the.com/barghest
the spectral hound of northern England whose appearance meant someone's funeral was already booked
means A monstrous ghostly dog or goblin of northern English folklore, said to portend death or doom when it appears.
from A word from the folklore of Yorkshire and the north of England, recorded from around the late 18th century. Its parts are debated: the popular notion ties it to 'burg-geist' ('town-ghost') or even 'bahr-geist' ('bier-spirit,' fittingly funereal), but these are guesses rather than proven roots. The second element is plainly 'ghost'/'geist'; the first is genuinely uncertain, which is honest enough for a creature that haunts the murk.
- black dog
- A huge shaggy beast with saucer-sized glowing eyes
- death omen
- Seeing it foretold death in the family
- clanking ghost
- Often heard dragging rattling chains at night
- shapeshifter
- Could appear as a headless man or white cat
- name roots
- Possibly from German 'Bergeist,' meaning mountain spirit
barghest of pendle hill — legendary black dog haunting lancashire england since medieval times, appears in local folklore
barghest of penistone — spectral hound reported in yorkshire with glowing eyes, documented in regional ghost stories