http://www.lutonparanormal.com/

Luton Paranormal Society, Luton (2026)

22/05/2026

The Su***de pool Epping Forest Essex England
The Irish author, Elliott O’Donnell wrote in his book “Haunted Britain” about a pool in Epping Forest which is home to unearthly presences, some very miserable and others evil. O’Donnell never revealed the location of the pool but the belief in its existence remained ingrained in local folklore.

One story goes that about 300 years ago a young couple embarked on a dangerous and forbidden relationship, meeting secretly at a beautiful pool. The girl’s father found out and in a fit of anger he killed her at the pool, on hearing of his lover’s murder, the boy committed su***de at the same spot. After that, no birds were heard, no animals ever seen there and the water became dank. People with no inclination committed su***de at the pool including a woman in 1887 and a young servant, Emma Morgan who killed both herself and her child.

In 1959 a competition was held in the magazine “Essex Countryside” to find the exact whereabouts of the pool. One writer claimed to know its location of the pool but refused to reveal the details. She wrote that the place was evil beyond measure,

“The su***de pool is deep in the heart of the forest, far from any road…It is dank, evil and malignant, with an atmosphere unpleasant beyond description. It doubt if the sunshine ever penetrates through the surrounding trees; if it did it would never lighten the black waters”

We would like to investigate here but need more information on whereabouts in Epping forest it is as this is a big place.

20/05/2026

Investigates St Peters Kirk Scotland

According to Local paranormal investigators this location was deemed worthy of an investigation and therefore was investigated on two seperate days.

The first day there was a feeling of being watched by two different spirits and one investigator felt he had seen a thin black shadow going from one side of the cemetery to one of the corners. Upon investigating this part of the cemetery one had a creepy feeling that they were not alone while they were there.

On the second day wile undertaking EVP a little old lady appeared and sat and chatted to investigators about the cemetery before she disappeared around the corner of the building.

St Peter’s Kirk stands south of the road leading to Gordonstoun School about a quarter of a mile east of the village of Duffus. It is sometimes referred to as St Peter’s Church; as Duffus Old Parish Church; as Duffus Old Kirk; or just as Peter Kirk.

You approach St Peter’s Kirk along a grassy lane that runs south from the minor road from Duffus. There is space to park on the north side of the road without causing an obstruction, or you can walk from Duffus. A sign on the inner gate tells visitors where the key to the church is is kept, though access around and views into the church are so good that many visitors probably choose to do without.

Much of the church you see today dates back to the 1700s, but its origins are ancient, and a church has stood on this spot since at least 1226. This depth of history explains why the church is today cared for by Historic Environment Scotland.

The origins of St Peter’s Kirk date back to the establishment of Duffus Castle, on a site 1¼ miles to the south east, in the mid-1100s. Castles were often accompanied by churches, and by 1226 a church dedicated to St Peter stood on the location of the church you see today. Around the church grew a village which today is known as Old Duffus. Sometime later a tower was built at the west end of the church, which probably reached a height of three storeys.

In 1524 the rector, Alexander Sutherland, oversaw the building of a rather fine porch on the south side of the church: his initials and coat of arms are engraved on the keystone at the centre of the vaulting in its ceiling. The outer door of the porch is surrounded by a strikingly pointed and highly decorated arch. The church seems to have continued to function as a place of worship through the disruption cased by the Reformation of 1560.

In the 1650s it is said that Cromwellian troops based in the area built a paved road around the church, in what at the time would have been the village of Old Duffus. No trace of this has been found in modern times. Sometime in the 1700s it was decided to rebuild what by this time was a 500 year old church. This was something that happened to many medieval Scottish churches when funds became available: sometimes to give the congregation something more weathertight, but more usually to provide a space more suitable to the needs of Presbyterian worship.

At St Peter’s Kirk much of the earlier church was removed, with the stone presumably being recycled for use in the replacement church you see today. The main elements retained from the earlier church were the porch on the south wall (which perhaps implies that parts of the south wall were also retained), and the lower part of the tower, which became a burial vault.

The new church retained the basic rectangular shape of its predecessor, but was arranged very differently. Whereas the original church would have had its focus at the eastern end, in the new church, everything revolved around the pulpit. This was placed, as is often the case in Presbyterian churches, mid way along the south wall. The pews on the ground floor would have faced in towards the pulpit from the east and west ends, and across the church from the north side.

Meanwhile, galleries were inserted at both ends and on the north side of the church. Today the external stairs that gave access to the north and east galleries still remain, and climbing them gives an excellent impression of the space available within the church. The church fell out of use after a new parish church was built in the “new village” of Duffus. in 1869.

The surrounding churchyard is fascinating and is heavily covered by grave markers. Just to the south of the church stands a stone shaft which, together with its massive stone plinth, measures some 14ft in height. This is the mercat cross (or market cross) of Old Duffus and is believed to date back to the 1300s. Its presence here is a reminder of an age in which it was common to hold markets in the churchyard if that happened to be the largest available space in the village or town.

Many of the grave markers carry the traditional emblems of mortality often found on Scottish gravestones from the 1600s and 1700s. The Christian cross was considered too “papist” by the post-Reformation Scottish Kirk, so until the 1800s, skulls, crossbones, angels, egg timers and other emblems stood in instead. Equally interesting are the emblems often used to represent the trades of those interred below.

In the churchyard here, some of the most poignant memorials are those carrying text. An especially interesting touch is the presence on some stones of engraved “guidelines”, faint straight lines above and below each line of text to ensure the mason kept his letters of even height and his lines straight. This has not prevented all error, however. A stone commemorating 7 year old Thomas Watson who died in September 1796, is carved in capital letters, and every “N” is carved backwards: while the “DID” on his stone has a small “e” superimposed to turn it into “DIeD”.

In one corner of the churchyard stands a watch house, with a date of 1830 inscribed above the door. In the early 1800s body-snatchers or “resurrectionists”, who stole freshly buried corpses for sale to medical schools, were a serious problem in Scotland. A number of countermeasures were used, including buildings in which to store bodies until they were no longer fresh enough to be of interest to body-snatchers; mortsafes placed over graves to prevent them being dug up; and watch houses in which a watchman would guard the churchyard when there were fresh burials. The watch house here is unlikely to have seen much use: The Anatomy Act of 1832 opened up a legitimate supply of corpses for medical study and research and body-snatching simply ceased.

19/05/2026

investigates
Milton Bryan, Battlesden and Segenhoe

25th February 2005

Team 1 Report
Team 1 consisting of Bill and Leanna and Marion parked in the middle of Battlesden then walked the road to St. Peter and All Saints church. Nothing was seen or felt on the outward journey but on the return Marion who was walking alone said that she thought she heard shuffling sounds at one point along the road. Team 1 did a tour of the church but no one sensed anything

At Milton Bryan we split up into groups Leana and Bill going off on our own as we usually do. Photographs revealed a strange mist at the Mags Lane/Park Lane junction. Later analysis of the photographs revealed it to be moisture condensing on the camera lens.

Leana and Bill walked along the road to Town Farm and as we passed a field gate Leana looked to her right and said that she briefly saw a man wearing jeans and black shoes about 10 to 15 metres from the gate. Bill could see no one though it was very dark, on photographs there are a number of orbs and two very bright dots

At Segenhoe we walked the graveyard but could sense nothing. In the church several people had taken photographs in the tower which showed a
mist, a natural phenomenon. Bill was alone for a while in the church and Leana went off on her own but neither of us sensed anything or had any adverse feelings.

Team 2 Report
Team 2 Andy f / Sharon S / Sam B / Jayne and David, Steph and friend, Charmaine and Elaine.

Milton Bryan
Once team 2 had arrived at Milton Bryan they were divided up into smaller teams in order to cover the area twice and so increase the chance of finding anything paranormal.

At the road sign area the team managed to take pictures of mysterious mists. These pictures were retaken as is procedure to see if those same mists reappeared but they did not.

The team did try some EVP experiments without any success. Some members reported having strange feelings at one point in the road as if being watched.

Battlesden
At the church itself team 2 had some good results not least Andy having wandered to a gate at the rear of the church heard someone clearly saying the name “Ricky” into his ear in a loud whisper then turning around to find no one was standing near him and the nearest LPS member Elaine standing some distance away. Andy did ask Elaine if she had spoken to him and she replied she had
not.

Sam also had a similar experience in the same area hearing a sound if someone was breathing out next to her. Three members of team 2 also felt something was not right in the church area or physically sick and refused to go back into the area. This makes the church worth a second visit later in the year. Again EVP was tried without any success.

On the Battlesden road itself both
Stephanie and Sharon heard strange sounds

Segenhoe church
Andy s Report only certainly another site worth second visit maybe a vigil even. Members got some
very good pictures here although there was a feeling of calm. I had a feeling of calm

16/05/2026

Willow Love Spell
Willowes were always being used by witches and love lorn maidens to secures their hearts desires by supernormal means when all other methods had been exhausted.

Take a green pliable willow osier and tie a firm knot in it, uttering these words as you do:

"This knot i tie,
This knot I knit.
for that true love
whom i know not yet"

Keep the osier hidden in a safe place until your true love turns up

16/05/2026

Investigates Naseby
Investigation Report
Investigation Site Naseby Battlefield
Investigation Date 14th June 2025
Report By Andrew Fazekas
Team Members Andy,Ben, Robin, Jane, Rachel D
Historical background
Naseby is a village and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 687. The village is 14 miles north of Northampton, 13.3 miles northeast of Daventry, and 7 miles south of Market Harborough.

The Battle of Naseby took place on 14 June 1645 during the First English Civil War, near the village of Naseby in Northamptonshire. The Parliamentarian New Model Army, commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell, destroyed the main Royalist army under Charles I and Prince Rupert. The defeat ended any real hope of Royalist victory, although Charles did not finally surrender until May 1646.
The 1645 campaign began in April when the newly formed New Model Army marched west to relieve Taunton, before being ordered back to lay siege to Oxford, the Royalist wartime capital. On 31 May, the Royalists stormed Leicester and Fairfax was instructed to abandon the siege and engage them. Although heavily outnumbered, Charles decided to stand and fight and after several hours of combat, his force was effectively destroyed. The Royalists suffered over 1,000 casualties, with over 4,500 of their infantries captured and paraded through the streets of London; they would never again field an army of comparable quality.
The three-hour battle ended about 1 pm with the loss of all the king's infantry and artillery. About 100 Royalist cavalry officers were casualties, and 900 horsemen were killed outright. At least 2,000 infantries were taken prisoner. Parliamentary killed and wounded amounted to 350 men, mostly from Ireton's cavalry.
They also lost all their artillery and stores, along with Charles' personal baggage and private papers, which revealed his attempts to bring the Irish Catholic Confederation and foreign mercenaries into the war. These were published in a pamphlet titled The King's Cabinet Opened, whose appearance was a great boost to the cause of Parliament.

Paranormal History.
LPS First began investigating this location on 16th June 2004. Since then LPS has investigated this site four times mostly on the anniversary of the battle itself. On previous investigations investigators have encountered manifestations of floating faces staring at them and a mysterious footprint all by itself in the middle of a field with no other footprints visible.

Pre-Investigation
Dee remotely pre-investigation: WhatsApp Message from Dee to Events Team sent at 18:34 on Saturday, 14 June 2025 and it was never posted on the general group chat.

“Thought I’d tell you guys about a visitation/dream I’ve just had…I was meditating and thinking about the investigation at Naseby and how I would’ve liked to be there when I started hearing a woman’s voice coming through, but she was speaking either Welsh or Irish so I couldn’t understand her. Then somehow, she started telling me in weird broken English that she was there (at Naseby) with her daughter and they were killed by “two Roundheads”. I got that her name was Agnes (didn’t get daughter’s name). She said her face was cut first then she was killed by a sword to the throat. She wanted prayers for her soul (and her daughter’s). I told her I would ask “my friends” (you guys) to say a prayer at Naseby for her and her daughter, and for ALL the souls who died there. She seemed happier and left. Very odd that I should pick up on a woman when thinking about the battle!

So please could you find a moment to say a prayer for Agnes, her daughter, and for all who died (no matter which side they were on.”

The team gather at the monument for an informal discussion with members of the public to gain any experiences that they might had had.

Equipment used

Racheal's equipment
k2, EMF bear, touch duck light, ghost talker app, headphones and digital recorder & a camera.

Andy equipment
Night vision camcorder, full spectrum camera, Flir thermal imaging camera, sound recorder, EMF meter, Laser pen, handbook and pen, Olivus Three, SP7 Ghostbox.
Robin Equipment
Robin was running Ghost Tube, which is a phone app, alongside his voice recording. The main reason for this is that this was the first time Robin was using the voice record and felt and need for something to check on if he had any problems with getting the information. Robin also ran Ghost Tube Seer; however, due to this being a AI and he can’t validate any of the pictures. robin put them in, but he does think it is anything more than pictures

Investigation Begins
The team relocate to the top of the field in a small corner away from the monument.

Corner of the battlefield investigation
21.04 Racheal and the team sit at the top of the field a short distance away from the monument. To start the night with a silent vigil. Racheal picks up a voice with minutes using her live recording. Racheal tries to go back and rewind to listen however her recorder started to malfunction, not enabling her to do this straight through to the headphones, only allowing to play loud through the recorder speaker.

Rachel EVP record
1st EVP of the top corner position of the field male- ITS GONNA GET DARK OUT HERE
2nd EVP - Jane is saying she feel something around her. Captured a male voice saying - GLASSES JANE as she was setting up her camera.
3rd EVP- Racheal feels and tell the group that something is gonna mess with then tonight male breathy YEAH
4th EVP- Racheal hear on her headphones a breathy response as the team continue - female EVP HEAR ME
5th EVP - captured RACHEAL
6th EVP - Robin asks are you a royal or parliament roundhead EVP captured female - ROYAL BACK TOGETHER BAREFOOT THANK YOU

Robins Notes
EVP with K2, Voice recording.
RW K2 went to the second green light along with 3 other K2 going off from the start.
But when Jane started Dowsing @21:06, the K2 stopped going off.
The following are Q&R with Jane Dowsing rods.
(A) Name
(R) are you spiral energy here, on this land? No response
(RW) Are you a Royalist or Parliamentarian? - No
(RW) Do you like King Charles? - Yes
(RW) Are you a Royalist - Yes
(RW) Did you fight here? No response
(B) Hundreds of people died here. No response
(A) I know, the fig we can check. Yes
(B) Were you scared/afraid? - Cross
(RW) Were you interfering with the boxes on the ground? No response
(B) Were you on the horse -No
(A)Is your name Rupert? No response
RW Are you male? No response

21:06 Jane starts Dowsing, the K2 stopped going off.
The following are Q&R with Jane Dowsing rods.
(A) Name
(R) are you spiral energy here, on this land? No response
(RW) Are you a Royalist or Parliamentarian? No
(RW) Do you like King Charles? Yes
(RW) Are you a Royalist Yes
(RW) Did you fight here? No response
(B) Hundreds of people died here. No response
(A) I know, the fig we can check. Yes
(B) Were you scared/afraid? Cross
(RW) Were you interfering with the boxes on the ground? No response
(B) Were you on the horse - No
(A)Is your name Rupert? No response
RW Are you male? No response

21:13 could be an EVP. This can also be the wind or the flag flapping on the flag post.
RW Are you female? - Yes
(A ) Did you have a daughter? Yes
(B) Were soldiers buried in this ground after the battle? No
(RW) Were you married to a soldier? No
(A) Were you with a wagon change? EVP with K2, Voice recording.
RW K2 went to the second green light along with 3 other K2 going off from the start

Jane went off to use a dowsing rod in the field.

We started to use Spirit Talker on Rachel's phone. A little later, we also included Andy Oli (oli).
We had K2 going off, this could be in part Ben going live stream. My Cat Ball did not go off, which was place near to K2.
• We live on here
1. Question: Were you a sergeant?
EVP male voice saying “leader”

Ben left the group and walked to the centre of the field.

21:20 Spirit talker
Of course,
Black eyes
Three
Fifteen
Jess
Thumbscrews
Bobby
I lied to you
We remember you all
We live on here
Do you feel me
Stay for longer
Cement shoes
We watch over this place
Death
Keep camera on

21:21 Rachel had an equipment problem after playing back an EVP saying “It going to get dark”
21:27 Robin just put his camera away and Spirit talk says Keep the camera on.
RW took it back out and took more photos. Nothing of note on the picture or Ghost Tube recording.
Robin and Jane felt they heard something behind Jane. It was quiet listening for any EVP. At this felt Robin heard a female voice saying something from behind the hedge. But the sound could also be wind and background noise. The record has something, but again, nothing is clear.
Ben returned to the group and briefed us.

Robin did a lone walk down the field. Used K2, Ghost tube and voice record.
Nothing from any of its equipment. But he felt depressed and the need to walk in a straight line.
Return and join in with the review equipment and talk about Andy's amazing flag.

Vigil 2 Centre of the battlefield investigation
The team move to the centre of the field and re-enact the battle using royalist members and republican members to represent both sides on a very much smaller scale to see if they can trigger any activity.

During to the battle replay, K2 did not go off but got the following word from the Ghost tube app.
• 21:46 The Grave
• 21:47 In the dark
After the re-enactment the team talk about the Civil War.

The team proceed to set up equipment k2s all four activated with questions asked and emotions of pain and suffering by spirit acknowledge. EMF bear activation, remember pod and cat balls. Orb detected above Ben's head also video footage of rem pod and the duck light going off at the same time.

21:51 The team begin an EVP session.
Equipment used five K2 meters. However, Robin set his K2 a little away from the group. He put a cat ball in front of him on a bag. The team used a variety of rem pods and also had the spirit talker app and the olivus three running.
22:06 K2 went off multiple times and all the REM pods as well.
Cat Ball went off once. Got word, Bike. It sounds like Pike to Robin, and we would have been in the place where a lot of pike men would have been.
22:14 (J) Took photo of white orb light down the field
Team gets the message from the APP - Can you see me?
At the same time, Robin got on his (Ghost tube) the message “I’m behind you”.
So, if you put this in order it say between the app when the white light orb was told to us
“Can you see me I’m behind you”.
22:21 Spirit talker said, “had enough”.
Andy said, “we need a break
Ghost tube Said “ok”
Again, if Robin puts this one in order it says, “had enough” We need a break “ok”.

Rachel EVP record
1st EVP Ben says are you from the battle EVP breathy male - KILL HER
2nd EVP Ben asked do you mean us any harm faint - YES male
3rd EVP Racheal asking spirit if she is right and you are here with family change the lights EVP male CHANGING IT TO RED FOR YA

22:25 Team Break
During a break Racheal left her duck light on. On Racheal return she noticed the duck light was off.
And the team felt it would be good to leave the equipment with video and sound recordings running while no one was at the location and going to a nearby road for a break. On the way back to the car Robin chose to run Ghost Tube Seer. This is an AI app for the phone, and it shows image instead of using a sound file. The image shown was of a girl. At the time, everyone who saw this felt it was relevant to the lady we were talking to earlier.

22:28 The was a sound like metal clang and the word Shh. Believe this to be an EVP.
22:43 Wind picks up, and the Rem pod goes off. But once this happens, the wind dies back down to nothing.
22:49 The team return to the middle of the battlefield at this point, The team introduced two plasma globes (Balls) and Robin put out two more cat balls.
The team restarted the investigation with a fifteen-minute silent vigil.
22:58 a cat ball went off and a Rem pod and K2 went off a second time.
The team began using the Spirit Talk app and Olivus Three again. They then received a message “Look out for light” and the cat ball went off.
23:14 Robins camera that was switched off and, in his side, pouch switched on. This can be heard by a beep sound. Robin did not touch this at the time. K2, close to Ben, also went off at the same time.
23:35 End of this part of the investigation and the team moves to the monument.

Monument investigation
The team set up equipment around the monument and settle down to begin the last part of the investigation.

We set up with the equipment again. Robin set up a second Rem pod. His last cat ball is placed on the left of the monument (This was the only cat ball to go off here this night).
We all saw a lot of orbs that can be seen by the naked eye. Ben Plasma glob (Ball) was acting like something was touching and got ran down. Robin swapped Bens with his one. This one also acted in the same way. But not to the same level as the first one.

Rachel EVP recording
1st EVP male voice HELP ME OUT
2nd EVP male saying RACHEAL
3rd EVP male THEY GOT MUSIC

00:10 had an EVP recording of what sounded like a horn.
00:13 Robin was asked to use the ghost tube seer a second time and only got one image of a snake in a field that very much like the one we in.

Racheal didn't detect anything negative or any spiritual fluctuations within her energy at the monument. Activation with Rem pod as what looked light a bright orb went around the monument and hit it. The team was experiencing quite a bizarre light show at first all excited to be then told by Andy they are moths. Due to a purple grid light that was on moths passing through were being highlighted. The group disappointed as this would of been truly amazing. However, Racheal and the team are quite convinced at least 2/3 of those balls of light were orbs.

Analysis
Rachel found this investigation to be very active indeed i feel it was probably the most active place i have ever investigated. What a great night great team with some really good results and some great evidence that spirit was communicating with us all. Look forward to going back there some day.
When we tried to leave in Jane's car all the electrics, we're malfunctioning quite spooky as we were parked where the apparition had been seen.

Andy – Lots of activity on the equipment and some good responses to questions on the apps. Once we lit up the monument with various lights it did attract a lot of moths and other insects which also caused some of the light beams to divert as the light beam hit the insect. Therefore, in my view this would debunk many of the orbs seen around the monument. I certainly was sat in a different position to team members and was not seeing anything.

I have been to this location with LPS many times over the decades and would conclude by saying for me this was one of the best investigations we have had at this location in a long time.

12/05/2026

General
Andy was out walking his dog Leo through the area known as Crawley Green Cemetery in Luton. The weather was hot and sunny with blues skies and good visibility. Prior to entering the cemetery itself Andrew had observed a young man in his approx 20s going into the cemetery.

As the weather was nice Andrew decided to make his way from the bottom end of the cemetery to the top end of the cemetery where a friend of his fathers had been buried in an unmarked grave about two years ago. Andrew wanted to find out if there was any sign of the grave now and so headed up the path.

The area itself is used for recent burials and it situated next to houses on the adjacent housing estate. There is a proper pathway that separates this area from the rest of the cemetery and because this area is triangular and small it is very easy to observe someone in this area.

As Andrew approached this area at 15.30pm, he was approximately 20 yards away from the area. Andrew observed a figure of a person in grey with short black hair kneeling over one of the graves near the pathway. Andrew assumed it must be the young man he had seen earlier as he had been wearing a green fleece and thought to himself “that’s great that’s the area I need to go into with the dog”. Andrew observed the figure learn forward over the grave and then who by then was close to the area Andrew looked at his dog and then back at towards the grave area.

There was no one there and Andrew had arrived at the location of the grave where the figure had been but there was no sign of anyone. The figure would have had to get up and walk out of the area along the pathway but Andrew did not see anyone. The time span between seeing the figure and glancing towards the dog and back was seconds and Andrew had also covered the 20 yards in a few seconds to reach the grave area. A search of the area was completed and nothing found.

Post-walking the dog
Andrew had been going to his area with the intention of finding an unmarked grave but Andrew did not find the grave he was looking for. Andrew did find a grave in the area of where the figure was seen with the name Tommy written on it. But feels that the figure was learning over the grave next door which was more clearly marked up and this will require further investigation.

12/05/2026

The Origins Of The Black Shuck Myth
The first known written text describing a Black Shuck (from the Old English “scucca,” or “devil”) in England goes back to 1127 in the town of Peterborough. Immediately after the arrival of Abbot Henry of Poitou to the Abbey of Peterborough, there was quite a ruckus:
“…it was the Sunday when they sing Exurge Quare o, D – many men both saw and heard a great number of huntsmen hunting. The huntsmen were black, huge and hideous, and rode on black horses and on black he-goats and their hounds were jet black with eyes like saucers and horrible. This was seen in the very deer park of the town of Peterborough and in all the woods that stretch from that same town to Stamford, and in the night the monks heard them sounding and winding their horns.”
Witnesses said that around 20 to 30 of these hellish beings stayed in the area through Lent all the way to Easter, a period of about 50 days.

The events of 1127 are known as the wild hunt. It’s not just an English phenomenon. Stories from across central, western and northern Europe recount loud wild hunts throughout untamed lands — and they help explain the mythological underpinnings of the Black Shuck.

Northern cultures associated wild hunts with the change of the seasons from fall into winter, probably because strong, cold winds came blowing over the landscape and forced people indoors. Anyone who didn’t make it inside during the winter could freeze to death.

Interpreting howling winds as a pack of hunters would thus make sense. People were mythologizing their surroundings as a way to warn people to stay indoors. Winds aren’t nearly as scary as a pack of rabid dogs on the hunt, but the outcome could be same. If someone didn’t flee from the Black Shuck, they could be killed.
Particularly in England, when winds would come howling in from the sea, there were stories of black hellhounds in more than a dozen areas. These include Suffolk, Norfolk, East Anglia (Cambridge), Lancashire, Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Lincolnshire, and Leicestershire.

Descriptions Of The Black Shuck
Anyone who saw a Black Shuck described a large dog with black, mangy fur. These dogs would supposedly be larger-than-normal with some even as big as a horse. They were foaming at the mouth as if deranged, rabid, or ravenously focused on hunting for their next meal.

St. Mary’s Church in Bungay, England, site of one reported Black Shuck attack in 1577. According to one who stated, “He takes the form of a huge black dog, and prowls along dark lanes and lonesome field footpaths, where, although his howling makes the hearer’s blood run cold, his footfalls make no sound. But such an encounter might bring you the worst of luck: it is even said that to meet him is to be warned that your death will occur before the end of the year.

So you will do well to shut your eyes if you hear him howling; shut them even if you are uncertain whether it is the dog fiend or the voice of the wind you hear… you may perhaps doubt his existence, and, like other learned folks, tell us that his story is nothing but the old Scandinavian myth of the black hound of Odin, brought to us by the Vikings… .

Holy Trinity Church in Blythburg, site of the second reported Black Shuck attack in Aug. 1577. And in addition to the above, perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of the Black Shuck was its eyes, red and big as saucers.

Furthermore, these hellhounds were always said to appear suddenly and without warning, then disappear as quickly as they’d arrived. And if you did catch a glimpse of one, it was believed to be either protect a spirit or a portent of death — a family guardian watching over everyone or a warning of certain doom. No wonder people feared the Black Shuck. Of course, the Black Shuck was scary because of more than just its appearance. Stories of the creature in action reveal the true depths of its terror.
In the most famous story of a Black Shuck appearance, Rev. Abraham Fleming of Bungay (modern-day Suffolk) wrote a terrifying account of a hellhound’s attack on the church in 1577 in his essay A Straunge and Terrible Wunder:

“This black dog, or the divel in such a linenesse (God hee knoweth al who worketh all,) running all along down the body of the church with great swiftnesse, and incredible haste, among the people, in a visible fourm and shape, passed between two persons, as they were kneeling uppon their knees, and occupied in prayer as it seemed, wrung the necks of them bothe at one instant clene backward, in somuch that even at a moment where they kneeled, they strangely dyed.”

As for accounts of more recent Black Shuck sightings, one man in 1905 claimed that a black dog turned into a donkey and then vanished a few heartbeats later. One four-year-old girl during World War II encountered a large black dog that walked from her window, around her bed, made eye contact with those famous red eyes and then vanished before reaching the door. She didn’t sleep well that night.

A 10-year-old boy wrote in 1974 about an encounter he’d had when he was six. He said he saw a black animal with yellow eyes galloping towards him at night. After he screamed for his mother, she said it was merely a reflection of a car’s headlights from outside his window. The boy read a story about a haunted council house and a black dog spirit, and he then became convinced that his original account of a giant black dog was, in fact, the truth.

The Explanations Behind the Myths
Sightings of hellhounds or other demonic figures and acts are often inspired by fearsome weather phenomena. For example, the sightings in Bungay are often attributed to massive thunderstorms that caused buildings to collapse. Lightning strikes might burn wooden structures or at least cause a few stones to fall from stone churches — which could be the devil’s work.

During the Black Shuck sighting in Blythuburg in 1577, the steeple at Holy Trinity Church collapsed one night in a terrible storm. There were also scorch marks left on the north door (they’re still there today). Rather than take the storm simply as a storm, some saw the destruction — and resulting deaths of two people — as the work of the devil.

As for the devil’s work, some believe that the reported Black Shuck sighting surrounding the steeple collapse in Blythburg spread so much and stuck in people’s minds because of the Reformation that was sweeping through Europe at the time: The Catholic Church may have been trying to scare people into staying with their church.
The inside of the door of Holy Trinity Church in Blythburgh. some say those scorch marks were left by a devil dog.

Additionally, stories of scary black dogs could have also spread to teach lessons. Parents may have used stories of the Black Shuck to keep kids out of certain rooms in the house or to stay away from strange dogs, for example.

Unearthing A “Real-Life Black Shuck”
News of a giant dog skeleton unearthed near an abbey in Leiston (south of Bungay in Suffolk) in 2013 gave the legend of the Black Shuck new life in the present day. Nevertheless, experts believe it was a Great Dane, one of the largest dog breeds in the world.
And in the end, perhaps that’s all a “Black Shuck” ever really was just a massive dog. Irish wolfhounds, St. Bernard’s, Mastiffs, Newfoundland’s, and Great Pyrenees are just a few of the dogs that grow to enormous sizes — big enough to inspire exaggerated myths about hellhounds the size of horses, myths that survive for hundreds of years or you could join LPS and find out for yourself !!!!

Luton Paranormal Society

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