SHUCKLAND       Introduction        Alphabetical List of Locations
Location: Beccles, SUFFOLK
Encounter: "It was in 1974 in the Winter [daytime] and there was snow on the ground. I was taking my old dog 'Go Go' who was a Border Collie for a walk. I took him through the cemetery as usual, it was the Beccles Cemetery in London Road, close to our house. We had just enteBecclesCmtry.jpg (18280 bytes)red by the opening opposite the 'Butchers Arms'...There is no gate there, just a pathway, and in those days it was rather overgrown...We had just got onto the main path [at c.TM42198947] when I looked up, and there was the dog, actually it was more like a wolf and it was white and rather large. I was a bit frightened as I thought a loose dog may come after my dog and fight, so I bent to pull my dog closer to me and when I looked up again it seemed to blend with the scenery and just disappear.

I went carefully round all the trees and bushes but could not see a sign of it. That is why I realised it must be some sort of phantom otherwise I would have seen it go some place. At the time I saw this I did not know about the legend, but when I told my husband he said it must be old 'Chuc', the dog that roams churchyards in East Anglia."
Source: Letters from Mrs. C. M. Sturman (witness) to me, 21/8/1983 & 19/12/1983.
Place Name: Beccles - (Prob.) OE bec-laes: 'pasture on the stream'
Other: See below for encounters with a different dog by the same witness.
Location: Beccles
Encounter: "... I also used to see a black dog that used to come out of the hedge as I and my old dog used to come toward home [Pleasant Place] from Kemps Lane into Pleasant Place. I always used to see it as we turned the corner [TM42298940.] It always walked toBecclesPlsntPlace.jpg (18617 bytes)wards us on the other side of the road and then just evaporate into the hedge.

There was not always a hedge there. It was an open space. My husband also says it was an old Burial ground at the end of Kemps Lane. Also when I first saw this dog I was a bit frightened in case it came after my dog but I saw it quite often and got used to it. I never saw it on my own. I always had my dog with me [a Border Collie.] I have never seen it since he died at the age of 15 years. I have got another dog now also a Collie but I have never seen it with her...I think I saw the black dog about 6 or 7 times..."
Source: As above.

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