What is a hellhound? The many faces of the devil dog

A hellhound is a supernatural dog. One thinks of mangled black fur, hot breath steaming forth on cold moonlit nights, glowing red eyes, superhuman strength, and a terrible odor. Sometimes, fire-related abilities are involved. Throughout the world, stories of these devilish canines abound.

In Greek and Roman mythology, Cerberus is a multi-headed dog with a serpent’s tail. Cerberus has a mane of snakes and lion’s claws. He guards the entrance to the underworld, preventing the dead from escaping and the living from entering. Cerberus is the result of an interesting mating between Echidna, a half-woman half-serpent creature (hence the mane of snakes), and Typhon, a large fearsome monster.  Disputed in the many artistic and architectural depictions of Cerberus is how many heads the creature actually has; usually, there are three, sometimes one or two, and on occasion, as many as 50 or 100.

From Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, and southern Mexico comes the Cadejo, a group of spirits that often appears to travelers journeying at night. White Cadejos are good and protect travelers, and black Cadejos are evil and seek to kill travelers. Sometimes, the colors of good and evil are reversed. Cadejos are large—about the size of a cow—and shaggy and typically have burning red eyes and goat or bull-like hooves. Cadejos also may smell like goats. A Cadejo is nearly impossible to kill, but if the feat is accomplished, the corpse will smell horribly for several days and then disappear. Many people say never to turn your back on a Cadejo; if you do, you will go crazy. Speaking to a Cadejo will induce insanity. Of the evil Cadejo, it is said that the fur is hard, oily, and bristly and that the eyes reflect the fires of hell. A thick chain around his neck weighs him down and he is said to drag along the ground with a clankety, clankety, clank. A Cadejo appears as a warning to those who have done something wrong.

According to one website that describes legends from around the world, there are two versions of how the Cadejo came to be. In one story, an errant priest is transformed into a Cadejo as punishment. The second story involves a mischievous boy. The boy would place an ox yoke under his bed sheet and sneak out of his house at night to party, then return home in the wee hours of the morning and sleep all day in the shade of a tree or bush. His father, furious that the boy was sleeping rather than helping out on the farm, cursed his son with the following message: Echado y a cuatro patas seguirás por los siglos de los siglos, amen. This means, “You will continue lying down on all your four legs for centuries and centuries, amen.” With that, the boy turned into the Cadejo.

In the north of England, a hellhound is called the Barghest, a massive dog with huge teeth and claws. Like the Cadejo, the Barghest often preys on travelers. The origins of the creature are disputed.

The Bearer of Death is black as coal and smells like burning brimstone. The eyes are deep and bright and glow red. Teeth are razor-sharp. The Bearer of Death has recently been seen in Connecticut, Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, and Germany. As the Bearer of Death moves, it leaves behind a burned-out of vegetation in its wake.

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The Black Shuck, also known as the Old Shuck or the Doom Dog, roams certain parts of the English countryside and coastline. The eyes are malevolent and flaming and saucer-shaped, and in some cases, there is only one eye. Some Black Shucks are the size of a dog and some are the size of a horse. The creature haunts graveyards, side roads, crossroads, and dark forests. One of the most notorious appearances of the Black Shuck was on August 4, 1577, in a church at Blythburgh, England. According to the Reverend Abraham Fleming,

This black dog, or the devil in such a linenesse (God hee knoweth al who worketh all,) running all along down the body of the church with great swiftness, and incredible haste, among the people, in a visible forum and shape, passed between two persons, as they were kneeling uppon their knees, and occupied in prayer as it seemed, wrung the necks of them both at one instant clene backward, in so much that even at a moment where they knelled, they strangely died.

In Welsh mythology, there is the Cŵn Annwn, an otherworldly hound occasionally accompanied by a fearsome hag called the Mallt-y-Nos, or “Matilda of the Night”.

And let’s not forget the Moddey Dhoo, which apparently inhabits just one spot, the Peel Castle on the Isle of Man.