THE TALE OF BLACK SHUCK

    The weather vane at Bungay  

 

                                   THE TAIL OF BLACK SHUCK

Sightings of large, black creatures wandering the East Anglian countryside today are often put down to wild pumas - but in years gone by they could have signalled the appearence of a far more evil visitor -----  Black Shuck !

Ghost hunters long to track down a spectre, but there is one spooky image they hope never to come face-to-face with.  Black Shuck, the hell hound reputed to roam the East Anglian coastline,  is said to bring death within the year to anyone who dares look into his flaming eyes.

The Black Dog is a name usually given to public houses --  conjuring up images of a faithful hound at his master`s side.  However the name more than likely signifies a snarling , red-eyed hound from Hell or `Black Shuck` as recorded in this old Norfolk saying;

And a dreadful thing from the cliff did spring,

and it`s wild bark thrill`d around,

His eyes had the glow of the fire below,

`twas the form of the spectre hound.

For centuries this fearsome reputation has brought terror to any man, woman or child who has spied a large, black dog wandering along the lonely country roads or shoreline.

In the 1890`s. a teenage boy rescued from the North Sea told how he had been forced to swim further and further from the shore by a huge dog that chased him through the waters, its teeth knashing at his neck and shoulders.  In the 1920s and 30s, fishermen off Sheringham told of hearing the hound`s howling on stormy nights.  And as recently as the 1970s, he was reported to have been seen pounding over the beach at Yarmouth.

But his regular hunting ground was along the North Norfolk coast where he was said to make his terrifying dash from Runton to Overstrand.  The conversation in the public houses of Cromer, often turned to tales of Shuck, and the town was said to be at the very heart of his home ground.

Yet Shuck is not confined to Norfolk.  And once, on a stormy summer afternoon in 1577, he made a fateful trip across the border into Suffolk. On Sunday August 4th, 1577 in Bungay he tore through the congregation of St. Mary`s Church during a service.  The fiery dog killed two and left another injured, shrivelled " like a drawn purse."

   The church at Blythburgh

As the shocked townsfolk reeled from the tragedy, news came that not long before Shuck had struck just a few miles away in Blythburgh where he had again attacked the church congregation.  A man and a boy were killed there and others left scorched and hysterical as the church spire crashed through the roof,  breaking the font while the tower bells tumbled down.

As the dreadful dog flew from the church, he is said to have left deep scorch marks on the door. The legend continued for centuries even though there were no signs on the original door.  The, 1933 the door was cleaned and burn marks - some say they were the Devil`s own fingerprints - were there for all to see.  They remain there today.

The gruesome tales of Shuck are thought to have been the inspiration for another beastly creation, The Hound of the Baskervilles.  In 1901, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 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.

They stayed in Cromer at the Royal Links Hotel and it was in the private sitting room that Robinson recounted the local tales of a hideous black hound, which roamed the north norfolk coast.

Local superstition has it that the tracks of a demon hound run through Mill Lane past the old Links Hotel and over the hill into the grounds of Cromer hall, a large Gothic pile complete with gargoyles, angled roofs, tall chimneys and heavily-mullioned windows - all draped in ivy.

 The Gothic Cromer Hall

Doyle was also aquainted with lord Cromer and was a reguler visitor to Cromer Hall.  It is said that the coachman who took him there went by the name of " Baskerville."  Small wonder that little time passed before Doyle penned his classic mystery The Hound of the Baskervilles.  Unfortunately for Norfolk`s literary fame, Doyle relocated the devil dog`s hunting ground to Dartmoor !

The black Dog may just be superstition, but if you ever hear a blood chilling howl on a dark winter`s evening, be sure to avert your gaze and lock your doors.

And beware of the dog !