The Paranormal Database

A strange looking black dog.

Black Hound

Location: Neston (Cheshire) - General area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: To see this huge black dog is normally a sign of ill fortune.

Amen Corner, Newcastle

A Hound Follows

Location: Newcastle upon Tyne (Tyne and Wear) - General area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Belief circa nineteenth century?
Further Comments: It was believed that a phantom dog would follow midwives as they travelled around the city. If the dog laughed as the midwife reached her destination, all would be well, but if the hound howled, then complications would follow. One report described the hound as Mastiff-like.

Black Dog

Location: North Shields (Northumberland) - Milbourne Place, now Smith's Dockyards
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 31 October (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The area near the docks is haunted by the ghost of a sailor murdered by his parents; they failed to recognise their own son after his many years at sea and killed him for his money. He returns in the form of a large black dog, patrolling the area where the crime was committed.

Large Hound

Location: Northallerton (North Yorkshire) - A684, between Northallerton and Leeming Bar
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Summer 2001, between 20:00h - 22:00h
Further Comments: A large black dog ran in front of two women travelling to Leeming Bar by car. The driver closed her eyes and braked hard, expecting to hit the creature. The passenger watched the hound pass through the bonnet, and noticed the creature had no facial features, floppy ears, and was shadow-like. A man who the women spoke to once they reached their destination later killed himself - was the hound a portent?

Large Dog

Location: Norton (Nottinghamshire) - Limetree Avenue
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Circa 1995
Further Comments: A driver and his passenger spotted a large black shaggy dog with red eyes standing in the road ahead of their car. They drove slowly past the creature, which was tall enough to look down at the occupants through the driver side window. The driver then gazed into his mirror to see the dog vanish.

An old postcard of Okehampton Castle.

Lady Howard

Location: Okehampton (Devon) - Okehampton Castle
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Midnight (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This large black dog is reportedly the ghost of Lady Howard, who walks from here to Tavistock. Some say it is a separate entity, and Lady Howard really travels by a coach made from the bones of her dead husbands.

Large Black Dog

Location: Old Costessey (Norfolk) - Area around The Heart of Costessy Pub
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 2005
Further Comments: A strange black dog was reported in this area in 2005.

Shrieking Dog

Location: Overstrand (Norfolk) - Shuck's Lane
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Shuck sightings were so abundant here that the parish named a lane after the beast - local legend also states when the creature disappears, it leaves the area charred and smelling of brimstone. The path leading to Cromer lighthouse is also rumoured to be popular with the creature.

Creature with One Yellow Eye

Location: Parson Drove (Cambridgeshire) - Throckenholt Bank
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: A woman with her son reported seeing a creature with a single yellow eye that watched them from behind a bush. When the creature ran off, she could see that it was the size of a calf.

Vanishing Black Dog

Location: Peacehaven (Sussex) - Steps on cliffs leading down to beach
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 2007
Further Comments: A jogger spotted a black dog just in front of him while moving down the steps. Concerned for the creature's welfare, as the owner could not be seen, the jogger followed the dog. No more than a couple of seconds behind the creature, it vanished - there was no sign of the dog in the sea, and nowhere else for it to have gone. Around a year later, the jogger was talking to another person who said that they had been followed by a black dog in the same area.

An old postcard of Peel Castle on the Isle of Man.

Moddey Dhoo

Location: Peel (Isle of Man) - Peel Castle
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 1660
Further Comments: The local shuck, the Moddey Dhoo, haunted the local guardroom - appearing at night to sleep by their fire. One guard grew tired of hiding away from it and went to face the creature alone; he returned soon after, silent and dying, but the creature was never seen again.

Black Dog with Drooping Ears

Location: Peldon (Essex) - Wigborough Road between Guisnes Court and Sacott crossroads
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 1930s?
Further Comments: While with a friend driving a horse and trap, a man reported being followed by a dog the size of a calf, with drooping ears and eyes that glowed like bicycle lamps.

Phantom Hunt

Location: Penbryn (Dyfed) - Unidentified farm in the parish
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Phantom hounds and hunters were once said to make an occasional appearance here.

Cwn Annwn

Location: Penrhos (Gwent) - General area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This Welsh demonic hound has been reported in the area.

Penzance Harbour.

Black Dog

Location: Penzance (Cornwall) - Harbour area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This hound makes itself known only to those who will soon die.

Gytrack

Location: Philpots Camp (Dorset) - The Big-Upon-Little Stone (aka Great-Upon-Little stone)
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Early twentieth century?
Further Comments: This phantom black hound once kept the local populace away from the area at night.

Black Hound

Location: Pontoon (County Mayo) - Crossing between Lough Conn and Lough Cullin
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This area is reputedly home to a black spectral hound. The ghostly creature is said to cause fear in living dogs.

Bad Omen

Location: Portesham (Dorset) - Hardy's Monument
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom hound is reputed to haunt the area around the monument, bringing bad luck or death to any witness.

Dog and Dragon

Location: Porthtowan (Cornwall) - Mile Hill area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A fearful dragon once made its lair near here but was driven off by a mysterious white shuck-like creature. The dog is still said to haunt the area.

Portland Lighthouse.

Drowning

Location: Portland (Dorset) - Cave Hole (or alternatively an unknown cave), close to the lighthouse
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The large, black dog that lives in an unknown cave grabs the unwary and drowns them.

Large Black Dog

Location: Portlaoise (County Laois) - Exact area unknown, possibly Ridge Road
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Nineteenth century?
Further Comments: A black hound haunted the area where a man was once murdered.

An old sketch of a deer.

Slender White Hound

Location: Postbridge (Devon) - Cator Common
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 1940s onwards
Further Comments: This phantom dog is said to resemble an albino wolfhound, though some say the entity is more likely to be a phantom deer.

Soul Gatherers

Location: Powerstock (Dorset) - Eggardon Hillfort
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Hounds unknown, chase in 1953
Further Comments: The phantom dogs that frequent this area are reportedly sent to collect the souls of the recently dead, who in turn can sometimes be heard screaming and shouting for help. In 1953, a newspaper reported that a man was chased over the hill by what he claimed was the Devil, while the area also became a mini UFO hotspot after blue lights were seen and car engines cut out.

Headless Dog

Location: Preston (Lancashire) - General area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It is said that the town was once haunted by a headless black hound, appearing when danger threatened the town. Another ghost said to wander the general area of Preston was that of a white woman.

Black Dog Bounding

Location: Prickwillow (Cambridgeshire) - Riverbank area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 1930s, late 1970s, 1996
Further Comments: The sight of a large ghostly black dog running in this area, heading towards Ely, is said to have quite common.