SHUCKLAND       Introduction        Alphabetical List of Locations
Location: Coltishall, NORFOLK
Legend: Old Shuck is said to amble, headless, over Coltishall Bridge. (1)

"A headless dog with saucer eyes is said to pass nightly over Coltishall Bridge.." (2)
Sources: (1) W. A. Dutt: 'The Norfolk Broads' (Methuen, 1903), p. unknown.
(2) Rev. J. Gunn: 'Proverbs etc..in..Irstead', in 'Norfolk Archaeology' Vol. 2 (1849), p. 300.
Place Name: Coltishall - OE 'Cohhede's or Coccede's corner/nook'
Other: The Coltishall/Horstead parish boundary runs under the bridge [TG26701976.]
Location: On Coltishall Bridge
Encounter: "Another account [from the 1933 BBC radio programme 'The Dark Shore'] came from a middle-aged couple from Coltishall, who after a stroll on a fine summer evening had stopped on Coltishall Bridge. The man was just striking a match to light his wife's cigarette when Black Shuck 'as big as a calf and as noiseless as death' passed by within a foot of them."
Source: G. McEwan: 'Mystery Animals of Britain & Ireland' (Hale, 1986), p. 126.
Location: On Coltishall Bridge
Encounter: "Lately I investigated occurrences [of 'Black Shuck'] in East Anglia. Mr. Robert Norgate and Miss Agnes Abel of Horstead swear that Shuck passed them one evening on Coltishall Bridge. Both heard pattering feet and heavy breathing. Both looked sharply to see what was there."
Source: James Wentworth Day: 'Black Shuck', in the 'East Anglian Magazine', Vol. 21, No. 11 (Sept. 1962), p. 640.
Location: Coltishall High Street
Encounter: Late one night between 1960 and 1962, two RAF officers were travelling by car (a Mini) back from Norwich to RAF Coltishall. Passing over Coltishall bridge, they turned left into the High Street and were quickly forced into a sudden stop as "an enormous black dog" crossed the road from left to right in front of them.

"As it loped across our line of sight it slowly turned its head, to glare directly and disdainfully into our astonished faces, presenting us with a pair of fiery red eyes. It then slowly swung back its head and continued its measured progress onto the cobbles (if my recall of the village is sound) that stretched up to the shops/houses on the far side of the road. As it hit the cobbles it quite literally vanished."

 Comparable to the build of a Labrador, its back however was level with the roof of the Mini (approx. 1.35m or 53"). "To put it bluntly, it was a perfectly proportioned giant black dog."

The two officers looked at each other in disbelief, then sped off to the air base.
Source: Submitted to this website by one of the witnesses, 13/1/2011.

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