Woodvale Park off the Shankill Road opened in the late nineteenth century. Spirited Isle gives a local tale set when tramlines still ran through the city. An elderly man visited the park each day with a small, energetic dog that chased passing trams when off the lead. Embarrassed, he would walk on as though the dog were not his and let it fall behind before it rejoined him outside the park.
One day the dog chased a tram once too often and was struck and killed, unnoticed by its owner. The tram conductor placed the remains near the park entrance so the man would find them. He carried the dog home, devastated.
In the days after, people claimed to see the small dog waiting outside the park as it had in life, but there was no sign of the old man. Neighbours forced his door and found him dead, seated with the dog's body on his knee. After that the sightings of the dog stopped.
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