S20 Ep54: Best Of: Spectral Hounds (Sn. 20 Ep. 54)

Summary

Summary: Monsters Among Us – S20 Ep54: Best Of: Spectral Hounds (April 30, 2026)

Overview

This special "Best Of" episode, hosted by Derek Hayes, dives deep into America's most chilling tales of spectral black dogs—often called Hellhounds, phantom hounds, or the legendary "Black Dog"—as encountered firsthand by listeners across the country. Curated from over a decade of submissions, this episode compiles the eeriest, most vivid black dog encounters, blending personal terror, folklore, and cryptozoology. Hayes provides commentary, historical asides, and reflective analysis, inviting listeners to question what really stalks the lonely highways, rural crossroads, and shadowy woods when night falls.

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Key Stories and Discussion Points

1. Ryan – Highway Encounter with a Giant Black Dog (PA, S8 Ep1, 03:01)

• Story: Ryan, a truck driver, describes a late-night, 2:30 am run down a wooded Pennsylvania road where he encounters a gigantic black dog standing in the road, its back level with the hood of his semi (~5.5 feet high).
• Creepy Detail: "Where it should have been, it was just black. Like, both of his eyes were just black. It had no eyes whatsoever." (04:10)
• Outcome: The creature locks eyes with Ryan for several seconds, shakes its head, walks off, and seems to vanish into thin air.
• Memorable Quote: "It was just really freaky to me." (05:26)

2. Skylar – Rainy Night and the Slithering Dog (OK, S9 Ep14, 05:59)

• Story: Skylar and her friend, driving on a country road in Oklahoma during a storm, spot a "big black dog" with piercing, unnatural glowing eyes.
• Unsettling Movement: The dog's eyes do not reflect light like normal animals. "We watch this thing slither across the road like a snake." (09:02)
• Lingering Fear: Still avoids the road at night, especially when raining.
• Memorable Quote: "I still don't think it was a dog." (10:16)

3. Tim – The Indescribable Creature (OH, Patreon Beyond #38, ~12:27)

• Story: Driving at dusk, Tim nearly hits a massive animal—deer-sized, but canine, "mangy, large...couldn't figure out what it was."
• Validation: Tim called after hearing another caller describe an identical creature.
• Tone: Deep disbelief and uncertainty.

4. Nick – Repeat Sightings and a Sense of Being Watched (FL, ~14:51)

• Story: Over several years, Nick and his wife both encounter an enormous, bushy-tailed black dog with a hunched back, stronger and stranger than any known breed.
• Multiple Witnesses: Both see it—sometimes together; one sighting almost results in a collision.
• Psychological Aftermath: "Every night that I go outside to let our dogs out or get trash...I feel like I'm being watched." (17:40)

5. Sarah – The Bridgewater Triangle Hyena (MA, S12 Ep13, 18:43)

• Story: Sarah, a longtime show moderator, recounts a 2010/2011 sighting: a gargantuan black dog with a humped back, massive jaws, red glowing eyes, and long claws. Sighted at a crossroad in the notorious Bridgewater Triangle.
• Notable Description: "It barely had a neck. Then it went up into a huge hump, kind of like when a cat is scared and arches its back." (20:16)
• Historical Context: Derek recounts 1800s Cape Cod hyena panics and reads from local legend, suggesting the possibility of a mystery animal (hyena? phantom?) behind such sightings.
• Quote: "It's like it has been imprinted there and I think about it pretty much every day." (21:23)

6. Mike (Massachusetts) – Childhood Attack and Town Legend (MA, S10 Ep13, 27:35)

• Story: Mike and a friend are attacked by a black German shepherd-sized dog; a neighbor intervenes, but no owner is found and animal control never locates the animal.
• Local Lore: Mike later links experience to the "Black Dog of Abington," shot at repeatedly by police in 1976 with no effect, central to Bridgewater Triangle lore.
• Quote: "The weirdest thing about this whole experience was...the owner of the dog never came forward. Nobody ever claimed ownership." (28:15)

7. Laura – Demon Dog on the Porch (PA, S13 Ep19, 30:00)

• Story: On a remote, haunted Pennsylvania farm, Laura repeatedly sees a huge skeletal black dog with a misshapen head and glowing red eyes—sometimes peering through windows, sometimes vanishing at unnatural speed.
• Child’s Sighting: Friend’s young daughter later describes seeing a "big scary dog" looking in the door.
• Quote: "Its head was too big for its body and misshapen. The jaw was all wrong and looked too big and heavy for its face...I swear its eyes were glowing red." (31:23)

8. Megan – Twin Hellhounds, but Only She Sees Them (TN, S19 Ep38, 34:51)

• Story: After a late night out, Megan encounters a massive black dog with red eyes in her driveway; when her father comes out armed, he cannot see the creature.
• Double Vision: Megan then spots a second, previously unseen hound nearby.
• Quote: "My dad could not see this dog...and then as soon as I had that thought...I looked behind the dog and saw its mate." (36:29)
• Derek’s Commentary: Offers interpretations—Dogman, a lost/escaped large dog, or the classic hellhound/phantom.

9. Mike (Texas) – Harbinger of Death and Folk Magic (TX, S15 Ep5, 42:03)

• Story: In 1960, Mike’s mother is stalked home by a featureless black dog after a late horror movie. Prayer causes the dog to freeze; the dog is later found near a freshly deceased neighbor rumored to be a witch.
• Cultural Note: Mike compares this to recurring harbinger-of-death legends from Scotland and Ireland.
• Quote: "If you've seen them, it was like a, you know, a sign of death or something." (43:52)

10. Katherine – Spectral Hound Vanishes with Its Owner (WA, S11 Ep6, 44:44)

• Story: Katherine and a friend witness an enormous, bear-wolf-like black dog walking with a woman and small pet. The trio disappears behind a shed—when followed seconds later, all are inexplicably gone.
• No Menace, Just Mystery: "This dog didn't seem menacing...just this huge dog...passed the woman's waist, its back." (47:29)

11. Donald – Glowing Eyes on Security Cam (SC, S19 Ep41, 48:40)

• Story: Donald’s wife flees to the house after seeing a black dog with glowing eyes by a tree; security footage shows only "weird sparkles" where the animal was seen.
• Aftermath: The tree is removed and the phenomenon never returns.

12. Anonymous Scholar – Whistling Brings the Witch’s Dog (ID/WY, S17 Ep11, 51:39)

• Story: After whistling against Navajo advice, a camper hears movement around their tent and sees a red-eyed black dog at a gas station the next day.
• Folkloric Context: In many Western and Native folklore, "a black animal with red eyes symbolizes witchcraft." (52:48)

13. Y – The Lifelong Follower (AZ, S20 Ep6, 56:15)

• Story: “Y” is periodically confronted throughout youth and adolescence by a gigantic, shadowy hound in Arizona towns—never attacking, always watching. Once, the hound appears in broad daylight. The witness describes the dog's blackness as "an absence...the same way that looking at the night sky is black, that it's black because there's nothing there."
• Quote: "A very creepy and maybe not entirely safe guardian angel...even mentioning the dog becomes a sort of taboo for me." (59:28, 60:05)

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Notable Quotes

• Ryan (PA): "Its back was about even with the hood of my semi truck...both of his eyes were just black. It had no eyes whatsoever." (03:55–04:10)
• Skylar (OK): "[It] slithered across the road like a snake." (09:03)
• Sarah (MA): "It barely had a neck. Then it went up into a huge hump, kind of like when a cat is scared and arches its back." (20:16)
• Megan (TN): "There it is. There it is. Not like I wanted him to shoot it, I just wanted him to see it...then I saw its mate." (36:29)
• Y (AZ): "It's black in the same way that looking at the night sky is black, that it's black because there's nothing there." (56:53)
• Tim (OH): "It was just like I couldn't figure out what it was, if that makes sense." (13:20)
• Anonymous (ID/WY): "In a lot of western cultures...a black animal with red eyes symbolizes witchcraft." (52:48)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Episode theme & intro by Derek Hayes: 01:51–03:00
• Ryan (PA) – Semi-truck Road Encounter: 03:01–05:45
• Skylar (OK) – Rainy Shortcut & Slithering Dog: 05:59–10:44
• Tim (OH) – Mangy Indescribable Creature: 12:27–14:09
• Nick (FL) – Multiple Family Sightings: 14:51–18:09
• Sarah (MA) – Bridgewater Triangle Hyena: 18:43–21:33 (+Derek’s lore & poem reading)
• Mike (MA) – Childhood Attack & Town Lore: 27:35–29:44
• Laura (PA) – Demon Dog on the Porch: 30:00–34:24
• Megan (TN) – Twin Hounds & Invisible to Others: 34:51–37:53
• Mike (TX) – Harbinger of Death Folklore: 42:03–44:31
• Katherine (WA) – Huge Hound that Vanished: 44:44–48:20
• Donald (SC) – Security Cam Eyes: 48:40–49:58
• Anonymous (ID/WY) – Whistling & Red-Eyed Dog: 51:39–53:31
• Y (AZ) – Lifelong Black Dog Witness: 56:15–63:35

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Common Themes & Tone

• Encounters almost exclusively happen at night or in liminal weather (rainy, foggy, dusk)—reinforcing the spectral, folkloric feel.
• Witnesses describe both an intense fear and a sense of being "chosen" or "targeted."
• Physical details overlap: massive dog size, red or glowing eyes, malformed or exaggerated features, impossible speed, and vanishing acts.
• Sometimes, only the witness can see the creature—others present are oblivious.
• Several stories reference local legends (Hellhounds, Grim, Black Shuck, or regional cryptids) and tie-ins to historical lore (Bridgewater Triangle, Scottish/Irish Harbinger dogs).
• Tone throughout remains one of awe, fear, a touch of skepticism, and deep mystery.

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Derek Hayes’ Commentary and Reflections

• Folklore vs. Reality: Derek often offers potential rational explanations (escaped animals, ordinary big dogs), but makes room for supernatural readings, including comparisons to Dogman, spectral guardians, or folkloric black hounds as omens or protectors.
• Historical Readings: Integrates local legend and historic accounts (e.g., Cape Cod hyena hunt, Bridgewater Triangle),
• Philosophical Take: "Although typically we're accustomed to painting pooches like this as hellhounds or evil dogs...just know there are some stories out there in which this mysterious black canine is...a guardian." (54:27)

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Memorable Moments

• Sarah’s monster at the Massachusetts crossroads: One of the most descriptive and vivid encounters.
• Laura’s porch showdown and the confirmation by a child: Chilling reinforcement of the supernatural aspect.
• Megan’s invisible dog to her father: Visceral unease when something is witnessed alone among many.
• Y’s recurring, lifelong encounters: The feeling of benign-yet-creepy "guardian angel" and the almost mythic horror of a companion entity.
• Derek’s poem reading: A rare interlude that ties narrative folklore back to the living legends.
• Red-Eyed Animal as Witchcraft Symbol: Culturally relevant context by the Anonymous caller.

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Conclusion

Derek closes the episode reflecting on the rich diversity yet striking similarities in black dog encounters—inviting listeners to keep an open mind, stay cautious, and, above all, "keep it spooky." The stories span decades and continents but consistently evoke primal fears and wonderment around what waits at the edge of the night.

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Season 21 launches soon—stay tuned for more chills.

Transcript

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[Derek Hayes]

Good evening and welcome to Monsters Among Us. I am your guide, Derek Hayes. Welcome back everyone to the program. Now we're still on break, our little hiatus as we like to call it. And I'd love to say that we're out on a beach somewhere sipping from a tropical drink in a coconut shell. But we're here in the studio doing some behind the scenes work, cleaning up, moving some files around, doing some research and setting things up for season 21. But since we're here, we figured we may as well put something together for this evening. So I dug through the archives and put together a collect that has my interest peaked. I'm a big fan of mysterious Black dog stories. So tonight I've slapped together a baker's dozen of stories that all fall within the realm of Hellhounds. So sit back, relax and enjoy the best of Hellhounds episode beginning with Ryan from season eight, episode one and from the state of North Carolina.

[Ryan]

Hey Derek, it's Ryan from North Carolina, second time I've called. As I mentioned in my last call, I drive a truck. So I'm over the road, you know, a lot of driving at night, crazy hours. I wanted to share a black dog story with you that I just experienced a couple weeks ago. I was in Kane, Pennsylvania. It's northern Pennsylvania, a few miles off of I80. I was actually picked up a load of lumber up there and was taking it down to South Carolina. I was traveling down Highway 219 which runs from canyon down to Interstate 80. Like I say, heading towards South Carolina, Highway 219 cuts through a couple of small towns. It's just a two lane road, very wooded on both sides. I was in a straightaway and it was about 2:30 in the morning, I guess pretty late. Wasn't, you know, many cars on the road, nothing like that. So, like I say, I was in a little straightaway. So up ahead, I see what looked like to me was a bear standing in the road. So as I get a little bit closer, I'm probably running about 40 miles an hour. I noticed that it's not a bear. It's a huge black dog. When I say it's huge, I mean as I got closer, I could tell that its back was about even of the hood of my semi truck. Just to kind of give you an idea, the hood of my semi truck is about five and a half feet, because I'm six feet, and it comes up, you know, about right at my neck. So I got slowed down and I got stopped about probably 15ft from it. And, you know, I turned my bright lights on when it turned its head and it looked at me and I noticed that where it should have been, it was just black. Like, both of his eyes were just black. It had no eyes whatsoever. It just kind of glanced at me for, I want to say, you know, five to eight seconds, and then just kind of shook its head and walked very slowly off the road. And as I slowly pulled up, I went right beside the road where it, you know, kind of walked off in the woods, and it was just gone. And it was like a little opening there. So I still should have been able to see it, but I definitely did not see it. Don't really know if I was just really tired or what, but I definitely know that's what I saw, and it was just really freaky to me. But anyway, hope you enjoyed it. Love the podcast. I'll continue to listen every week while I'm running the roads. Have a good one.

[Derek Hayes]

A big thanks to Ryan for sharing that shocking story. Now, next up, we head to the state of Oklahoma, where Skyler from season nine, episode 14 has a tale to tell.

[Skylar]

Hi, my name is Skylar, and I just started listening to the podcast and it made me think of something that happened to me about four years ago. So this would have been the spring of 2016. I grew up in this little town in Oklahoma where basically we had a Walmart and a bunch of churches, but not much else. So if you wanted anything nice, you had to go out of town. And me and my friend had gone to a city about an hour away to pick up our prom dresses, and we were on our way home, and you had to go through another city between the one we picked up our dresses in and the town we lived in. But once you got to that second city, there was a shortcut that was kind of an old country road that you could go down. That kept you off of the main highway, which we tended to do a lot because you could drive faster, you could drive slower, and you could have discussions, and you didn't have to deal with all the traffic. And so we're driving home, and I don't know what you know about Oklahoma weather, but this is April, and so our weather changes constantly. And what had started out as a nice, sunny drive turned into this dark, rainy, miserable pouring rain. So I was driving, and we're going down this road, and it's kind of windy. And me and my friends had always been super interested in supernatural and paranormal. And we used to try to tell each other stories to scare each other. And she was the person. I would go to her house and we would convince her mom to rent us scary movies and stuff like that. So we were always trying to one up each other. And I had recently heard about skinwalkers, which. The area of Oklahoma that I grew up in, there's a lot of native influence. But skinwalkers aren't necessarily always associated with the tribes where we live. And I am not myself Native American, but my friend is. So I was asking her if she'd ever heard of it or anything similar. But I'm telling her this story, and I'm getting her all, you know, worked up. And all of a sudden we come around this curve, and there's this kind of a crossing there that I've been to a lot because my aunt and uncle lives down the road that crossed it. So I was familiar with the area. And it's still pouring, and I'm telling her this story, and we're both getting worked up, and we happen to look in front of us, and there's this creature, I don't know what else to call it, sitting in the middle of the road staring at us. And the best way I've ever been able to describe it, it looked like a big black dog with these awful, piercing eyes that glowed. But it wasn't the normal reflection of, like, if you hit a dog's eyes with, like, your headlights, where that goes that kind of greenish gold tone. This is almost like a. I can't even explain it.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

I'm just this.

[Skylar]

It felt off. And I look at my friends, and I slammed on the brakes, and I was like, see that? Do you see that? Because we just been talking about these creatures that are essentially giant dogs. And she saw it, and we're screaming, and we're trying to figure out what to do. And we're sitting there on this road, there's no one around us, there's no lights. There's a house not that far away, but I mean, you know, there's no one else really out there. And all of a sudden we sit there and we watch this thing slither across the road like a snake. And I went home and I told my family and they were like, oh, you saw a dog that has been hit by a car. Like its legs were probably broke and it just couldn't walk. But to this day, I drive by that same exit almost daily because I now go to college in the town that we had gone to to pick our dresses up from. So I have to pass through that city four times a week. So I see that exit. And actually the way that the highway cuts, if you don't take that exit, you come back around to another place to take an exit that's even closer to where we saw it. I recently started listening to the podcast and hearing all these stories, and I always listen to it on my way

[Narrator/Interviewer]

back and forth to school because it's

[Skylar]

about an hour's drive and it kills the silence. And I got to thinking the other day about it and I hadn't thought about it in a long time, but I listened to some of the stories on the podcast and I guess it brought it back up as I was driving by. But to this day, I still don't really like to take that cutoff if I can help it. If I do take it, I like to take it during the day. I have taken it a few times at night, but I refuse to ever go on it again. If it's raining, I just can't handle it. And I mean, I've gone back out to visit my aunt and uncle before and I've looked and I just. It doesn't. I don't know, I've never seen it again, but I still don't think it was a dog. Thanks for the podcast and I really appreciate it. Bye.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Skyler, for calling in. Now, folks, it's time to take a quick break, but I'll be right back with more Hellhound stories right after this. All the numbers have changed. Sometimes edibles can be a little too intense. If you're looking for something that just makes you feel good instead of too high, check out Lumi Gummies. Consistent, mellow and super delicious Lume gummies are specifically designed to make you feel good, not stone. Whether you're looking for an end of day de stressor, a midday mood boost, or help getting the best sleep ever. Lume Gummies has a strain that's right for you. Sometimes when I'm having one of those stressful, anxiety filled days, I have a really hard time winding down at the end of it. But I take one Lumi Gummy in the evening and about an hour later I'm feeling relaxed and watching reruns of the Office in Peace. Lumi Gummies are available nationwide. Go to lumigummies.com that's L U M I gummies.com and use code MAU for 30% off your order. Again, that's L U M I gums.com and use code MAU lumigummies.com with code MAU. And bot. Now for this next one, we dip into the paid content. Back in the day, I used to do standalone Patreon episodes, and that's where this story comes from. Monsters among us beyond number 38. Tim. Welcome to the program.

[Tim]

Yes. Hi, my name's Tim.

[Tim (continued)]

I'm from Northeast Ohio, a town called Masculine. And I was just listening to your podcast. It was actually episode 16 called Grab Bag, I think. And there was a guy that told a story that I literally had to pause and re listen because it was the exact same way I described what I saw one time. Might as well just get to the story. So I was on my way to work. It was night shift, so the sun was going down. And there's a stretch of road on my way to work. It's kind of out in the country. It's real windy and a lot of wood. It's real dark. And I think it was fall, you know, back in 2009, maybe 2010. And up ahead, you know, in my headlights, there was a giant animal just in the road. And I had to stop the car. And the whole time I'm staring at the thing, but. But my brain couldn't tell me what it was. It wasn't a deer, but it was like the size of a deer. It was a mat.

[Interviewer/Host]

Like it was.

[Tim (continued)]

If it wasn't a deer, the guy described as a large dog with a bunch of names. That's the only way I was able to describe it to anybody, because I couldn't. It's just like I couldn't figure out what it was, if that makes sense. I don't know. I just couldn't believe that I heard someone literally describe the exact same creature or whatever that I encountered that day. You know, I don't. I've never seen Bigfoot. I've never seen a ufo. This isn't the kind of stuff that happens to me. You know, I've had a couple ghost stories, but never have I seen something like that I couldn't describe. You know, there's coyotes in the area, deer, but I don't know what this was, man. But yeah, just thought I'd call and let that guy know that, hey, I saw the same freaking dog, like mangy, large creature that I don't know what it was to say.

[Interviewer/Host]

Thank you.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you again, Tim, for sharing that entry. Now folks, if you have a story you would like to share, give our hotline a call at 888-608-night. That's 888608, Nig HT. Or you can record a voice memo on your phone and email it to me at monsters among us podcast gmail.com. now I'm not 100% certain that this next story has ever made it to air. It bounced around several episodes and I think it sort of fell through the cracks. But I'm going to feature it here tonight. So please welcome Nick out of the state of Florida.

[Interviewer/Host]

Hi Derek. I'm a longtime listener of the show. Probably listen for about a good year now. I've called him before about sightings the black dogs. Kind of unsure what exactly they are. We live in central Florida. I was on my way to work. It was early in the morning, probably about around 5:30. And at the tip of my headlights of the guitar, I've seen this black animal kind of run across the road. It's very big, had the body style of a dog and the running style of a dog. But the thing is that it was more of a hunched back, more elongated, it wasn't your normal size. And the tail was, I don't want to say the word fluffy, but it was very bushy. And so my wife's encounter was on her way home from school and she was on the phone with me and on her way home and she gasped and said that she just seen this big animal run across the road that looked like a dog. It was black and brown and it was bushy like that and it had like a scraggly bushy tail. And she said that it was just really big and long. Of course I didn't get to see it, so couldn't really tell you if it was, you know, how to hunch back or anything like that. She didn't really look. The only thing is this all that it literally ran across a two lane road and gap between the orange groves and the road. The entire gap was probably about maybe 40 yards. And she said it ran across the gap and probably about three pounds. Both these sightings happened within the same year two years ago in 2018. Well, here we are in 2020, and I want to call in and say that I have seen again and this time I got a better look at it again. This time we were both on our way home from a date night over the weekends, and we were driving back towards our house. We were going down the road, it's probably about midnight, and we almost hit it. I was driving and we were talking and I had my high beams on, and honestly, I was going probably a little bit faster over the speed limit than I really should be. But it's the night there's nobody on the road, and this giant black dog walks out right in front of the car. This thing was massive, big, black. It looked like a dog, but at the same time, it didn't look like any sort of species of dog that I've ever seen in my life. And every day since I've seen this animal about hit it with my car, every night that I go outside to let our dogs out or get trash canned or whatever, I feel like I'm being watched. I just get this uneasy, unnerving feeling. 2020 has been a weird year and everybody's seen and experienced weird things. But thank you, and as always, keep doing what you're doing. And I thoroughly enjoy the podcast.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Nick, for the call. It's one thing to see a creature like this once, but to see it several times and to have it seen by several people, well, that just means more. Now, up next, we hear from a familiar voice. This next caller is one of our Facebook moderators and has been for a very long time. Please welcome Sarah from California. And in this one, I'm going to feature some of the original dialogue from back on season 12, episode 13.

[Sarah]

Hi, Derek, it's Sarah and my dog Tuka calling in from California. Now, this took place in 2010 or 2011 and happened in Massachusetts, where I used to live. That day, the weather was overcast with a slight drizzle and thunderstorms, but it was still light enough out to drive without having to turn my headlights on. Now, I was driving home with my friend down a street I have driven many times in my life, when all of a sudden a huge black creature jumped out in front of my car and ran across the street into the woods. My friend saw the back half of the creature, so I know it wasn't my eyes playing tricks on me. Now I have to say that we weren't under the influence of any drugs or alcohol or anything like that. So we know what we saw. I grew up in the woods around the area and have spent my whole life around animals, so I knew what I saw was something completely different from anything I ever saw before. The only way to really describe it was an enormous black, hairy dog. It had a long, long snout and you could see all of its sharp teeth.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Teeth.

[Sarah]

Now they didn't look like a normal animal teeth. They were all sharp canine teeth. Like they didn't have like molars or whatever. This creature had glowing dark red eyes, but they didn't look at me. They were just focused on the road ahead to get to the woods. What I found weird was the creature's back. It wasn't like a normal dog or wolf back. It barely had a neck. And then it went up into a huge hump, kind of like when a cat is scared and arches its back up. That's what it looked like to me. I wish I had a picture or something. It was so huge. The tail was also long and bushy and its legs were longer than a normal canines and you could see sharp claws on its paws. Now, even though this whole experience happened in seconds, it was like time stood still and everything was moving slower. I haven't been able to get the image of this creature out of my head since. It's like it has been imprinted there and I think about it pretty much every day and I still wonder what it is that I saw. And I continued to do research on it. It did happen at a crossroad, so I didn't know if it could be a hellhound, a grim dogman, or who knows what else. I do have to mention that this did happen in a town that is part of the Bridgewater Triangle. So maybe that's why this creature was there. That was the one and only time I ever saw it. But I did always keep an eye out when I was driving down that road. Thanks for the awesome podcast, Derek. It's mine and my family's favorite. Keep up the great work. See ya.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Sarah. It's always great to hear from you. And what a way to reach out a mystery black dog story. And given the description provided by Sarah, I think I have a suspect in mind. The tall legged, ragged toothed, humped backed canine perfectly fits the description of a hyena from the continent of Africa. But how such a creature could find its way to the state of Massachusetts, it's beyond me. But I can Promise you, it wouldn't be the first time something like that happened. It appears that in the mid-1800s, a creature not even remotely native to this part of the world terrorized the Cape Cod town of Wellfleet. According to newspaper accounts at the time, hideous noises were sometimes heard at night and strange footprints were found in the sand. Barnyards and chicken coops were under siege, and women and children were afraid to go outside. A massive hunt was organized for an animal believed to be a hyena, based on descriptions provided by those that had glimpsed the dreadful beast, though none could imagine where such a creature could have come from. Maybe it escaped from the Bridgewater Triangle or further west from the Coabin Reservoir, both known for their bizarre animal sightings. Or maybe, if it really was a hyena, it had somehow arrived by boat from Africa, India or the Middle east so that it could be definitively identified. As the hyena hunt went on, the hideous noises drifted further and further away until the nights finally became silent once again. But the legend was memorialized in a poem by Dr. Thomas Newcomb Stone in his 1869 book, Cape Cod Rhymes. Stone was a Wellfleet physician who enjoyed writing what he called rhymes rather than poetry. A portion of his rhyme called the Hyena Hunt goes, as in Wellfleet, when the sun was low, all bloodless lay the untrodden snow and dark and dreary was the flow of the Atlantic dashing ceaselessly. But Wellfleet saw another sight when the horns were blown at morning light, Assembling men with musket bright to join the hunt right willingly. Oh, few could tell when many met when the hunt was o' er and the sun was set with legs well tired and faces wet, what foe they chased so valiantly and still as through those woods of pine the traveler wends at eve's decline he stands to hear the fearful whine of hyena's dreadful mystery. Some vow it is lioness bore by ships from Africa's sunny shore. The paces now are Cape Sands ore, moaning for whelps most piteously. Some still a hyena whose fearful howl had shook the woods of Tanakau in company with the fierce jackow Fighting the fella hideously. Some believers with taunting sneer swore Twas a goat, a dog, a deer Whose footsteps magnified by fear had cease the fearful hearted. But there those fearful footsteps stand embedded on Atlantic Strand and the moaning cry runs through the land as if from loved ones parted. Now, I'm pretty sure I butchered that poem, but there's some interesting details found within. Now, that passage was from a book called Haunted Massachusetts Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Bay State. And with that knowledge in mind, perhaps we should be looking at these reports of laughing sounds coming from the forests more seriously going forward. And as always, thank you, Sarah, for all you do. Now it's time to take one more quick break, but I'll be right back with a story out of Massachusetts that'll have you shaking in your boots. Horror movies are a scary good time, but did you know that audio horror storytelling is considered by many to be even scarier than movies? With audio horror, you use your own imagination to create the scenes, which makes horror feel more immersive. So if you're ready for an experience like that, then brace yourself for the sleepless nightmares of the no Sleep Podcast. The no Sleep Podcast is one of the premier horror storytelling podcasts. Now in its 13th year, no sleep takes audio horror storytelling to a new level. Immersive sound design and custom music scores complement a flavor cast of voice actors who brings the anthology of creepy tales to life. This weekly, multi award winning podcast is the perfect way to experience stories that'll keep you up at night. The no Sleep Podcast is available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit lenosleep podcast.com to learn more about the show and find hundreds of hours of archived episodes case without knowing all

[Interviewer/Host]

the details, somewhat happily try to play that out now.

[Derek Hayes]

Up next, we hear from Mike in the Bay State. Please welcome him from season 10, episode 13.

[Mike (Massachusetts)]

Hey Derek, this is Mike from Massachusetts. I have a story from my childhood. So this was back in, I think it was the summer of 1999. I know it was, you know, young. So me and my childhood friend, we were, you know, exploring around our hometown. And I don't exactly know where we were in my town, but I know we were. We encountered a large black German shepherd. And this dog was mean. And it just came right at us, you know, attacked both of us actually. And it wasn't until a man from the neighborhood actually came out with a baseball bat and he started swinging it at the dog that it finally, it finally let us go and it ran

[Derek Hayes]

off into the woods.

[Mike (Massachusetts)]

Now, I suffered bite marks, scratches, and my friend actually was a lot less lucky than I was. He actually lost his eyesight in his left eye. The weirdest thing about this whole experience was, you know, there was the owner of the dog never came forward. Nobody ever claimed ownership of the dog. And then when animal control went to look for this dog, they couldn't find it anywhere. And what's really crazy and weird about the story is many years later, I was watching the Bridgewater Triangle documentary and I came across this story. It was the black dog of Abington. And essentially the way this story goes is back in April 30th of 1976, there was a firefighter in my town, Philip Kane. He was woken up by his daughter. And in a panic she told him that there was a large black dog out in the backyard that was actually attacking her horses. And when he went outside with his pistol, he saw this large black dog eating the horses. And he ended up firing a shot at it. And it ran off into the woods. So obviously the police were alerted. And a day or two later, there was an officer, Frank Curran. He actually found the dog walking along a set of train tracks and he drew his pistol and fired at this dog, striking it several times to no effect. The dog just kind of looked at him and then wandered off into the woods. And then for several days after that, there were sightings of this black dog. But eventually, after about a week, nobody saw it ever after that. So just wanted to share that story. It was a little bit of a traumatic experience, but figured it was relevant to maybe hometown legends or something. So enjoy your show and have a great day.

[Derek Hayes]

Terrifying stuff. Mike, thank you again for sharing. Know up next, we make our way west. Please welcome Laura from season 13, episode 19 and from the state of Pennsylvania.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Hi guys, this is Laura. I'm from Pennsylvania. Growing up, I lived on an old farm that was pretty haunted. But I have a lot of stories. But the one I really wanted to share first was the experience I had with some sort of black dog creature. I was in my late teens and I had been out to town with my mom and we pulled back into the driveway of our house. So this house is this big old farmhouse perched on the side of a big steep hill. And the only thing around it is pastures and trees. To the right, as you sit in the driveway facing the house, the ground goes up and the whole thing as far as you can see, is this fenced in pasture. And to the left it floats down and turns into a forest. So as I climbed out of the passenger side of the car, something caught my eye. Up on the pasture, there was this black dog shaped animal running away up the hill. Except whatever this was, it was moving way too fast to be a regular dog. I've walked up that hill plenty of times and it's quite a hike. There is no way that any dog could have cleared the pasture and gone over the top that fast. By the time I really registered what I was seeing, it was already gone. So I kept quiet about it. But before long, I saw the black dog again. It was maybe a few weeks later. The house has a wraparound porch on it. And I was walking around one side of the house, going to the backside of the house. Up on the porch, I turned the corner and stopped dead in my tracks. Up on the porch, not 15ft away from me, was the black dog. It was just standing there. And it looks like it was looking through through a window into the house. It was so close that I got a good look at it this time. It was all black and huge. Like really, really big. Great Dane tall, but it was super thin. You could see every bone in its body. But that wasn't the strangest part. Its head was too big for its body and misshapen. The jaw was all wrong and looked too big and heavy for its face. And as I stood there staring at it in shock, it turned its head and looked right at me. Now, this is the craziest part, but I swear its eyes were glowing red. You can't tell people that too much. They think you're nuts. But. So this dog and I stared at each other for several long seconds. I was pretty terrified. I got the distinct feeling that I was being sized up by pretty. And I was just kind of frozen because I was afraid if I moved, it would attack. And then this thing just calmly turned away, jumped down from the porch and bounded away again. It moved unnaturally fast, and I blinked and it was already out of sight. This time, I did tell a few people about what I had seen, but quickly figured out that most people will think you are crazy if you tell them you saw a demon dog on your porch. No one else had seen this black dog, and I haven't ever seen it again either. Thankfully, my parents still live on the farm, so I spend a lot of time there. But a few years after my sightings, a friend's daughter might have seen it. She was a toddler at the time and barely talking, but one afternoon after a visit at my house, she babbled about the big scary dog that had looked in the door at her while on the drive home with her mother. This friend was one of the few people who I had told some of the things that happened at my house. So she called me up right away to tell me what her daughter was saying. I was just wondering if anyone else had experienced anything like this. It's been almost 20 years, but I can still clearly Picture this thing standing there calmly staring at me. It wasn't a bear, it wasn't a regular dog. I've worked with dogs professionally for 17 years at this point. I've seen all sorts of different breeds and colors and shapes and everything as a dog. And this was not a dog, not a regular dog. Anyhow, I've done a little bit of research and you don't find a whole lot of black dog stories from Pennsylvania. So I'd be really interested to hear if anybody else has seen anything like that. All right, thanks. I would love to hear your ideas on the story. Love the podcast.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Laura for calling in. It's amazing how many of these stories are eerily similar and they've been collected from all over the country. As an example, this next one came to us from Tennessee. Please welcome Megan from season 19, episode 38. And again I'll be dipping into the original commentary from that episode.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Hi Derek, my name is Megan. I am from Knoxville, Tennessee and I had a story for you. This happened in the summer of 2002 in West Knoxville where I live. I was coming home late at night, it was after 10 o' clock because it was already dark. And I pulled into the gravel driveway at my parents house and got out of my car and heard something behind me and turned around and there was a huge black dog. It was about the size of a Great Dane, but it had a Doberman shaped head with a longer snout and long pointy ears. And it also had red eyes. They weren't like glowing, like crazy glowing, but they were clearly red. And I froze. I was terrified and I didn't know what to do. And I remember thinking if I move it's going to attack me. And the dog was just completely frozen and it was only about 2ft away from me and it was standing like eye to eye with me. And finally I realized I've got to do something. And so I just slowly reached out my arm towards it like this is it. I'm either going to pet it or I'm going to get bitten or something. And as soon as I started to reach my arm out, the dog turned its head and ran, just kind of trotted into the backyard. And as soon as it did that, I bolted for the house and ran in and woke my dad up and told him there was this huge thing in the yard and he came running in his underwear with a gun. I was standing on the back deck and I could see the dog in the backyard and I was pointing, look, look, there it is. Can you See it. There it is. My dad could not see this dog and I don't know how he couldn't see it, but there I am pointing. There it is. There it is. Not like I wanted him to shoot it, I just wanted him to see it and was really frustrated that my father could not see this dog. And then as soon as I had that thought that why can't he see this dog? I looked behind the dog and saw its mate. There was two of them the whole time. I never saw the second one, so never saw those dogs again. Have no clue where they went or where they came from or what happened. Yeah, that's my story. Thanks so much. I love your show. Have a great week.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you Megan for making the call. This one could go one of three ways. Given the description, one could argue that this creature was none other than the famous Dogman, a typically upright, hairy dog or wolf like hybrid, something akin to a werewolf. And sure, this one was on all fours, but plenty of Dogman encounters have included that detail. Now another possibility is that this could have just been a regular old dog, a big dog, but a dog nonetheless. Perhaps it escaped from a nearby neighbor, or it was part of a roaming pack that just got separated from everyone else. And finally, it could have been a spirit, a spook or a specter, a hellhound, even a creature that once roamed the earth, but now only does so in spectral form. I will allow you to choose which of those adventures best fits your belief system. This story has several parallels to a story that a researcher, Delaney Bowers, has been hanging onto for quite some time. According to her, the following article has been on her desktop all year long, just waiting for the right call to come along. Now, the article was originally printed in the Brooklyn Citizen back on July 22nd of 1939, and it reads, phantom Dog inspires man to kill wife. Bronxite stabs self with scissors after shooting mate Arthur Spiropoulos, who thought he saw a big black dog racing around his apartment, shot and killed his wife Angelica, 47, today and stabbed himself with scissors. His wound was superficial and he told police that he was not only worried about the phantom dog, but that he was plagued constantly by suspicions that his wife had been unfaithful. Spiropoulos, 60, fired twice at a daughter, Jenny, 16, but missed. Spiropoulos has three other children, yet another phantom dog that others couldn't see and another man tried to shoot. Like I said, the two stories are eerily similar. Now, I don't know what this thing is or was, nor where it came from. But I can tell you that stories like this are a dime a dozen. The black dog phenomena, some call it. Whatever it is, I'm here for it. So thank you again, Megan, for calling in.

[Narrator/Host]

And that's being renegotiated again because of the TV show.

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[Derek Hayes]

I haven't looked into. Now up next, we hear from another Mike, this time out of the state of Texas. So from season 15, episode 5, please welcome Mike to the program.

[Mike (Texas)]

Okay, so my name's Mike. I'm from San Benito, Texas. This is a story my mom would tell me. This happened like around 1960. She would be like around 19. One night, her friends and herself would be coming home from watching a double feature. You know, one of those horror double features like in the old days, right? So, you know, they're coming home. My mom has a stick because, you know, there is always dogs out there. You know, she uses stick to protect herself. So they're walking and they see a black dog across the street. And she told me this dog was black. Didn't see no eyes, it was pure black. So they're walking, this thing starts following them. And she's getting this bad vibe about it. So she and her friends, you know, they start praying. They start praying. This, I don't. I think it's a Mother Mary prayer in Spanish. So they're praying and this black dog seemed to stop. Like as soon as they started praying, it stopped and stared at them. And after that, they just turned a corner and left. And a couple of days later, she finds out that the dog that was standing there next to this house, this old lady, was there. And apparently she died a few days ago. And she told me that this lady was a witch or was known to be a witch. So I'm thinking it's one of those dogs from the old Scottish legends, you know, maybe. Maybe it was a Harbinger of death?

[Ryan]

I don't know.

[Mike (Texas)]

But if it was. I don't know. My mom is very religious, and if those. I mean, I've heard that these dogs would, if you've seen them, that it was like a, you know, a sign of death or something. But that's all I have to say. So I don't know what this thing is, but it does sound similar to those legendary Irish dogs, you know. So thanks for listening. I hope you can use this.

[Ryan]

Bye.

[Derek Hayes]

Amazing stuff, Mike. Thank you again for taking the time to ring in. And moving right along. We head out to Washington State, where Katherine is waiting with an entry.

[Katherine]

Hi, this is Katherine from Tacoma, Washington. First, I just want to say thank you for everything you do on this podcast. This is a story from three or four years ago. I was coming out of a CPR class in the morning with my friend, and we were in his car, and we decided to drive down to Titlow,

[Narrator/Interviewer]

which is this little place on the

[Katherine]

water on the Puget Sound in Tacoma. And we're sitting in his car, and it was really stormy, kind of windy out.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

There was a wedding going on in

[Katherine]

this building next to us. So there were people around, but everyone was kind of inside or wearing heavy coats and walking. And we're sitting there for a while because we didn't want to take a walk while still storming out. And mid conversation, I don't even remember what we were talking about. My friend goes, oh, my gosh, that dog is huge.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Look at that dog across the way.

[Skylar]

And we look across this field, and

[Katherine]

probably, I would say, maybe 100, you know, yards in front of us, there's this huge black dog, and it looks almost like a bear and a wolf combined into one. And the black dog is following a woman wearing, like, a basic black jacket, walking a little kind of white and brown dog on a leash. And so my friend and I are staring at this dog because it's the biggest dog we've ever seen. It's really shaggy, it's head kind of hanging low as it walks, and it's not on a leash or anything. And these three come walking down kind of towards us along the building where there's a wedding going on. Again, everyone's inside because it's not very good weather out. Occasionally someone will come out for, like, a smoke or something, and they're walking

[Skylar]

by, and all of a sudden they

[Katherine]

go behind this little shed out in front of the building where the wedding's going on. And they walk by between the shed and the building and there's nowhere to go that we couldn't see from our car on either side of the shed. And again, the building is right behind it, so there's no way that they could have gone anywhere. And we go, well, where'd they go?

[Skylar]

And I make a joke and I

[Katherine]

said, well, that dog, you know, it's probably had to use the bathroom. And she's picking it up right now. But let's, let's quickly drive around and see. So in about 40 seconds, we. We drive around this small shed building and the three are gone, Completely gone. There's a lock on the shed, padlocks on the outside. So we know they didn't go in the shed. And that's the only place they could have gone that we wouldn't have seen them because of the nature of where our perspective was from the car. And then driving around again, it only took 40 seconds. We had clear vision of where they went. The whole time they were just gone.

[Skylar]

So we're still baffled by this.

[Katherine]

I've heard other stories now because I looked it up about black dogs. This dog didn't seem menacing, it didn't seem evil.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

It was just this huge dog that

[Katherine]

kind of like passed the woman's waist, its back, you know, walking behind this woman and this other little dog that looked very casual.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

They looked modern.

[Katherine]

I mean, again, they're. Her clothes didn't tell a lot about her. But again, the little dog's on a leash, so they have to be pretty

[Narrator/Interviewer]

modern, I don't know.

[Katherine]

And they just are gone.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

They disappeared.

[Katherine]

And, you know, we both saw this. We both had the same experience, and we have no conclusion. We have no idea what happened. This is an area I've been going here since I was 4 years old. I mean, there were other people around. It wasn't like a dark and scary night. It was just really strange. So if you've heard anything about this, I would love to know more about, you know, the black dog, but not. Not a dog man in any way. It just looked like this giant bear wolf in a way. So thank you again.

[Skylar]

I appreciate the show.

[Katherine]

Have a great day.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Catherine, for calling in. Now, if you want to hear the original commentary on this story, go to season 11, episode six, and it'll be waiting for you right there. Now, next up, we head back to the east coast where Donald in South Carolina is waiting with a story.

[Donald]

Hey, Derek, this is Donald from South Carolina listening to your Haunted Pets episode. This reminds me of a story, something that happened to my wife about three years ago. In our house. One morning she was going out to go to work and she came running back in the house and told me that there was a black dog laying in a tree right next to our house and was just looking at her and it had weird, like, glowing eyes. She didn't specify color to me. She was really freaked out so she had to go to work. So I escorted her out and there was no dog out there. Later on I pulled up my video from my security system and I looked and it was. I did not see a dog. I saw these weird sparkles. It was like right up against the tree and it was different colored sparkles and it was going on and off like little miniature lights, kind of blurry. It was there for actually a couple of minutes and then it just faded away. So needless to say, that never happened again and we ended up having that tree removed. Anyway, Derek, we all love your show. Thank you so much and you have a great day. Bye.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Donald, for calling. Now, that story originally aired on season 19, episode 41, if you'd like to check it out in its natural habitat. Now folks, it's time for another quick break, but I'll be right back with even more devil dogs and hellhounds.

[Narrator/Host]

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[Derek Hayes]

Now, this next entry comes to us anonymously from parts unknown, but it originally aired on season 17, episode 11. Please welcome this anonymous scholar to the program. And one more time, I'll be featuring original dialogue from that episode.

[Anonymous Scholar]

Hi there. For this entry, I have a story that I think might interest you. Back when I was about 16, I went on a camping trip with my scout group up into, I think it was the Black Hills of Idaho in Wyoming. While we were there, being the rebellious child I was, I decided to take a challenge. I had heard from the Navajo people that I had taken some classes from A few months earlier about whistling into the wind. They told me not to because it would bring the witches and skinwalkers of their culture to me. Since I didn't believe any of that stuff I did. That night while I was in my tent, I heard something wander around my tent a couple of times. Sounded very human. It was sitting there checking my tent out. But when I got up to check out who it was, I heard something run off on all fours that left me pretty rattled. But I didn't think it was a skin walker or whatever other legend I had heard. I thought it was just an animal. The next day, we were packing up to leave, and as we stopped at a gas station to pick up some snacks and gas, I look over to my right side and I see a large black dog with shining red eyes. Now, for people who don't know this, in a lot of the western cultures, Native American cultures, here in the United States, a black animal with red eyes symbolizes witchcraft. And I knew right then and there that was what had been around my tent the previous night. Hopefully one of you guys can use this, but yeah, love the show. Keep it going.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, caller. You know, speaking of stories that shook me, when I was younger, I had a small collection of ghost story books as a kid. And, you know, in one of these books, the scariest stories you've ever Heard of Part 2 by Katherine Burt, there was a story called it walks at Midnight. And it too was about a group of backpackers that were camping in Red River Gorge, wherever that is. And while at camp, their little dog darted into the bushes and soon ran back in fear as a large, beastly black dog with coal red eyes floated from the underbrush above the dog and the two hikers. The spectral hound even seemed to motion to them before it drifted off with a mournful howl. The next day, the two men met with rangers, and that's when they learned that they weren't the only ones to see the ghostly animal. Reports of a spectral dog have been collected in that area for nearly 50 years, and further research led them to a missing child report from 1935 in which a 10 year old boy disappeared from his family's camp one rainy night, as did the boy's large black lab. Midnight, a month or so passes, and the hikers meet up with the ranger to return to the spot of the encounter in hopes to see the ethereal hound once again. After several twists and turns through the Appalachian outback, the scary black dog with the red eyes appeared, and it led them to a Pile of bones at the bottom of a cliff. Among the bones was a child's skull, a dog skull, and a rotted leather collar with a tag that read midnight. So you see collar. Although typically we're accustomed to painting pooches like this as hellhounds or evil dogs that do the devil's bidding. But just know that there are some stories out there in which this mysterious black canine is not a creature of evil and instead acts as a guardian in some way. So if you see one of these spectral hounds, keep your distance and be cautious, but don't be afraid to think that it might be something positive you're seeing instead. Thank you again, caller, for ringing in. Oh, and I've posted the story in full in the show notes, if you'd like to read along. And folks, that brings us to tonight's final entry from the state of Arizona, please welcome Y to the program.

[Tim]

Hey.

[Mike (Texas)]

Hey.

[Tim]

This is Y. I'm from Arizona. And that's where this story takes place kind of over the course of years. When I was younger, you know, at the age when in a small town, you can start walking around on your own without your parents hovering around, maybe you can bring your younger siblings with you to go do things. Walk down to the movie theater. We had a single screen. We would do that sort of in the evening, go and catch the early movie, which was usually for kids. And this is back in early 2000s before it burned down. We would walk down there, catch that early movie and then walk home again. And our parents trusted us to do that if it wasn't maybe about half a mile back from the movie theater to home. And there was a portion of that walk where the street lights were a little bit less existent. It was a little bit darker. But being Arizona, you kind of still always have a little bit of starlight, a little bit of moonlight to see by. Anyway. But anyway, we're walking home. My brother and my two neighbors who were the same age as us, and we were getting pretty close and I just feel not even the feeling of somebody watching necessarily, but a gravity. And I look to my left and kind of in the shadows of this retaining wall is a dog shaped absence. A lot of other people have described the black dog as, you know, looking very specifically like a Doberman and very specifically black. But for me, it's black in the same way that looking at the night sky is black, that it's black because there's nothing there. I'm looking over at it and it's huge, like a mastiff. If you Just doubled it in size. And it's staring right back at me. And it doesn't feel malevolent, it doesn't necessarily feel benign, and it's certainly not benevolent. But there was a degree to which it felt like I was being watched over. Like a very creepy and maybe not entirely safe guardian angel. So when I see that, I kind of start skedaddling. I cross the street and then make my way home. Get there, don't talk too much about what I had just seen. You know, mention it to my little brother, ask if he'd seen the dog. But he had. And I thought that that would be kind of the end of it. I was a super imaginative kid. Still a super imaginary adult. Seeing things in the dark was not really going to be a surprise. You know, that's just the kind of imagination I had. But then it happened again, you know, a different walk, a different night, and the dog this time is standing. And again it's that same hair raising gravity of just being in the orbit of something that shouldn't be there. I see it and once again, you know, it's standing, it's looking at me, it's gigantic. There's no sound coming from it. It's almost an absence of sound where it is. So just this void cutout of a massive dog. And again it starts happening, you know, periodically to the point that even mentioning the dog becomes a sort of taboo for me. I don't even like doing it now. Freaks me out anyway.

[Ryan]

We move towns.

[Tim]

We're now up in Prescott, Arizona, and at this point I'm probably 15 or 16, making this 2008, I'd say. So this black dog has been around me since at least, you know, age 10 and at 15 and 16 is still there. And this time it's Halloween, we're doing, you know, silly Halloween things. And we go to one of the cemeteries in Prescott, Arizona and sort of do some quote unquote orb spotting, which was more for my friends who were far more into supernatural things and far more into kind of believing supernatural things than I am. And of course, you know, a good portion of that sort of thing is really just scaring yourself. But we're there and we're looking around and joking. And that's when it happens again, this gravity. And I look over, I look around and finally turn around behind me and there's Black dog. And this time he's walking, which I'd only ever seen him sort of statically standing or sitting, you know, some small body movements. This time he's walking and lights behind him are, you know, disappearing as his body passes. Again, it's not something that you would confuse with a small dog or anything like that. You know, the only size comparison would be a very dog shaped horse. And again, it's just like, well, why is this thing following me specifically? There's nothing bad that happens afterwards. It doesn't feel like it's going to necessarily attack me, even though I'm afraid of it. But it's Halloween, so I write it off again. I've written it off every single time. I know I'm an imaginative person, so I say, well, probably just my mind making shadows into monsters. And that's that. Until a few years later. I'm now up in Flagstaff, Arizona. I'm going to college up there and this weird thing happens where I'm telling my friends about Black Dog the night before and kind of laughing about how silly it is to be afraid of speaking about this thing. So then I'm driving to campus the next day and for the first time ever, this is the only time it's happened. Something catches my eye and I turn and there is Black Dog in the middle of the day, running through the woods next to the car. And that was kind of the most supernatural moment I think I've ever had in my life, and the one that really cemented something odd going on. And I've never figured out why Black Dog exists or what they're doing, but that was the last time I ever saw it anyway. Yeah, just a different sort of experience with the Black Dog phenomenon. Hope you enjoyed it.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you I for that eerie entry. Now, how fitting that this story originally aired on the Halloween special of season 20. Season 20, episode 6. Absolutely terrifying, folks, that's gonna do it for this episode. Monsters Among Us podcast is written and produced by me, Derek Hayes. Copyright Red Crow Media. Additional support is provided by Sarah Carter Hayes, Delaney Bowers and Connor Ryan. All media used in this production is done so under the protection of fair use. Be sure to join us on social media, follow our Discord server, leave us a rate and review, wherever that sort of thing is possible. And don't forget, you can catch the show every Saturday evening at 10pm Eastern on the ONX digital network. Just visit onyxnetwork.com to tune in. And lastly here this evening, tonight's score was provided by Iron Cthulhu, Apocalypse Co EG Music and Carl Casey and White Bat Audio. Now folks, we have one more week off before we launch into season 21, so be sure to join us back here on Tuesday where I will unlock a Beyond episode and again on Thursday where I'll feature yet another best of episode. But until then, do your best to keep it spooky and by all means, have yourselves a good night.

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[Katherine]

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[Derek Hayes]

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