Encounter Atlas
Black Shuck is the giant black dog of East Anglian folklore, said to pad silently along dark lanes, coast paths and churchyards. Descriptions run from a big shaggy hound to something the size of a calf, often with blazing red eyes, sometimes a single eye in the middle of its head. Meeting it was said to foretell a death, though some stories make it a protective companion.
Its most famous night was 4 August 1577. During a violent thunderstorm, a black dog was said to burst into St Mary's Church in Bungay, killing two worshippers, and then into Holy Trinity Church at Blythburgh, where scorch marks on the north door are still called the devil's fingerprints. Abraham Fleming's pamphlet A Straunge and Terrible Wunder spread the story.
Black dogs appear all over Britain under other names: the Barghest of Yorkshire, the Gurt Dog of Somerset and the Church Grim. Shuck sightings are still reported on the Norfolk and Suffolk coast.
What witnesses report
- A huge black dog that makes no sound as it walks
- Red or fiery eyes, sometimes just one
- Seen on coast paths, crossroads and churchyards
- Appearing during storms
Famous cases
- 1577Bungay and Blythburgh church attacks
Suffolk, England - 1850First printed as "Black Shuck"
Notes and Queries, Norfolk
Seen the Black Shuck?
Tell us what happened. Every report is read by a person before it goes on the map, and you can stay anonymous.
