Most people know that much of Hegewisch used to be swamps. This story dates back to the earliest days of Hegewisch. Its a story of a man and his dog. The man's name has long since been lost to the years but his dog was Lucky. Lucky was a beautiful Black Labrador Retriever. According to the story, Lucky was found growling over his owner drooling with his teeth bared. somewhere in what is now Avalon Trails. His owner was out cold and bleeding badly from the neck when another hunter happened upon him. Without hesitation the other hunter shot Lucky dead and brought his unconscious owner quickly home. A doctor was called and verified that the wounds were indeed consistent with dog bites. For the next week, Lucky's hapless owner passed in and out of consciousness as he fought fever, infection, and blood loss. Many people thought that Lucky must have caught rabies and had turned crazy when he attacked his owner.
Finally a week later Lucky's owner awakened and told the story of what happened. Lucky had not attacked him. In fact a wolf had attacked him and Lucky attacked the wolf and fought it off. Afterwards he became weak and collapsed. the last he remembered was the wolf returning and Lucky standing above him, growling and fighting off the wolf. Lucky had saved his life.
Lucky's owner was filled with grief over his dog that he refused to admit he was dead. That night he struggled with all his might and climbed out of bed and went out in the swamp to find his dog. He was found the next day, dead from loss of blood. In his hands was the collar of his dog Lucky.
After Lucky's owner was buried, the hunter who shot Lucky became filled with grief and decided that the least he could do was find Lucky's remains and give the hero dog a proper burial. That night he went alone into the woods to where he had shot Lucky. The next morning the man was found dead, mauled to death by a large dog. The rest of that day and into the next night, men formed hunting parties and went looking for the wolf they believed had attacked the first man and later the Hunter who killed Lucky. What they found instead was two dead wolves. in the distance they heard the howling of dog. They followed the howling all through the night only to have the sound disappear with the rising sun.
The next night the howling began again. The men went out again looking for the mad dog. According to legend two of the men found a large black lab. The dog had flaming red eyes and was growling and foaming at the mouth. As one of the men went to shoot the dog, out of nowhere a man appeared and said "Leave my Lucky alone!" It was Lucky's dead owner. The men ran in terror as they heard the growling of the dog right behind them. One of the men stumbled and as his friend turned to help him he saw the large dog rip at his throat. He tried to raise his gun to shoot the dog but again Lucky's owner appeared from nowhere and knocked the gun out of his hand Lucky's owner demanded "If you return to Lucky's swamp you will never leave again!" The man ran away as he heard the last screams from his dying friend.
Since that night at least 10 people have encountered the Swamp dog, Lucky. some say he wanders the small swamps near the little league field. Others say he's over by Powder Horn. Still others say he was killed in what is now Avalon Trails. What we do know is his body was never found but those of his victims were. You can still hear Lucky howling on the clear crisp nights during duck hunting season. Could he be howling for you?
Stories appearing in Haunted Hegewisch are urban folklore or ghost stories. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, or event present or past are purely coincidental and unintentional. Stories are the property and copyright of www.Hegewisch.Net unless otherwise noted and cannot be used without expressed written consent of the authors.