Tradition / Region: Dutch Mythology
Alternate Names: Smakpoot, Smakvoet
Category: Dog
The Myth
Along the Delleweg near Stedum in Groningen, people once spoke of a haunting presence known as the Smakhak.
He was said to move along the road at night, close to travelers but often not clearly seen. What first gave him away were the sounds — heavy, wet thuds and smacking noises made by his feet as he went. The noises would come suddenly, as though something unseen was pacing alongside a person in the darkness.
When he did appear, he was described as a white dog, gliding along the road and passing close by those who walked there. He did not always attack or speak, but his presence was enough to unsettle anyone who met him.
Some said the Smakhak was not alone in the world of spirits. He was believed to be kin to another supernatural being known as the Widde Wiend, and the two were thought to belong to the same shadowy order of night wanderers.
So the Smakhak was remembered as a ghostly white hound of the road, known more by the strange sounds of his passing than by his form, a spirit that brushed past travelers and vanished again into the dark.
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