The Hell Hound of No Man's Land

Patrick Bernauw
The most famous legend of the First World War is undoubtedly the story of the Angels of Mons. In August 1914, during the retreat of the British Expeditionary Force from the Belgian city of Mons, it seemed impossible to break through the German army that outnumbered the British soldiers twice. Arthur Machen, a writer of supernatural tales, published a "report" of an eye witness in a newspaper. He said Saint George was seen on the battlefield fighting of the Germans, together with a 15th century band of bowmen. It was a story he made up, but suddenly British soldiers found themselves indeed fighting side by side with angels!

In those dark days, Mons was also made famous by another, much darker legend. On a night in November, Captain Yeskes and four of his London Fusiliers went on a patrol in No Man's Land. Several days later their corpses were found, with teeth marks at the throats. And in the British trenches a weird, blood-curldling howl was heard... the howl of the Hell Hound of Mons.

Afterwards, on the battlefields of the Marne and the Somme, near Verdun and Ypres, patrols that ventured out in the darkness between the trenches, were found with the same telltale marks at their throats, while the howl continued to roam through No Man's Land. Sentries declared they saw a grey form flashing past the barbed wire. The giant Hound of Hell was running there, silently...

In August 1919, the Evening News of Oklahoma published a story of the Canadian veteran Captain F.J. Newhouse. The Terror of No Man's Land that was stalking among the corpses and dragged soldiers down to their death, was no apparition of a fear-crazed mind, he said. It was no phantom, no hallucination, no fiction... but a gruesome reality of the Great War.

Captain Newhouse stated that certain facts had been brought to light, as a result of the recent death of Dr Gottlieb Hochmuller in a Berlin riot. Secret documents were found in his house, which proved the Hell Hound of Mons really existed. The creature had come out of maybe the most repulsive scientific experiment the world had ever known, as a giant hound with the brain of a human madman.

Full story here!

Published by Patrick Bernauw

Patrick Bernauw is a full time Flemish writer (Dutch speaking part of Belgium) of historical mysteries and faction thrillers. And he is a producer of murder and mystery games, city games, alternate reality g...  View profile

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