Great Britain is famously haunted by phantom black dogs, a great pack of monstrous mongrels seemingly spread to all four corners of the realm, but while East Anglia boasts its Black Shuck, Devon its Whisht Hounds, the Isle of Man the Moddey Dhoo and Wales its Cŵn Annwn; the Dogs of Annwn, Northwest England possesses an especially chaotic catalog of spectral canines.
Tag Archives: #UnnaturalHistories
Unnatural Histories: T’ hole in t’ Castle Keep
Up on top o’ yon rocky hill stands Clitheroe Castle, which I telt ye all about afore, it’s one o’ t’ smallest keeps in all England, an as’ stood theer for more nor eight hundred year, lookin’ out ower Ribble Valley. But on t’ side o’ that keep, just above t’ door, there’s a gurt big hole. Not a neat winder, mind thee, a proper jagged hole, big enough for a man to lean through, an’ it’s allus been theer as long as folk can remember.
Plecotus auritus, the Halloween Bat
Brown Long-eared bats emerge late, after full darkness, to hunt and their echolocation calls are very quiet to avoid being detected by prey (they are simetimes called “whispering bats”), so bat detectors only pick them up at close range (typically under 5m). They are very skilled at gleaning insects from foliage while hovering or flying slowly, as well as catching prey in flight.
Unnatural Histories: The Spectre of Blacko
In t’ quiet little village o’ Blacko, tucked up agen t’ dark slopes o’ Pendle, t’ owd Cross Gaits Inn ’ad stood nigh on two ’undred year. Its low beams still smelled o’ woodsmoke an’ tobacco, an’ on certain neets t’ locals swore t’ past walked among ’em.
Tommy Stroo’s Ghost by John Charles Twist
Th’ moon wur sheignin’ rare, an’ breet,
An’ stars wur twinklin’ o’er mi heyd,
When aw wur walkin’ deawn th’ owd street,
Wi’ Tommy Stroo’s ghost bi mi seyd.
Unnatural Histories; The Crier of Claife
For generations, ferrymen operating the historic crossing betwixt Ferry Nab and Sawrey knew better than to heed these unearthly cries after dark, for they knew that these were no ordinary pleas but rather the desperate howls of a damned soul.
Unnatural Histories; Burnley’s Boggarts
Lancashire’s misty moors and ancient lanes are inhabited by all sorts of weird and eldritch beings; witches, spectral dogs and highwaymen have haunted these parts for centuries. Yet few of these mythical entities evoke as much intrigue and trepidation as the boggart.
Unnatural Histories; The Tragic Tale of Private Patrick McCaffery
In the latest addition to my Unnatural Histories collection I return to a part of Lancashire I grew up in to look deeper into the background of a ghost story we heard many times as children.
It is a tale of murder, trial, execution and haunting, and was made even more chilling for us as our tall red-brick town-house directly faced the black gates of the barracks it occurred in.
