The Gwyllgi, black hound or big cat?

 

The gwyllgi

The Gwyllgi is a mythical large black dog from North East Wales that appears  with baleful breath and blazing red eyes, terrifying those who see it. Sometimes called The Dog of Darkness or The Black Hound, it appears after dark on lonely roads said to be an omen of death. The Gwyllgi was first mentioned in a book called ‘The Vale of Glamorgan’ in 1839. It is usually described as being black in colour, with a shaggy coat  and about the size of a calf.

Certain areas of North Wales seem to be its haunt specifically the Nant y Garth pass located near Llandegla in Denbighshire and even  as far as Marchwiel in Wrexham. There have also been reports of the Gwyllgi seen at Anglesey in Wales. One reputedly haunted the lane leading from Mousiad to Lisworney-Crossways, another a field called the Cot Moor, and a third the pit at Pant y Madog near Laugharne, Carmanthe.

 In the 19th Century  Edward Jones was making his way home one night  from Cynwyd on horseback, where he had been attending a fair.  Suddenly he said he realised he was being followed  by a gwyllgi. A large black wolflike  dog, ‘a beast of fearsome visage and blood shot eye.’  Jones was paralysed with fear, expecting to be attacked by the beast at any moment.  Eventually he plucked up the courage to turn around and  the beast had vanished.

It was spotted the Brymbo area in the early 1970s and subsequently became dubbed as the “Beast of Brymbo”. The account of the local man who saw the creature as it walked along a lane leading into the Wrexham village was of a creature similar to the Gwyllgi but more Lurcher like.

There are several accounts , including police officers who claim to have seen beasts roaming the Denbigh Moor. 

Some are described as Big Cats and have been seen as recently  as January of this year 2021.

 “Along the coastal road from Abakhan Fabrics in Mostyn, where there was an alleged big cat sighting on New Year’s Day in 2015.This  report came  only a week after two previous sightings only 20 miles away in Pontybodkin. Here, a village described seeing a “dog-sized” black cat."Through the window that overlooks the field, I saw a cat-shaped, however dog-sized, full black figure run across the field towards the hedge/fence.I lost sight of it as there's a brow in the hill. It was sprinting across.”

Source: https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/more-big-cat-sightings-north-19571471

Could the Gwyllgi be a big cat and not a ghostly hound? The number of big cat sightings in the area could indicate this is so.Or are they two different beasts? You decide but be careful if you go looking for them or it.