Barghest
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Barghest, Bargtjest or Bargest is the name given in the north of England, especially in Yorkshire, to a mythical monstrous goblin-dog with huge teeth and claws.
The spectre-hound under various names is familiar in folk-lore:
- The Demon of Tedworth, the Black Dog of Winchester and the Padfoot of Wakefield all shared the characteristics of the Barghest of York.
- In Wales its counterpart was Gwyllgi, the Dog of Darkness, a frightful apparition of a mastiff with baleful breath and blazing red eyes. A Welsh variant is the Cwn Annwn, or dogs of hell.
- In Lancashire the spectre-hound is called Trash or Striker.
- In Cambridgeshire and on the Norfolk coast it is known as Black Shuck or Shock.
- In the Isle of Man it is styled Mauthe Doog. People believe that anyone who sees the dog clearly will die soon after the encounter. It is mentioned by Sir Walter Scott in The Lay of the Last Minstrel--
- "For he was speechless, ghastly, wan
- Like him of whom the Story ran
- Who spoke the spectre hound in Man."
- In Jersey folklore, the Black Dog of Death is called the Tchico, but a related belief in the Tchian d'Bouôlé (Black Dog of Bouley) tells of a phantom dog whose appearance presages storms. The story is believed to have been encouraged by smugglers who wanted to discourage nocturnal movements by people who might witness the movement of contraband.
The barghest was essentially a nocturnal spectre, and its appearance was regarded as a portent of death. Its Welsh form is confined to the sea-coast parishes, and on the Norfolk coast the creature is supposed to be amphibious, coming out of the sea by night and travelling about the lonely lanes.
The derivation of the word barghest is disputed. Ghost in the north of England is pronounced guest, and the name is thought to be burh-ghest, town-ghost. Others explain it as German Berg-geisl, mountain demon, or Bar-geist, bear-demon, in allusion to its alleged appearance at times as a bear. The barghest has a kinsman in the Rongeur d'Os of Norman folklore.
See also
References
- Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880); Notes and Queries, first series, ii. 51;
- Joseph Ritson, Fairy Tales (Lond. 1831), p. 58;
- Lancashire Folklore (1867);
- Joseph Lucas, Studies in Nidderdale (Pateley Bridge, 1882).