Tradition / Region: Dutch Mythology
Alternate Names: Zwartgat
Category: Dog
The Myth
In the regions around Soest and Slichtenhorst in Utrecht, people once told of a frightening apparition known as Gries Gat.
He was said to appear as a large, ugly, grey beast, most often in the form of a dog. His ears were long, and his eyes were enormous, round as saucers, glowing in the dark. Those who met him rarely did so by choice, for he was known to follow travelers on lonely roads.
If a person walked at night and sensed something behind them, it might be Gries Gat. Should they quicken their pace, the creature would do the same. If they broke into a run, he would keep behind them still, never attacking but never leaving, driving them onward in fear.
There was said to be only one way to trick him. A traveler could shout, “Here I am, and there’s another one behind you!” At that moment, Gries Gat would vanish from behind and suddenly appear at the person’s back instead, as though he had leapt through the air in an instant.
The spirit was often used to frighten children into obedience, a warning of what might follow them if they wandered alone after dark.
Sometimes, it was said, Gries Gat did not haunt the roads alone. On certain nights he was seen in the company of another spirit called Tuutmut, the two of them roaming together through the fields and paths.
So Gries Gat was remembered as a stalking presence of the night — a grey dog-shaped ghost that followed the unwary, never striking, but never letting them forget it was there.
Gallery
Sources
Abe de Verteller. (n.d.). Van aardmannetje tot zwarte juffer: Een lijst van Nederlandse en Vlaamse elfen en geesten. In abedeverteller.nl, from https://abedeverteller.nl/van-aardmannetje-tot-zwarte-juffer-een-lijst-van-nederlandse-en-vlaamse-elfen-en-geesten/
Interpretive Lenses
Religious Readings
- Christian Ascetic Deep Dive
Philosophical Readings
- Nietzschean Deep Dive
Psychological Readings
- Jungian Deep Dive
Esoteric Deep Dive
- Hermetic Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
- Marxist Deep Dive