So most of you will be pleased to know that today’s article about man’s best friend the hellhound the kind of like man’s best friend except sometimes they may kill you so I guess they’re not really man’s best friend many of you may be familiar with the term hellhound which basically refers to a supernatural dog they can be found in folklore from all around the world now because of the obvious association with Hell there is the belief that all hellhounds are evil and this is not the case and in today’s article we’ll go over to different types of hellhounds and the roles they perform in regards to appearance how hounds pretty much appear as you’d imagine they have dark black mangled fur that sometimes appears to even be charred the eyes glow a menacing crimson color and some are even completely engulfed in flames which is most common amongst cultures that associate fire with the afterlife now exactly what a hellhound does can vary some are assigned as guard dogs protecting the entrances to the land of the dead these entrances often include graveyards burial grounds or literal gates in some stories in other stories they act as a divide between the supernatural world and our own keeping creatures and mythical beings secret there are also of course hellhounds that a charge of bringing back souls from the underworld endlessly pursuing their victim until they have torn them to pieces one of the most famous examples of a howl harm that exists in mythology is Cerberus the three-headed hound that guards the entrance to the Greek underworld we’ve mentioned that not all hellhounds mean harm and we see that with Cerberus who not only guards the entrance to the underworld but also guides the dead to the afterlife.
Now quite a few people have previously asked me to cover some British mythology because it’s something that’s somewhat faded from existence you’ll be pleased to know that the legend of the hellhound is something that is common across Great Britain we first traveled to Wales to take a look at their interpretation of a hellhound the corner moon there was a spectral hound that for the most part was considered to be benign they may have a ghostly white appearance but their ears were red this states back to the Celts who considered red to be a color associated of death they would eventually be nicknamed the dogs of Hell as it was believed if you were to hear their howl then death would soon follow the black shock is a type of hellhound that is found along the English coastline in Suffolk Norfolk and Essex hey there are local tales of a large black dog the size of a horse it has eyes that resemble fire and oddly enough there are stories of the black shark appearing as headless the majority of stories describe Encounters of the Black Rock is terrifying but rarely deadly it haunts graveyards crossroads and dark forests some stories described the black shock at scaring its victims to within an inch of death and then leaving them alone to continue an ordinary life as if it takes enjoyment from other people’s fear there are some stories however where it is more benign it would appear only during the evening and accompany lone women ensuring that they get home safely the stories and legends of the black shock have existed in English countryside for over a thousand years and for those Sherlock Holmes fans out there there was a good chance that the black shock was the inspiration for the legend that we see in the Hound of the Baskervilles stain in Britain.
Hellhounds – All Types of Hellhound From Great Britain & Europe
We now head to Yorkshire where there are tales of a hellhound that goes by the name of the bark hest this is a monstrous black dog with huge claws and enormous teeth this hound is far from benign it prefers to prey on lone travellers and needless to say these travelers would never be heard from again after an encounter with a bog hessed and the bark esters are thought to be capable of shape-shifting assume in several different forms a headless man capable of vanishing into flames a headless woman a black dog a rabbit and for some reason a white cat the notion of hellhounds appearing as ghosts and even shapeshifters is actually one that’s quite common throughout Great Britain in northern England there are tales of a trickster like Hound known as the Gytrash this is a black dog that would lurk around the roads waiting for travelers haunting them and leading them astray it was believed that they could appear as horses mules and dogs and if you were to come across one whose eyes were glowing like burning coals and it’s believed their intentions were evil this was considered quite important because there were tells of the Gytrash where they would guide lost travelers back to safety so the eyes were then used as a way to distinguish between a spirit that wanted to help you and one that wanted to kill you there is a type of how harm that was believed to have been a spirit of the church and these appeared in both Scandinavian and English folklore they often looked after and overseed the overworld being of a particular Church these hounds were referred to as a church grimm and they appeared to be much smaller in size than the hell hounds that we’ve previously discussed they were also believed to have enjoyed loud noises and ringing bells which could be another reason why they were attracted to churches if we now move away from Scandinavian folklore and into Norse mythology we now have our next exam for the hell happened gone the guardian of the gates of Hell garm is often described as being either a wolf or a dog but quite similar to Cerberus they both guard the gates to hell or the afterlife overall hellhounds can be quite an spag they can appear as wild animals protectors guides and even tricksters the term hellhound is quite broad it can refer to all manner of creatures but they’re most commonly recognized as large dogs with black fur and eyes that glow a menacing shade of red if you’re familiar of any hellhounds from other cultures and feel free to share them with me in the comments below.
