Sussex Folklore - Spectral Hounds

Ghostly animals are a common theme in folklore, especially spectral hounds, usually black. They crop up most frequently in the West Country, where though fierce in appearance they are as likely to lead a lost person to safety as to cause harm. Sometimes they are the ghosts of witches or wizards, or guardians of treasure. The best known Sussex ghost dog tradition however centers around the legend of a white dog. It dates from the 19th century and concerns the road between Alfriston and Seaford, where a white dog appeared on Midsummer Eve every seven years, bringing death or disaster to anyone who saw it. The story is associated with the discovery of a man's skeleton found at the roadside when the road was widened early in the 19th century. It was alleged to be the remains of a long lost heir of a local family (which one is unclear) who along with his faithful dog had been murdered some time in the previous century. The apparition was said never to have appeared again once the man's remains were discovered.

There is also a tradition of a ghost dog, apparently headless, which haunts the appropriately named 'Black Dog Hill' on the road between Ditchling and Westmeston, though the story behind this manifestation has never survived.

Most dramatic are the spectral packs of 'Wish Hounds', or 'Witch Hounds' which were claimed to have been heard by downland shepherds and their dogs as late as the 1930s, sweeping past overhead in search of the souls of the damned. Ditchling Beacon is also said to have been the haunt of such a spectral 'wild' hunt. The hounds baying, the thunder of horse hooves and the sound of the hunting horn could all be heard, though nothing was ever to be seen.

Such legends were often exploited by smugglers along the Sussex coast, who would foster rumours of unearthly creatures such as the 'wind hounds' which used to race along the cliffs on certain nights around Fairlight cove, no doubt when the smuggling gangs were going about their nocturnal activities. Interestingly, 'windogs' was an old Sussex dialect word for white clouds blown across the sky by the wind.

[Sources: Sussex Folklore by Jacqueline Simpson, and A Dictionary of the Sussex Dialect by Helena Hall]