• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Black Dogs?

This happened in 1975.
Our near neighbour's black west highland terrier sat just inside our front gate one night after everyone had gone to bed and howled for about four hours. Following day grandma died.
What puzzles me is that this dog was a good natured, old fella who we saw and made a fuss off every time he passed the gate.
His owner said she was just as stumped by his behaviour and was even puzzled as to how he got out, it being so late but he certainly seemed to know what was coming...
 
Frightening Omens

Several years ago I had a (foolish) phase of ringing telephone Tarot lines. In the end, what I think put me off most was an occasion when I picked something like Death (?), the Hanged Man and the Devil one after another. I didn`t feel very happy about it, but -HONESTLY- nothing dreadful happened.

..........Of course, maybe the significance is still to come!...........
But I`m talking probably the best part of ten years ago.

Surely the black dog may simply have been the ghost of a real black dog - no more ominous than the ghost of tabby cat .

MsT
 
Thanks for all your replies peeps!

I'm normally very superstitious, but I do try not to let things get to me if possible!

Keep 'em comig though - fascinating replies coming through!
 
Um..sorry but...um...

I thought black dogs where an omen of ill luck, even death. I may be wrong.

It may just have been a black dog.
 
One of the classic forms of the black dog legend involves its appearance to rescue travellers. From memory, I think this is the case with some of the Lincolnshire accounts. One version has a woman walking home alone at night, passing a couple of rough looking coves, and overhearing them say that they would have attacked her if she hadn't had that massive dog with her. Suprised, she looks down, and finds that she's being accompanied by a BD, which vanishes once the danger is past.
 
I remember a very old story, but I can't remember where it was set or when exactly, about a woman walking home at night in very dense fog. A black dog appeared on the path she was walking and kept at her side all the way. She was scared of the dog, so she would not go near it. The dog disappeared as the mist cleared, whereupon she discovered that it had walked between her and a precipice all the way, and her fear of it had prevented her falling to her death.

If it was a spectral hound, perhaps it stopped you for another reason. Perhaps, had you continued at that speed and direction, you may have had an accident, or possibly hurt someone else.

Just a thought.
 
wintermute said:
One of the classic forms of the black dog legend involves its appearance to rescue travellers. From memory, I think this is the case with some of the Lincolnshire accounts. One version has a woman walking home alone at night, passing a couple of rough looking coves, and overhearing them say that they would have attacked her if she hadn't had that massive dog with her. Suprised, she looks down, and finds that she's being accompanied by a BD, which vanishes once the danger is past.
Click to expand...

Yes! i knew id heard it before, ive heard about black dogs warning people away from danger, so its a good omen after all.
 
Helen said:
If it was a spectral hound, perhaps it stopped you for another reason. Perhaps, had you continued at that speed and direction, you may have had an accident, or possibly hurt someone else.
Click to expand...

I like the sound of this one - it does sound most likely, as although the road has been redeveloped beyond recognition now to make way for Junction 21A, and is relatively safe these days, I believe it has been an accident blackspot in its time, all winding country lanes, shaggy hedgerows, no path and little or no street lighting. The perfect setting for a spooky story, in fact!

Maybe we can dig a bit deeper into the history of the area, if anyone has any info. The road in question runs off from a roundabout very close to junction 21A of the M1, just a little way up from a pub called the Airman's (or Airman's Rest, to give it its original name) between Leicester Forest East and Ratby, leading into Kirby Muxloe, in Leicestershire. As a child, I used to ride my horse round there, and we used to have a good gallop downhill on the grass verge at the side of the old version of the road into Kirby. That particular stretch of road was known as "Blood's Hill" but nobody knew why.

The roundabout in question has three roads leading off, one to Leicester Forest East (past the pub and the old British Shoe Corporation industrial estate, near the RSPCA), one is J21A (southbound M1), one to Kirby Muxloe. The M1 passes underneath the roundabout. The incident happened just off the roundabout and I was driving towards Kirby Muxloe.

Being the sort of person who navigates using pubs as landmarks rather than road numbers I can't be more specific (as there's only one pub in the immediate area!) but I'd be very interested to hear any stories/ULs set around that area, and/or any links to tales about it.

Thanks!
 
Just to be different: Brewer (1894) apart from mentioning the fiendish aspects under discussion, also has

Black Dog. Base silver coin in the reign of Anne. Made of pewter double washed.
_________________________________

So now you know!
 
Well, a quick look at Jeeves brings up aboutbritain.com, which shows all kinds of things around Kirby Muxloe. Castle, manor house, colliery, Royalist strongholds, some deserted village.
 
White dogs

Aren't white dog appearances significant also?

I had an experience with a white dog once, that has
always seemed strange, but not really Fortean... well, maybe...

As a naive 19-year-old, I was traveling for the summer,
and after a silly argument with my girlfriend,
I decided that the beaches of Tel Aviv were as good a place to sleep as anywhere. (Wrong!)

At sunrise, a medium sized white dog walked over and sat next to me. I didn't have food, or anything, it just came over and sat by me. I walked up to the street from the beach and sat on a park bench. The dog followed me and actually sat on the bench beside me.

Within minutes, a very burly man walked over
and sat on the bench across from me. After a few minutes, he started trying to "solicit" me (in sign language, no less!) and
when he started this, the dog started growling and baring its teeth at him.
He stopped, looked at the dog (as if seeing it for the first time) and left.

At that point, I realized what might have happened
if the dog hadn't been there... I would have been able to
get away from the guy, but it might have gotten ugly...
especially if he turned out to be armed!
The dog walked me back to the hotel and sat outside the
door as I went in.

I never saw it again.

FWIW
TVgeek
 
If memory serves, spectral hounds and Whist Hounds were traditionally white with red ears, which figure quite a bit in Welsh legends. IIRC Annwyn's hounds were white with red ears. Anything white/red was considered other-worldly (wot men not wot of!). They weren't particularly lucky to see, either. In fact, I think they're worse than black dogs. Black dogs tend to be either after someone or guarding something, according to most of the legends I can think of off the top of my head. Whist/Wish/Ratchett/ (whatever you want to call them) were associated with the Great Hunt.
 
Originally posted by Helen
[BWhist/Wish/Ratchett/ (whatever you want to call them) were associated with the Great Hunt.
Click to expand...

Wow... I'll have to accept the non-Fortean take on my story,
since I've survived 19 years since the above encounter! ;)

Very interesting thread!

TVgeek
 
bulldog said:
This happened in 1975.
Our near neighbour's black west highland terrier
Click to expand...

That is very odd in itself. Westies are always white.
 
Inverurie Jones said:
That is very odd in itself. Westies are always white.
Click to expand...

Not always - they do come in black as well, but I think the breed standard says they must be white.

But the breed standard for the Dobermann says it has to have its tail hacked off, and Chows have to have eyes that are so creased it has to have an operation to save its sight (then it can't be shown).
 
Westies are white, I think it's Yorkshire Terriers which are black.

Niles "former Westie keeper" Calder
 
Nah, yorkies are black/blue/silver and tan. There are black Westies, but they're not called westies. Like the Whyte and Mackay label, I believe.

I just can't remember what the damn breed is called....it's not Skye, but it's something Scottish.
 
I reckon you're thinking of a Cairn terrier, Helen.

They're a bit like a Yorkie but bigger, according to various sites on the net which I can't be bothered to paste in!!

I could have sworn I've seen a black Westie though.

I'll stick with my Dobermanns I think (and avoid black labradors!!)
 
Westies / Cairns / Scotties /Sky terriers

The four above are similar but definitely different (slightly) pedigree breeds. I grew up with a light fawn coloured Cairn ~the pedigree description was "wheaten" colour.
I`m almost certain that the only truly black one would be a Scottish terrier (Scotty dog)

MsT
 
Aaah - the Scottish Terrier.

You're very probably correct - do they come in white?
 
You`ve got me there, to be honest I don`t know. When I was a child (back in the dark ages) there used to be a whiskey (sp?) called "Black and White Whiskey" and the trade mark was two little terriers. The black was definitely a Scotty but the white dog might have been a West Highland, I`m not sure.

MsT
 
MsT said:
You`ve got me there, to be honest I don`t know. When I was a child (back in the dark ages) there used to be a whiskey (sp?) called "Black and White Whiskey" and the trade mark was two little terriers. The black was definitely a Scotty but the white dog might have been a West Highland, I`m not sure.

MsT
Click to expand...

I thought that was Whyte and Mackay?
 
Perhaps I`m mis-remembering ~ like all that stuff about slipping into different dimensions, on the "General Forteana" page !
I`ve always been a shocker for mis-quoting half remembered bits from Shakespeare e.t.c. "Mea culpa, mea culpa".......

Blame it on my age!

MsT
 
MsT said:
Perhaps I`m mis-remembering ~ like all that stuff about slipping into different dimensions, on the "General Forteana" page !
I`ve always been a shocker for mis-quoting half remembered bits from Shakespeare e.t.c. "Mea culpa, mea culpa".......

Blame it on my age!

MsT
Click to expand...

Nothing of the kind! I was wondering if I'D remembered it correctly! I always thought it was Whyte and Mackay because when I was little I wanted a black and a white terrier and I was going to call them Whyte and Mackay. But I could have remembered it wrong , not you!
 
We`ll have to pin down some middle-aged off licence proprietor and interrogate him!!

MsT
 
OT

And ask him if "Old Peculiar" really is a whiskey!
I'd HAVE to get a bottle, then...

TVgeek
 
I live about 4 miles from Tenterden (place of the original message), and it reminded me of a siting of a group of about 4/5 black dogs that my friend had apparently seen from his window in Wittersham. The dogs moved in a kind of loose pack down a lane.
I'm not too sure of the credibility of this story but he made a strong point of them seeming to have red eyes.

He is not a person that would have known about Black Dogs and told a close friend of mine in strict confidence.

-i personaly think that if one of these dogs is a bad omen you'd find out in the following days. Otherwise take it as a good omen.

I read a report by a man that researches "Skreekers" or whatever you may refer to them as, (i can find out the name if anyone wants it) but he had an encounter of a BD walking into his room when he was a child, he couldn't scream when he tried to, it walked along the bottom of his bed, looked at him and he could feel and smell its breath before it carried on and vanished just before it came to the wall. He is still alive, so couldn't have been an omen for him!
 
Fascinating thread. One of the best I have read in a while.

Why I found it to be particularly fascinating is that it made me recall some of my earliest episodes of hypnagogia as a child. My first episode (age 7) involved waking to find a large black dog with glowing red eyes at the foot of my bed. I tried to scream, but to no avail. The dog then ran down our stairs and disappeared. Later hypnagogic episodes (around ages 12, 19, and 28) also involved (smaller) black dogs that would wake me and then leave my room. Twice, the episodes lasted long enough that I could rise from my bed and follow the "dog" completely out of the room. We never had dogs around, so waking to find canines in my bedroom, dorm room, etc. was always surprising. I didn't really research hypnagogia, per se, until I was in my late 20's. Fascinating phenomenom, though I never understood why a majority of my episodes involved black dogs.

BTW, these episodes never coincided with (or were followed by) bad news, deaths, or other unfortunate incidents. They just usually occurred at times of moderate stress.

So, these were hypnagogia, right? :)
 
Could this have been a Black Dog?

Alex Mathieson wrote on 22-08-2002 05:44 :

I cant remember if I mentioned it in my original 'Post' but my mother experienced something around the same time. She was convinced that I had jumped on the bed in the middle of the night whilst she was sleeping and that she had doubled her leggs up and kicked.

On waking up she had heard the sound of what she thought was me hitting the wall. The strange thing about this was that I was two closed doors away sleeping when she came and checked on me and it could not have been my dad as he was out driving the Taxi.

And she tried to tell me that 'I was dreaming?'

I have never heard of somone having multiple encounters, perhaps you have a quality that escapes us all?
:blah:
 
MsT said:
We`ll have to pin down some middle-aged off licence proprietor and interrogate him!!

MsT
Click to expand...
I have a distinct feeling that you're both right - in other words it was "Black and White Whisky" and the distillers were Whyte and Mackay.
NB I'm past middle age and I don't own an offie!:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top