| Encounter: |
Exactly one week after the
previous encounter, on 16/7/05, Ian Barclay, along with his sister, her
husband, and their 10 year old twin children, visited Winterton church
(Holy Trinity & All Saints) at sunset. Walking around the churchyard the
children ran on ahead, while the husband and wife followed Mr. Barclay.
Upon reaching the rear of the church, a gasp and movement behind him
made Ian turn round, to see his sister Janet and her husband Andy
staring at an elder bush - since removed - that grew close to the
buttresses at the north-west corner. Andy stated that "the biggest black
dog I've ever seen" had just run into the bush. His wife had also seen
it, saying that it had run across just behind Ian. Although the dense
bush hid the corner of the church, they could see along both walls, and
assumed that the dog was still in the bush. When the children ran back
to see what was occurring, Mr. Barclay suggested that the ghostly dog
Shuck had gone into the bush, although he suspected that it may simply
have been the local Newfoundland again. While the boy and his parents
held back, Ian and the young girl thrust their hands into the bush,
expecting a dog to bound out. However, they jumped when 5 blackbirds
flew out, over their heads, and vanished below the churchyard wall.
Pushing further into the bush, they found no dog, no place for it to
hide, and no signs of any disturbance. Insisting that they had really
seen the dog, but not wishing to disturb the children further, the
matter was dropped. Janet
afterward described the dog as
"black, with the shape and coat of a
retriever. It was the size of a Newfoundland but was not so shaggy and
did not have the heavy build". Later that day, Mr. Barclay heard that
his father had been hospitalised earlier, and in fact died 3 weeks
later, but he did not at the time associate this with any 'warning'
aspect of the dog's appearance, despite knowing the basic Shuck legends. |
| Comments: |
It has been pointed out to Mr. Barclay by another, quite rightly, that
the blackbirds would have flown out of the bush the instant that the dog
ran in. He feels this to indicate that the birds and the dog were in
fact one and the same, and confirms the shape-shifting abilities spoken
of in the oldest Shuck legends. A photograph of the church corner
provided by him shows that indeed, if the dog had never gone into the
bush, there was nowhere it could have run or hid without being seen. |
It has been pointed out to Mr. Barclay by another, quite rightly, that
the blackbirds would have flown out of the bush the instant that the dog
ran in. He feels this to indicate that the birds and the dog were in
fact one and the same, and confirms the shape-shifting abilities spoken
of in the oldest Shuck legends. A photograph of the church corner
provided by him shows that indeed, if the dog had never gone into the
bush, there was nowhere it could have run or hid without being seen.