SHUCKLAND       Introduction        Alphabetical List of Locations
Location: Thetford, NORFOLK
Encounter: On Christmas Day sometime in the 19th century, a small blind boy and his young sister were standing on Thetford Bridge [Town Bridge, TL86858308], when the boy asked his sister to send away the big dog that was pushing against him. Although she said there was no dog there, he insisted that there was, and that it was trying to push him into the water. Then the girl suddenly felt her brother being pulled away from her, and realised that it had to be Black Shuck. Just in time she managed to save him from toppling into the water, and they ran away home.
Source: P. Lillingston (grandson of girl in story) in the 'Cambridge News, 20/12/1956, related in Enid Porter: 'Folklore of East Anglia' (Batsford, 1974), p. 89-90.
Place Name: Thetford - OE 'chief ford/the people's ford'

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