Black Shuck

Anyone from the UK may have already heard of this "Demon Dog" but allow me to introduce one of the longest living British legends to our friends across the globe. Black Shuck is just one of many names for the beast that takes the form of a large black dog with glowing eyes. As a child and being interested in this type of thing, i would often hear stories of the dog from the older members of my family, the one that particularly stands out is the incident at Blythburgh Church in Suffolk England. The story says that hundreds of years ago, the local people of Blythburgh were enjoying their usual Sunday service, when a foul storm began to brew outside seemingly appearing from no-where, the parishioners quickly shut the doors to keep out the howling wind and driving rain. Shortly after, a heavy scratching was heard upon the heavy oak doors, upon opening the doors to find out what the commotion was, the people were suddenly faced with a huge black dog with eyes glowing like fire, the people who opened the door were immediately terrified at the sight of the dog and cowered behind the nearest object. The dog entered the church and howled, then slowly made its way down the centre aisle. No one dared look at the beast and everyone shielded their eyes, whence the dog reached the end, it turned back and began to slowly wander back down the path it had previously took. apparently two men were brave enough to look at the dog and as soon as they uncovered their eyes, they were met by the glowing gaze of Black Shuck, the men dropped to their knees and died instantly. The dog then howled again and ran out of the church. Apparently, although i haven`t actually been and looked for myself, the original doors are meant to still be on the church and the deep scratch marks are still visible. The dog had also been sighted in a place called Bungay (not too far from Blythburgh) and for years and years the dog has even appeared on their local coat of arms. Whilst doing a little bit of digging i came across this site for anyone who would like to know more. I know that my story doesn`t neccessarily tally up with the storys told here, but mine was told to me nearly 15 years ago by my Nan! and we all know how Nan`s can be! lol www.bungay-suffolk.co.uk... My question is this...aside from werewolves etc, are there any similar stories of a "demon dog" from your part of the world? Sorry if this post has been done before but i couldn`t find one. And thankyou for taking the time to read!

I heard something about this years ago.

In the states we have various tales of hell hounds and the Indians had stories of wendigo, which were human like dog beasts.

However, if you have ever heard pack of coyotes howling at night, its enough to make most ghost stories look tame.

It's probably one of those Urban Legends (like the hitch-hiking lady-ghost). I've heard a similar story, with a black dog with glowing eyes as main character, but this time it happened to a friend's girlfriend's uncle... Well, I might just as well tell the story:

Supposedly one night this guy was driving on a lone stretch of road in the Karoo (sub-desert area in South Africa), with no passing cars for miles. It was hot, and had his window down with his arm resting on the door. The next moment he spotted the dog running next to the car. He was supposedly doing about 120 km/h (75 Miles/hour) and the dog kept up with the car. The dog looked the same. Black. Glowing eyes. About the size of a Rottweiler, but with longer hair (like that of a wolf). The guy did however look into the dog's eyes without dying. The dog disappeared when a car came from the opposite direction...

A typical urban legend. I do however believe that any urban legend were spawned by an actual event... But shouldn't there be some dramatic story about the reason why the dog exists?

There's a song down here by the title little black dog....but I think it's benign.
But for an idea.
When we go frog hunting down here, we flash a light in the swamp, at night, and depending on the color that reflects back, white or red, we know whether it's an Alligator (takes more than a stick, mon amie) or a Bullfrog.

While Cat eyes are more known to flash back, a dog's will flash back as well. Some flash blue, gold, or red...depending on the color of the dogs eyes. Here Pics here, people.

Most all animal eyes will "flash". this is caused by the light source hitting the back of the eye and bouncing back. There is a name for this but it escapes me at the moment.

Humans do not have this so any glow you may see is just reflection off the surface of the eye.

Haha, the Rock band The Darkness apparently done a song called Black Shuck too, they are from my local area.

Text Black

Well once a few years back I heard of a black dog that out of nowhere jumped out of a man's coffin and ran across a field in the US. Doesnt sound to spooky though. Supposedly the man was really important to a town and they were taking his coffin on a dirt road in a horse drawn buggy. OH well im no that interested in that story anymore these were slightly more interesting.

The British Isles has a rich source of folklore throughout the regions and counties that dates back to early history.
I believe these sightings are nothing more than historical myths.
Click this link for further references:
Black Dogs.

reply to post by ParaNana


Ive heard stories on Hell Hounds, and in each of them it sums up as if you see the Dog 3 times then you will come to your end.

reply to post by ParaNana


Hey, thanks for this post! I love cryptids and this is one that I'd never heard of! It's always fun to entertain ideas of what COULD be out there. I'm in the States and I've never heard of anything similar around here, with the exception of the Michigan dog man, but this was interesting! Going to check your link as well. S&F from me!

reply to post by ParaNana


i heard a story just like that but the animal killed a lot of people in the church, don't know where it was but it sounds the same. i mean it attacked the people not made them drop dead.(i could be wrong)


i been trying to find a story i heard, maybe about france, back a few hundred years ago, about a wolf like animal killing the peasants around the countryside. not a classic werewolf creature.

there is the michigan dogman and the beast of bray road. i think there are threads here about it/them.

Thank you for the thread..I've never heard of a (Black Shuck) I have to admit this one does sound like a urban legend but still i find the story interesting and spooky ..All people have seen around here is Bigfoot and lots of coyotes Peace,sugarcookie1