The American folklore tradition includes stories featuring a Black Dog. It often appears as a shaggy beast with glowing red eyes, typically spotted at night or in foggy conditions. Rarely does the dog harm anyone directly. In these stories, the dog’s appearance serves as an omen of death. Experts view the legend of the Black Dog as a product of the blending of Northern European, African, Greek, and Egyptian traditions, and it is relatively common in the lore of rural and mountainous regions of the United States. The tradition is well known in Great Britain, where stories go back generations with different names depending on the region: Church Grim, the Black Shuck, the Welsh Gwyllgi, the Yorkshire Barghest, the Lancashire Gytrash, the Isle of Man’s Mhoddy Doo, and the Scottish Cù Sìth.
Schlosser and Hoffman recount a legend about the Black Dog of Hanging Hills in south-central Connecticut. A tourist hiker was convinced by a friend to go hiking in the area, where they saw a black dog. The dog was medium-sized, with a long fluffy tail and brown eyes. It was friendly and playful, but disappeared suddenly. The man was warned by the townspeople with this saying, “If a man shall meet the Black Dog once, it shall be for joy; and if twice, it shall be for sorrow; and the third time, he shall die.” When the man dismissed this as superstition, he was told about past hikers who fell to their deaths after seeing the Black Dog for the third time. Still, he refused to believe and he and his friend returned to the mountain the next day. Again, they saw the dog, and its eyes began to glow red. The hiker fell and broke his leg in two places and had to be medically evacuated. The friends did not go hiking a third time.
The Black Dog legend bears some resemblance to common superstitions about black cats, with injury and death following an encounter. The idea of ghostly black dogs harkens back to something primal about being out alone in the dark and being startled by something ominous. There have been numerous references to the Black Dog in literature, from mentions of the Grim in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, to the Gytrash in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (1816–1855), to the ghostly phantom in The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930). Sightings of the Black Dog have been associated with storms and the sea. Devonshire, England, with its seafaring traditions, foggy landscape, and miniature horses (easily mistaken for creepy dogs at night), is a hotbed of Black Dog sightings, and notably is the origin of Arthur Conan Doyle’s hound.
To this day in the United States, large black dogs are not valued as highly as other pet dogs, and the term “black dog syndrome” was coined in relation to the fact that black dogs are abandoned and euthanized at much higher rates than dogs with coats of other colors. British statesman Winston Churchill (1871–1947) used the term “black dog” as a euphemism for severe depression.
R. F. Herrick told a story that provides a sentimental twist on the Black Dog legend. Herrick’s account in the Journal of American Folklore narrates the story of the Black Dog of the Blue Ridge. As the story goes, in 1683 a Black Dog was often seen at sunset in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. The beast appeared to be standing guard over something, and he paced back and forth, disappearing once dawn arrived. Hunters tried to kill him, but he was never killed or even startled by gunshots or the presence of men, although the men’s horses were terrified and would not come near it. A few years later, a woman from “the old country” (presumably England) heard about the black dog and felt sure this was her husband’s pet. She was brought to the location of the sighting at sunset, and sure enough, the dog appeared. It laid his head in her lap, and then directed her to a place where she found two skeletons, one of a man and one of a dog. The lady had found her deceased husband and his dog. She had the bones taken for a proper burial, and the Black Dog, having done his duty, was never seen again. As in other stories, the Black Dog of the Blue Ridge offered a signal of death and a connection to the spirit world. In a sense, the figure stands as a folk version of the Grim Reaper, a profound symbol evoking the dread fear of death.
Robin Potter
See also Axehandle Hound; Cactus Cat; Demon Cat; Fearsome Critters; Squonk; Tailypo; Wampus Cat
Further Reading
Hausman, Gerald, and Loretta Hausman. 1997. The Mythology of Dogs: Canine Legend and Lore through the Ages. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Herrick, R. F. 1907. “The Black Dog of the Blue Ridge.” Journal of American Folklore 20 (77): 151–152.
Rose, Carol. 2001. Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth. New York: W. W. Norton.
Schlosser, S. E., and Paul G. Hoffman. 2003. Spooky New England: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press.
Trubshaw, Robert Nigel, ed. 2005. Explore Phantom Black Dogs. Marlborough, UK: Heart of Albion Press.
Black Dog—Primary Document
C. A. Fraser, “Scottish Myths from Ontario” (1893)
Perhaps best known as the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Hound of the Baskervilles, the Black Dog is a common feature of Celtic folklore. These stories made their way across the Atlantic, carried by Irish and Scottish immigrants. This account of the legend of the Black Dog appeared in a collection of Scottish myths from Ontario. Nevertheless, the conclusion of this story suggests that the events described occurred in Scotland rather than in Canada. The tale therefore served as an enduring connection between the immigrants and their homeland.
A BLACK DOG
One harvest time, forty or fifty years ago (or perhaps more), in a certain farmhouse not a mile from the grove where poor Angus met with sudden death, very strange things were observed. Pails left at night in trim rows on benches ready for the morning milking would be found, when required, on the barn floor, or on top of a hay-rick, or in some other equally unsuitable situation. A spade might be searched for in vain until some member of the family, climbing into bed at night, would find it snugly reposing there before him. Pillows were mysteriously removed, and found sometimes outdoors at a distance from the house. Screws were removed from their places, and harness hung up in the stable was taken apart. The family were rendered materially miserable by searching for proofs of supernatural agency. A great deal of proof was forthcoming; the matter was soon beyond doubt, and nothing else was talked about than the condition of things on this farm. Many speculations were afloat; every tiny occurrence was examined as possibly affording evidence in the matter. When a large black dog, evidently without owners, was observed to frequent the vicinity, the eye of the populace was at once upon it. It was shy, hiding and skulking about a good deal, and it was always hard to discover when sought. The owner of the land was strongly advised to shoot it, and the popular distrust of it was increased when he did one day fire at it without producing any visible results, the dog being seen a few hours later in excellent health. The interest excited was so great that when a “bee” was held on this farm for something connected with the harvest the attendance was immense, quite unusually so, and the neighbor women came in to help in the preparation of supper on an extensive scale. Some of the men made a long table of boards to accommodate the company. The women spread cloths and arranged dishes. When all was ready, they regarded it with approval, pleased especially with the shining of the long rows of plates and the whiteness of the linen: then some of them took the dinner-horn and went out to give the signal to the men, who were at some distance away. The other women went to the cook-house where in summer the kitchen stove stood, and the supper table was left alone. A few minutes later, when all gathered around it again, chaos reigned where order had been. The cloth was spotted with symmetrical shapes, a tiny heap of dust and sand was on every plate and the knives were on the floor. The disorder was of a strangely methodical kind, the same quantity of dust being on every plate, while each knife was placed in the same position as his fellows. The men trooped in whilst the women were staring aghast, and great was their indignation.
“Give me your gun,” cried one, “and I’ll put in this silver bit with the charge, and see if it will not make an end of such work.”
And just then the dog was seen prowling about at the foot of the yard near a thicket of bushes where he probably was often concealed. The gun was fired; it carried a silver bullet, and this time the aim was true, for all saw that the animal was shot. The day had been warm, and they were tired out, and did not go to make sure of the results at once. They sat around the rearranged board for an hour or more before some of them sauntered down to see the vanquished enemy. They did not wonder at first to find no trace of a dog, as, with any other wounded animal, it was likely to creep into the thicket to die. But the thicket was small, and was soon explored on hands and knees. Nothing was there; and the body of that dog was never seen by mortal, although the search grew hourly more diligent and thorough. And whilst they searched, there came a boy running from a stone house not far distant, bidding them to come over with him quickly, for grandfather was dead. “He dragged himself into the house,” said the child, “as though hurt, an hour ago, and lay down on his bed, and now he is dead.”
Friends hastened over, but were met at the door by the dead man’s wife, terrified and weeping, but almost forbidding them to enter. For some unfortunate reason, the poor woman would not let them near the body, little knowing, I suppose, the suspicion in their minds and the construction which must inevitably be put on her demeanor.
This story concerns a man who is, I should think, grandfather and great-grandfather to a fifth of the population of that township, and it assumed such proportions that, as I have stated, mention of it was prohibited, long years afterwards, by a clergyman now living in the country of Bruce. It is to this day a little difficult for the descendants of the man who died that long-ago harvest-time to marry out of their own connection. If one of them should ever aspire to represent his county in parliament, the enemy will assuredly come to the front with the Black Dog.
Source: Fraser, C. A. “Scottish Myths from Ontario.” Journal of American Folklore VI (1893).