The Paranormal Database

Shuck with a Monk's Body and Dog's Head

Location: Stowmarket (Suffolk) - Clopton Hall
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This strange entry in the 'shuck' category stands guard over a hidden hoard of gold. A legend states that St Felix instructed a monk and a dog to guard the buried treasure, and over the years the entities merged into a single presence.

Cat or Dog?

Location: Sturminster Newton (Dorset) - Castle ruins and Newton Hill
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: Reports vary on whether the creature that haunts this area is a large dog or very large cat. Either way, the entity was said to have large, saucer shaped eyes, and people went out of their way to avoid the area.

Headless Dog

Location: Swaledale (North Yorkshire) - Humpbacked bridge leading to Ivelet
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The appearance of this headless hound denoted a forthcoming tragedy.

Cat Dog

Location: Swannington (Norfolk) - Woodland
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Circa 1975, after dark
Further Comments: A large black dog was seen by two witnesses as it ran across the road ahead of them. It moved more like a cat than dog but did not look feline. One of the witnesses, a vet, was not able to identify it.

Black Dog

Location: Swindon (Wiltshire) - Hill in Toothill area (was known as The Toot)
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This demonic hound once haunted the area before the area became a suburb of Swindon.

Large Dog

Location: Swindon (Wiltshire) - Old canal bridge between Shrivenham Road and Drakes Way
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 1988
Further Comments: It was reported that a large dog with red eyes was seen by three people over a two day period. The hound appeared unable to cross an old metal bridge.

The strange hound of Wiltshire.

Black Dog

Location: Swindon (Wiltshire) - Road between Moredon and Haydon Wick
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The road between these two locations was once believed to be the haunt of a shuck.

Guard Dog

Location: Swinscoe (Staffordshire) - Leek to Ashbourne road
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The site where three Jacobites are buried is haunted by a large black hound that ensures their graves are not disturbed.

Velvet Chain

Location: Tarrant Gunville (Dorset) - General area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: An invisible dog runs around this area, with a chain as soft as velvet. One would imagine this makes it one of the hardest entities to detect in the whole of the UK. A legend says that a clump of yew trees in the region of the village conceal a silver table.

Lady Howard

Location: Tavistock (Devon) - Fitzford House driveway, heading towards Okehampton
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Lady Howard is said to have poisoned two of her four husbands, and now takes the form of a large black dog with a single eye which departs the driveway of Fitzford House, followed by a carriage pulled by headless horses, heading towards Okehampton Castle. Once they reach their destination, Lady Howard plucks a single blade of grass and then returns home, doomed to repeat the action until there is no grass left and she is released.

Black Dog Lies near Bed

Location: Theydon Bois (Essex) - Hill Hall
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 1920s
Further Comments: Never returning since the destruction of the building, a large black dog was seen on several occasions, lying across the beds.

Banishing the Dog

Location: Thorne St Margaret (Somerset) - Church
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ancient custom of 'clipping the church' once preceded the chasing of the black dog, which was thought to be Satan, out of the village's boundary.

Horse sized Dog

Location: Thorney (Cambridgeshire) - Woods in the area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Summer only (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This great dog is said to be the size of a small horse, also sharing a few other equestrian characteristics.

Bloody Tongue

Location: Thornton, Bradford (West Yorkshire) - Jim Craven Well
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Though the exact location of the well has now been lost, it was guarded by a large black hound with glowing red eyes, known as 'Bloody Tongue'. The beast was sometimes accompanied by the ghost of an old hag with a storm lantern.

Barguest

Location: Throstlenest (Durham) - General area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Little is known about the Throstlenest shuck, which patrols the area between Darlington and Houghton.

Vanishing Shuck

Location: Thurton (Norfolk) - Near the village, precise details unknown
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: November 1944 or 1945
Further Comments: While cycling home, a witness reported that a large black dog had leapt out in front of him, before disappearing through a solid wall.

Barking Hound

Location: Tiree (Argyll and Bute) - Cladach a Chrogain beach
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This harbinger of doom, known locally as a Cusith, was renowned for its barking - if it yapped once or twice, it was a sign everything was okay, but three times warned of incoming danger for the listener or their family. Some people believe that the creature can become semi-human in appearance.

Cu Sith

Location: Tiree (Argyll and Bute) - Unknown
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Two boys spending the night in a shieling hut were awoken by the sound of a large creature on the roof howling. When dawn came and they ventured out, they discovered the large prints of a Cu Sith on the turf roof.

Pack of Hounds

Location: Todmorden (West Yorkshire) - Area between Todmorden and Mankinholes
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 31 October (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Wailing at the moon, this pack of devil dogs, known locally as Gabriel Ratchets' run over both land and water looking for people to terrify.

Dog as Large as a Bike

Location: Tollesbury (Essex) - On the route to Jordan's Green, along the lane that leads up to Gorwell Hall.
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 1920s
Further Comments: Shuck sightings appear quite common in this area. This encounter involved a woman coming face to face with a black dog with a bright red tongue, which was as large as her bicycle. It chased her (or ran alongside her, according to other stories) as she peddled down the road, disappearing soon after.

Snapping and Snarling Black Dog

Location: Tolleshunt D'Arcy (Essex) - B1026 coast road
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: A cyclist reported being attacked by a large black dog while travelling down the coast road. Leaping off his bike to scare the animal, it disappeared before his eyes.

Black Dog

Location: Torrington (Devon) - Torrington/Bideford road
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This wish hound has been seen running along this stretch of road.

Sometimes Headless

Location: Tretire with Michaelchurch (Herefordshire) - St Michael's Church
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The shuck which haunted this churchyard sometimes appeared headless.

Lean Hound

Location: Tring (Hertfordshire) - Area where gibbet once stood
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Pre-1863
Further Comments: A black, lean dog with fiery red eyes would stand in the middle of the road in his village, sinking into the ground if approached. It was thought to be the spirit of a chimneysweep executed for murder.

Old postcard of Bouley Bay in Jersey.

Le Tchan de Bouole

Location: Trinity (Jersey) - Bouley Bay
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Prior to a storm (last seen 2008)
Further Comments: This dog, sometimes dragging a large chain, is said to appear before the area is hit by bad weather. Writer Linda Corby claimed that three of her friends had seen this large black hound a few hours before the Great Storm of 1987 (although there may be a more mundane explanation), while in 2008 a car full of people were chased by a black shadow accompanied by the sound of dragging chains.