Finally saw this all the way through on TV recently. Is that legend of the Black Dog an old legend that's been going around for truckers for a while, or is it something they made up for the movie? I had never heard of it before, just curious if anyone else had.
shareIt's a real legend among truckers.
"In the US, "black dog" is a euphemism for hallucination due to sleep deprivation in truckers. The image stems from a form of the hallucination where a black dog darts in front of the truck from the shadows, perhaps causing a wreck."
(from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_dog)
I have seen it myself, in Texas while driving from Austin to Ft Hood after a long and tiring day. Only I thought it looked like kids running out in front of the car.
"C'mon Bart! The Coast Guard's covering the Doobs!"
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Oh okay, thanks to both repliers for helping clear that up. I never thought of that. I guess I badly underestimated how much sleep deprivation can affect what you see or think you see on the road.
shareI'm a truck driver, although I wasn't when I first saw the movie (yes I do own it) and I didn't think that was real...I guess you learn new things everyday...
shareI work in the maritime industry, and have some friends who make a living singing sea chanties. As we live on the Great Lakes, they have learned a lot of regional songs, folklore, &tc.
One of their albums has a song, "The Black Dog of Lake Erie." They may have made the story up, but the legend says that sometimes a crewmember on a lakes schooner will see a black dog ringed flame leap from the waves, cross the deck, then descend back into the water. Once that happens, the ship and its crew are doomed.
According to the song, its a bad omen. Of course, since Lake Erie is the shallowest lakes it's one of the worst, and has a number of islands and shoals, &tc.
Still in all, I thought it funny that a legend from the days of sail made it into a movie about truck driving.
believe it not, it is actually real. Not quite like how it's depicted in the movie, but much more like how imken24 descibes it. I actually had that happen to me one night a little while ago, I was fairly tired, almost done my night heading back towards my yard when I actually did mistake/confuse a dark section of pavement for some kind of animal. That made the heart race for a few seconds....
shareThis just adds to the film. This is really interesting!
shareI'm a truck driver and am forced to drive nights A LOT. I've seen the black dog before. I was driving all night and was REALLY tired and it was about 3a.m. and I actually had two hallucinations. First, I passed a lamp on the freeway and the way the light moved across the inside of the cab, I jumped because it looked like a hand reaching out to grab my arm, and of course I jumped. Then, a little farther down the road, I was driving and I jumped and swerved just a little because I saw a shadow out of the corner of my eye and thought it was an animal about to run out. At the time, I had never heard of the black dog, but I know of it now.
So, basically, it's real when you're really tired, and even though part of my mind knew it wasn't real, I still reacted like it was. The worst I've heard though, is a friend who was really tired and hallucinated that she saw a big brick wall on the road, told herself it wasn't real and drove through it. Now, THAT'S bad.
There are different levels of hallucinations. I just hope I don't ever get tired enough to see the black dog again.
Here in the UK, there are several legends about black dogs. They are usually seen to be larger than most dogs, and they have big, bright shining eyes, as big as saucers. It is said that seeing them is a forewarning of impending death or tradgedy, and ill fortune can also fall upon those close to the person who sees the black dog.
*beep* OFF WITH THE GUN!!!
FOR THE LOVE OF *beep*!!!
with all the ghost shows on tv now, there are a lot of stories about shadow people and animals.
there is even a youtube video of a doglike shadow running through a living room. I wonder if truckers ever see anything like this and not just hallucination.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v98do1Crg7k
check it out
I was driving on a bad road here in Ireland last week. I wasnt tired but a black dog ran out in front of my car. I ran over him but kept on driving in case the owner caused any hassle. Luckily my front bumper was only slightly damaged.
shareWell you learn something new everyday. I had never heard of this "legend", although its true your mind can play tricks on you when very tired, night driving in the UK is not helped by being limited to 56 mph. sat on the cruise control on a straight motorway does not aid concentration, It's a common thing to be a junction or two further on than you thought, due to your brain shutting down momentarily, or "micro sleeping" where you doze for a second or two unintentionally. when you get to this point it's time to stop!
share