Black Shuck. 

The first mention of Black Shuck in print was the 1850 edition of the Journals, Notes and Queens. Queries, Black Shuck, by Reverend E. S. Taylor: 

"a black shaggy dog with fiery eyes and of immense size, and who visits church huts at midnight". 


A massive silent hound with a shaggy black coat and glowing fiery red or yellow eyes. In Norfolk, the beast is linked with beast and bump, the hill between Cromer and Sheringham, Overstrand, where Shuck's Lane is named after it, and the coastal paths around Cromer. Meeting Black Shuck and looking directly into its fiery eyes, was traditionally believed to bring death or misfortune within a year and a day. 


The most famous story involving Black Shug actually took place in near-to-Norfolk Bungay. On August 4th, 1577, the church in Bungay was filled with parishioners, and outside a vicious storm raged. It goes that there was an almighty bang. The church doors were thrown wide open, and there, in the doorway, black fur wet, eyes burning red, stood the black shuck. With a chilling growl, it charged into the church, bounding at speed between the terrified people, biting down on the heads of two people and breaking their necks with ease. It bit another in the back, and he seemed to shrivel and turn black. 
The beast was then gone. But Shuck then made his way to a church in Blythburgh, where it burst in through the doors of the Holy Trinity Church to a clap of thunder. Shuck ran up the nave, past a large congregation, killing a man and a boy, and causing the church steeple to collapse through the roof. As the hound departed, it left scorch marks on the north door, which can still be seen at the church to this day. 


I have been totally intrigued by these tales for many years, and in our house, Black Shuck is known as Old Snarley Yow.