| SHUCKLAND Introduction Alphabetical List of Locations | |
| Location: | Halesworth, SUFFOLK |
| Encounter: | "Mrs. Ella Lambert, of Windmill Cottages, Halesworth, reported seeing the mythical Black Shuck the evening before the row of cottages burnt down in 1929." |
| Source: | Christopher Reeve: 'A Straunge & Terrible Wunder' (Morrow, 1988), p. 67. |
| Place Name: | Halesworth - (Prob.) OE 'Haele's homestead' |
| Other: | See also encounter below. |
| Location: | Halesworth |
| Encounter: | During his examination for witchcraft in 1645, Thomas Everard confessed that, when he was an apprentice he was sent on an errand, and had a dog with him as he walked. Whilst on a certain road, "a black dock like a water dog" crossed the road in front of him, and leapt silently over the hedgerow. He "knew it to be the Devil." When he came to the spot he had to carry his own dog, as it whined and refused to walk past.
When they had passed the spot, the dog whined and twisted against his legs so much that Everard became afraid. When he arrived at the house to which he had been sent, the man who lived there told him that the black dog had been seen in that lane several times, and sent him home by another route. |
| Source: | C. L'Estrange Ewan: 'Witch Hunting & Witch Trials' (facsimile edition Muller 1971, originally published 1929), p. 309. [Account comes from Depositions at examinations of Suffolk Wizards and Witches in August 1645, in British Museum Add. Ms. 27402, folios 104-121.] |
| Comments: | Although it was not unusual for alleged witches and wizards to 'confess' to meeting the Devil in various forms, including dogs, this particular one sounds very like a standard 'black dog' encounter, complete with pre-existing tradition. |
| Other: | See similar witchcraft-related account under Westhorpe. |