Beast · Salcott · Hidden
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Big as a calf, with eyes like bike lamps.
Stand where it happened
The crossroads is on the public B1026; there is nothing to mark the sighting, and verges are narrow, so take care.
Near the Salcott crossroads, a gamekeeper once saw a black dog as big as a calf trotting after his trap.
Black Shuck, the huge ghostly dog of eastern England, makes a rare Essex appearance at Salcott. The writer James Wentworth Day said that in the late 1930s he rented the shooting on the Guisnes Court estate. Its tough gamekeeper and marshman, William Fell, admitted he had been badly frightened one night. He and another man were driving a horse and trap from Peldon along the Wigborough Road towards Guisnes Court. Suddenly, somewhere near the Salcott crossroads, an enormous black dog with drooping ears, a crimson slavering tongue and eyes like bike lamps appeared. Fell said it was as big as a calf, and it followed the trap through the dark.
One sourceOnly one written account of this legend has been found so far.