There are many 'black dog' myths in Great Britain.
The legend of the skriker comes from the North West of England, but there are others such as the Black Shuck of East Anglia, or Old Scratch(y) in parts of the North of England.
The skriker (or shrieker) is a fearsome beast with long black hair, huge paws and enormous eyes of red. If you hear his howl or shriek or scream, death is coming...for you, or someone close to you. This dog is a canine portend of death, in the same way as the Banshee, who screams for those whom death awaits.
The black dog is not always seen, sometimes only its dreadful screams will find you. Or you might hear the sound it makes as it walks; said to like "old shoes walking in soft mud". This gives the Skriker another name - Trash, which is another word for trudge or slog.
The name Skriker is also derived from a dialect word for screech, which references its terrible sounds.
In The Diabolus Chronicles, the skriker is the namesake of Book Three. And there are interesting times ahead when this black dog meets Silas Mercer, an ankou; a deliverer of death. But he's also a man who could really use a faithful hound; even one that looks as monstrous as the Skriker, and whose screams could make the dead turn in their graves.
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