Tuesday, October 20, 2009

The Barghest. Beware the Ghost Dog, He is a Hound from Hell!



In quite a few of today's better horror films and stories, there are a number of large black dogs snarling, growling and prowling about, ready to pounce on their victims with a crazed look in their eyes. They are usually referred to as hell hounds or something of the like and their purpose is pretty simple. They exist either to drag a person's soul (or body) back to hell, to tear a person to shreds to release their soul to hell or simply to terrify a person so much that it warns them in no uncertain terms to back off what ever they were doing that ticked off what ever evil forces the dogs were working for so they stop. They stop immediately, and usually leave town if they are smart, and take up a new liking for cats!

The scary thing is, these dogs are not just a figment of modern day writers and film-makers. The tales of these dogs are rooted in legend and folklore, and as with anything else that is handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation, there just might be some substance behind this legend.

The stories originated in Britain and the hounds were called the Barghest.In olden times the word for ghost was pronounced "guest" in Northern England and the word "Bar" put together with it could have made the origin of the word "town ghost" but perhaps that wasn't the original meaning at all. We will never know, but whatever the original meaning of the word, most stories of the Barghest tell of a very large black dog with red eyes and very large, sharp teeth.

Some tales have likened the Barghest to a werewolf in ferocity and strength, others say it comes as a harbinger of death, merely to warn of impending doom. Others say they are simply evil and will kill at will simply for the sport of it. Some say they will steal your babies and small children from their cradles at night to take them to their lair to eat as a midnight snack.

One must be very wary of the Barghest. They are difficult to hunt and almost impossible to capture because thy also have the capability of shapshifting. According to legend, they have been known to be able to transform into cats, trolls, elves, ravens, rabbits and even human form.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

If they were dogs then they would still be loyal and live in packs, so sounds like some animals like leopards or hyena existed... in India there have been cases of wild animals stealing babies in areas close to the jungles, not for a midnight snack, but for a complete meal. This happened more when the animals was old or hurt and couldn't hunt wild animals. Cutting of jungles and destroying the animal's home also resulted in this. But of course now most animals except humans are gradually becoming extinct.

Kathie said...

Thanks for your post Indianhomemaker. I know a lot of people would disagree but the extinction of any animal species is a sade thing to me, and so is destroying jungle and forested areas. Of course eating babies or killing them in any way is terrible beyone anything I can imagine...Too bad there isn't a way to provide food for the animals while their habitats are being destroyed until they relocate.

Probably sounds idealistic and naive, I know but it won't be the first time I've been told that. ;)

Viagra Online said...

I can believe how many thing do people invented I have a friend that always says that his cat is different at night that it became another specie.

viagra online said...

Yeah it looks scary... I wonder why but I always wanted to be a beast like this hahahaha thanks

Generic Viagra said...

the ghost dog is one of the stories in my life, I the picture looks so scary, my god it is frightening

Anonymous said...

My son saw one.

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