According to the "Oxford English Dictionary", the name "Shuck" derives from the Old English word "scucca" - "devil, fiend", from the root word "skuh"- to terrify. The first mention in print of "Black Shuck" is by Reverend E.S. Taylor in an 1850 edition of the journal "Notes and Queries" which describes "Shuck the Dog-fiend"; "This phantom I have heard many persons in East Norfolk, and even Cambridgeshire, describe as having seen as a black shaggy dog, with fiery eyes and of immense size, and who visits churchyards at midnight."