| SHUCKLAND Introduction Alphabetical List of Locations | |
| Location: | Welney, NORFOLK |
| Legend: | The mother of Alfred Cage (then aged 16) told him in 1941 that the Devil in the shape of a black dog was said to run up and down the trackways between the B1093 Welney to Manea road and the Old Bedford River. |
| Source: | Verbal, Mr. Alfred Cage to Ivan Bunn, 3/5/1976. |
| Place Name: | Welney - OE 'the river Well' |
| Other: | The Cambridgeshire/Norfolk county boundary runs along one of the trackways. |
| Location: | Welney |
| Encounter: | On a bright and moonlit evening in May 1941, the witness, then aged 16, was returning from First Aid classes to his home near the Old Bedford River, about halfway between Delph Bridge and a track called Back Lane. His route took him along the riverbank, and as he approached his
home at about 9.45pm, a huge black dog, at least the size of a Great Dane, leapt past him coming from the river side.
It stood taller than his waist, with a large squat head and a short thick mouth. A spiked steel collar was around its neck, with trailing from it a heavy chain of very thick links. It went across the bank, leapt a hedge, ran across a garden, leapt another hedge and garden, then disappeared into trees and bushes. The witness froze where he was, although he didn't feel frightened. He could hear the chain clanking as the dog ran along, but the sound vanished when the dog did. He believed it to be 'unnatural', and when he told his mother about it, she told him of the local legend. |
| Source: | Verbal, Mr. Alfred Cage (witness) to Ivan Bunn, 3/5/1976. |
| Location: | Welney |
| Encounter: | After World War Two, Alfred Cage told a visiting Army Captain about his encounter with the dog [see previous sighting under WELNEY (2).] The Captain just laughed, but some years later wrote to Mr. Cage apologising. He explained that since that time, he himself and both seen and touched the dog, and afterwards went mad, spending 1 1/2-2 years in a mental home. |
| Source: | As above. |