The Black Dog at Tring

In 1751 an old woman suspected of witchcraft was drowned in the parish of Tring, and the chimney-sweep who led the attack was hanged and left on a gibbet near the spot. The place was said to be haunted afterwards by a black dog. The village schoolmaster told Chambers’ correspondent that, driving past one night, he saw a flame the size of a man’s hat by the roadside and then a huge, gaunt black dog with eyes like balls of fire lying in the road, which vanished as if it had sunk into the earth.