as afraid of
nothing, and insisted on going alone. His comrades tried to dissuade
him, upon which he became abusive, cursed the Mauthe Doog, and said he
would d----d well strike it. An hour later, he returned absolutely mad
with horror, and speechless; nor could he even make signs, whereby his
friends could understand what had happened to him. He died soon
after--his features distorted--in violent agony. After this the
apparition was never seen again.

As to what class of spirits the spectre dog belongs, that is impossible
to say. At the most we can only surmise, and I should think the chances
of its being the actual phantasm of some dead dog or an elemental are
about equal. It is probably sometimes the one and sometimes the other;
and its origin is very possibly like that of the Banshee.

_Spectral Hounds_

As with the spectre dog, so with packs of hounds, stories of them come
from all parts of the country.

Gervase of Tilbury states that as long ago as the thirteenth century a
pack of spectral hounds was frequently witnessed, on nights when the
moon was full, scampering across forest and downs. In the twelfth
century the pack was known as "the Herlething" and haunted, chiefly, the
banks of the Wye.

Roby, in his _Traditions of Lancashire_; Hardwick, in his _Traditions,
Superstitions, and Folk-lore_; Homerton, in his _Isles of Loch Awe_;
Wirt Sykes, in his _British Goblins_; Sir Walter Scott, and others, all
refer to them. In the North of England they are known as "Gabriel's
Hounds"; in Devon as the "Wisk," "Yesk," "Yeth," or "Heath Hounds"; in
Wales as the "Cwn Annwn" or "Cyn y Wybr"; in Cornwall as the "Devil and
his Dandy-Dogs"; and in the neighbourhood of Leeds as the "Gabble
Retchets." They are common all over the Continent. In appearance they
are usually described as monstrous, human-headed dogs, black, with fiery
eyes and teeth, and sprinkled all over with blood. They make a great
howling noise, which is very shrill and mournful, and appear to be in
hot pursuit of some unseen quarry. When they approach a house, it may be
taken as a certain sign someone in that house will die very shortly.

According to Mr. Roby, a spectre huntsman known by the name Gabriel
Ratchets, accompanied by a pack of phantom hounds, is said to hunt a
milk-white doe round the Eagle's Crag in the Vale of Todmorden every All
Hallows Eve.

These hounds were also seen in Norfolk. A famous ecclesiast, when on his
way to the coast, wa