The Barguest Coach of Whitby

 

The Barguest

  The Barguest, is actually a giant black dog said to haunt Whitby, specifically the graveyard of St Mary's. Like many demonic hounds, descriptions vary. He is similar to the Black Dog of Bouley Bay. An omen of death who can turn invisible, walk around with rattling chains, lead a funeral possession of dogs to herald a death, and can inflict wounds that never heal on those who get in its way, it is a terrifying figure of folklore. 

  There are notable graves in the graveyard. There is an unknown grave which is rumoured to be the resting place of Humpty Dumpty, not the egg-like creature but the cannon the nursery rhyme is based on. There are also many graves of sailors and, of course, it is rumoured to be the final resting place of Count Dracula, Many of the graves in Whitby however, are the graves of sailors who perished in or nearby to Whitby's treacherous waters.

  Some headstones say 'In Memory of' instead of 'Here Lies' honouring the sailors who died, and therefore were buried, at sea.  The unfortunate sailors who died on land would be buried in the earth rather than at sea. They could not rest in the earth, so how could they return home to the sea?

The Barguest Coach

   Pulled by six headless horses and driven by a skeleton in black rags, the barguest coach would drive into the graveyard on the third night after a sailor was buried to collect souls of the sailors. Sometimes the coach would carry the skeleton remains of dead sailors who had come to pay their respects. When the sailors boarded the coach it would drive off the cliffs into the north sea. In the sea would be merfolk, waiting to welcome the sailor's spirit home. 

  The word barguest could mean many things. Most think it means town-ghost. Ghost in Northern England was pronounced 'guest' and the origin in thought to be the combination on the burh, meaning town, and ghest, meaning ghost. Others attribute it to the German Berggeist (Mountain ghost) or Barengeist (bear ghost). Whatever the origin of the word, the ghostly black dog and ghostly coach of Whitby are there for the dead, either as an omen or assistance to the afterlife. 

  The story of both is similar to folklores in other places, ghostly carriages and supernatural hounds are not exclusive to Whitby, but with it's rich history, wild moors and as the setting for much of Dracula, it is not the only ghostly story associated with the town.