“Finally on Six One, does Dublin have its own “Hound of the Baskervilles”? There have been a number of strange sightings in Dublin’s Cabra area of a large black dog that is meant to have a supernatural appearance. Local residents claim that they have caught glimpses of the animal roaming around the Quarry Road in Cabra late at night. The dog has colourfully been described as having reptilian yellow eyes with black diamond pupils, a roaring growl, and five times the size of a Wolfhound. It has only been seen at night and has yet to attack and injure someone. Local entrepreneurs have already begun to give tours of the area to people in search of the mysterious beast. With me now in the studio is Dr Selina Cox , a zoologist from Trinity College Dublin, Dr Cox is there such an animal known that matches the description that Cabra residents have been giving to the authorities?”.
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The Glimmer Man’s Tales Part 6 – The Acre’s Resurrection
The Glimmer Man’s Tales Part 4 – Narcissus Marsh
The Glimmer Man’s Tales Part 3 – Darkey Kelly
The Glimmer Man’s Tales Part 2 – Billy In The Bowl
The Glimmer Man’s Tales Part 1 – A Pig Faced Woman
The dark haired young doctor drank quickly from her glass of water, she was nervous, though an accomplished lecturer, the TV cameras frightened her. The lights both blinded and burnt her ivory white skin, she did not like being the centre of attention. “The whole story of a large black dog with demonic lizard eyes has been played out several times in folk stories in this country Brian. No such animal does exist, nor can it exist, it does not follow the evolutionary path of canines to have reptilian eyes. What is happening here is a case of mass hysteria, one person sees a big dog, he then goes down to his local pub or whatever and the story gets embellished and spreads”. Dr Cox was quietly impressed with herself, she delivered her argument confidently, she was intelligent and strong minded person but this whole experience was daunting for her. “Well there you have it folks, Snoopy is not on the loose in Cabra, from me and Sharon and the rest of the Six One team, goodnight and God bless”.
The dramatic news theme rose jaggedly before landing on its resolution as the show came to a conclusion on a small out of date 14 inch TV in the dog pound office. “Why do I get the feeling that because of that exposure we’re going to be sent on a wild goose chase in Cabra tonight by some nervous granny or some drunk kids?” Senan turned to Kevin, the two had just come back from feeding their prisoners and where watching the tail end of the news with a cup of tea. “Ah sure, walking around Cabra and not being in any actual danger of being bitten by a dog will make a nice change of pace” Kevin replied rubbing his sore hand that a spritely Jack Russell had took offense to earlier. Their work more or less done, the two dog catchers fell asleep in their chairs, night watch wasn’t bad work when it was quiet.
The phone rattled on the wall, Kevin still fast asleep, Senan moved to answer it, he said his earlier prediction in jest but secretly he knew that it would ring true. “Hello” he answered wearily, “hello, hello? Yes, eh my name is Edna Dutton I’m living off the Fassaugh Road there in Cabra” Senan’s eyes rolled, the agitated woman continued, “you know that animal that they’re on about in the news?”, “yes Mrs Dutton, we’ve heard of it, I shouldn’t worry I never seen a dog like that in my life”. Undeterred, Edna continued her story, “oh no I’m afraid you have it wrong, I saw it tonight, it went for me, I was walking back from the shops and it just appeared right in front of me and then vanished only to reappear the other side of me and then gone just like that again! I thought I was losing my mind, I’m still shaking. Can you please send someone out here and see what it is?”, “of course Mrs Dutton, we’ll be right over” he hung up the phone. “Alright dickhead, wake up we’re on the road again!” Kevin lazily rose and the two headed to the van.
“I told you Kevin, I told you! They play it at the end of the news as their little lighted hearted finisher and we have to deal with the fallout of bleedin auldones who should know better at this stage of their lives!” Senan was not in the mood for this mission. “Relax man, we go out there, flash the torches, make ourselves a presence for half hour and then head for home, easy!” Kevin answered, he was staring out the window, it was 11 o’clock and the night blackness was busy untangling itself from the passing amber street lamps. They were now near where the sighting had occurred Kevin looked out the window at a large house with a big green garden. It was distinctive from the other estate houses. “Here what’s that there?” he inquired, Senan who was driving glimpsed out his side window, “that my friend was Beggsboro House, or at least the previous building there was, former residence to one of the greatest bastards this country ever gave birth to”.
“Go on then, tell me your history lesson, it’s not like we’re in a rush to capture Satan’s terrier” Kevin quipped. Senan parked the van and produced two store bought chicken stuffing sandwiches, the bread tasted like it had been used at the Last Supper. “Lord Norbury, the hanging judge lived there back in the early 19th century. He was a Tipperary man, who through his well established connections became a judge for the crown despite his meagre intelligence. He was a cruel cruel man, when Robert Emmet’s rebellion failed, it was Norbury who sentenced him to be hung, drawn and quartered on Thomas Street. When Emmet made his great republican speech from the dock, Norbury sneered, laughed, and cheered him and he was the fecking judge! He was a member of the Ascendency he hated Catholics, almost as much as he hated Protestant republicans.”
Kevin for his flippant attitude earlier was now listening eagerly, while munching on the dry stuffing. “A story goes that a man was falsely accused of sheep stealing, a capital offence back then, Norbury without hesitating or evaluating the evidence sentenced the poor man to hang. His widower died soon after but not before promising that she would do all in her power to make a deal with either God or Devil, to come back and haunt the judge for the rest of his days. And so it goes, that she did return and haunt him, over there where that house stood, he never slept again till his own death. Eventually, his insomnia drove what was already evil into both mad and evil and as time went on, the judge sent more and more people to the gallows. Daniel O’Connell tried to have him disbarred he was that bad a bastard”. Senan finished, he was now satisfied that he had related everything he had ever heard about Lord Norbury.
They had finished eating, “so you don’t like him then?” Kevin said cheekily with a smile. The two got out of the van and produced torches, it was cold out, the October bangers had started early and Cabra sounded more like Sarajevo, “no wonder there’s vicious dog sightings, poor animals probably broke free from their homes startled because of all these bloody bangers” Kevin commented.
The two men walked down the estate street with their torches drawn, the streets were quite, the kids were blowing their own piece of Dublin up elsewhere, their craft could be heard sporadically in the cold air. There was a smell of sulphur in the air presumably from expended fireworks and the sharp breeze ate past their jackets. “Not a trace, just out in the cold over an uptight granny” Senan snapped. “Good evening gents, I take it your the dog catchers then?” the two turned around to see a large pale face man with a bulbous nose and a cap hiding a stray white fringe underneath. “We were called out to see if there was something to this nonsense, you know yourself” Kevin sulkily replied. “I wouldn’t know myself, the creature is real and you’ll need a lot more than battery torches to catch it”. “Sir, if you want to help us, could you tell us where you last seen it?” Senan tried to sound sincere, “the laneway between Beggsboro House and the adjoining home, I should come with you”.
“What’s your name?” Senan asked in an authoritative tone, “my name? Well I suppose it was Percival but I haven’t been called that in a long long time, you see I am the Glimmer Man a lamplighter. I travel the streets of Dublin banishing…”the Glimmer Man was interrupted almost immediately by Kevin, “I’m sorry what?! The Glimmer Man?! Is that some kind of drug dealer name? Or something your mates call you down the pub?? You’re bit old for that kind of crap, listen Percival wait over there and let the professionals deal with it, thanks”. The Glimmer Man was annoyed and rambled off complaining about the lack of manners of young people and how even Cromwell would say “please or thank you” on his way to lobbing off some poor unfortunate’s head. The two dog catchers headed for the directions the Glimmer Man gave them. “You were bit heavy with the auldfella there” Senan rebuked Kevin. “Come on he’s a bit demented, who calls their kid Percival anyway?” this comment did make Senan grin.
They had entered the laneway, it was pitch black, it was quiet down there, isolated, lonely. The two had ventured a fair bit down the laneway, they could hear somewhere in the distance a chain dragging. “It sounds that some animal is entangled in a chain be careful, when they’re frightened they lash out the most” Senan warned. The chain could be heard again dragging, but from the opposite side of them, “two of them?” Kevin muttered. They could only see the spots their torches lit down the laneway, far from the security of the street lamps, then there it was, a low growl. It was deeper than anything they had heard before, it projected far further than that of a dog. It unnerved both of them. The chain could be heard again from the opposite direction, the laneway had now merged with a series of laneways at the back of the houses along the street, they were kept hidden by high shrubs. “Look I hate to do this, but I rather catch both than one, I think we should split up I’ll go left, you go right”, Kevin solemnly agreed.
Kevin walked slowly on his own up the laneway that branched from the right of Beggsboro House, Senan who had gone the opposite way had already disappeared into the night. As his torch travelled from spot to spot he could hear panting, then the chain dragging noise again, the iron grinding painfully against the concrete. Then he could see them, two yellow snake eyes peering from the dark, nothing else was visible, at first, they hovered searching on the black canvass behind them then their black diamond’s centred on him. He could hear that deep rolling growl, it was so loud, he was too close and he knew it, but he now could not move his legs, panic had stolen his wits. Large paws began to tear at the concrete, the animal had begun the chase, still growling loudly, Kevin could only move his left arm, it was still holding the torch, he shone it right at the yellow eyes. There it was a massive black creature, similar in shape to a dog but its head was not like anything of this world, its jaw jutted out from its face, large sharp cut teeth overhung like stalactites in a cave, the cheeks bulked out like a bear. It was huge, the laneway could hold five broad men across yet this animal alone was skinning the hedges on either side. The black dog lunched itself at Kevin as he shut his eyes tightly, only to open them to nothing but fog, the animal had vanished in a quick puff of fog right in front of his face.
Kevin regained some composure and just managed to yell “Senan!”, the other catcher ran to his friends aid, he could see him shaking like an autumn leaf about to say farewell to its oaken home. “What’s wrong?!” Kevin didn’t move or utter a word, he was still seized by the shock, Senan turned with his torch drawn in one hand and an electric prod in the other. Suddenly, a great puff of fog right in his face, it filled his nostrils with sulphur knocking him to the ground, clearing his stinging eyes he saw the creature slowly advance on him, Kevin was still unable to move as his fallen comrade’s fate seemed certain. The Glimmer man appeared beside Senan hunched looking at the dog, “do something” Senan’s trembling words barely audible. “I cannot interfere until they break the rules, they are not allowed to touch the living, if they do then and only then can I stop them. The judge knows the rules, he abused them in life, why should he be different in death?”, “what are you on about a judge? That thing’s a fecking bear or something!” Senan shouted has he was searching wildly on the ground for the prod that deserted him in the fall. The dog was moving slowly to him, his low growl shaking the ground Senan lay on.
“It must hurt Norbury, I mean you once were the lord lieutenant favourite little “string em” up, now the humans send their dog catchers after you!” the Glimmer man said with a goading smile. The dog barked ferociously looking at the Glimmer man momentarily then back on Senan. “Jaysus why are you provoking it?! Norbury? Why are you calling it Norbury!” Senan was confused, “oh you don’t recognise the hanging judge? I don’t blame you, he has changed a little, a few more ticks and fleas then he used to have, isn’t that right Norbury?” the dog roared at the old man’s remarks. “You see my boy, turns out Hell has standards after all and a low down mutt like Lord Norbury doesn’t meet their requirements for eternal damnation!”. The dog had had enough and ran now at pace at the Glimmer Man it stood momentarily on Senan’s hand as it made for the Glimmer man, as quick as it did the Glimmer man produced a candle on a stick that filled the lane with light. The light altered the creature’s form. Though barely visible in the bright glaze, the creature metamorphosed into something resembling a man, which collapsed as soon as the light was removed from it. The body was sinuous, withered, decaying rapidly, its remaining flesh dripping of it like fat from a pork joint, it looked disgusting barely human. Has it lay dissolving in front of the three men looking down on it, the creature moved its head to face the Glimmer man, no pupils floated on the whites of its eyes. The mouth, as it stared at the old large man said only one word, in the same strained tones of a vixen sigh, “guilty” before decomposing into fog. “Indeed, I am, Norbury but it is not for you to judge anyone anymore” the Glimmer man retorted.
Kevin came out of his shock and helped Senan to his feet, the Glimmer man was handling the electric prod, its sparked, surprising him into lifting his dark eyebrows “nasty little thing, you use this on animals?! Good night gents” he sauntered off down the darkened lane. “What was that?!” Kevin stuttered, Senan looked down the laneway after the old man, “one was the law, the other was justice”.
Related Stories:
The Glimmer Man’s Tales Part 6 – The Acre’s Resurrection
The Glimmer Man’s Tales Part 4 – Narcissus Marsh
The Glimmer Man’s Tales Part 3 – Darkey Kelly
The Glimmer Man’s Tales Part 2 – Billy In The Bowl
The Glimmer Man’s Tales Part 1 – A Pig Faced Woman
