Black Dog of Hanging Hill

This is a haunting with an omen that is known not only in Connecticut. Many places have "Black Dog" apparitions, or
haunting that almost always have a very sinister omen. Meriden's Hanging Hill is not exception. This is apart of the
Metacomet Trail through Hubbard Park, and Hanging Hill is the area where the dog is mostly seen. This is a beautiful
hiking area with an observation tower at East Peak called Castle Crag (you can see the Sleeping Giant Mountain Range
from here, another Connecticut haunting) at 1,024 feet above sea level.

There have been many visits by the dog and the first time he seems quite friendly. The myth started in the early 1900's. The
myth goes: "If you see the dog once, it shall be for joy, the second, it shall be for sorrow, and a third time, he shall die." One
of the first occurrences was by Mr. Pychon. He saw the dog twice while hiking with a friend, and the friend was climbing
and fell to his death, Mr. Pychon decided to go hiking again after his friends death and died himself. Most people believe
he was visited for the third time by the dog.

Occurrences still happen on Hanging Hill. Recently two men went hiking and was visited by the dog a first time, but
decided to cut their hiking trip short because of the weather. They had heard the local myth but they believed it was just a
friendly black stray. They didn't think anything of it until they went hiking the next day. When they reached the same hill the
black dog appeared again. It just stood at the top of the hill staring at them, then his eyes started to glow red, and the man
heard his friend scream and saw him tumbling down the rocky terrain on this steep hill. A rescue crew had to come rescue
the man and he did live besides his leg being badly broken in two places. Needless to say they decided to not tempt fate
and go hiking on the mountain again to see him for a third time.