The Barghest
In a Yorkshire limestone gorge, the Barghest, a monstrous black dog with eyes like saucers, was said to wait for travellers.
What was reported
The Barghest is a phantom black dog of northern English folklore, especially in Yorkshire, often described as huge, with eyes as big as saucers, and sometimes able to take other shapes. It was linked to places such as Trollers Gill, a narrow limestone gorge in Wharfedale, and the lanes of York.
Seeing it was an omen of death, and in some tales it led a ghostly procession of dogs when an important person died.
Explanations offered
It belongs to the wider British tradition of black dogs. Some think tales like it helped inspire Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, along with Dartmoor's own black-dog legends.
- When
- Told for centuries
- Where
- Trollers Gill, Wharfedale, Yorkshire, England
- Witnesses
- Yorkshire tradition
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.