Encounter dossier · South Norfolk

The dog that vanished level with him

The road was still, the hour was ten, and Ernest Whiteland had a mile and a half to walk. A shaggy black dog came steadily towards him, then ceased to be there.

Date: Early autumn 1938; published June 1980
Location: Pirnhow Street, Ditchingham, South Norfolk
Record type: Later retelling
Entry type: Retrospective witness account
Principal source: Haunted Bungay Walk
Names and aliases: Black Shuck
Reported behaviour: Quiet approach; sudden fear after the disappearance
Source status: Detailed quotation recovered; magazine page sought
Identification: Named Black Shuck by Whiteland's companions

The Encounter

One clear autumn night in 1938, Ernest Whiteland left friends in Bungay and walked home towards Ditchingham. St Mary's clock struck ten as he crossed the market place. His way took him over Ditchingham Dam, past the old Maltings and along the road towards the former station.

Halfway between the Maltings foreman's house and Ditchingham Station, he saw a black object coming towards him from about seventy-five yards away. As it drew near, he made it out as a large dog with a long shaggy black coat, standing about twenty-eight or thirty inches high.

Whiteland moved into the middle of the road to give it room. When the dog came level with him, it vanished. He searched the road and looked over the hedge into the meadow, but neither saw nor heard it. Only after he had stood there for some minutes did fear take him, and he made the rest of the way home quickly.

02 / Historical context

First recorded account

The account is attributed to the June 1980 issue of Norfolk Fair, where Whiteland's own recollection was printed. A later Water, Mills and Marshes walking guide preserves a long quotation and fixes the road from surviving landmarks.

The original Norfolk Fair page has not yet been inspected. The guide is detailed enough to preserve the shape of the account, but the date, wording and measurements must still be checked against the magazine before this can be called a verified transcription.

“When it got level with me, it vanished.”
Ernest Whiteland, quoted from Norfolk Fair, June 1980; original page sought

What the record supports

Ernest Whiteland is named and his route is described from Bungay into Ditchingham.
The dog approached openly at a trot on a clear, still night.
Whiteland described a long black shaggy coat and gave an estimated shoulder height.
The dog vanished when it came level with him; a search of the road and meadow found no sign of it.
His friends supplied the Black Shuck identification afterwards. Whiteland is not reported as using the name during the meeting.

QuestionEarliest recordReading

WitnessErnest WhitelandNamed in the recovered account

DateEarly autumn 1938Given by the later guide; original magazine check pending

PlaceBetween the Maltings and Ditchingham StationRoad section described; exact point not fixed

DistanceFirst seen about seventy-five yards awayWitness estimate

AppearanceLarge dog with a long black shaggy coatWitness description

HeightAbout twenty-eight or thirty inchesWitness estimate

ConductTrotted towards and past the witnessNo charge or attack reported

DepartureVanished when level with WhitelandCentral reported event

Later accounts and changes

Some retellings date the meeting to August 1939 and add that Whiteland first mistook the shape for a pony. Neither detail appears in the substantial quotation presently available, which places it in early autumn 1938.

The account gives no unusual eyes, sound, threat or omen. Whiteland's fear followed the disappearance. It should not be moved earlier in the scene to make the dog more theatrical.

The road lies close to Bungay, but on the Norfolk side of the Waveney. It earns its place here as a South Norfolk meeting, not as another version of the 1577 church account.

August 1939

Not in the recovered 1938 account

Later date variation

Mistaken for a pony

Not in the substantial quotation

Do not add without the magazine page

Unusual eyes

Not stated

No eye description survives

Threat or omen

Not stated

The dog approached and vanished

Name Black Shuck

Friends' explanation afterwards

Identification, not part of the sight itself

05 / Source audit

How this record was checked

These are the checks behind the dossier. They show what was inspected, what it establishes and where caution is still needed.

Water, Mills and Marshes Haunted Bungay Walk

The guide quotes Whiteland at length, names Norfolk Fair for June 1980 and describes the former landmarks along his road home.

A detailed working dossier is possible without pretending that the magazine page has been inspected.

Later summaries of the Whiteland account

Later texts introduce 1939, August and a pony comparison, while the recovered quotation gives early autumn 1938 and does not mention a pony.

Those additions are placed in the change register rather than the encounter narrative.

06 / Sources

Sources for this encounter

The Water, Mills and Marshes guide has been inspected and preserves a substantial quotation attributed to Ernest Whiteland in Norfolk Fair, June 1980. The original magazine page is still sought.

01 / Detailed preservation of the accountSubstantial quotation inspected

Haunted Bungay Walk

Water, Mills and Marshes with Weird Suffolk, Haunted Bungay Walk, published online 2020.

Pages 4 to 5, point 4, quoting Ernest Whiteland and identifying Norfolk Fair, June 1980.

Held or supplied by: Water, Mills and Marshes
Rights note: Linked for research. The archive supplies original summary and one short attributed extract; no page image is reproduced.

Open the source record

02 / Original publication soughtIssue identified; original page not yet inspected

Norfolk Fair

Ernest Whiteland account, Norfolk Fair, June 1980.

Exact page and article heading still to be recovered.

Held or supplied by: Norfolk local studies collection to be checked
Rights note: Bibliographic lead only. No magazine text or image is reproduced.