Hellhound stalking Cannock Chase?

Forget Bigfoot, panthers and UFOs...there’s something even more chilling on Cannock Chase.It’s time for the fabled Hellhound – a portent of doom – to take a bow-wow. Reports have been received on paranormal websites of the demonic dog roaming our area.

The hound, also known as the ‘ghost dog of Brereton,’ has been seen on numerous occasions stalking the roads leading into Brereton. The apparition has been described as large, black, muscular, with sharp pointed ears and strangly glowing eyes. British folklore indicates that the black dog forewarns death.

The most prominent sightings happened in the 1970s, and early 1980s. Whilst driving through the Chase in 1972, Nigel Lea described seeing a ball of light crash into the ground.

The apparition has been described as large, black, muscular, with sharp pointed ears and strangly glowing eyes. British folklore indicates that the black dog forewarns death.

The most prominent sightings happened in the 1970s, and early 1980s. Whilst driving through the Chase in 1972, Nigel Lea described seeing a ball of light crash into the ground.

He slowed down to take a closer look and was confronted by ‘the biggest bloody dog I have ever seen.’

Within a month one of Mr Leas close friends died in a terrible industrial accident, which Mr Lea believed may be connected to the dog appirition.

In the January, 1985, there was another report of the hell hound stalking Coal Pit Lane, Brereton. Mrs Sylvia Everett, of Cannock Wood Road, described a strange misty figure moving across the road as she and her husband drove on a warm and clear summer night. Although they could not explain the incident, Mrs Everett believed that it may have been connected to the to the dog-lore of Brereton.

Traditionally, demonic dogs are associated with grave yards, bridges, water, crossroads and places connected with violence and death.

Approaching Brereton on the Rugeley Road you come to an ideal crossroad, where the Rugeley Road, Colliery Road, Stile Cop road, and Startley Lane meet. The area is also associated with the former Lea Hall and Brereton Collieries – hazardous places where workers at times met with terrible accidents.

Could there be a connection between these sights and the spectral hound?

From Wikipedia :

A hellhound is a dog of Hell, found in mythology, folklore and fiction. Hellhounds typically have features such as an unnaturally large size, a black fur color, glowing red eyes, super strength or speed, ghostly or phantom characteristics, and sometimes even the ability to talk. Hellhounds are often associated with fire, and may have fire-based abilities and appearances. They are often assigned to guard the entrance to the world of the dead or undertake other duties related to the afterlife or the supernatural, such as hunting down lost souls or guarding a supernatural treasure. As legend goes, if one happened to see the hellhound three times, he or she will die an abrupt and unseen death.

The most famous hellhound is probably Cerberus, the hound of Hades from Greek mythology. Hellhounds are also famous for appearing in Celtic mythology as part of the Wild Hunt. These hounds are given several different names in local folklore, but they display typical hellhound characteristics. The myth is common across Great Britain, and many names are given to the apparitions: Black Shuck of East Anglia (which has its roots in the Norse mythology rather than that of the Celts), Moddey Dhoo of the Isle of Man, Gwyllgi of Wales, and so on. See Barghest. The earliest mention of these myths are in both Walter Map's De Nugis Curialium (1190) and the Welsh myth cycle of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi (ca. 10th-13th century)

In Southern Mexican and Central American folklore, the Cadejo is a big black dog that haunts naughty young men who walk late at night on rural roads. The term is also common in American blues music, such as in Robert Johnson's "Hellhound on my Trail".

http://theunexplainedmysteries.com/hellhound.html