Black dogs, hellhounds, and other haunting creatures in Western literature

Books featuring black dogs or hellhounds

I am on the hunt.

I’m hunting for a book that will hunt me back.

Basically I want to be chased down by a supernatural manifestation of my inner fears.

I was fascinated by the concept of Paul Kingsnorth’s Beast: a man wakes up in a field with three claw marks across his chest and believes a mysterious creature is hunting him. But the overall plot didn’t pack enough punch for me. Now I have an itch I need to scratch.

So I’m searching for a book that features a black dog. I want a big, mean, snarling, cunning nightmare of a dog.

In European mythology black dogs are a dark omen. They are often associated with death, hell, change, and impending doom.

These associations are likely to be due to the scavenging habits of dogs. Imagine the terror of walking through the forest and coming upon a pack of dogs feasting on a dead body.

There is plenty of folklore about black dogs and hellhounds. Cerberus. Garm. Barguest. Padfoot. Mauthe Doog. The Beast of Gevaudan.

Modern writers use black dogs as a symbol of depression.

But I have not yet found a book that sufficiently features a black dog to satisfy me. I don’t just want to tickle my reading itch, I want it torn to shreds!

I want a horrifying hellhound that jumps out of the page and into my nightmares!

Here are the books I have read featuring a black dog or haunting creature:

Some books I’m yet to investigate:

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
My Ántonia by Willa Cather
Hound of the Baskervilles by Conan Doyle
Faust by Goethe
Inferno by Dante
The Wolf Leader by Alexandre Dumas

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