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Black Shuck, Old Shuck, Old Shock or simply Shuck is the name given to a ghostly black dog which is said to roam the coastline and countryside of East Anglia. Accounts of the animal form part of the folklore of Norfolk, Suffolk, the Cambridgeshire fens and Essex.〔Jennifer Westwood, Jacqueline Simpson, Sophia Kingshill, ''The Penguin Book of Ghosts'', Penguin, 2008〕〔Enid Porter, ''Cambridgeshire customs and folklore: with Fenland material provided'', Taylor & Francis, 1969, p.53〕 The name ''Shuck'' may derive from the Old English word ''scucca'' meaning "demon", or possibly from the local dialect word ''shucky'' meaning "shaggy" or "hairy".〔George M. Eberhart, ''Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology: Volume 1'', 2002, p. 63〕 Black Shuck is one of many ghostly black dogs recorded across the British Isles.〔''Country Life'': Volume 174, 1983〕 Sometimes recorded as an omen of death, sometimes a more companionable animal, it is classified as a cryptid, and there are varying accounts of the animal's appearance.〔〔 Writing in 1877, Walter Rye stated that Shuck was "the most curious of our local apparitions, as they are no doubt varieties of the same animal.〔Walter Rye, ''The Norfolk antiquarian miscellany'', Miller and Leavins, 1877〕 Its alleged appearance in 1577 at Bungay and Blythburgh is a particularly famous account of the beast, and images of black sinister dogs have become part of the iconography of the area and have appeared in popular culture.〔Jennifer Westwood and Jacqueline Simpson, ''The Lore of the Land: A Guide to England's Legends, from Spring-heeled Jack to the Witches of Warboys'', Penguin, 2005, pp.687-688〕 ==Folklore== For centuries, inhabitants of England have told tales of a large black dog with malevolent flaming eyes (or in some variants of the legend a single eye) that are red or alternatively green. They are described as being 'like saucers'. According to reports, the beast varies in size and stature from that of simply a large dog to being the size of a calf or even a horse.〔〔Dr Simon Sherwood, (Apparitions of Black Dogs ), University of Northampton Psychology Department, 2008〕 Sometimes Black Shuck is recorded as having appeared headless, and at other times as floating on a carpet of mist. According to folklore, the spectre haunts the landscapes of East Anglia, primarily coastline, graveyards, sideroads, crossroads, bodies of water and dark forests.〔 W. A. Dutt, in his 1901 ''Highways & Byways in East Anglia'' describes the creature thus: It is Dutt's description which gave rise to one misnomer for Black Shuck as "Old Snarleyow"; in the context of his description it is a comparative to Frederick Marryat's 1837 novel ''Snarleyyow, or the Dog Fiend'', which tells the tale of a troublesome ship's dog.〔Mike Burgess, (Moddey Dhoo & Snarleyow ), Hidden East Anglia, 2005〕 According to some legends, the dog's appearance bodes ill to the beholder - for example in the Maldon and Dengie area of Essex, the most southerly point of sightings, where seeing Black Shuck means the observer's almost immediate death. However, more often than not, stories tell of Black Shuck terrifying his victims, but leaving them alone to continue living normal lives; in some cases it has supposedly happened before close relatives to the observer die or become ill. By contrast, in other tales the animal is regarded as relatively benign and said to accompany women on their way home in the role of protector rather than a portent of ill omen.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Tollesbury Midwife )〕 Some black dogs have been said to help lost travellers find their way home and are more often helpful than threatening; Sherwood notes that benign accounts of the dog become more regular towards the end of the 19th and throughout the 20th centuries.〔 In May 2014 a large dog was excavated at Leiston Abbey and was linked to the legend of Black Shuck.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Leiston: Are these the bones of devil dog, Black Shuck? )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Bones of 7ft Hound from Hell Black Shuck 'Discovered in Suffolk Countryside' )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Black Shuck」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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