The Ozark Howler and the Black Dogs of Death
America’s most controversial monster has deep British roots
It’s described a huge beast in the Ozark Mountains of the American South with shaggy fur, a beard like a goat’s, horns like an antelope’s, a long tail like a lion’s, and glowing red eyes like nothing else. Besides all these physical traits, the defining characteristic of the Ozark Howler is that it stands alone.
No one has ever reported seeing packs of Ozark Howlers, or even a pair of them. There has also never been the sighting of a juvenile Howler. If the Ozark Howler was a physical animal, that would be strange. Real animals need to reproduce, because they die.
For a mythological creature, however, an eternally solitary life is quite normal. Ideas, after all, don’t need to breed to survive for centuries. Only a fool would ever have argued that Bigfoot was a real ape living undetected in the thoroughly-explored United States. Just so, those who confront the longer history of Ozark Howler sightings need to confront the biological impossibility of the reports.
A Myth Bigger Than The Ozarks
Once we look at the Ozark Howler as a mythological figure, the conceptual ecology of the creature becomes clear. Those whose knowledge of mysterious sightings goes further than watching re-runs of the X-Files see the deep patterns of ancient folklore in stories of the Ozark Howler. Although the parallels are not perfect, with plenty of regional differences evolving over time, the legends of the Ozark Howler, including its present-day sightings, are clearly a branch of the British mythology of the hellhound.
Hellhounds are spectral creatures that are seen, sometimes roughly, though sometimes with macabre twists, in the shape of gigantic black dogs. That they’re not just any ordinary black dogs, however, becomes quickly obvious. On occasion, these ghostly black dogs are said to be missing their heads. At other times, they speak in human voices. Others of these black dogs leap into the sky, or appear and disappear suddenly, walking straight into a large tree or mountain, as if it wasn’t a solid thing at all.
Some speculate that the mythological origin of the black dog is found in Fenrir, a monumental wolf, the son of Loki, who was chained by the gods of Asgard, but nonetheless destroyed them in the titanic battle of Ragnarok. Others assert that the black dog of death is a purely Celtic creation, a faerie beast.
In Scotland, the beast is known as Cu Sith, in Ireland, Cu Sidhe. In Wales, it’s the Cwn Annwn. In England, the black dog goes under many names: Black Shuck, Shock, Capelthwaite, Barghest, Hairy Jack, the Gurt Dog, the Church Grim, Gytrash, Padfoot, Shrieker, Yell Hound, Shaggy, Sky Yelpers, Gytrash, Bogey Beast, Striker, and Freyburg are just a few of these. Often, it’s simply referred to as “The Black Dog”. A well-known fictional manifestation of the black dog of death is the Hound of the Baskervilles. To this day, people still claim to see it, under names such as the Beast of Bodwin Moor.
A Shapeshifter
What’s the big deal about the black dogs of British folklore? These are no ordinary labrador retrievers with floppy ears and a love of sleeping by a warm fire. They’re beasts that appear in lonesome, out of the way places, of extraordinary size and mystical habits, such as the ability to disappear, to leap into the air, or to speak with human voices. Think of The Grim in the books of Harry Potter and you’ll get the right idea — J.K. Rowling used traditional stories of the black dog to form her description of that lurking beast.
Sometimes, it’s a stretch to call these apparitions dogs. The Gytrash, could appear as a black dog, but could also take on the appearance of other animals, such as ponies, as well. The Barghest was reported to appear as a rabbit or a white cat as well as in the form of a black dog. Like the Ozark Howler, these black dogs are consistently described as having red glowing eyes — even eyes of fire.
There’s something of this ambiguity of form in the Ozark Howler, which has been described as a large cat, a great wolf, or even a huge hyena, but is more often depicted as something different from all these familiar forms. It has the build of a bear, the lithe movements of a cat, and the howl of a wolf. Some people insist the Ozark Howler is an abnormally large lynx. Others say it must be a dire wolf.
In some versions of the Ozark Howler folklore, it is claimed that the Howler is a shapeshifter with the powers of witchcraft. This aspect of the Ozark Howler legend was a central part of the plot in the recent comic book series Tale of an Ozark Howler, as well as a part of traditional folktales such as The Goat and the Howler and Jack the Howler. In some tellings of Ozark Howler legends, the shapeshifting ability is passed down through generations within particular families. Other versions say that to become an Ozark Howler is a curse that periodically comes upon human beiMngs when they engage in particular kinds of immoral behavior.
In a similar way, some versions of the British mythos claim that the black dog is actually a human who, having obtained magical powers, is able to transform into the monster. As a consequence, in old times, the sighting of a black dog could lead to a literal witch hunt.
An Omen of Death
The Ozark Howler has often been described as an omen of death. It’s been said by many inhabitants of the Ozarks that anyone who hears the sound of the Ozark Howler will soon die.
The black dog of British mythology is also described as an omen of death, either through its appearance or through its howl. In some stories, it’s the third howl of the black dog that finally triggers death, with escalating terror every time the sound is heard. Those who are not to die are unable to hear any sound at all, at the same time that the doomed feels that the dark beast is clearly close by.
The connection of the black dog to death goes back to ancient Celtic legends of Cwn Annwn, the hounds that were said to serve the lord of the deathly Otherworld. These hounds would accompany their master on great hunts that could roam over the countryside, leading to the death of any human beings they found. In this ancient mythos, however, the land of the dead was not a dreary or terrifying place, but a land of wonder.
The fear many people feel upon encountering a ghostly black dog or an Ozark Howler may be more indicative of their own anxieties than of any true external threat. It’s worth noting that the Ozark Howler has never been said to kill any person — to terrify them, or even carry them away, but never to attack in a physical manner. It seems, like the British black dog, to be a creature of dread more than a literally violent beast.
Church Attacks
On the other hand, the mythical black dog of Britain and the Ozark Howler of the United States share a propensity for attacks against churches. In the early 20th century, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Russellville, Arkansas featured a well-known image of the Howler in a stained glass window, as a nod to local folk beliefs. When a new preacher at that church called the image “diabolical” and demanded that it be removed, the church burned to the ground, and members of the congregation attributed the fire to the Ozark Howler.
This attack can be understood as a cultural echo of earlier reports of attacks by black dogs against churches in England. While the Church Grim was a ghost believed to guard church graveyards, the spirit could turn if offended by members of the church, much as is said to have happened in Russellville. A church in Bungay, England was attacked by a supernatural black dog, local folklore claims, in 1577. Another congregation in nearby Blythburg claimed to have been attacked by a huge black dog on the same day.
Noisy Hairy Spirits
The Ozark Howler is typically referred to as “shaggy” in its appearance. This quality is another clear link to the black dog mythology of the British Isles. Shag and Shaggy were nicknames for black dog apparitions, and another name, “Shuck” was merely the local dialect’s term for shaggy hair.
A final obvious commonality between the Ozark Howler and the supernatural black dogs of British folklore is the fearsome sound said to be made by the creatures. Hellhounds are known in some areas of England as Yell Hounds, for their eerie, lonesome calls. Mack Maloney reports that “it stalks the woods and backroads at night, making horrible wailing noises.” Another name for the black dog, Sky Yelper, points out how central the howl of the black dog was central to its character, just as it is for the Ozark Howler in Missouri and Arkansas today.
If it there were only one or two characteristics shared by the Ozark Howler and the ghostly black dogs of Britain, we might dismiss the similarities as coincidence. However, in almost every essential point, the creatures are described in the same way. The most obvious explanation is that the centuries long tradition of the Ozark Howler is a local variant of the black dog folklore — one that began with British settlers in America just as the stories back across the Atlantic were beginning to take hold.
