Encounter dossier · East Norfolk coast
The hound upon the sands
A 1970 beach report is often repeated without its newspaper. A named coastguard account from 1972 can be traced further, and the two must not be made into one event.
- Date
- Reports in 1970; named account 19 April 1972
- Location
- Great Yarmouth and Gorleston beaches, East Norfolk coast
- Record type
- Modern sighting
- Entry type
- Retrospective witness accounts
- Principal source
- Graham Grant’s Gorleston beach sighting
- Names and aliases
- Large black hound · Black Shuck (later identification)
- Reported behaviour
- Observed at a distance; no approach or attack
- Source status
- 1972 newspaper identified; 1970 report still sought
- Identification
- Large black hound; later placed in the Shuck record
- Status
- Newspaper index and limited OCR preview inspected · 15 August 2026
01
The Encounter
Modern accounts often say that Great Yarmouth newspapers reported an unnaturally large black dog bounding along the beach in 1970. No headline, date, witness name or original cutting has yet been recovered for this archive. That report remains a lead, not a finished encounter.
A firmer case belongs nearby two years later. On 19 April 1972, coastguardsman Graham Grant was on watch at Gorleston, near Great Yarmouth harbour, when he saw a large black hound-like dog upon the beach about a quarter of a mile away. It ran, stopped as though looking about, and then was no longer there.
The named account was reported in the London Evening News on 27 April 1972. The British Newspaper Archive now identifies the report on page 11 and exposes a limited OCR preview. The page image remains access-restricted. It may explain some of the later Great Yarmouth memory, though conflation is only a possibility.
02 / Historical context
First recorded account
The claimed 1970 report is presently supported only by later summaries. None gives enough newspaper detail to locate the original item with confidence.
The 1972 account now has an exact newspaper locator: page 11 of the London Evening News for 27 April 1972. The archive’s public OCR preview names Graham Grant, gives his age as 34, places him on watch at 5 a.m. by the harbour entrance, and preserves part of his description. The complete page image has not been inspected.
“It was about a quarter of a mile away from me.”
Graham Grant, London Evening News, 27 April 1972, p. 11 (public OCR preview)
03
What the record supports
- A named Gorleston coastguard account is reported for 19 April 1972.
- The account was attributed to the London Evening News of 27 April 1972.
- The newspaper index places the report on page 11 and names Coastguard Graham Grant, aged 34.
- The public preview places the observation at 5 a.m. near the harbour entrance to Great Yarmouth beach.
- Grant reportedly watched a large black hound from a distance upon the beach.
- No approach, threat, injury, eye colour or measured size is present in the recovered summary.
- The popular 1970 Great Yarmouth report remains untraced and is not treated as confirmed newspaper evidence.
04
Later accounts and changes
Repeated references to ‘headlines in 1970’ sound precise while supplying no headline at all. This dossier keeps that attractive claim in the research trail until an issue and page are found.
The 1972 Gorleston account should not be silently redated to 1970. Nor should two beach reports be multiplied from one later recollection.
Grant's occupation gives useful setting and observation experience. It does not by itself prove the nature of what he saw.
Date 1970
Later summaries
Original report still soughtNamed 1972 witness
London Evening News, 27 April 1972
Stronger separate accountGlowing eyes
Not stated
Do not addAttack
Not stated
Distant observation only05 / 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.
Later histories repeating the 1970 Great Yarmouth headline
They repeat the year and a bounding hound but give no paper, date, page or witness.
The 1970 item remains openly unverified.Cryptozoological reference works and their newspaper citations
They identify Graham Grant, 19 April 1972, and the London Evening News of 27 April 1972.
The named Gorleston case is published separately and not folded into 1970.British Newspaper Archive index and public OCR preview
The report is indexed in the London Evening News, 27 April 1972, page 11. The preview names Coastguard Graham Grant, aged 34, places him on watch at 5 a.m. by the harbour entrance, and preserves the quarter-mile estimate.
The issue, page, witness and setting are now directly traceable, while the full image and the separate 1970 report remain unverified.06 / Sources
Sources for this encounter
The 1972 report has now been located in the British Newspaper Archive at an exact issue and page. Its public index and OCR preview have been inspected; the complete page image remains access-restricted. The separate 1970 Great Yarmouth cutting is still sought.
Graham Grant’s Gorleston beach sighting
Evening News (London), 27 April 1972, p. 11.
British Library issue BL/0005765/19720427, page 0011, article segments 211–212.
- Held or supplied by
- British Newspaper Archive
- Rights note
- The bibliographic record and limited OCR preview are linked. No newspaper image is reproduced.
London Evening News report of Graham Grant’s sighting
London Evening News, 27 April 1972.
Graham Grant account, now independently located on page 11.
- Held or supplied by
- Cited in George M. Eberhart, Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology
- Rights note
- The reference work is linked for research. No newspaper or book image is reproduced.