Londonist » hound http://londonist.com A website about London Sun, 12 Feb 2012 17:02:35 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 The Saturday Strangeness http://londonist.com/2009/04/the_saturday_strangeness_43.php http://londonist.com/2009/04/the_saturday_strangeness_43.php#comments Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:00:00 +0000 NeilA http://londonist.com/?p=12456
devildog.jpg
Photo by lazzarello on Flickr

104. An Account Of A Horrifying Apparition

The old Newgate Prison harbours one of London’s most terrifying apparitions, that of an evil black hound. Legend dates back to the reign of Henry III, during a period of extreme famine, where holed up prisoners were alleged to have gorged upon one another to survive! One of these victims was said to have been a sorcerer of the darkest arts, who claimed near death that he would seek revenge on the inmates. Although the jail was demolished in the early 1900s, the most fascinating account originates from the pen of a Luke Hutton, who was an inmate in the 1500s, and hanged in 1598. This oft-repeated version of the beast comes from 1638, entitled The Discovery of a London Monster and reads as follows (word for word):

I maintained that I had read an old Chronicle that it was a walking spirit in the likeness of a blacke Dog, gliding up and down the streets a little before the time of Execution, and in the night whilst Sessions continued, and his beginning thus.

In the raigne of King Henry the third there happened such a famine through England, but especially in London, that many starved for want of food, by which meanes the Prisioners in Newgate eat up one another altue, but commonly those that came newly in..there was a certain scholar brought tither, upon suspicion of Conjuring, and that he by Charmes and devilish Whitchcrafts, had done much hurt to the kings subjects, which Scholler, mauger his Devil Furies, Spirits and Goblins, was by the famished prisoners eaten up…

With vengeance promised by the prey: …nightly to see the Scholler in the shape of a black Dog walking up and downe the Prison, ready with ravening Jawes to teare out their bowles; for his late human flesh they had so hungerly eaten, and withal they hourely heard (as they thought) strange groanes and cries, as if it had been some creature in great paine and torments, whereupin such a nightly feare grew amongst them, that it turned into a Frenzie, and from a Frenzie to Desperation, in which desperation they killed the keeper, and so many of them escaped forth, but yet whither soever they came or went they imagined a Blacke Dog to follow, and by this means, as I doe thinke, the name of him began.

For more tales of phantom hounds, read my book ‘Mystery Animals Of The British Isles: Kent’.

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devildog.jpg
Photo by lazzarello on Flickr

104. An Account Of A Horrifying Apparition

The old Newgate Prison harbours one of London’s most terrifying apparitions, that of an evil black hound. Legend dates back to the reign of Henry III, during a period of extreme famine, where holed up prisoners were alleged to have gorged upon one another to survive! One of these victims was said to have been a sorcerer of the darkest arts, who claimed near death that he would seek revenge on the inmates. Although the jail was demolished in the early 1900s, the most fascinating account originates from the pen of a Luke Hutton, who was an inmate in the 1500s, and hanged in 1598. This oft-repeated version of the beast comes from 1638, entitled The Discovery of a London Monster and reads as follows (word for word):

I maintained that I had read an old Chronicle that it was a walking spirit in the likeness of a blacke Dog, gliding up and down the streets a little before the time of Execution, and in the night whilst Sessions continued, and his beginning thus.

In the raigne of King Henry the third there happened such a famine through England, but especially in London, that many starved for want of food, by which meanes the Prisioners in Newgate eat up one another altue, but commonly those that came newly in..there was a certain scholar brought tither, upon suspicion of Conjuring, and that he by Charmes and devilish Whitchcrafts, had done much hurt to the kings subjects, which Scholler, mauger his Devil Furies, Spirits and Goblins, was by the famished prisoners eaten up…

With vengeance promised by the prey: …nightly to see the Scholler in the shape of a black Dog walking up and downe the Prison, ready with ravening Jawes to teare out their bowles; for his late human flesh they had so hungerly eaten, and withal they hourely heard (as they thought) strange groanes and cries, as if it had been some creature in great paine and torments, whereupin such a nightly feare grew amongst them, that it turned into a Frenzie, and from a Frenzie to Desperation, in which desperation they killed the keeper, and so many of them escaped forth, but yet whither soever they came or went they imagined a Blacke Dog to follow, and by this means, as I doe thinke, the name of him began.

For more tales of phantom hounds, read my book ‘Mystery Animals Of The British Isles: Kent’.

]]> http://londonist.com/2009/04/the_saturday_strangeness_43.php/feed 0 The Saturday Strangeness http://londonist.com/2008/12/the_saturday_strangeness_27.php http://londonist.com/2008/12/the_saturday_strangeness_27.php#comments Sat, 20 Dec 2008 16:00:00 +0000 NeilA http://londonist.com/?p=11233 Ghost dog

83. A Christmas Ghost Story: The Spectral Dog of Soho

Paranormal author Elliot O’ Donnell was a master at collating macabre and mysterious tales. In his fascinating book Casebook Of Ghosts (1969) he mentions several phantom dog apparitions said to have haunted the capital. One of the most intriguing of these ghosts involved a friend of the author who encountered an apparition at the old Motley Club, once located in Dean Street, Soho.

Just before the club was shut down, the witness, a man named Dickson, was at the premises when he observed a yellow dog of some size which confronted him on a staircase. Dickson, hoping to provoke no ferocity from the strange dog, threw it a biscuit, but the dog did not bat an eyelid at the scrumptious gift. It then slowly padded past Dickson and out of sight.

The next day Dickson once again frequented the stairwell, and was shocked once again to meet the yellow hound. Again, the man threw it a biscuit. Again, the cookie was ignored, and again the dog passed him. This time however Dickson kept his eyes trained on the animal, and was startled to see it vanish into thin air halfway down the stairs.

On the third visit, Dickson once again observed the creature, but this time he threw it a piece of meat, and once again the animal took no notice. Baffled by the dog, Dickson decided to prod the animal with his stick, but was amazed to see the cane pass through the animal which then faded from view.

Dickson was clearly fed up with the surreal deja-vu and visited the club no more but was told of other witnesses who’d seen the spectral dog.

Was the animal a mere ghost of a pet that once roamed the stairs as a happy pooch, or like many phantom hounds, did it loiter in some unbidden realm, forever to be misunderstood by those who saw it, until the Motley Club finally closed down, meaning that no human eye would ever again observe the yellow hound?

Photo by cursedthing on flickr

]]> Ghost dog

83. A Christmas Ghost Story: The Spectral Dog of Soho

Paranormal author Elliot O’ Donnell was a master at collating macabre and mysterious tales. In his fascinating book Casebook Of Ghosts (1969) he mentions several phantom dog apparitions said to have haunted the capital. One of the most intriguing of these ghosts involved a friend of the author who encountered an apparition at the old Motley Club, once located in Dean Street, Soho.

Just before the club was shut down, the witness, a man named Dickson, was at the premises when he observed a yellow dog of some size which confronted him on a staircase. Dickson, hoping to provoke no ferocity from the strange dog, threw it a biscuit, but the dog did not bat an eyelid at the scrumptious gift. It then slowly padded past Dickson and out of sight.

The next day Dickson once again frequented the stairwell, and was shocked once again to meet the yellow hound. Again, the man threw it a biscuit. Again, the cookie was ignored, and again the dog passed him. This time however Dickson kept his eyes trained on the animal, and was startled to see it vanish into thin air halfway down the stairs.

On the third visit, Dickson once again observed the creature, but this time he threw it a piece of meat, and once again the animal took no notice. Baffled by the dog, Dickson decided to prod the animal with his stick, but was amazed to see the cane pass through the animal which then faded from view.

Dickson was clearly fed up with the surreal deja-vu and visited the club no more but was told of other witnesses who’d seen the spectral dog.

Was the animal a mere ghost of a pet that once roamed the stairs as a happy pooch, or like many phantom hounds, did it loiter in some unbidden realm, forever to be misunderstood by those who saw it, until the Motley Club finally closed down, meaning that no human eye would ever again observe the yellow hound?

Photo by cursedthing on flickr

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