Tradition / Region: Dutch Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Dog
The Myth
In the province of Groningen, stories were told of a spectral animal known as the Polderhond.
He was described as a rough, black dog, wild in appearance, with a tail like a broom. People rarely saw him clearly, but they often heard him. His howling carried across the open land, echoing over fields and ditches. At times the sound seemed to come not only from the land but from the water itself, as though the creature moved between both.
The Polderhond was counted among the ghostly hounds that haunted lonely places. He wandered the polders, appearing in the dark and vanishing just as quickly, leaving behind only the sound of his cry.
Those who heard him knew that something uncanny was near, and the night would feel heavier until the howling faded and the fields fell silent again.
So the Polderhond remained in memory as a dark spirit of the northern lowlands — a black hound whose voice could rise from land or water, warning that the unseen world was close at hand.
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