A few years ago I was a presenter on Felixstowe TV. One of the shows I did was called The East Anglian Ghost Hunters. It was a show devoted to investigating haunted sites in the region. One of our investigations took us to Leiston Abbey in Suffolk. We spoke to local pupils who told us about one particular area in the abbey where strange knockings and voices are heard at night. Searches of the area have always failed to provide a rational explanation! Two members of the team also had a strange encounter with 'something' just off the ruins of the Chapter House. We had just finished filming when a black shape the size of a dog appeared from nowhere as they were discussing the day's events. It rushed passed them and vanished into a wall! Unfortunately, I was walking in front and so missed it! So what was it? Could it have been Black Shuck, the legendary ghost dog that is said to haunt East Anglia? Black Shuck is common in East Anglia and there are recorded sightings of the ghostly dog dating back centuries. Shuck may derive from the Old English word scucca meaning "demon", or even possibly from the local dialect word shucky meaning "shaggy" or "hairy". Black Shuck is sometimes referred to as the Doom Dog, or "Grim". It is interesting to note that a few years later some excavations were carried out at the Abbey and they found the skeleton of a large dog. Elliott O'Donnell, the author of many books on ghosts, also wrote of a dog haunting the ruins in the 1930s. Here's the film we made.
4 Comments
11/4/2019 06:34:27 pm
If the students closely and defined " Black Shuck" as the dog they saw, then that must be real. There's a lot of story going on in East Anglia. That is the reason why I wouldn't be surprised if that will be proven as a real thing that exists in the place. Reading this kind of story is terrifying because its proves that there are things that we can see, yet other have the capacity to see it. Nine years ago, me and my friends were able to see a "big dog" too. We couldn't explain what we saw, but we were sure that we saw it.
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John West
11/5/2019 03:05:16 am
Thanks for your comments. Strange things certainly happen there.
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Wazza
8/24/2020 10:43:17 am
Hi John, could you email please I have photo taken at Abbey would love to have you look at and get your thoughts! Thanks
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John West
10/6/2020 02:13:58 am
Hi Wazza. I'll need your email.
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AuthorJohn is a producer, TV/Radio presenter and writer living in Suffolk Archives
December 2019
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