Black Dogs Gazetteer

Tucked in the northern corner of Lancaster County, the tiny village of Adamstown boasts at least four ghosts. One of these is a small black dog, who appears seemingly at random and follows pedestrians before vanishing as mysteriously as it came. Read More »

Roy Palmer in his 1976 book ‘The Folklore of Warwickshire’ tells us that within living memory a black dog that was seen running down a hill and transformed into a woman. ‘Charles Walton, a ploughboy at Alveston, met a dog on the way home on nine successive evenings. Read More »

Once the focus of a controversial investigation by the SPR (Society for Psychical Research), Ballechin House no longer exists in the form that it was back in 1897, at the peak of the alleged haunting. Read More »

The Churchyard of St Helen’s in Barnoldby le Beck and the fields and surrounding the village have been said to be haunted by a Shag-Foal, a rough coated goblin horse, described as a cross between a black dog and a horse. Read More »

The tiny village of Warfieldsburg in Carroll County is haunted by a black dog. Recounted by Maryland folklorists Annie W. Whitney and Caroline C. Bullock is the story of two men who were riding along near the Ore Mine Bridge at dusk around 1887. They saw a large black dog which passed through a fence, crossed the road, and passed through another fence. Read More »

Legends of black dogs and phantom hounds are widespread throughout the Chesapeake Bay region, which was one of the earliest areas settled by the English. Read More »

It is probably no coincidence that many of the oldest counties in Pennsylvania share the names of counties and regions of England (Berks, Bucks, Chester, Lancaster, Westmoreland, York) and that like Maryland and Delaware, dealt with in a previous article, Pennsylvania also has a number of tales of phantasmal dog-creatures. Read More »

It could be just another variant of an urban legend or a wholly separate story, but the city Frederick (Frederick County) has its own Blue Dog of Rose Hill. The grounds of Rose Hill Manor off Route 355 in the northern part of the city are also haunted by a phantom blue dog. This blue dog was the pet of a previous owner of the manor. Read More »

Perhaps the oldest ghost story of Maryland is that of the Blue Dog of Rose Hill. Near the town of Port Tobacco (Charles County) is a rock covered in reddish discolorations. Called the "Peddler's Rock", it supposedly marks the spot where a trader was killed at some point in the latter part of the 1700s. In true ghost story fashion, there are many variants of the tale. Read More »

Charles J. Adams III cites the story of ghostly activity at the Stroud Mall in Stroudsburg, Monroe County, part of which was the appearance of what appeared to be a lion-headed dog. The sound of a whimpering dog was sometimes heard even when the phantom was not seen. The mall was formerly an old mill.

Over the past several years there have been numerous reports of strange encounters on and around Cannock Chase ranging from UFO’s, a Big Foot or Sasquatch, a Big Cat and a Giant Serpent, not to mention its haunting by a Phantom Black Dog.

Below are a series of articles have appeared in the Canock Chase Post and Birmingham Post. Read More »

ASSAP (The Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena) in partnership with Mysterious Britain & Ireland is opening up its long running Project Albion to enable members of the public to directly contribute towards it. Read More »

According to tradition, the churchyard of the Grade I listed St John the Baptist’s Church in Northorpe was reputedly haunted by a black dog. In County Folk-Lore, By Mrs Gutch and Mabel Peacock, 1908 they state that the dog ‘went by the well-known name of the Bargest’. Read More »

The Creech Hill Bullbegger is said to haunt the area, as a tall apparition who laughs manically from the hillside. A Bullbeggar is the local name for a boggart or mischievous spirit. Read More »

“I went down to the Crossroads, fell down on my knees” Robert Johnson.
When Robert Johnson sang of the Crossroads down in the 1930’s Mississippi Delta, he was paying homage to a tradition that has existed in varied forms for centuries, and at the same time adding his own contribution to the wealth of folklore that exists around the crossing place of two highways. Read More »

According to British Goblins (1881) by Wirt Sykes; 'To William Jones, a sabbath-breaker, of Risca village, the devil appeared as an enormous mastiff dog, which transformed itself into a great fire and made a roaring noise like burning gorse'.

The Fence Rail Dog is an enormous hound, nearly ten feet in length, which haunts a stretch of Route 12 near Frederica in Delaware. Mentioned by Charles J. Adams III, a Pennsylvania-based author on paranormal topics, the dog appears in the wake of automobile accidents on the road. Read More »

Looking for the spookier side to London? Then this is the must-have app for you...

London has a rich haunted heritage, and from well-known ghosts to some of the more obscure, this app features over 300 haunted locations around the city, the map uses your phone's GPS to bring the spooks to you! Read More »

Discover the darker side of Southend-on-Sea in the latest book in the Haunted series. If you've had enough of the beach and pier then be prepared to see the spine-chilling side of the town. You won't be disappointed. Read More »

The ghosts of Wales are bold and memorable, forceful in character often terrifying and sometimes even dangerous. In a new book by Richard Holland and published by The History Press you realise that Wales is a fearfully haunted place with possibly more ghosts and goblins than in England or any other country. Read More »

The roadway near the Hampton Fields entrance to the 730 acre Gatcombe Park Estate is said to be haunted by a headless Black Dog. In 1976 the Daily Express newspaper interviewed Joe Hattersall who lived nearby; "I've seen it four times. It moves fast and silently, then brushes up against you, and one doesn't hang about when it happens." Read More »

A Black Dog story is attached to a pool near Deancombe, and James Mackinley in his 'Folklore of Scottish Lochs and Springs' (1893) referred to the hound as its guardian, doomed to haunt there until the pool could be emptied by a nutshell with a hole in it. The following earlier and fuller account of the tale appeared in Notes and Queries, Number 61 (28 December 1850): Read More »

I'm always enthusiastic about new books that take a tour of this country highlighting great places to visit and sites to see, it's even better when the book concentrates on Haunted locations, and in this case focussing on castles across England, Scotland and Wales. Read More »

Peter Underwood, a world renowned expert on the paranormal, has published a new book focussing on Irish Ghosts. I had great hopes for this book having owned a copy of his 1973 book Gazetteer of Scottish & Irish Ghosts for a number of years, and I'm pleased to say I've not being disappointed. Read More »

The single span Ivelet Bridge over the River Swale dates from 1687 and was an important crossing point on the 16 mile Corpse Way from Muker to the Churchyard at Grinton, which was once the only consecrated burial ground in the dale. Read More »

A phantom Black Dog is said to haunt Kettleness near Whitby. In Marc Alexander’s ‘To Anger the Devil’ which is a biography of the exorcist Reverend Dr Donald Omand, he describes how in the 1950s Rev Omand received letter from a schoolmaster detailing his experience with the dog and requesting an exorcism. Read More »

A spectral dog known as the Gwyllgi or the 'Dog of Darkness' is said to haunt the town. The dog appears with flaming red eyes, and is said to run from the castle to the town along an old route-way.

Directions: On the A4066

Leeds Castle is named after Led who is supposed to have been the Chief Minister of King Ethelbert IV of Kent. Originally a Saxon manor house called Esledes, built in AD857, it consisted of a wooden palisade and earthwork enclosure. It was granted to the Godwin family by King Edward the Confessor but did not become a stone castle until Robert Crevecoeur started upgrading it in 1119. Read More »

A number of phantom black hounds have been reported in the large hilltop cemetery at the end of Akeley Lane near Lock Haven University in Lock Haven, Clinton County. I'm not sure whether these dogs could have any relevance to a black, smoky form seen moving through the halls of Sloan Hall, the university art building adjacent to the cemetery. Read More »

This old story provides an explanation for the naming of the Black Dog Inn near Uplyme in Devon. The black dog seems to be a spirit guardian of treasure. Read More »

In 1825 a man reported being seeing a large headless phantom hound leap at him whilst he was in the vicinity of Manchester Cathedral.

An Iron Age hill fort once stood upon Meon Hill and it has been suggested that man has lived there from the Stone Age, but it a legend concerning the formation of the hill that has attracted my attention. Read More »

The Mount Misery area and the nearby Sweet Hollow Road has developed a reputation for being the source of strange experiences and hauntings. Given the number and variety of these reports I suspect many could be categorized as modern myths or urban legends, but as always I would love to hear from anybody who has had genuine experiences here. Read More »

The following folktale entitled ‘Nansi Llwyd and the Dog of Darkness’ appeared in ‘The Welsh Fairy Book’ (1908) by W. Jenkyn Thomas.  NANSI LLWYD was walking in the dusk of the evening towards Aberystruth, and she was in a very bad temper, for she was longing to get married, and according to all the omens she never would. Read More »

This 16th century heavily fortified castle was built by Gilbert Balfour from Fife, brother-in-law of Mary Queen of Scots. Balfour and his brothers had been involved in the murder of Cardinal Beaton in 1546 and had been sentenced to serve time as oar men on a French galley. Read More »

The Old Black Dog Inn has a curious story as to how it acquired its name. A local man who lived in a farm house that once formed part of a mansion destroyed in the civil war, found his house haunted by a black dog. The dog manifested by the hearth almost every night. Consider the article, The Lyme Regis Black Dog. Read More »

Being born and bred in Lancashire I've grown up surrounded by the rich folklore, ghost stories and paranormal experiences that are embedded in the county, call me bias, but we have some of the most diverse and well documented stories from the famous Pendle witches to headless boggarts, lonely ghosts, black cat sightings and UFO's. Read More »

Located on St Patrick's Isle, Peel, Isle of Man, the castle is reached over a causeway. The castle buildings are now in ruin but the outer walls are mostly intact. The first fortifications were built by the King Magnus Barelegs of Norway in the 11th Century. The Viking castle was made of wood, though there were earlier Celtic monastic structures on the island. Read More »

Radcliffe Tower is all that remains of a fifteenth century (1403) manor house and is a Grade I listed building. At twenty feet high, this ruined remnant of the manors demolition in the nineteenth century is linked to a tragic tale of a stepmother arranging the murder of her husband’s daughter and is reputed to be haunted by a phantom Black Dog. Read More »

The Brandywine Creek State Park in northern Delaware near Wilmington is home to appearances of a large dog or fox which is often seen to rise up into the apparition of Gil Thoreau, an outdoorsman. Not much information is known on this creature.

Now converted into a series of private residences, the reputedly haunted, Grade II listed Savernake Forest Hotel was built by George William Frederick Brudenell-Bruce, 2nd Marquess of Ailesbury and Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire (Born 20 November 1804 – Died 6 January 1878) in 1864. Read More »

The dark brooding presence of Schiehallion (pronounced She-hal-e-on)- the fairy hill of the Caledonians - looms over the Eastern end of Rannoch moor like a voluminous guardian. The mountain is one of the traditional haunts of otherworld beings. Read More »

A Phantom Black Dog was said to haunt the A6 around Shap Pass, roughly nine miles south of Penrith. In his book Ghosts of the North, Jack Hallam states ‘Many drivers reported seeing, in the beam of their headlights, a big dog loping along for 200 to 300 yards, before disappearing over a stone wall at a place where there is a 300ft sheer drop’. Read More »

"Snarly Yow" is the name given to a phantom hound which haunted a section of the National Pike near Turner's Gap (Frederick County). The hound was first mentioned by Madeleine V. Dahlgren in 1882. Her book South Mountain Magic details no less than a dozen sightings of the beast. One account is from a Daniel Mesick, whose father kicked at a huge dog near Dame's Quarter. Read More »

A phantom wolf supposedly haunts this ridge south of New Hope. Information on the wolf is scarce (read non-existent) but I find it interesting that a number of sightings were reported in the last few years of the so-called Yardley Yeti, which despite the name was a dog-like creature, from the region around New Hope.

In his 'Memorabilia domestica; or, Parish life in the North of Scotland', Donald Sage (born 1789 – died 1869) described a treasure legend in the parish of Kildonan with a phantom Black Dog guardian attached to it. Read More »

Little Eaton in Derbyshire has a black dog legend. It is said that the large black animal was a working, hunting hound owned by the last squire of the village, which howled constantly for three days and nights as its master was dying. When the dog ceased howling, the household staff and the villagers knew that the squire had died. Read More »

Within this book, The Horror of Gyb Farm, Richard Holland has collated and edited the works of a pioneering and yet relatively unknown paranormal researcher, Frederick George Lee (born 1832-1902). Between 1875 and 1894 F.G. Read More »