Black Shuck /dog in Norfolk;

Levibrawn · Black Shuck /dog in Norfolk;

The legend of the black dog has been around for hundreds of years. In many parts of the country, black dogs are seen as omens of death. To see one means either your own or the death of a family member within a year, although more often than not the victim is just left terrified out of their wits.

One such apparition is known as Black Shuck in Norfolk; a huge ghostly hound with terrifying eyes who is said to regularly prowl the coastal path between Overstrand and Sheringham, and beyond.

The name 'Shuck' may be a derivation of the Old English word Scucca, meaning demon, or possibly from the local dialect word shucky meaning "shaggy" or "hairy".

It is said that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle heard of the legend of Black Shuck whilst staying at Cromer Hall in 1901, and was inspired to write the Sherlock Holmes novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Driven there by a coachman called Baskerville he had just returned from a stint as a field doctor during the Boer War where he had contracted Enteric fever. He decided to recuperate in Norfolk by taking a golfing holiday with a journalist friend, Bertram Fletcher Robinson.

Cromer Hall's architectural design is similar to that of the book's Baskerville Hall (which itself is set in Dartmoor.)

Although there have been many reported sightings, one of the most vivid is of his appearance in 1577 at churches in Bungay and Blythburgh in Suffolk.

On 4th August at Bungay he tore through the congregation of St Mary's during a service killing two and leaving another injured, shrivelled "like a drawn purse." Earlier a few miles away at Blythburgh, Black Shuck is said to have burst in through the church doors at incredible speed, past a large congregation, killing a man and boy kneeling in prayer and causing the church tower to collapse through the roof. Upon leaving he left deep scorch marks on the north door which can be seen at the church to this day.

In 1890 a young boy rescued from the North Sea told a tale of being forced to swim further and further from the shore by a huge black dog, its teeth gnashing at his neck and shoulders, who had chased him into the sea.

In 1970, Black Shuck made the headlines after being seen padding across the sands at Gt. Yarmouth.

Unfortunate night walkers first become aware of being stalked by Black Shuck by the sound of huge padded feet; they may see the formation from darkness of the huge malevolent hound.

If you have any tales of Black Shuck, please feel free to post here.