BeastHidden
The Headingley Barghest
A black dog on the Leeds waste.
See it clearly
- What's there
- Suburban streets on a hillside in north Leeds
- Legend from
- Northern black dog lore
- Best time
- Night
- Tone
- Eerie
Between Wreghorn and Headingley Hill, a great black dog waited on the waste.
The barghest is a monstrous black dog of northern English folklore, and Wikipedia lists the places it was said to haunt. One was York's narrow Snickelways; another was Whitby. Yet another haunted an area of wasteland between Wreghorn and Headingley Hill near Leeds. Wikipedia describes the barghest elsewhere as a shape-shifter, sometimes a headless man or lady, a white cat, a rabbit or a black dog, and as a creature that preys on lone travellers. Headingley today is a busy part of Leeds, and the wasteland of the story has long been built over. No date for the Headingley tradition was found in the sources fetched.
One sourceOnly one written account of this legend has been found so far.