Encounter Atlas
The Snarly Yow is a ghostly black dog said to haunt South Mountain in western Maryland, especially the old National Road (now Alternate US 40) where it crosses the ridge near Turner's Gap. Travellers said it appeared at night on the road, huge and black, and that bullets and blows passed straight through it.
The best-known source is South-Mountain Magic (1882), a collection of local ghost tales by Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren, who lived on the mountain and gathered stories from her neighbours. The legend later spread across the Potomac, and West Virginia folklore places it near Harpers Ferry as well.
It belongs to the family of black dog legends brought over from Britain, like Black Shuck and the barghest.
What witnesses report
- A very large black dog on the road at night
- Shots or blows that pass through it
- Vanishing when approached
- Disappearing when someone tries to strike it
Famous cases
- 1882Dahlgren publishes South-Mountain Magic, recording the black dog
Turner's Gap, Maryland
Seen the Snarly Yow?
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