Dagger Woods, Nova Scotia
Dagger Woods is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in [[Antigonish County, Nova Scotia|Antigonish County. Dagger Woods is a small rural community located amid softwood forest and marshland slightly less than 10 kilometers east of the university town of Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Anyone driving Highway 104 to or from the eastern part of the province will be familiar with the turnoff. Tales of a malevolent being haunting the woods began to spread shortly after the area was first settled in the late 1700’s. Locally referred to as the Hidey-Hinder, and also known as the Dagger Woods Howler, legend connects the thing to a crime of passion in which a husband killed his wife with a pearl handled dagger before fleeing into the depths of Dagger Woods, never to be seen or heard from again. Some believe the Howler is him, doomed to relive his dark deed in perpetuity. Still others believe his evil woke something in those woods that took him, and now either cannot or will not rest. Whichever it is, those alive today who have encountered the thing describe the experience the same way – at first a horrendous, inhuman scream is heard in the distance, followed at intervals by more of the same, each time closer and more deafening. No one can describe it because nerve either runs out before the Howler is near enough at hand to see, or the witness disappears without a trace. Halifax band The Stanfields were inspired to produce a song based on the legend of Dagger Woods titled, naturally enough, Dagger Woods. I’ll leave you with the lyrics and a video of The Stanfields performing it. That’s some good toe tapping darkness right there!
Coordinates: 45°35′36″N 61°50′26″W / 45.59333°N 61.84056°W
References
- Dagger Woods entry in Nova Scotia Geographical Names (Department of Service Nova Scotia & Municipal Relations)