#gytrash

GYTRASH

A kind of sinister fairy from the folklore of northern Britain. At night, it can take the form of a large horse, donkey or sometimes a shaggy black dog with webbed feet. It has huge saucer-shaped eyes and walks with a splashing sound. It is generally described as lurking silently by the side of the road waiting for unwary travellers; however, some stories speak of it in a more positive light as helping to lead lost travellers to safety. There is a memorable description of the Gytrash in Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre.

Hey, y’all, it’s Weird Wednesday! Where on some Wednesdays, I blog about weird stuff and give writing prompts.

Today: The Gytrash: World's Scariest Cow

Welcome on this Weird Wednesday! Today we’re walking down a lonely country road, looking for a cow whose appearance foretells death. Which is about as weird as anything we do around here.

So say you’re a ways down that country road. It’s late, and the sun’s going down. Your home’s not too far away, but you’re surrounded by trees, so it’s hard to see too far ahead. Then a little distance off, you spy a cow. Of course, cows are common enough in the country. It probably just wandered away from its field. So you decide to be a good neighbor and return it. But the closer you get to the cow, the more something feels…off. As if the cow is friendly, but maybe you don’t want it to be. 

Then the cow heads off the road, wandering into the trees, and you have a decision to make: do you follow it, or not?

So what the heck is a Gytrash? Well, that depends on its whims, presumably. It’s alternatively called a Guytrash or Guytresh, where “trash” comes from “thurse,” meaning “goblin” in Middle English. So it’s some sort of spirit or creature that dwells in Northern England and appears as various large domestic mammals: a horse, mule, cow, or dog. But the point is, it’s not a horse, mule, cow or dog. It’s a supernatural shapeshifter. Sometimes that’s kind of obvious, because the animal will be black with glowing red eyes, something it has in common with hell hounds. 

So what’s it doing there on that lonely road? Again, that depends. In a grouchy mood, a Gytrash can spell doom, guiding travelers away from the road and out into the wilderness, not unlike other malevolent spirits. In fact, for whatever reason, the cow form specifically is said to be a death omen. (Why the cow? I don’t know, but people do very much like to explain inexplicable deaths. Perhaps somebody a long time ago croaked after seeing a weird cow, and a legend was born.)

Check out the blog post for the whole story and some writing prompts, such as:

What if you suspect somebody else followed the Gytrash? The wilderness is an awful place to try to find a missing person. Dense brush or rocky ground can hide a body mere feet away, and animals will scavenge and scatter human remains. But what if your character suspected the supernatural was at fault in this disappearance? If so, it might be possible to counteract it. Perhaps they could contact a magical practitioner to lay a counterspell, or a priest to exorcise evil spirits. Maybe they could even locate a Gytrash-addled victim by scrying or dowsing.

A Gytrash is believed to be a ghost dog which might take the form of a beaten up or ghostly horse. It is believed to appear to the lost travellers on the lonely roads.

It is a myth that is prevalent in the North England. Some of them are believe to be helpful but in general they are considered as malevolent.

The Gytrash is a black dog said to haunt the lonely roads of northern England. In addition to appearing as a huge black hound, it can also take the shape of a horse, a crane or a mule.

While widely feared - said to lead solitary travellers astray - there are also stories of the Gytrash helping lost travellers find their way. In parts of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, it is known as the Shagfoal, and appears most often as a mule.

Image source.

Monster master list.