S2.E8: The Black Stag (Halloween Special Pt. 2)
Season 2, Episode 8 (Halloween Bonus 2)
When nights grow long and familiar paths suddenly lead you astray; when fog shrouds the coast in deathly gloom and strange lights flicker in empty bogs,
that’s the time when ghosts and ghouls explore this new found land.
Welcome to the Strange Truths & Tall Tales Halloween Special.
Title: The Black Stag
Time: 15 minutes
Locations: St. Brides, Point Lance, Elliston
Story: The Black Stag of St. Brides, The Ghost Dog of Elliston, and The Mudsucker
Listen:
About The Episode:
Halloween Bonus Episode Pt. 2
It’s October and the nights are getting noticeably longer. As darkness takes a hold. I’ve decided to embrace the ‘spooky season’ for some short Halloween episodes.
This instalment features an old folktale set near St. Bride’s, NL. It concerns a strange black Stag seen on the roadside and a series of unexplained deaths that plagues a family soon afterward.
Continuing on with the theme, I share some legends of other ghostly creatures from Newfoundland, starting with the headless dog of Elliston.
Listening Options
You can listen to the episode here or on your favourite platform.
Credits
Tocatta & Fugue in D Minor (Bach) from orangefreesounds.com, Paul Pittman, public domain.
Thunder (bajko) from freesound.com, creative commons 0
Sources & Further Reading
The Black Stag of St. Bride’s, Product of Newfoundland
Home Before Dark, Product of Newfoundland
The Black Stag -- A Ghost Story, James McGrath, Newfoundland Quarterly, 1910
The Story of the Black Stag, New-Land Magazine, Spring 1965
St. Bride's, Decks Awash, May-June, 1990
The Black Stag of Distress, Off-Beat Mystery of Newfoundland, Michael Harrington, 1988
The Black Stag, Ghost Stories of Newfoundland and Labrador, Edward Butts, 2010
Ghost Dog, People of Elliston — Then and Now, Facebook
Mudsucker, Dictionary of NL English, word slip
Elliston, Encyclopedia of NL
A ruthless pirate, a chance encounter, and a narrow escape — if not for a fisherman’ s words, Ned Low’s reign of terror could have ended in St. John’s.
The tragic love story of Portugal Cove’s Fanny Goff — a young woman who shared a love as legendary as her beauty.
A stolen fish, a cruel punishment, and a lesson in power—one sailor’s tale will change the way a young man sees the world forever.
In 1902, two-year-old Minnie Keefe disappeared near her home in Colinet, NL. Eight days later, she was discovered alive, leading to stories of miracles, mysteries, and survival.
Just off Harbour Buffet, Placentia Bay a fisherman vanished, his shattered boat was the only clue. It looked like something, some ocean creature, was responsible.
In 1891, James Brennan spun a tale of a shipwreck so tragic it shook the Atlantic—until the “wreck” turned out to be pure fiction.