Black Shuck

I discovered there's a long tradition of remarkably similar creatures in British folklore.

They go by names like the Grim or Church Grim, Black Shuck in England, the Gwilgi in Wales, and the Cuseth in Scotland.

According to some folklore, the first buried in a graveyard was believed to be doomed to guard or watch over the dead.

Rather than condemn a human to that fate, an animal, often a dog, would sometimes be buried first.

okay number

eight number eight black shuck

oh i know that one we had a show on black shuck yeah yeah black shuck so we won't go in that yeah

go look up our old show

yeah

Mm-hmm.

Uh, we had Black Shuck stories, we had King of Cats stories.

Mm-hmm.

We had, um, stories from people-

That was long enough to see exactly what it was and to know I never wanted to see it again.

Simon explained that at the time of his sighting, he'd never heard of Black Shuck.

I genuinely thought that what I saw was a giant wolf, he said.

It was only years later that I read about Shuck and the multiple sightings across many centuries throughout East Anglia, including close to where I had my encounter.

I looked it up online and was interested to learn that it's an ancient trackway beginning at Knettishall Heath Country Path in Suffolk, where it then follows the route of a Roman road for forty-nine miles or seventy-nine kilometers to Holme-next-the-Sea on the North Norfolk coast.

A National Trails website describes the route as, quote, the perfect way to lose yourself in this magical land of sand dunes and salt marsh, sea air, and warm welcomes, end quote.

It's intriguing to learn that other sites reference the folklore of Peddars Way, referencing the route as supposedly being the haunt of the Black Shuck, the supernatural black dog of East Anglian folklore, something which Simon stated he had no knowledge of until years after his experience.

One final point worthy of note is the location of Simon's sighting.

Yeah, we're going ghost hunting on the 29th of October.

We're going to look for a black shuck.

Oh, cool.

So we've got one in Sheffield.

As one of England's most rural counties, Suffolk is home to plenty of ghost stories, which have been passed down through the ages.

Perhaps one of the most famous is the legend of Black Shuck.

The red-eyed, say that five times fast.

Yeah, say that five times fast.

Tippid would drive, Heedy would drive the ice cream truck, and another gremlin would drive the stair truck.

We mixed Onikuma and Old Shuck into the procession, but Sweetie went at the very front.

That's where Prepetente and Jorgen would ride.

They were currently hanging flowers off the mount's platform.

You know, I, it's just appropriate.

I just like it.

Um, Samantha and Biggs rode on the back of old Shuck, the wolf, who is apparently like a puppy, um, Donut had received some pretty wild clothes for the mercenaries and pets, but we decided to keep the nemes and headband on Mongo and Rend for this fight.

However, Mongo received kukri claw caps for his feet that greatly increased his slicing ability.