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 »

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 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 »

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 »

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 »

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 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.

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 »

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 »

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.

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 »

"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.

The caves of this deep limestone ravine are the haunt of trolls and sprites. The Gill is also associated with a black dog legend. Read More »