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The Folkloric Origin of The Hound of the Baskervilles on Kickstarter

Published Sun, 05 Aug 2018 08:30:21 -0500

The Hound of the Baskervilles, arguably the most famed of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes works, was known to have been acknowledged in Doyle's lifetime as having taken its inspirational cues from the myth of Black Shuck. But, what is Black Shuck? That's a question that Mark Allard-Will (Saskatch-A-Man, Årkade) aims to answer with upcoming Graphic Novel, The Burning Black: Legend of Black Shuck, which is funding on Kickstarter until August 31, 2018.

Black Shuck (pictured above, from The Burning Black: Legend of Black Shuck) is a Demon Dog, commonly referred to as a Hell Hound, that is said to have terrorised the villages (now towns) of Bungay and Blythburgh in the English county of Suffolk on the 4^th of August 1577. Sounds like hogwash folklore, right? Well, not quite, in the centuries-old, decrepit Doors of the Holy Trinity Church in Blythburgh lies three burned-in strikes that look a hell of a lot like claw marks from something…well…big and locals for centuries have made claim that these marks were once the doing of the Hell Hound himself, Black Shuck.

Let me set the scene: An early August night in a late Tudor-era village (Bungay) set in a deeply rural part of the British Isles, uncommonly hot and humid even for the Summer. The Peasants, after a long day of toiling on the fields to reap the benefits of the crop for their Merchant Class masters, are finally permitted to go and do what they're expected to do: Worship in the local Church. As they sit in the pews, a dry thunderstorm comes over. The Doors of the Church fling open, making the worshippers jump; whatever hides in the darkness outside the Doors must've used stealth and speed, hiding its approach in the loud crashes of the Thunder. Racing down the gangway is a hulking Dog, the size of a Wolf, with Eyes that burn with the glow of the fires of Hell itself and Claws that sizzle against the floor like white-hot pokers. Black Shuck has arrived, he kills four worshippers and vanishes again, only to reappear in Blythburgh, 14-miles away. This is the story Mark is retelling, or perhaps reimagining, in The Burning Black: Legend of Black Shuck!

But, Mark's giving backers and readers more than just a simple retelling of the events of that night in 1577; Mark's also attempting to give Black Shuck a back story. Mark's imaginings of a backstory for Black Shuck plays off of the notion that the main driving force, the main motivator for Tudor-era society (1577 being of the late Tudor period) was Christianity.

For his backstory, Mark shoots us back over 700-years of British history to the Dark Ages, a bloody war between the Saxons (Christian) and the Vikings (Pagan) ensues to seal the fate of the British Isles. Upon relinquishing his Pagan faith as a clause of his freedom upon defeat at Saxon hands, a Viking leader slowly discovers that he's become cursed with something…something you'll need to discover by picking up a copy of The Burning Black: Legend of Black Shuck.

The Burning Black: Legend of Black Shuck is funding on Kickstarter until August 31^st 2018.

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