Black Dogs

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 »