yeth or Wish Hounds. The origin of the word Guytrash is unknown but Shuck can be traced back to the Old English Scucca, meaning Demon while Barguest may come from the German 'Bargeist' meaning 'spirit of the (funeral) bier'. The Demon association is sometimes emphasised by the title 'Devil Dog'. In the south, Yeth means Heath while Wish in a similar vein is an old Sussex word for marsh. This name for the hounds is widely used in Sussex but the origin also seems linked to the term Witch Hounds which is also common. Whether there is any connection between the two, one coming from the other is unknown. The names may just be referring to the fact that these dogs are often seen in wild country places.

Common Haunts

A very common place to see black dogs is on roads or other places where people move from one locality to another, such as footpaths, old trackways, bridges, crossroads, gates, doors, stairs and corridors. As far as roads are concerned, the location of most sightings, this may be because most of the time we spend in the countryside is travelling through it on roadways, but nevertheless, a lot of recorded cases have been on roadways. Another common haunt for the Black Dogs, especially in Wiltshire, are graveyards and barrows, leading some people to suspect from some of the locations that these dogs tend to haunt Leylines and features variously known as Corpse Ways or Spirit Paths. These ancient paths folklore tells us used to run to churches and the spirits used to travel along them from graveyard to graveyard. They were usually dead straight and coffins used to be taken along these paths to be buried, sometimes the folklore going so far as to state that if this wasn't done, bad things would happen. Another location, particularly popular in Sussex, is along the Downs. Apart from being covered with old burial mounds, the Downs were once the principal means of travel before the weald was cleared of it's inpenetrable forest. "

Yes, there is a story about one that is said to be headless called "Shuck". Also black dogs are so feared that they are the least adopted of dogs at the pound.


At Alveston, Charles Walton, a ploughboy, met a phantom black dog on his way home on nine successive evenings. On the final occasion a headless lady in a silk gown rushed past him, and the following day he heard of his sister's death. [4]

The apparition of a tall lady with a large black dog at her side has been seen Pickerings Barn in Brailes. [5]

During the Second World War at Brook House, Snitterfield (which used to be the Bell Brook Inn) a big black dog was seen. It ran over the tilled earth of the garden without leaving footprints. [6] Very old people of Warwick used to say that the castle was haunted by a black dog. The tale has the hallmarks of a time-encrusted tall story. The local version claims it all started when an old retainer there, a woman called Moll Bloxham, sold milk and butter from the castle stores for her personal gain. One Christmas she overdid this, and the then Earl of Warwick, getting wind of it, stopped her source of supply. Furiously angry, she vowed she would 'get them haunted'. She apparently succeeded and returned in the form of a big black dog. In due course the clergy were called in to exorcise the ghost with bell, book and candle, but for a time they were entirely unsuccessful. Then one day, so it was said, a huge black dog sprang from Caesar's Tower into the river below, and so ended the ghost story. [7]

A black dog with a matted, shaggy coat and green eyes roams in Whitmore Park at night. Local people avoided the area, since to see the dog means a death in the family [8].

Meon Hill has both a phantom black dog and a ghostly pack of white hounds. The death of George Walton in very curious circumstances on 14th February 1945 was accompanied by a black dog being hung in a nearby tree. Walton had seen a black dog on nine occasions - the last time it changed into a headless black woman. His sister died shortly after. Although strongly contested, Walton's death has many overtones of the ritual sacrifice of a 'cunning man'.

http://indigogroup.co.uk/edge/bdogfl.htm

Very interesting.

Someone said that black dogs are the least adopted at shelters.....I wonder if it is like the superstition about black cats in the US.

it maybe an old folk lore about the black dog being a sign of death in the future.

Yeah, I've heard of black dogs being a bad omen. Couldn't tell you much more than you already know though.

I have heard stories of the Black dog being the bringer of death or bad things to come... yet I myself am not sure if I would believe it, anything is possible.

Evil is thought to be "black" dark, sinful. So cats and other animals that are black are considered evil.
Thanks for all the great info.

Well unlike ther person above me, I do have something to say about this...

Black dogs, black cats and black horses have long since been associated with death or the supernatural. My alastian was pure black, and I used to think she was pretty tuned into seeing "things" and hearing "things" that I could not.

That just really creeped me out at times!

I remember my Mother tellking me that walking back to the farm after school one day she was followed by a black dog. When she had to cross the stream, and then looked around the dog had gone. It is rumoured that a demon dog cannot cross water.

I do not know if it was a sign of death or not, but her grandfather died that day.

One word: Superstition

One that has not manifested to me. I have been exposed to many a black dog and cat, and there have never been any problems.

My step-father had a wonderful black cocker spaniel that was one of the coolest puppies I have been in contact with.

The divorce that occurred between my mom and step dad had nothing to do with the dog... it was my mom's attitude and my step-dad's drinking.

Brings to mind Conan Doyles' "Hound of the Baskervilles". Perhaps the Black Dog stories influenced this Sherlock Holmes tale.

This is the first time I've heard about this story. Does this have ties to the Greek goddess Hecate? She is associated sometimes with crossroads and surrounded by a bunch of hellhounds.

I'd never heard of black dogs having any sinister associations until the Harry Potter book, but my mom's neighbor's always hated our dogs because most of them were big black dogs. They always said they were "bad" and "evil." LOL

WarriorInHell: Well I am glad someone else noticed that about their about their black dog. Mines was so in tune that I used to think she got loopy drops in her dinner! She would spend ages looking around the room of a place and even bark at absoutely nothing at all!

I've heard of the black dog, but its the semi-driver. When a semi-driver keeps going for a long period of time without any sleep. They see the black dog running at the semi and jump at the windshield...thats how some semi-drivers got in jail. Though this is what I heard from my mom who used to be a semi-driver.

most animals have a higher affinity for the supernatural yet the belief that something is evil due to its color is simply that just a belief it would depend on the individuals interpretation of the belief .

i have owned many dogs and cats they have all been black and have never had a bad luck situation yet as a matter of fact quite the opposite i have had good things happen to me .

so once again it is decided purely by ones beliefs in the superstition itself .

the quote black dog is talked about alot as an omen of death. I heard about it with truck drives and normally what happens is a driver error crash if they don't listen so more of a warning and not the bringer of death

A lot of people believe they are the dogs of hell, and that they are a bad omen. Maybe, it is all folklore..but as I said earlier my Mum believes in their witchy ways!

Once I found a site where the black dog myth is mentioned in my country too (Malta) and is called: Il-Wahx (uahsh), also stating that in some places there are even statues of this myth (but I have to confirm this.)

The site's author mentioned an expirience he had with the black dog, saying he saw a black dog with red eyes hauling one night and the day after, he got to know that 3 people had died on that night.

Unluckily I can't find the site anymore to link it.

As for black cats, as far as I know they are considered to be unlucky because they are believed to belong to Witches (Witches of the folklore.)

OH, I know I am side-tracking..but I thought black cats were lucky! There you go now, thanks for that Death-nite :)

Hehe welcome it seems black animal pets are always considered to be unlucky, easy as to know why-black was always considered as evil, because of darkness being mysterious and night bad happenings associations.

I have heard of a few black dog stories,you mostly hear of the the black dog in the country side in England and spotting it usually means impending doom to that person.

Winston Churchill used to call his depression the black dog...an interesting link.

I have always heard that the black dog is most feared by long haul truckers because if you see one then it means you are going to be in an accident and most times don't live through it.

yeah we are from a trucking family so that has been what we have always been told is that the black dog fortells accidents about to happen. Not sure if it is real amoung truckers or just that they need to sleep more though could be either. I know the mind does play tricks on you if you haven't slept enough.

I have heard of the black hounds of hell.

i believe the black dog may represent fenrir the god son of loki some how in some way well thats what i believe when u see him in our time in our world he is the tiny black dog that we imagine

I am not surprised, but I am still not sure why them. I have not seen any personally, but in movies.

I've never heard of the black dog thing, but I have heard of black cats being bad luck. I personally think that's a crock of houie. I've owned many black cats And black dogs. I've never had any problems with either. As a matter of fact, I think all the black cats I've ever owned have brought me Good Luck. And that is despite the fact that I have given many of them terrible names to match their personalities.

they are quite common in the UK - there used to be a black "demon hound" with glowing red eyes that haunted a pit in Birstal near Leicester.

they weren't always black - in Keltic times they were white (white being the colour of death and the "other world" in Keltic mythology), and were known as the hounds of anwyn. sometimes a pack of spectral hounds accompanied Cernunos the hunter, but singularly they were usually regarded as guardians to gateways to the Otherworld (Anwyn). they are sometimes depicted in Keltic Art and jewelery as being in threes, and quite often you will find that where there is one place said to be haunted by a spectral hound, there will be two more within a few miles.

some believe that they are meant as spirit guides to guide a person to the spirit realm, but they are always associated with the spirit realm in one way or another, so to see one was often thought of as an omen of death - rather like the legends of the Banshee (Baine Sidh).

So many myths about one subject but as I said I have only ever heard of it in the Patrick Swayze movie Black Dog but some of the theories are qiute good and Ianthe link is good

the most i know about the black dog is that if you stare at it it will come and kill you. Kinda like a bad omen. In Irish lore its right up there with the banshee.

I have seen many omens and phantom animals from black dogs to bright/metalic coloured silver birds.

From my experience the biggest factor in determining bad omens, with mammals, is actually eye colour and abnormal outer features such as bleeding, sweet smells etc.

A good friend of mine had an encounter with a black dog while away at Seminary.

He with his friends were leaving class and cut through a courtyard, they saw a very large black dog standing by a tree.
My friend went to his dorm building and there again was the dog but this time standing behind him.

He made it to his room, shut and locked the door. A few moments latter he heard scratching at his dorm room door. It stopped after a few minutes.

As he went to go to sleep he heard a grawling sound and saw the dog, eyes red, looking at him. The dog jumped up on his bed and starred at him. Then went to jump on his face but instead the dog went right through his body and away.

There i s a way you can destroy the demon dog the demon dog has third eye, and the only way u can kill him is if you have acarved pentical on your hand and you touch the third eye he should explode, .

When I was younger I had recurring dreams of a big black dog with red eyes. I dreamt that I was laying in bed at night and everytime I went to move, this dog would run up the stairs to my bedside and I would be paralysed with fear (or maybe something else). I had this dream about 4 or 5 times in a row until in the final dream I managed to move before the dog could get to me. Haven't had a dream like it since.

i am not sure if this is the black dog u are talking about, but there is another one, for u who believe in hell.. they say that people make a pact with the devil in order to do what ever they want here on earth, but they have to sell their souls.. when their time is up, a black dog otherwise known as a "hell hound" has been said to be seen by the damned.. it is also said that this black dog kills the person, and then the soul of the person goes to hell

some sources suggest that the black dog is a varient of Anubis - the jackal headed guardian of the egyptian underworld. he weighs souls and judges whether they are worthy or not.

there is a duallity to the black dog, justas there is to living dogs. they can be fearce and aggressive guardians or hunters, or they can be loyal protectors.

Ive heard so called "hell houds" are big black dogs. They distract you if they cross you path on a street and many people have crashed. or if you see them when your out you automaticly get scared. Now wether 'hell hounds' actualy exist i dont know ive never seen one.

Christopher Moore - one of my favorite writers - features 2 big black hellhounds in 'A Dirty Job'; they protect his toddler daugher from the Morrigan and demons who want to harm her ( and him). The story is as funny as hell, but you know by reading it that this guy knows a thing or two about 'the black dog'.

there is lots of supernatural black dogs in britian.most are single dogs but there is also some which run in packs,such as the wild hunt led by heorn the hunter.one dog called shuck attacked a church and his claw marks are still visible on the church door.

There was an episode on Supernatural about black dogs. It went along the lines of pending death. We always relate something black to being bad like the black cats, crows etc etc. I feel it more relates to something being black then the actual animal itself.

Also if you go back through history things that relate to death always seems to be black...ie the black plague, death himself was always dressed in black. I know ppl who wont eat black jellybeans (lollies) because of the fact that they are black. We as a race have this grudge towards black. Anything that is considered evil or bad is always considered being black.

maybe it's just black animals in general that have such a bad reputation. black cats are avoided too. i was at the pount the other day and the cutest little black puppy was all lonely cause people didn't want her.

I've heard that the 'black dog' is a symbol of death. An omen, as it were.

Great post, otherwise.

Once when I was driving down some old roads in Derby, I thought I saw a black dog or wolf but just passed it off as someone's dog who went loose... But maybe it was the demon dog.. Never know..

To me, the Black Dog, is a harbinger or warning of impending disaster or death. I have never seen one, but I have heard stories of those who have.

Like a family's banshee, the black dog as a harbringer of death or destruction, and the black cat as a witch's familiar or associated with evil... black horses in a different way. I've never been spooked by superistion, but suppose there are times when you just sit back and go hmmmmmm