Black Dogs

Although demonic apparitions and monsters are one thing, and ghost dogs are quite another, the British Isles have a long history of demonic apparitions of ghost dogs colloquially known as "Black Dogs."  These Black Dogs roam the British countryside at night, eyes glowing orange or green, frightening the locals and portending doom.  In fact, Black Dogs are so common that it seems that every area of the UK has its own resident Black Dog.

Black Shuck is one such resident Black Dog.  He roams the wind-whipped coastline of southeastern England.  Black Shuck was around before the Vikings touched land in the early 800s.  He can be found at the typical haunts - graveyards, crossroads, dark forests, rivers, ponds, and locations where violent crimes occurred.  Black Shuck typically takes a hands-off approach, serving as an omen of death in the family, and occasionally escorting lone women home.  

The exception being that one time he dashed through a church in the middle of services, killed several people, and left behind a scorch mark on the door.  Bad dog!  Very bad! No cookie!

Other Black Dogs include Barghest and Gytrash of Yorkshire, Cwn Annwn and Gwyllgi of Wales, Mauthe Dhogg of the Isle of Man, Tchicoh of Guernsey, the Yeth Hound of Devon, and more.  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's eponymous Hound of the Baskervilles is said to be based on the legend of Black Shuck.  The Hound is said to stalk the Baskerville family lineage thanks to a curse brought upon the family by one of its earliest members.

These devil dogs or hell hounds are sometimes seen as companions of the Devil, or members of his infernal hunting pack.  Many Black Dog legends involve huntsmen, and hunting dogs, perhaps partly because of its connection to violence and death.  Even the myth which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle invented for his novel involves hunting.

Speaking of "violence and death," I would be remiss in not pointing out that Winston Churchill, who suffered from bouts of clinical depression, referred to his depression as "the Black Dog."  Churchill surely had the English legend in mind when he personified his illness thusly.  People who reference Churchill's Black Dog often use it as a hunting metaphor where they (the sufferer of depression) are the victim as in, "the Black Dog is stalking me today."

In this and other respects, the Black Dog is an echo of The Wild Hunt.  This is an ancient and widespread myth in which the Others (be they fairie folk, gods, ghosts, or spirits) go hunting at night, and good townsfolk had best stay indoors, lest they be swept along.  Or become the subject of the hunt, themselves!

These ancient themes of violent death and hunting mapped nicely to the myths of Christianity, which made the Black Dog out to be Satan's own pet.  Which perhaps accounts for some of the hysteria surrounding the Beast of Bodmin and other reports of exotic animals loose in Britain.  It's one thing to suspect that a captive-raised black panther may be loose among the browsing sheep; quite another to wonder if that animal is somehow a tool of the devil!

Creative Commons-licensed image courtesy of Flickr user Scott Monty