Earth hound

Earth hound A drawing of the earth hound by William Rebsamen. Category Rodent Proposed scientific names Other names Yard dog, yird swine Country reported United Kingdom First reported 1881 Prominent investigators Karl Shuker

The earth hound was a cryptid reported from northeastern Scotland. It was said to be a burrowing animal which lived in graveyards and ate corpses.

Description

The latest description, given in 1990, was that of an animal "atween a rat and a rabbit". A 1915 eyewitness described it as being about the size of a rat, with a rat's dark-coloured fur, feet like a mole, and a tail just half the size of a rat's. Its long head somewhat resembled that of a guinea pig, with prominent pig-like nostrils and white "tusks". Witness Archibald:

“

[...] describes it as being something between a rat and a weasel, and about the size of a ferret, head like that of a dog, and I think he said the tail was very long. At a casual glance it would be mistaken for a rat, but was quite unlike on[e] close examination.

”

It is a burrowing animal which lives mainly in graveyards, where it is reputed to dig into graves and coffins to eat corpses. Heaps of upturned earth on farms were sometimes attributed to earth hounds.

Attestations

The first recorded mention of the earth hound was in 1881, when Reverend Walter Gregor wrote in Notes on the Folk-Lore of North East Scotland of:

“

...a mysterious dreaded sort of animal, called the 'yird swine' ... believed to live in graveyards, burrowing among the dead bodies and devouring them.

”

Sightings

~1867

Archibald's father's encounter with the earth hound as drawn by William Rebsamen.

In 1917, a gardener named Archibald recalled that 50 years earlier, his father was ploughing the fields near a churchyard in Deveron when he uncovered an earth hound in its nest. He tried to kick it to death, but it bit his boot so hard that it broke the leather, so he killed it with the plough’s swingle-tree, and took its carcass back home with him. Archibald and all the neighbours saw the carcass. Archibald later recounted the story to A. Smith of Wartle in Aberdeenshire.

1915

The day after his interview with Archibald, A. Smith referred to another earth hound being turned up by a plough and killed, possibly by a man named Jas McIntosh, in 1915. However, he may have been referring to the original 1867 sighting.

1990

When Alexander Fenton visited a Banffshire town called Reith in April 1990 he found that the earth hound was still spoken of. He was shown to a churchyard where the animal was supposed to live, but found no trace of it.

Theories

A badger (Meles meles) stained orange-brown by mud, from Animals & Men 17.

A European badger (Meles meles) identity has been suggested because "earth pig" and "earth hound" have both been used as local names for the animal in the British Isles, and because they are known to burrow through graves. However, Shuker points out that the physical description of the earth hound is entirely different to that of a badger, and that no country-living person could mistake a badger for anything else. The suggestion of a young wolverine (Gulo gulo) was also dismissed by Shuker on similar grounds.

A 24 June 1950 reference to the earth hound in the People's Journal claims that they are really rats, but Shuker writes that, although the earth hound is comparable to a rat in size, colour, and superficial form, its furry tail, digging feet, tusks, and hound-like head make this identity doubtful. Eyewitness Archibald also said that, although it resembled a rat at a distance, it was clearly distinguishable as a different animal up close.

Moles do possess digging feet, but not the hound-like head or tusks; and they certainly do not burrow into graves to eat corpses. The only other possibility is an undiscovered mustelid, but Shuker writes that he is sceptical of this due to the extreme unlikeliness of a fairly large mammal existing in a small, heavily urbanised country like the United Kingdom without ever being caught or photographed.