The Red Hound of Pooley and other tales of mystery

Here are four tales of mystery; each one is fiction, but each is also based on a folk tale or a legend. 'The Red Hound of Pooley' is my invention, but there are numerous stories in many different localities of mysterious hounds or dogs, some stranger and some darker than others. In this one a young bricklayer’s mate one night encounters a red hound and does it a favour. When he tells him parents they are terrified of the possible consequences, for a similar legendary hound is said to bring serious bad luck to those with whom it meets. There is a village in Somerset where 'The Fiddington Smith' is said to have had a strange brush with the Devil himself. Several people from a mid-Cheshire town have claimed a sighting of a ghostly apparition known as 'The Winnington Lady'; in this short tale a prank in a large chemical works goes seriously wrong. The story of 'The Poachers of Darnall' (another Cheshire tale) is well documented in essence; my version is envisioned with some true characters and some fictional, but not fully historically complete – it is a strange yarn, nevertheless.