Photo credit: Stock.xchng as found on HowStuffWorks
I had a great night last night. One of my brothers invited the whole family over for pizza and a hang-out. Not only does seeing the little cousins together melt my heart, but we have a ton of talented storytellers in the family, which virtually guarantees a few belly laughs (or in this case, some chills!).
While I was there, the topic of a dog-sitting incident came up. A week ago, we were caring for a good friend’s dog when something really strange and totally out-of-character happened (we know this dog really well — we see him all the time and care for him regularly). We came home one day and found that this gentle, sweet dog had scratched up the whole back door. He must have been really upset and panicked because we’re not talking about a few surface scratches here! He went so far as to injure himself, since we found him with blood on his gums and paws.
We’ve gone over in our heads every possible reason for this, and none of them pan out …. he didn’t need to go to the bathroom because he had been let out only a half-hour before … it couldn’t have been our regular racoon visitor to the garbage bin because the garbage bin was empty and far from the door … etc, etc. And then, I suggested that maybe something inside spooked him, since it looked like he was trying so hard to get OUT of the house, rather than stop something else from getting in. This is when my sister suggested that it could have been something paranormal. That maybe the dog saw a ghost in our house.
In theory, this could very well be possible … our home is more than 125 years old and if there was to be a ghost in a house, this one would have a good chance since it’s been around so long. But I’ve never seen or felt a ghost in our house, plus we had our own dog for 10 years in this house and he never seemed to have any trouble with visiting ghosts.
However, just by raising this suggestion, my sister sparked up a super interesting conversation last night. In particular, I heard of a really recent incident that happened to a family friend. It went something like this:
A woman we know well recently started a new teaching job. She was particularly pleased about this job because it was in an old historic school building — very beautiful, with tons of character.
On a Saturday, she decided to pop into the school to do a bit of marking work before Monday hit. She punched in her security code and closed the door behind her before going to her own classroom to begin her work.
As she sat in her classroom, she heard the sound of a man whistling. This was a shock — based on the security pad at the front of the school, she was supposed to be the only one in the school. She called out the janitor’s name, “Mr. Smith, is that you? Mr. Smith?” The whistling stopped. The she heard footsteps go down the hall and a door slam.
With her heart pounding, she considered what options she had to protect herself from a male intruder in the school. She didn’t have a cell phone with her, and all she could find in her classroom was a broom. She decided to grab the broom and make a run to the outside door to escape.
Leaving all of her classwork behind, she clutched the broom and sprinted as fast as she could to the door. As she got the door open, she slipped down the front steps and fell on her back. Panicked, she scrambled back to her feet and managed to get in her car and lock the door behind her.
She grabbed the cell phone she had left in her car and called her principal. As the principal answered, she spat out that someone was in the school!
The principal asked: “Did you hear whistling?”
Yes, she replied.
“And then did you hear footsteps and a door slammed?”
Yes, she replied again.
“Oh,” said the principal calmly, “Didn’t anyone tell you that the school is haunted? That was just the ghost.”
The principal then drove over and walked her through the school, classroom by classroom to show her that no one was there. Then they punched in the security code and left.
It was the most frightening experience of her life. But sure enough, when she went back to school on the next week, many of the teachers had their own tales of bump-ins with this particular ghost. The general concensus was that he appeared only if you were alone, and that he was a former principal.
The story gave me chills — big time! What do you think about ghosts? And have you ever seen one yourself?
Speak Your Mind