Chris Spalton

My review will be for the paperback version of the book.
I'm British I live in a town that's 50 miles away from London so i'm very familiar with the HIghgate Vampire, i've always loved British mythology & folklore so this book will be interesting to read. The perfect book for the spooky season.
Black Shuck is one of my favourites spectral hellhound legends of England.
Black Shuck is a spectral hellhound, a messenger of death, a omen of death and a soul collector that has been seen in various rural areas of England, it has a large dog/wolf-life appearance and some of the most memorable aspects of is are it's glowing eyes which are usually red or green, the otherworldly, creepy vibe and energy/presence it has whenever people see it.
Various people have had various types of creepy, frightening, unexplained, weird paranormal encounters with Black Shuck so every encounter is different.
The infamous Legend of Black Shuck has many variations, i've haven't or read about a encounter with Black Shuck that had a singular glowing eye, without a head or the scorch marks on the Blythburgh Church that it was prevented from entering before, so that's interesting.
A new variation to the Legend of Black Shuck-everyone that sees and witnesses the Hellhound with have some type of tragedy or death occur in their life, either their own death or the death of a family member, if you see Black Shuck yourself it is a messenger of death & omen of death, Black Shuck is a Hellhound, a Soul collector on behalf of the Devil.
There are various types of spirits, beings, entities in mythology & folklore that are a omen of death, a soul collector.
This is why the woman that Saw Black Shuck with one glowing eye, inexplicable died in her sleep, it collected her soul.
The gory description of Black Shuck ripping people to shreds, tearing off their limbs was really awesome to read.
It does seem like Black Shuck is a guardian of the areas of land where it roams, it is ferocious and wouldn't think twice about going for your jugular and ripping your throat out.
British mythology, folklore is lesser known to most people but it's varied and interesting lore of England.

I've never read about a group of beavers (whatever that's called) protecting and rescuing a person from drowning and anointing their leader as a Bishop of Babingley, it was bizarre and funny to read.
I haven't heard of read of anyone seeing sightings of Oliver Cromwell either which is interesting.
I like the artwork that is in the book, I like that there is a mixture of mythology, folklore and history of various places in England, it's interesting to read.
What happened to Oliver Cromwell's head was creepy.
I like that this book had various mythology/folklore that might to known to some people but it was unknown to me, because I don't live in a rural part of England.
The legend of the witch being accused of witchcraft, tortured and burnt at the stake then a tree grew from her wooden leg and destroyed the monastery is really interesting.
St. John's church sounds similar to St. Mary's Church in Clophill where the graves of only women were desecrated, their toe bones were taken, the human remains of only women were used in necromantic rituals in the cemetery.
Animals were sacrificed or offered to whatever was invoked on a full moon, the same skeletal remains of the same woman was used in rituals at the cemetery every time there was a full moon.
There were various desecrations of graves by numerous covens of witches in Clophill at the time, rituals performed in the cemetery, cockerels were sacrificed and various sigils were used.
I already knew about the legend of Black Shuck, it was fun to read about the creepy encounters people had with the spectral hellhound, or sometimes people saw it as a real, breathing, living creature.
The Wild Hunt of the Barbarians is interesting, i've not heard/read about any Barbarian sightings in England before.
The description of the floating mass of energy called the hateful thing was interesting, it would be difficult to say what exactly it is unless you witness it yourself.
If your interested in British mythology, folklore, places that have occult history, that are haunted where there have been many various types of sightings of various types of beings, spirits, devils, demons, witches then you'll like this book.
This book was fun to read and i'm glad I bought a physical copy of it.… (altro)