Black Dogs

Date: 1577              Location: Bungay, Suffolk

Old shock is the Suffolk variation of the black dog, described by a local writer as,    ‘a mischievous goblin in the shape of a great dog, or a calf, haunting highways and footpaths in the dark. Those who are so foolhardy as to encounter him are thought to be at least thrown down and severely bruised, and it is well if they do not get their ankle sprained or broken; of which instances are recorded and believed.

The most horrific black dog encounter took place in Bungay in Suffolk. On the morning of Sunday 4 August 1577, there was a violent thunder storm while many of the townsfolk were in church. Inside the church a black dog appeared, illuminated by the lightening flashes and seen by the whole congregation. It ran down the central isle and through the people, reportedly striking dead two people who had been praying. It is also said to have run into a third person who shrivelled up ‘like a drawn purse’ but remained alive, as well as breaking the church clock and scratching the stone and metal-work on the doorway. The event recorded on the market weathervane which shows a hideous and demonic black dog, wide eyed and slavering.