Hell Hounds

Logan Caillier

English 212-005

Xr. B

10 March 2023

Summary

Hellhounds are present in many different forms of media from books to tv shows to movies and even make appearances in more interactive media such as Video games. Legends of these beast go back as far as ancient civilizations making these creatures one of the most well-known entities to possibly wander our earth. If these creatures exist on our plane of existence, then it only makes sense that they should be documented since in situations like this, What you don't know absolutely can hurt you and in some cases, if not prepared for correctly, could be lethal. This page will allow any who come after to know what they are up against and while the chances of these creatures showing themselves may be near 0, a non-zero chance is more than enough to worry about when lives are possibly on the line. In this world anything is possible, and it seems that the things you expect to happen the least usually have the most dire consequences.

History

Hellhounds and the knowledge we have on them mostly comes from mythological tales from several different cultures with the most well-known being ancient Greece. Many will be familiar with the story of Cerberus, the Hound that guards the gates of the underworld to prevent the living from entering and the dead from leaving. Several encounters throughout history have been reported but the credibility of these stories is rather lacking. Despite this the legend of the mysterious hounds have stayed in the public conscious and this is more than likely for a good reason. Reports go back as far as the late 1500's which might mean that there is some level of sincerity if a creature like this has managed to be remembered for this long.

Adaptations

These creatures do not seem to be limited in where they can appear as cultures from both the east and the west have some variation of this mysterious hound. Professor Gellor who has done extensive research on the creature and provides interesting insight into just how far the reach of these hounds extend. Whether it be the Greek Cerberus as mentioned prior or the English region and the rampant appearances of the creature such as the Barghest which has been encountered in the Yorkshire area of Northern England or the Black Shuck which was mostly encountered in the coastal areas of Norfolk, Essex, and Suffolk. These creatures all have some distinguishing features but it is safe to say the people of Europe were dealing with a hound problem and possibly still are. The Hounds may appear often in the West but the creatures have shown themselves in the east with Chinese lore telling of a huge black demon-dog, named Tiangou, who is blamed for causing eclipses by eating the sun or the moon as well as Japan which contains reports of a wolf-like demon, called Okuri-inu, who is said to follow men and women who travel by night Judging the worthiness of said individual with those who pass living to see the next day and those who fail meeting a gruesome end (Mythology .NET) If several cultures are adapting the seemingly same type of creature then something just might be there after all and most interestingly, it seems that the creature is not inherently malicious according to some cultures but this could be explained with the theory that the hellhounds aren't one type of creature but rather a way of grouping these different creatures together.

Appearance

Professor Geller's research also gives insight into what these creatures look like using accounts as well as cultural adaptations to come to some sort of conclusion on the features that could be used to identify if what you are dealing with is a Hell hound. Geller states "These phantom canines are considerably larger than a normal dog. A small Hellhound is about the size of a mastiff, while a large one can dwarf horses and bears. Their hair is black as coal, and their eyes glow like angry red or green flames. The most terrifying individuals may have multiple heads or, eerier still, have no head at all." (Mythology.NET), These are baseline identifiers as the details become muddy as you go between different cultures but regardless, having a baseline of identifiers is a lot better than being completely in the dark. Geller mentions that the hounds are hard to spot on account of their dark fur but what gives them away is their smell which is compared to sulfur.

Encounters

Accounts of these creatures are hard to come by which could be the result of several factors from the elusiveness of the hounds themselves or the lack of actual people willing to tell their story. Regardless the BBC News Network's Katy Prickett was able to compile some encounters which give an insight into what the people of Europe were dealing with. Black Shuck, the hound mentioned a bit earlier, makes an appearance in 1577 where it attacks two church goers of Bungay in Suffolk after destroying the interior of the church before disappearing, The hound would make another appearance county's coast at Blythburgh where it would attack another two people in the trinity church, one of which was a young boy, before causing the steeple of the church to collapse and vanishing(BBC). Katy then explains that there are several more stories involving these hounds with a photographer named nick stone supposedly having collected over 400-500 accounts just on his own (BBC). These accounts may not be credible on their own but luckily we might have the bones of the elusive Black Shuck according to Dolly Stolze of atlas obscura who reports on the excavation of dog bones that are much larger than normal and could be linked to our elusive hell hound. If this is true than it would appear that Hellhounds might be a bit more real than just a story to scare children and tourists after all.

Citations:

-, Prof. Geller, et al. “Hellhound - Supernatural Dog in Folklore.” *Mythology.net*, 22 Dec. 2016, https://mythology.net/mythical-creatures/hellhound/.

Hill, Bryan. “Cerberus: Legendary Hell Hound of the Underworld.” *Ancient Origins Reconstructing the Story of Humanity's Past*, Ancient Origins, 26 Aug. 2022, https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-europe/cerberus-legendary-hell-hound-underworld-003142.

Prickett, Katy. “The Terrifying Story of the 'Hell Hound'.” *BBC News*, BBC, 31 Oct. 2015, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-34369461.

Stolze, Dolly. “The Skeletal Remains of a Hellhound in the Folklore of Devil Dogs.” *Atlas Obscura*, Atlas Obscura, 12 June 2014, https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/archaeology-folklore-and-the-skeletal-remains-of-a-hellhound.