This creature is: mythical, from folklore
Note: Here I have focused on England’s black dogs, but they are by no means peculiar to England – numerous black dog-like creatures haunt Europe and the Americas – and large, sometimes scary canids are prevalent in folklore the world over.
As large as a cow or pony, with fiery eyes and shaggy fur, these beasts appear usually at night. Sometimes harmful, sometimes benevolent, always terrifying to those who encounter them. Occasionally they are cyclopean, headless, or drag along clanking chains.
Black Shuck is a classic black dog. ‘Shuck’ derives from the Old English word ‘scucca’ meaning ‘devil’ or ‘fiend’, the dog is sometimes said to be the devil in disguise. He is occasionally described as having just one great eye, like a cyclops. His hobbies include prowling and howling. To see him is supposedly an omen of soon-coming death.
Some very notable sightings of Black Shuck occurred on 4 August 1577:
In a Holy Trinity Church in Blythburgh, Suffolk, there was a clap of thunder, and Black Shuck burst in through the doors. He ran past a large congregation, killed a man and a boy, and caused the church steeple to collapse through the roof (yikes). As the dog left, he made scorch marks on the north door which can be seen to this day.
Another sighting on same day at St Mary's Church, Bungay, described Shuck as running along through the church, swiftly killing two people who were keeling and praying, and biting a third person so they became “as shrunken as a piece of leather scorched in a hot fire” (more yikes).
The scorch marks on the door are referred to by the locals as “the devil’s fingerprints”, and the event is remembered 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.”
With the mention of thunder at the beginning there, and the burns, the “Black Shuck” was almost certainly some kind of electrical phenomena… ball lighting perhaps.
Not all back dogs are nasty though, with some helping lost travellers find their way.
The Gurt Dog (“Great Dog”) of Somerset was so friendly that mothers would allow their children to play unsupervised on the hills it occupied, because the Dog would protect them.
The Black Dog of Preston is said to be a guardian, appearing when the town is in danger. It also howls, and its howl means death… It’s headless, too.
Black dogs are actually pretty varied. Saying ‘Black dogs’ is a little like saying ‘ghosts’, there are plenty of different ones with different intentions. Some may even be ghosts, appearing after the death of people.
Despite often being aligned with the devil, some black dogs called Church Grims actually guard churches and graveyards from thieves, witches, and other such unwanted folk. These dogs are ghosts… a church grim is the ghost of a dog that was buried, either alive under the cornerstone of the church as it was being built, or as the first burial in the north part of the new churchyard. This was because, otherwise, the first human buried there had to guard it against the Devil. To save a human soul from that duty a black dog was used as a substitute.
… So, if ever on a dark and moonless night you encounter a great black hound, just remember – it may have come to guide you safely home… or maybe it’s just hungry.
External links:
Black Dog on Wikipedia – lists a whole load of regional variants
Black Shuck on Wikipedia – just about that particular kind of black dog
Church grim on Wikipedia
An account of the 1577 shuck sightings on Anomalies
An article on Folklore Thursday about how some archaeologists found bones of a large dog at Leiston Abbey in Suffolk, which less sensible newspapers quickly called Black Shuck’s bones.
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