In the

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

, the Shug Monkey is a creature that shares features of a

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

and monkey, which reportedly haunted Slough Hill Lane (a street that leads from the village of

West Wratting West Wratting is a village and civil parish 10 miles southeast of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire. At above sea level, it can claim to be one of the highest villages in Cambridgeshire. The parish covers 3,543 acres in south east Cambridge, a thin ...

to nearby Balsham). The creature, believed to have the body of a jet-black shaggy sheepdog and the face of a monkey with staring eyes, was believed to be a supernatural ghost or demon. Local writer and broadcaster

James Wentworth Day James Wentworth Day (21 April 1899 – 5 January 1983) was a British author and broadcaster, a promoter of Agrarian Right politics and essentially a High Tory. He lived for most of his life in East Anglia. He had a particular interest in wil ...

, who first related stories of the Shug Monkey in ''Here Are Ghosts and Witches'' (1954), described it as a curious variation of

Black Shuck In English folklore, Black Shuck, Old Shuck, Old Shock or simply Shuck is the name given to a ghostly black dog which is said to roam the coastline and countryside of East Anglia, one of many such black dogs recorded in folklore across the Br ...

, while local folklorist Polly Howat suggests that both share common origins in Norse mythology. According to folklorist Polly Howat, sightings of the Shug Monkey have not been reported since before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

References

{{Spectral Black Dogs English legendary creatures Cambridgeshire folklore Mythological dogs Mythological canines Mythological monkeys West Wratting

Further reading

References