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11 Pets Who Returned As Ghosts To Help Or Haunt Their Owners

Scott Marcano

Ghost stories are hardly rare, but stories of true hauntings always seem to involve humans. What about our dearly departed animal friends? Is it possible for pets to return as ghosts to help or haunt owners? And would you be more or less freaked out if you saw the ghost of a cat rather than that of a human? Or a pet snake? Yes, ghost pets are a bizarre proposition. Though perhaps not as bizarre as keeping a ghost as a pet.  

Anyway, while some may scoff at the notion of animal spirits visiting us, stories of pet hauntings are widespread and, in some cases, the stuff of legend. Perhaps it's the unique bond animals have with humans that makes this type of supernatural encounter possible. Whatever the reason, these intriguing stories of pet haunting range from the heartwarming to the truly terrifying.  

All the stories on this list will leave you wondering if the bump you heard in the middle of the night was a furry friend paying you a visit from beyond.

Ghost Hounds And A Creepy Child Haunt Peter Brady

Ghost Hounds And A Creepy Child Haunt Peter Brady

Christopher Knight tells this strange tale while filming a ghost episode of  The Brady Bunch . The cast was staying at a creepy bed and breakfast and stayed up late telling ghost stories before finally hitting the sack. 

According to Knight, who played Peter Brady, he woke up in the middle of the night to find two hunting dogs sitting at the foot of his bed, staring at him. Then, he saw a little girl gazing at him from the doorway. Neither the dogs nor the girl made a sound. 

The next day, when Knight related his strange encounter, the B&B owner took him to a fireplace, where two hunting dogs were depicted on the metal fireguard of the old house's fireplace; they were the same dogs Peter saw. No one knows if the decorations were inspired by two real dogs who once lived in the house, but the mysterious experience left the young actor shaken.     

The Blue Ghost Dog, An Avenging Spirit

The Blue Ghost Dog, An Avenging Spirit

The blue ghost dog legend is one of the oldest ghost stories in the United States, dating to the 1700s. As the story goes, Charles Thomas Sims was attacked by a pack of thieves after a night of drinking and bragging about the amount of gold he had. Sims fought to his last breath, with his faithful dog, a blue tick hound, battling at his side.

In the end, the robbers were too strong for them, and the two fell on a rock along the road and perished. The thieves buried the gold, and when they returned for it, were beset by a large blue tick hound. The head thief escaped, but soon fell ill and perished. To this day, people say the hound watches over his master’s gold. A restaurant and bar takes its name from the Blue Dog.

The Black Dog Of Connecticut Will End You

The Black Dog Of Connecticut Will End You

The Black Dog hangs around Castle Craig in Connecticut, where it has terrorized hikers and castle visitors for decades. Described as small, short-haired, and spaniel-like, the Black Dog makes no sound, even when it seems to be howling or barking. The spectral pooch  comes with its own folklore : "If a man shall meet the Black Dog once, it shall be for joy; and if twice, it shall be for sorrow; and the third time, he shall die."

Numerous people blame the animal for the passings of those who saw the dog three times, and tales of such ends date back to the 1800s. 

The Haunted Intersection, Where Ghost Horses Roam

The Haunted Intersection, Where Ghost Horses Roam

Cats and dogs are by far the most common animals reported in non-human haunting, but large domesticated animals are also reported to return from the grave. In the Chicago suburbs, there are stables and riding trails in the woods near the busy intersection of  95th Street and Kean . One of the trails crosses this dangerous junction. Until recently, there was no traffic control device to allow those on horseback to cross safely, and at least seven people and some horses were slain. 

There have been numerous reports of ghosts horse sightings, especially at night or near dusk. Dozens of motorists have seen what appears to be a horse and rider in silhouette attempting to cross from one side of 95th street to the other. When drivers slow down to look at the pair, they suddenly dissolve from view. These figures don't simply disappear near one side of the street or the other, but often right in the middle of the road.

Yabba Returns To Play Ball With Her Human, Perhaps Because Of A Jesus Candle

Yabba Returns To Play Ball With Her Human, Perhaps Because Of A Jesus Candle

The story of Yabba is a typical pet haunting testimonial. On August 30th, 2011, Yabba passed 11 days before her seventeenth birthday. She and owner Maureen were inseparable; Yabba was her "rock and the love of her life" (aside from her son).

One night, Maureen woke up and found her beloved friend had passed. She was devastated. Desperate and in the throes of grief, Maureen began calling out to Yabba while taking pictures, hoping she could get just a glimpse of the dog's spirit in one of her photos. The second picture taken caught an image that looks like a dog. 

After taking the picture, Maureen made a memorial to the dog with her toys, a rosary, and a Jesus candle. She spoke to her every day, as if she was still here.

One day, Maureen took out a ball and said, "Yabba, here's your ball, come on let's play." The ball moved. It was sitting still on the floor and rolled. Then, it happened again. She felt something brush against her, though she was alone. She believes it was the ghost of Yabba, letting her know all was well, and she's still with her owner in spirit. 

Wiggie, Who Sensed Asbestos From Beyond

Wiggie, Who Sensed Asbestos From Beyond

This strange encounter occurred after nursery school teacher Debra Tadman's oldest cat, Wiggie, passed. Grief-stricken, Debra called animal communicator Sharon Callaghan to contact the spirit of her lost pet. As Debra recounts: "Wiggie and I had a very close relationship and I felt as if I had lost a child. He had seen me through a marriage, divorce, other relationships, three house moves and other life experiences."

Sharon was able to reach Wiggie in the great beyond, and told Debra Wiggie was concerned about her apartment, because it was a "toxic place." About a year later, Debra decided to paint her apartment and discovered asbestos and highly toxic mold in the walls and ceiling and aluminum wiring in grave danger of causing a fire. 

Debra is forever grateful to Wiggie: "To this day I can’t believe how accurate and true that reading was."

There is no way that Sharon, the animal medium, could have known that the asbestos and mold were beneath the walls. 

Demon Cat Of The Capitol

Demon Cat Of The Capitol

The United States Capitol building is said to be haunted by the ghost of a cat . The demonic kitty is said to have glowing red eyes and appears out of nowhere to scare passersby.

Some say Demon Cat appears before important events or natural disasters. It was seen before the  stock market crash of 1929 and the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963.

The Washington, DC, female roller skating team, The Demon Cats, is named after the satanic kitty.

The Benign, Creepy Terrier Of The Holly Hotel

The Benign, Creepy Terrier Of The Holly Hotel

The Historic Holly Hotel is one of the most notorious haunted places in Michigan. World-famous Ghost Buster Norman Gauthier, a professor of parapsychology, visited the hotel in 1989 and declared the joint “loaded with spirits." Since then, many independent groups have investigated the hotel. Numerous visitors have reported smelling cigar smoke and floral perfume and hearing disembodied voices late at night in the halls. 

Most striking, however, are continual reports of guests hearing and seeing the spirit of Leona, the dog of former hotel owner Mr. Hirst. Guests describe the ghost dog as looking similar to a rat terrier. Leona can be heard running down the halls, brushing up against people’s legs. Phantom barking is often observed, especially by the early morning chefs.

An Amorous Ape Haunts A British Estate

An Amorous Ape Haunts A British Estate

Numerous ghosts reportedly roam  Athelhampton House , a large estate in Dorset, near Dorchester, England. But perhaps the most famous of all spectral entities is the ghost of Martyn, a pet ape (possibly a chimpanzee) that belonged to William Martyn and his family, who built  Athelhampton in 1485. Legend has it, Martyn suffered a gnarly fate when he was accidentally sealed up in a room of Athelhampton and died of starvation. Guests of the estate claim they hear Martin scratching at the walls, eager to escape his unintentional tomb. 

Others, however, claim that Martyn is an overall happy ghost who expresses his happiness in a rather crude manner. Several visitors claim they hear Martyn laughing while pleasuring himself. Some say this randy side of the ape comes from his infatuation with one of William Martyn's daughters, and that she might be responsible for his early demise, given they claim she locked herself in her room to end her own life following a heartbreak, not knowing Martyn had followed her inside.

All Dogs Go To Heaven

All Dogs Go To Heaven

On December 30, 1993, Jan Price suffered a near-fatal heart attack and had a near death experience (NDE) . During her NDE, Jan found herself in strange, misty surroundings. Suddenly, her beloved dog, Maggi, was with her. Maggi had passed less than a month before. As Jan recounts, "I felt her presence, her love, and she appeared to me as she had when she was in physical form - only younger, more vital."

According to Jan, Maggi could "speak" to her in a spiritual way and said. "You know that Daddy can't handle both of us being gone right now." Jan told the dog that she was going back to the land of the living, and Maggi promised her when her time came to return to heaven, they would explore wonderful things together. 

Preston, Ghost Dog Protector Of Nashville Trick-or-Treaters

Preston, Ghost Dog Protector Of Nashville Trick-or-Treaters

The pooch who haunts Nashville’s Belmont Hillsboro neighborhood is one of the most famous ghost dogs around. The spirit is said to be that of a good-hearted boxer named Preston who keeps vigil over young trick-or-treaters every Halloween. 

Some witnesses have heard barking on Halloween night. Others say if you walk too slowly or stop in the middle of the street, an unseen dog will bump and nudge you along, so you don't get hit by a car. An old woman who lived in the neighborhood used to leave a dog biscuit for Preston on her porch every Halloween night for many years.

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Home » Fun » 9 Spooky Dog Stories That Prove Casper Wasn’t The Only Friendly Ghost

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9 Spooky Dog Stories That Prove Casper Wasn’t The Only Friendly Ghost

Written by: dr. katy nelson.

October 30, 2015

Halloween is here, the one time of the year when everyone loves a good ghost story. But not all ghost stories are about human ghosts.

For thousands of years the howl of a wolf or a dog in the night has set our teeth on edge. Stories of frightening, spectral dogs run throughout history.

But not all ghost dogs are “scary.” Like all good ghosts, each of their stories is truly unique.

1. Nashville, Tennessee – Preston The Friendly Boxer Ghost

In Nashville’s Belmont Hillsboro neighborhood, a good-hearted Boxer keeps vigil over young trick-or-treaters.

ghost1

According to Ghost Dogs of the South , Preston the dog accompanied some trick-or-treaters when he saw a boy trying to pick up candy he’d dropped in the road. Preston saved the boy by knocking him out of the path of a speeding car, but Preston was hit.

Now every Halloween for the last 50 years, children have invariably reported being bumped onto the sidewalk when they step into the road while trick-or-treating or go too slowly from house to house.

ghost2

2. Port Tobacco, Maryland – The Blue Ghost Dog

The blue ghost dog of Port Tobacco is said to be the oldest ghost story in America. The story dates back to the 1700s.

port-tobacco-marker

The story says Charles Howard Sims was attacked by a man after a night of drinking and bragging about the amount of gold he had. Sims went down swinging, and with him was his dog, believed to be a blue tick hound or an English Mastiff. The two fell on a rock along the road, his dog valiantly fighting to save his master. The robbers buried the gold. But when they returned to get it, they were attacked by a large blue tick hound. To this day people say the hound watches over his master’s gold. A restaurant and bar takes its name from the Blue Dog.

ghost_dog

3. Los Angeles, California – Pet Cemetery To The Stars

The Los Angeles Pet Cemetery is a 10-acre memorial park in Calabasas, California. It’s home to the famous and not-so-famous deceased pets of California. Among the animals interred here: Tawny, the MGM lion, one of the Peteys from the Little Rascals movies, Hopalong Cassidy’s horse Topper, and Kabar, Rudolph Valentino’s dog.

valentino-kabar

Kabar was Valentino’s Great Dane. It’s said when the matinee idol died in 1926 in New York, Kabar suddenly let out a horrible howl. He was 3,000 miles away at the time. Kabar died in 1929 and was laid to rest in the cemetery. Since then, visitors to the pet cemetery report hearing barking and panting near Kabar’s grave. Some say they’ve even been licked on the hand.

4. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania – The General’s Dog

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania is allegedly one of the most haunted places in America. The city is the site of the bloodiest campaign in the American Civil War. Thousands of people died, and so did at least one dog.

Hummelbaugh-house

Confederate Brigadier General William Barksdale was wounded while leading a charge and brought to the Hummelbaugh House. He died at the house and some say his voice can still be heard in the house.

Another story says Barksdale’s wife traveled to Gettysburg to bring back her husband’s body, and she brought his hunting dog with her. When the dog was taken to his master’s grave, he laid on the ground and started to howl. Even after Barksdale’s body was exhumed, the dog could not be moved from the spot, even for food. He died there. People say the dog still lingers on the grounds of the Hummelbaugh House, and on the anniversary of Barksdale’s death he howls in mourning.

ghost4

5. New Orleans, Louisiana – Ghost Dog and Cat

The Beauregard-Keyes House has been stranding in the New Orleans French Quarter since 1826 and has more than a few ghosts. But two particularly fluffy spirit animals stand out.

beauregard-keyes-house

Lucky was the dog of author Francis Parkinson Keyes. A Cocker Spaniel, Lucky died a few days after her master died in 1970. But Lucky still appears at the house, particularly in the room Keyes kept at the home.

Some would tell you Lucky’s not alone. Other animal ghosts may be in the home too, including a white cat that’s been seen darting through the house. The cat, named Caroline by the house’s caretakers, will apparently rub against people’s legs.

cat

6. Holly, Michigan – A Ghostly Hotel Guest

The Holly Hotel has numerous ghosts. One of them appears to be Leona, a terrier belonging to the Hirsts, who first owned the hotel. The dog can be heard running through the halls, and brushing up against people’s legs. The hotel is now a restaurant.

holly-hotel

7. Scaponia Park, Oregon – Horse Thieving From Beyond The Grave…

In Veronia, Oregon there’s a story from the 19th century about a horse thief who met his end along the banks of the Nehalem River at the hands of a lynch mob. Apparently the mob was so angry at the thief that they shot his dog as well. Campers at now Scaponia Park have seen the thief and his dog wandering along the river.

river

8. Charleston, South Carolina – Pup Still Greets Guests

Poogan lived in a large Victorian house in Charleston. He loved to sit on the porch of the house. When the house was turned into a restaurant in 1976, Poogan stayed at the house and greeted diners. Poogan died in 1979 and was buried next to his porch. But to this day employees say they see Poogan napping in his spot on the porch, and some diners report feeling Poogan brush against their legs while they eat, as if begging for table scraps. The restaurant’s name is Poogan’s Porch .

poogan-porch

9. Chicago, Illinois – The Ghost Dog Of Graceland Cemetery

Graceland Cemetery is one of the older cemeteries in Chicago. In the cemetery is a vault belonging to Ludwig Wolff. He was a German immigrant and coppersmith, and his unique vault is said to be haunted. One of the ghosts is a green-eyed dog that howls near the vault. No one is certain whether this was Wolff’s dog or the spirit of some other wayfaring canine.

graceland-ludwig-wolff-vault

Featured image via For The Love Of Dog Blog

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Creepy Dog Ghost Stories

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Table of Contents

If you’re interested in creepy dog tales, this book is for you. It presents real stories of ghost dogs from the eyes and ears of their alarmed owners. Some of the stories are retold verbatim, revealing the true terror and horror experienced by the dog owners. Other stories tell of a railroad man and his dog warning people of a dangerous train. Some stories have even been published in popular magazines and newspapers.

Dog Ghost Stories

Halloween is a time when we all love a good ghost story, but not all of them involve ghosts. Dogs have an innate sense of the supernatural and have been the subject of many ghost stories. In England, phantom dogs have haunted lands for centuries. While not all dog ghost stories are scary, some are downright creepy! Here are some scary dog stories to scare you – and your kids!

The “Blue Ghost Dog” legend originated in the 1700s when the explorer Charles Thomas Sims was attacked by a band of thieves while bragging about his gold. Sims’ dog, a blue tick hound, fought until he breathed his last. The tale is believed to be based on real events, and some of the events in the book are true. However, the author also points out that some of the stories are just retellings of stories that have been attributed to ghost dogs.

There are many dog ghost stories from around the world. The interpretation of these stories varies widely depending on religious beliefs of different communities. In Britain, the Black Dog can be either a Hellhound or a regular looking guardian dog. However, some stories of “The Black Dog” are completely different from each other. It is possible that some people are simply misinterpreting stories that are true in their locality. Indeed, tabloid journalists have distorted stories about the Black Dog, making them sound less scary.

Not All Ghost Dogs

There are several different types of ghost dogs. Demon ghost dogs are feared by many because of their propensity to chase people and cars. They can also haunt a graveyard or a cemetery. Before you visit a graveyard or experience a dog haunting, be sure to ask permission from any ghost humans you may meet. Not all ghost dogs are ghost stories, however. Here are some examples of ghost dogs:

Some people believe ghost dogs result from their owner’s demise. These dogs are believed to follow their owners to their next life, leaving behind a legacy of memories. Other people believe these spirits are not entirely real. Finally, some people say they have actually seen a ghost dog. While this is an extreme interpretation, many believe ghost dogs can haunt a cemetery or graveyard. If you have a ghost dog, they can make a noise on the floor, which is often frightening.

While some people claim to see ghosts, most scientists say this is not the case. Dogs are remarkably attuned to the paranormal, but most people would probably deny the existence of such phenomena. The dog’s keen sense of smell allows it to pick up on invisible forms or energy that we don’t. This makes it difficult for humans to detect ghosts. The only way to know for sure is to look for evidence.

Dog ghost stories are common in England, as they add a touch of drama to stories around the fire. Sometimes, phantom dogs haunt a place, barking at nothing or even following a car. Some stories say that the spirits of these animals are trapped in certain areas of England and can come back at any time, causing panic and fright in humans. These stories are believed to be the origin of many modern horror movies.

Dog ghost stories can be as old as the ancient Romans. When the dogs growled, they meant that something evil was coming. Today, these phantom hounds are mystical, gathering the souls of the dead, and are associated with many stories of ghouls and ghosts. This tradition was carried into the modern day, with black dogs roaming urban ghettos and even appearing in rap songs.

Creepy Dog Stories

You’ve probably heard that dogs can see things humans can’t. This is especially true at 3 in the morning when the unknown lurks around the corner. According to a Reddit user, her dog inspects every room of her house and often stares at people while doing so. Of course, it may be a ghost or a bloke who lives in her loft. Whatever the case may be, you shouldn’t leave your dog alone in the house at night.

The sound of a howling wolf has made stories of phantom dogs a staple of traditional folklore. They’ve even helped enhance the dramatics of storytelling around the fire. And dogs’ uncanny sense of horror has made them the central character of many ghost stories. In fact, many parts of England have legends of phantom dogs. These stories have been passed down through the generations, and some date back thousands of years.

Large Blue Tick Hound

The Bluetick is a large, intelligent hound dog that’s loyal to its family. It’s also very alert and willing to work even in bad weather. They make excellent companions and are ideal guard dogs for homes. They do well with older children and are socialized early. They require a lot of discipline but are relatively easy to train. Owners should use positive reinforcement techniques and food rewards during the training process. Despite their name, Blueticks are known for having a musky scent that must be controlled by regular bathing.

Some accounts claim that the blue dog was part mastiff – the word ‘hound’ comes from a historical footnote. Whatever the truth, this large dog was powerful and could literally scare a person to death. A soldier who encountered it was frightened to death, and reports of its ghost began to appear. However, there is no evidence that the blue dog had actually harmed the soldier.

There are several different stories about the origin of the blue dog ghost. Some stories date back as far as the 17th century, while others go back much further. Some of these stories have roots in Maryland, where the infamous hound was known to haunt Rose Hill Manor. The apparition of the blue dog is thought to have been brought to Maryland by colonists. In any case, the blue dog legend is a fascinating tale, and you may just be the next one to experience it.

Legends about the apparition of the Blue Dog have a very interesting history. One story is about a wealthy man who left a large amount of gold buried in a deserted place. But no one ever found it, so the blue dog was rumored to lead people to the treasure – and disappear before they could find it! The story is said to be true, and people have even claimed to have spotted the specter of the dog and found the treasure.

Ghost dogs have long been associated with death and hell. Many of these stories portray black dogs with chained-up heads and human faces. Ghost dogs sometimes are huge and walk on their hind legs, disappearing into the mist. While the stories are often dark and spooky, many of them can also be attributed to protective spirits. Regardless of the origins of these legends, black dogs are a powerful archetype.

There are many different black dog ghost stories, and the creatures often appear at gallows sites. Some ghost stories describe black dogs as the spirit of a condemned criminal. One of the most famous tales involves a chimney sweep in Tring, Hertfordshire, in 1751. He was hanged and gibbeted near the scene of the crime, but while awaiting his execution, two men were struck by a flash of fire. The black dog had long teeth and long flaming eyes.

Many people believe that black dogs haunt places of ancient importance. Many of these places were associated with local superstitions and the uncanny, and the ancient sites were often considered liminal spaces where other realms overlap. In addition to haunting sites, these locations have also been associated with ley lines. They represent a connection between different worlds and energies and may represent the emergence of a new dimension. Some researchers even believe that geophysical conditions can affect the human mind.

Good Ghost Story

A good dog ghost story is a popular way to add a new element to your Halloween costume. The howling of wolves has set teeth on edge for thousands of years, and the presence of a spectral dog in the background can give a story an extra dimension of drama. But not all ghost stories about dogs are scary. Some of the best ghost stories involve good dogs. Here are some examples. You may be surprised to learn that a good dog ghost story can be just as spooky as a scary one.

One of the most famous ghost stories involving dogs is the one about Blue Dog. It dates back to the 1700s in Port Tobacco, Maryland. A soldier named Charles Thomas Sims entered a tavern with his dog and boasted of his wealth and a deed to a large estate. However, a bandit, Henry Hanos, soon came to the scene, robbed the soldier of his riches, and killed him and the dog.

Hound Watches

There are some spooky dog ghost stories to share with you. In one of these tales, a black dog is seen leaping backwards into a corner of its kennel. The shocked dog sniffs at its collar in confusion before it unclasps. Some viewers report hearing the words “watch this” whispered before the collar unclasps. This story is sure to make you jump in terror!

Another old story involves a blue ghost dog. It goes back to the 1700s when a pack of thieves attacked a man named Charles Thomas Sims. He was bragging about gold, and his dog, a blue tick hound, fought the thieves until he died. This story is one of the scariest ghost stories around, and the hound in question was the dog he was carrying.

Cocker Spaniel

In a story about a mysterious black dog, you may feel like you’re not alone. This cute little ghost dog lingers around an old country manor house and gives young readers the creeps. This story has beautiful acrylic-paint illustrations. You’ll love the way these spooky ghost stories are told. This article will explore some of the best ghost stories involving dogs.

There’s also a story about a rumored ghost dog that haunts the French Quarter. The house, which has been around for over a century, is said to have several ghosts, including Lucky. Keyes’ dog Lucky died in his room in the 1970s, but he lingers on. He’s not the only animal ghost at the house; there are other ghosts of cats and dogs as well.

Master’s Gold

A classic example of a Creepy Dog Ghost Story involves a blue dog. The legend of the blue dog is very old. The story of Charles Thomas Sims is believed to have happened in the 1700s. He was robbed of his master’s gold while out drinking. He was accompanied by a blue tick hound, and the dog fought until its last breath.

Two fox kits are abducted from their mothers, and each must face the horrors that await them alone. A witch wants to taxiderm the young kit, so she sends her ghost back to the place where she murdered her master. But, unfortunately, the foxes are not the only ghosts that haunt the woods. There are also a ghost and zombie foxes. There’s even a huge beast that lives beneath the water.

Some people believe in the ghostly activities of dogs. However, some are not convinced. In Cincinnati, a dog sitter sent us a video of her two dogs playing happily. The video also showed a figure in the background. Other people think that this house is haunted and a ghost appears occasionally. These paranormal stories are a great way to entertain your children. But do you think your pet is haunted?

Reality Show

There’s a new reality show on television called “Creepy Dog Ghost Stories.” The show centers on a family who moved into a house in Cleveland, Ohio, and soon noticed that their dogs began to behave strangely. When the dogs began to bark, they believed that a ghostly female figure was walking around. Darlene, the owner of the house, believes that her dog is clairvoyant and admits to seeing the figure in the backyard. However, when the paranormal research team investigates the occurrence, they find that it was simply a coincidence.

The howling of a wolf has set the teeth of humans for thousands of years. But ghost dogs have a different kind of spooky power. A demon dog has been seen in North Carolina and is known to chase cars and people. And there’s the legendary Black Dog in Hanging Hills, Connecticut, which is a death omen. If you’re ever haunted by a ghost dog, make sure you ask permission first!

The story of Sylvia’s spooky dog goes back to her childhood. She had lost her dog when she was six. She missed him so much that she awoke to a glowing form in her room one night. She cried, telling her dog how much she missed him and then drifted back to sleep. The next morning, she checked her room and saw paw prints on the floor.

In one story, a little boy named Theodore had a terrifying encounter with his grandmother. He was forced to stay with her when his grandfather died. He hated her. She gave him disgusting kisses on the cheek, and she smelled like pee. This terrified him and made him a nervous wreck. As the days passed, he slowly pulled himself out of grief. But, the story didn’t end there.

If you like Halloween, you probably enjoy watching scary movies and carving pumpkins, but what about dog scares? A good scary story can make your hair stand up, and a podcast about these stories is sure to scare you to the bone. Listen to Talkin’ Dogs to find out more. Here are some of the scariest stories about dogs. You might want to listen to them while you’re carving pumpkins this year.

Many people love the thrill of a creepy dog ghost story and this Halloween, why not give your pet some extra scares? Ghost stories featuring dogs have long been a favorite haunt of people. The howling of wolves can make even the most cynical of us go on the edge of our seats. However, not all ghost dogs are scary! Here are a few creepy dog ghost stories that will give you a chill down your spine.

In North Carolina, there are legends of demon dogs that chase cars and people. In Hanging Hills, Connecticut, there’s the fabled Black Dog, which is thought to harry ghost humans. Remember, always seek permission before going out with a ghost dog. Those who have experienced a ghost dog haunting may wish they’d asked permission before letting someone enter the hotel room.

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dog ghost stories

I don't think I need to tell you that dogs are special, wonderful pets who can make your life a lot more magical. Dogs are your number one buddy who never let you down, always bring a smile to your face, and make you feel so loved the second you walk in your door. There's even evidence that they can improve your health. They're a gift and we don't deserve them, honestly! But here's the thing: sometimes owning a dog can be a little weird.

It's often said that animals have paranormal sense that humans don't — or at least, one that humans don't want to acknowledge. There's no science behind this, of course, but that doesn't mean it isn't true. Pet psychologist Marti Miller told Animal Planet that she believes both dogs and humans possess a sixth sense that connects them to some weird things. Miller said, "The simple answer is, we don't know that dogs see ghosts or spirits. If you observe a dog standing in the corner, barking at nothing visible, then there's a pretty good chance that he's barking at an entity, spirit, or energy that doesn't belong there."

That's slightly terrifying if you're a dog owner, because you may have probably witnessed your dog doing something like that. My dog will sometimes randomly wake up in the middle of the night and start barking and growling at the back door. When she's outside, it seems like there's nothing there, but she runs all around, sniffing. My logical side believes it's an animal. But my imagination tells me it's definitely a spirit.

If you don't believe that, here are 13 other creepy dog stories from people on Reddit. Just a warning: don't read these while you're alone in your home with your dog.

The Dog That Inspects Every Single Room At 3 a.m. Each Night

The hour of 3 a.m. is said to be the witching hour, and the post by user OldRockingChair certainly seems to support that. They said:

"We have a dog — I mentioned him in my other posts. We spoil him a lot, too. He used to sleep outside, but after a few days of rainy nights in August, we allowed him to sleep inside. Additionally, he barks at practically everything that passes in front of our house at night, so to shut him up, we kept him in.
We used to have a collar and a leash to keep him in place at night — he once knocked over a table and nibbled on my sister's phone when he wasn't tied down. But he didn't like being alone at night downstairs. He used to wake us all up with his whining. We thought he just didn't like being tied down, or wanted to be with us upstairs. Finally, I relented and brought him upstairs to sleep — no collar, no leash. It stopped the whining.
But here's the thing. Quite literally every night at 3 a.m., our dog gets up and does an inspection of all the rooms. Not before 3 a.m., and not after. Our bedroom doors are always open, so he has free access all around. If he happens to be sleeping on someone's bed, he gets restless (waking up the person), and wants to be let down. Due to a small accident when he was a puppy, our dog is afraid of jumping down from places, even the small gap from the bed to the floor. But at 3 a.m., like clockwork, he wakes up. When we do let him down, he goes from room to room, then sleeps in the doorway of my parents' room.
It's happened every night that we could observe him. We started bringing him upstairs early September. I don't know what happens in our house at 3 a.m., but several times, when we do "catch him in the act", he looks at the doorway of the room (whoever owns the room he happens to be in would wonder what the hell he's doing), then stares at the person looking at him, then at the doorway again."

The Dog That Knew Something Horrible

People often say that dogs are a true test of character — if they don't like someone, there's a reason. User ch0ding has a story that seems to support that idea:

"I don't know if this counts as scary, but when my dog was younger, she was always friendly (I'm putting this in past tense because she is an old grouch now) and would happily approach anyone who came into our house. But one day a guy that my brother worked with had come over to our house while it was just me and my mother at home.
As soon as my dog saw him, her hair stood on end, she took a defense position and started viciously barking at him. We kept telling her to stop, but she wouldn't let up. She is a small dog, but she looked so intimidating that the guy ended up leaving.. A few months later, no word of a lie, he was arrested for several counts of rape."

The Dog Who Got Freaked Out By A Ouija Board

This story from user VeritasWay certainly seems like evidence that dogs really can feel spirits in a room. They said,

"As a teenager my best friend would come over and play the Quija board with me. One day we decided to play at his house and we 'summoned' a spirit of a little boy named John. We thought nothing and ended the game. My best friend walked me home. When we got to my place we decided to play again. We did this outside. My dog, Lucky, joined us; laid at my feet while we played. Well, we summoned a spirit. Asked for his name and we starting spelling J-O-H-N. Right when we where at the 'N,' Lucky jolts up and starts barking into the darkness of a long empty corridor. He goes crazy, as if he was about to attack. Lucky never ever barked, he was the most docile Shih Tzu you'd ever meet. This night though, he was on attack mode. My best friend and I immediately stop and burned the board. We never played again. A lot of other freaky shit happened, I lived across the street from a cemetery."

The Dog Who Definitely Noticed Something

One of the worst things is when a dog notices something you don't in the dark. User octopoodle says,

"I'm laying in bed reading with my dog at night. My bedroom door is open, and my room is the only room in the house with the lights on. It's completely silent. I took a quick glance at my dog. My dog is staring out the door into pure darkness. I see him slowly tilting to his head to the side, which he only does when he sees or hears something that seems bizarre. He growls for a good minute. Then, he notices me staring at him and wags his tail."

The Dog And The Closet

It's even weirder when the dog and the cat get together and do something creepy. User CityForAnts said,

"I woke up about 3:30 in the morning to a small bark, and dog doesn't come when I call her. I walk out to see my cat and my dog sitting by the hall closet door just staring at the door knob. The dog is wagging its tail just waiting for it to open like there is something on the other side. Could've been a scene from a horror movie."

The Dog Who Senses A Ghost

If you have any doubts that dogs can sense spirits, read this story from Zero_Cool_72 :

"The previous owner of my wife's house committed suicide in the house. She didn't know until the neighbors mentioned it a few years after she bought it. Her dog would randomly stare at a certain wall in the living room and growl. Like just the middle of the wall. Would be 6 inches from the wall. You would have to touch the dog to get her to stop. She would be in a zone and calling her name would have no effect. I'm so glad we moved."

The Dog Who Barked At The Wall

The creepiest thing is when your dog wakes you up by doing something terrifying. User TheCyberTyger said,

"When I was a kid, my family and I lived in a house that was curiously active. Nothing too concerning, just the occasional creak of footsteps during the night and small knick-knacks that would mysteriously tip over out of the corner of your eye.
Anyway, one night I was sleeping in the bed that I shared with my two little sisters when our chocolate lab Remington lumbered into the room and jumped in between us. I was half asleep and scratching his ears when suddenly he jerks his head to the left and starts barking at the empty wall 3 feet away from me. After about 20 seconds of deep, back-bristled barking he relaxes, turns back to me, and continues licking my face. I'm not sure what he saw that night, but I'm pretty sure that dog saved me from starring in The Exorcist: Reality Show. My parents have long since moved away from that house, but I still have recurrent nightmares of waking up in my old room."

The Dog Who Felt A Spirit In The House

Sometimes your dog will notice something that you can't see, which is very, very creepy. User _kupokupo said,

"My boyfriend and I swear our house is haunted. And if it isn't, then our dog is possessed. This has happened a few times but I remember one very clearly because it was far worse than the others. She has a habit of waking up in the middle of the night and growling at our doorway. I usually shrug it off as she growls at the slightest creak in the wood. But this night she woke up at 3:33 am on the dot. Growled loud enough that she starting drooling and snarling. She was up on all fours with her head lowered, looking at the doorway.
I nudged her and told her to knock it off but she persisted. After about 5 minutes of this, the TV service cuts out. (We sleep with it on for noise) but it went out and cut to static. At this time my dog lowered herself to the bed lying flat, pulled her ears back and whined. Then she slowly moved her head from the doorway to the TV as if something was walking into the room. The TV shut off as she fixated her gaze upon it. I noped the f*** out, pulled my comforter over my head and refused to look around until it was daylight."

The Dog Who Heard Something In The Garage

Sometimes it can be hard to tell if your dog is barking at someone, or just at an animal. This story from user marroww is an example of how scary that can be:

"I have a Goldendoodle, and if you know the breed they're generally really goofy, energetic, happy dogs. My dog is particularly so, she tends to be very submissive, is afraid of anything bigger than her head, etc. I've also never heard her growl in my life.
One night I was home alone, upstairs on my computer, while my dog was downstairs. I suddenly hear some noises coming from the garage below. We sometimes get raccoon and cat visitors coming into garage because we leave a side door open, so shouldn't have scared me like it did. Something about the sound really freaked me out though, because it sounded almost..purposeful? I sat up and just listened for a few seconds and I heard more noises, so I go to stand at the top of the stairs to listen more, and as soon I do, my dog stands up from where she was laying, looks directly at me, and lets out the creepiest low growl I have ever heard. I could almost feel the blood run out of my face. When I went downstairs she runs to the door leading to the garage and I let her out into the garage and she races to the side yard where she proceeds to bark for a solid 5 minutes. I suspect that my imagination was running wild with the noises and it was probably just an animal, but it still gives me chills when I think about it."

The Area Where The Dogs Freak Out

When two dogs do something similar in one random spot, you know there's something weird happening. User punt_a_gizmo said,

"We used to take our dogs for a walk along a fire break behind our house. One day we were walking one of them, he was off his leash and running ahead of us and suddenly it was like something was pushing him in his middle which caused him to start moving side ways until he fell over. We thought it was weird and kinda funny but we shrugged it off. A couple of weeks later we were walking another one of our dogs, we got to the same spot and the exact same thing happened to him as well. I always got a bit of a creepy feeling in that particular area"

The Dog Who Stared At Something That Wasn't There

User grey1111 also has a creepy story about a dog staring at seemingly nothing:

"One night about two months ago I was doing some cleaning in our living room when all of a sudden, my bulldog who doesn't make a peep unless she sees someone starts barking full force at the wall. And it was as if she was staring at someone or something that wasn't moving.
About our house; it was built from one of the Sears catalogue s in the 1920s an it has stayed in the same shape since then. Everything is old fashioned except our furniture. It has the typical Hollywood spooky basement but I have never had bad feelings in the house, but you know what they say about a dogs instinct. And my dog has always been spot on about people and places since I got her when she was six weeks old."

The Dog Who Is Definitely Seeing Something Bad

A dog backing up from something that isn't there? No thanks. User MisterPhamtastic said,

"My rescue dog sleeps outside (covered deck in a nice ass dog house) and there have been times where I've seen him bark at nothing and back up as if something was walking towards him since I can see him from my bedroom window.
I feel terrible but I'm always like NOPE you're on your own. Luckily when I leave for work I see he's still alive and all is well."

The Dog With The Creepy Laugh

Sometimes your dog just has a really creepy trait. User p0werpuff said,

"My cocker spaniel has one particular snore that sounds like a little demon child laughing. In the middle of the night, I hear a 'he he he he he' at the foot of my bed and my eyes just fly open."

Cats get a bad rep for being spooky, but dogs definitely have their moments too — and these creepy dog stories from Reddit are proof.

dog ghost stories

Pets and Animals | Stories of ghostly pets

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Pets and animals | man charged after multi-crash south bay dui arrest, gun and booby-trapping allegations, pets and animals, pets and animals | readers share scary pet ghost stories, do the spirits of our pets visit us.

Joan Morris, Features/Animal Life columnist  for the Bay Area News Group is photographed for a Wordpress profile in Walnut Creek, Calif., on Thursday, July 28, 2016. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

A few weeks ago I ran a column about a cat that appeared to be seeing ghosts, and I commented how I sometimes had felt my late cat jump on the bed and curl up next to me. Today, I’m running letters from folks who have had similar eerie experiences.

DEAR JOAN:  Your letter from the man whose cat kept intensely watching the corners of the ceiling after his companion cat disappeared, made me think of something my Morris does frequently.

He sits on my lap every evening, sort of facing me at times. He will stare intently over my shoulder and his eyes widen as he becomes very still. I feel foolish, but every time, I look back and ask, “What do you see, Morris?”

What the heck are these cats looking at? Yikes! My dear little Hazel cat used to do the same when she lived with me so I am figuring it is a common cat trait, we just don’t know why they do it!

Jojy Smith, Antioch

DEAR JOAN:  I was reading your column about sensing or feeling the spirit of a departed pet. I don’t have any experience personally but my husband did.

We lost our beloved black cat several years ago but still remember him fondly as our “Einstein” cat because he was so intelligent.

About a week after he died, my husband called to me from the other room. When I got there he had a strange look on his face and he said that he had just felt something rubbing around his legs and ankles like our cat used to do. When he looked down, there was nothing there.

It may just have been wishful thinking but I like to think that it was a final farewell from our best little buddy.

Maria Theren,  Dublin

DEAR JOAN:  I wanted to share my ghost story that I encountered when my dog passed away.

One time when my husband was in the bathroom, he swore he heard Oscar bark his very deep, loud bark in the living room only to find it was empty. Another time we both heard his nails clicking on the hardwood floors in the entry way and, of course, there was nothing there.

When Oscar was alive, he used to come in very early into the master bedroom and sigh very loudly to let me know he was up and hungry. When I heard it again, it really frightened me so I shouted, “Oscar, you’re scaring Mommy. Please wait for me in heaven.” After that, we never heard from him again.

Alice, Bay Area

DEAR JOAN:  Suddenly there was a loud pounding on the door of my apartment at 9:10 p.m. and I leaped up from 3 feet away and flung open the door thinking it was my boyfriend in crisis. He lived about 45 miles away.

My cat, Mandy’s hair stood up all over — never saw her do that before or after, and her pupils dilated. There was no one in sight. How did they disappear in two seconds?

There was a cold chill and the night was not that cold. Mandy backed into the corner growling, hair still erect. There was a sweet smell of flowers. Mandy crouched, growling for nearly 5 minutes.

I felt the presence of my boyfriend’s mother and sensed her questioning me as to whether I would be loyal and loving to her son. Getting the answer she wanted — I would — everything, including Mandy, went back to normal.

The next morning my boyfriend called me deeply upset. His mother had died at 9:10 the night before.

Ria,  El Sobrante

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Dog Stories

“Man’s best friend” is the subject of many stories, especially ghost stories.  These dog stories often feature a ghost dog returning to help its former master.  For example, a trapped coal miner’s dog or a dog saving its master from a burning home .  While other ghost dog stories feature dogs with sinister intent .  

Read our selection of stories below featuring all manner of dogs.

St. Francis of Assisi statue

Get Back Jack: Florida Ghost Dog Story

True (kind of) Florida ghost dog story of a beloved pinscher who protects his owner from beyond the grave.

Dark Forest Shrouded in Mist

Toby and Lilly Forever : Alabama Ghost Dog Story

Alabama ghost dog story (or is it?) written by Keith Gregory.

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A Christmas Haunting

Heartwarming story of a unique Christmas ghost who teaches a lost soul the value of family.

Overgrown Brockley Cemetery with Tombstones

Graveyard Dogs

What are those growling sounds in the local cemetery at night? Could be the evil Graveyard Dogs.

Coal Minining Company Town, Houses and Workers, Caples, West Virginia

The Black Dog

Ghost story from Kentucky coal mining country about a miner's strange and life changing experience with a mysterious black dog.

Story of the Week

Sunday, october 25, 2020, the black dog.

dog ghost stories

I’d Rather Have— Last Christmas they gave me a sweater,       And a nice warm suit of wool But I’d rather be cold and have a dog,       To watch when I come from school. . . .
Velestino has just died—not two hours ago. He died in Cora’s bedroom with all the pillows under him which our poverty could supply. For eleven days we fought death for him, thinking of nothing of anything but his life. He made a fine manly fight, with only little grateful laps of his tongue on Cora’s hands, for he knew that she was trying to help him. . . . We are burying him tomorrow in the rhododendron bed in the garden. He will wear your collar in his grave.

     Ghost Stories

dog ghost stories

The Best Mystery Books Featuring Dogs

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Elisa Shoenberger

Elisa Shoenberger has been building a library since she was 13. She loves writing about all aspects of books from author interviews, antiquarian books, archives, and everything in between. She also writes regularly for Murder & Mayhem and Library Journal. She's also written articles for Huffington Post, Boston Globe, WIRED, Slate, and many other publications. When she's not writing about reading, she's reading and adventuring to find cool new art. She also plays alto saxophone and occasionally stiltwalks. Find out more on her website or follow her on Twitter @vogontroubadour.

View All posts by Elisa Shoenberger

dog ghost stories

Nothing could tear Detective Michael Bennett away from his new bride—except the murder of his best friend. NYPD master homicide investigator Michael Bennett and FBI abduction specialist Emily Parker have a history. When she fails to show at FBI headquarters in Washington, DC, Bennett ventures outside his jurisdiction. The investigation he undertakes is the most brilliant detective work of his career…and the most intensely personal. A portrait begins to emerge of a woman as adept at keeping secrets as forging powerful connections. A woman whose enemies had the means and the motives to silence her —and her protectors.

They say that dogs are humans’ best friends. As a lifelong dog lover, nothing gets my attention faster if something is dog related. Well, as long as the dog is happy and healthy at the end of it all. So as a murder mystery fantatic, I am naturally interested in mysteries that involve dogs in some way. Also it just makes good sense. With their incredible sense of smell and ability to be trained, dogs and mysteries go together like peanut butter and jelly.

As I started working on this list, I realized that there’s a lot of ways that dogs show up in mysteries. Dogs can be main characters in the story in several capacities: accessory to the crime, victim, or even the narrator. There are several series that center on the world of dogs, everything from the Iditarod to pet-based businesses. And of course, there are books where dogs are lovable sidekicks who provide emotional support for the sleuth or sometimes comic relief.

So here is a list of 10 mystery books that feature dogs in some way. Many books are technically cozies because it’s what I love reading and there’s a lot of books on dogs in the genre.

Dogs as Main Characters

The Hound of the Baskervilles cover

Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Any list on mysteries and dogs has to include the great Sherlock Holmes classic. After the sudden and mysterious death of his friend Sir Charles Baskerville, Dr. James Mortimer calls on Sherlock Holmes to help get to the bottom of it and protect Sir Charles’s nephew, Sir Henry Baskerville. At the core, people think a ghost hound is responsible for the man’s death, but Holmes does not believe it. He sends Watson to keep an eye on the young heir. It’s probably the most gothic feeling of all Sherlock Holmes stories and certainly a favorite of mine.

Mimi Lee Gets a Clue book cover

Mimi Lee Gets a Clue by Jennifer J. Chow

I cannot get enough of Chow’s Sassy Cat series. Mimi Lee has just opened her new pet grooming business, Hollywoof, in L.A. But things get all tangled up when her sister drops off a cat who talks back. Not only does that throw Mimi for a loop, but Marshmallow, the talking cat, finds out that there is something shady going on with a chihuahua breeder. By talking to the dogs, of course. But things go from bad to worse, when the police think she killed the breeder after she was overheard confronting him the day before. So can Mimi clear her name, keep her business going, and protect the dogs?

Dog On It cover

Dog On it by Spencer Quinn

We’ve got dogs as accessories and dogs as victims. Now, we’ve got a series told from the point of view of a dog. Bernie may not be the most successful private investigator, but his dog Chet thinks the moon of him. When Bernie is hired to look into the disappearance of a young girl, Chet is there to help him along the way, bumpy as it is. It’s really fun to see the world from Chet’s point of view with his focus on smells, adoration of his owner, and his not so great memory. There are 12 books and some novellas with book 13, Bark to the Future , coming out in August.

Dog Themed Stories

Murder on the Iditarod Trail cover

Murder on the Iditarod Trail by Sue Henry

I’m a big fan of dogsledding so naturally this series focusing on Jessie Arnold, a musher, had to be on the list. Arnold is competing in the world-famous Iditarod, a 1,000 mile dogsledding race in Alaska. It’s a test of survival for the musher and their dogs. But that’s survival from the elements, not a murderer. When several mushers die in mysterious ways, State Trooper Alex Jensen is trying to get to the bottom of it all and to stop future deaths. For those who can’t get enough mushing, there are 13 books in the Jessie Arnold and Alex Jensen series.

The Pomeranian Always Barks Twice cover

The Pomeranian Always Barks Twice by Alex Erickson

This newer series features a veterinarian and pet rescuer. Liz Denton, who runs Furever Pets Rescue, and her adult son Ben are trying to help Timothy Fuller to rehome his elderly Pomeranian, Stewie. But when they show up to pick up the dog, Mr. Fuller’s son has shown up with his own crowd to take the dog away even though the son hates the dog. After an unpleasant encounter, they all leave to regroup. But when Timothy is found dead, knifed in the back, the police point the finger at Ben who was seen in the neighborhood around the time of the murder. Not only does Liz have to help Stewie, now she has to clear her son’s name. There are two books so far in the Furever Pets Mystery series.

Drop Dead on Recall cover

Drop Dead on Recall by Sheila Webster Boneham

This series focuses on pet photographer and handler, Janet MacPhail. Tempers can rise at dog show competitions but handlers aren’t supposed to die on command. When Abigail Dorn dies in the middle of it, MacPhail decides to investigate to find out who might have wanted to see Dorn out of the competition permanently. But of course, she has to figure out her family life and protect her pets on top of it all. For people who are fascinated with the world of dog shows, this one’s for you. There are four books in this series.

In the Dog House cover

In the Dog House by V.M. Burns

The poodle is named after Agatha Christie. Need I say more? Lilly Echosby is starting life over with her new poodle, Aggie, but that gets harder when her ex-husband gets murder. The police think Echosby is settling old scores. She calls on her friend Scarlett “Dixie” Jefferson with her own two poodles to help clear her name. There are five books in the Dog Club Mystery series.

Dogs as Sidekicks

Death by Dumpling cover

Death by Dumpling by Vivien Chien

Thanks to a breakup and a rash decision to quit her job, Lana Lee finds herself working at her parents’ noodle shop until she can figure out next steps. She had not anticipated that the mall’s property manager, where her parents’ restaurant is based, would show up dead with their shrimp dumplings in front of him. Especially since it was well known that he was allergic to it. While Lee figures out how to protect herself and everyone at the restaurant, Lana’s pug, Kikkoman, named for the soy sauce brand that the dog resembles, is a great comfort to Lana throughout the series. There are eight books in the Noodle Shop Mysteries.

The Thin Man cover

The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett

Yes, we’ve got some Dashiell Hammett on this list. While best known for gritty characters, Nick and Nora Charles are a delight with their dog Asta. When they go back to New York for the holidays where Nick had been a private investigator, the daughter of his old client, Clyde Wynatt, implores him to help her out when her father goes missing and an associate of her father shows up dead. It’s got a bit of everything (including a lot of drinking). But Asta steals the show in both the book and the 1934 movie.

Arsenic and Adobo cover

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala

Lila Macapagal has returned to her hometown of Shady Palms after a disastrous love affair in Chicago. She’s helping out at her family’s Filipino restaurant. But when her ex-boyfriend/food inspector dies in the restaurant from poison ingested his food, the police think she or her family were settling old scores. Lila has to find a way to clear their name as well as deal with two very attractive men… And like Lana Lee, Lila has an adorable dachshund called Longanisa, named after the Filipino style sausage the dog resembles. We need our furry friends in times of need.

For folks who want more dogs, here’s my list of books about dogsledding . Or if you want more animal mysteries, here’s a list of Cozy Cat Mysteries .

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Haunted Hounds: Stories of Ghost Dog Encounters in the UK

updated 27/09/2023, 10:22 am

As Halloween approaches, we delve into the eerie and unexplained ghostly dog encounters that our furry friends have had with the paranormal. Ghost stories are not just for humans; it appears that our loyal canine companions also have their fair share of ghostly encounters. From ancient castles to misty moors, the United Kingdom has a rich history of ghostly tales, and some of these involve our four-legged friends. In this blog, we’ll explore intriguing stories of canine ghost encounters from across the UK.

The Phantom Paws of Borley Rectory, Essex

Borley Rectory, often dubbed “the most haunted house in England,” has a long history of ghostly activity. It’s said to be haunted by a variety of spirits, including a headless horseman. But one of the eeriest phenomena reported is the phantom paws. In the early 1930s, the Foysters, who lived in the rectory, had a pet terrier named Trigger. Trigger’s behavior became strange, as he would often bark and growl at seemingly empty spaces. The family claimed that they could sometimes hear the sound of invisible dogs running through the house. Perhaps Trigger was sensing the presence of these spectral canines.

Greyfriars Bobby's dandy de dinmont terrier ghost dog

Greyfriars Bobby’s Haunting Vigil, Edinburgh

Greyfriars Bobby, the faithful Dandy de dinmont terrier, is an iconic symbol of loyalty. Bobby’s story is well-known , as he spent 14 years guarding his owner’s grave in Greyfriars Kirkyard in the 19th century. However, some believe that Bobby’s loyalty extends beyond life itself. Visitors to the graveyard have reported sightings of a small, ghost dog resembling Bobby, still keeping watch over his humans resting place.

The Ghostly Dogs of Leap Castle, Ireland

While not in the UK, Leap Castle in Ireland, is worth mentioning due to its proximity and intriguing history. The castle is notorious for its dark past and numerous hauntings. It’s said that a large, phantom, black dog roams the castle, and some believe this spectral hound to be guarding a hidden treasure. Visitors have reported hearing ghostly dog howls echoing through the castle’s corridors, accompanied by the clinking of chains.

ghostly looking dog in fog

The Phantom Pack of Pluckley, Kent

Pluckley, Kent, is often cited as one of the most haunted villages in England. Among its many apparitions are tales of a phantom pack of ghost dogs. Locals and visitors alike have reported hearing the baying and howling of ghostly hounds, even when no living dogs are in the vicinity. This spine-chilling phenomenon has earned Pluckley its reputation as a ghostly hotspot.

Do you know any ghost dog stories?

These ghostly dog tails remind us that the paranormal knows no bounds, and even our beloved dogs may have their own experiences with the unexplained. As you celebrate Halloween this year, keep an ear out for the eerie and mysterious, and remember that our furry friends might be more attuned to the supernatural than we realise. Whether or not you believe in these stories, they add a fascinating layer to the tapestry of the UK’s rich ghostly history.

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Britain’s Black Dog Legends – 7 Spooky Canines & Hellhounds

British legends of ghostly black dogs

A terrifying creature haunts the British psyche, an apparition our ancestors have long feared to meet late at night on quiet lanes, in city alleys or on gloomy isolated moors. This creature, or spectre, is an abnormally large black dog with burning red eyes. Sometimes the dog will attack; sometimes glimpsing it foreshadows death or tragedy; occasionally – very occasionally – the black dog may be helpful, shepherding lost travellers or guarding people from harm.

Sometimes the dog is headless. Sometimes it merely appears before you ominously; at other times it follows or pads around you, sometimes with the sound of dragging chains. Sometimes the beast is silent; at other times packs of black dogs hurtle over moors or fens, barking and howling in a frenzied hunt. The creature is associated with electrical storms and is notorious for haunting crossroads, prisons and the sites of gallows and gibbets . The beast has worked its way into Britain’s literature, with Emily and Branwell Brontë, Bram Stoker, Arthur Conan Doyle and J.K. Rowling among those inspired by black dog legends.

In different parts of the country, the black dog has different names: Barghest, Gytrash and Padfoot in Yorkshire; Moddey Dhoo on the Isle of Man; Old Shuck in East Anglia; Yeth or Whist Hound in Devon; and Gwyllgi – or ‘dog of darkness’ – in Wales. While these manifestations of the black dog archetype have their dissimilarities, they no doubt represent variants of the same haunting presence – the hulking, burning-eyed cur whose apparition has long been dreaded.

Ghostly black dog England

Phantom black dogs are rumoured to haunt many parts of Britain. (Image: tardust777 )

But how do the antics of this petrifying pooch differ around Britain? Where might the legends of black dogs come from and what dark obsessions deep in the human psyche could they symbolise? How far back does the folklore of these fearsome creatures go? And does the black dog belong in a superstitious past or has anybody glimpsed it in recent decades?

I’ve selected seven black dog legends to look into. While it might generally not be a good idea to walk alone over moors or venture down unlit urban snickleways late at night, you might be even more reluctant to do so after reading these accounts.

Number One: the Black Dog of Newgate Prison, London

From 1188 to 1902, Newgate Prison was one of London’s most notorious features. Evolving from cells in a gatehouse in the city walls, the prison was at various times extended, burnt down, demolished, rebuilt, reformed and allowed to fester, but the stories coming out of the jail were always grim, not to say horrific.

In the ill-lit, badly ventilated, overcrowded, filthy jail disease spread rapidly. Warders beat, abused and extorted inmates, sometimes even chaining them to walls and leaving them to starve. Lice and bedbugs were so prevalent, you could hear them crunch under your feet. While having financial means could secure you a modicum of comfort, the jail’s worst conditions saw people chained in the basement in what was basically a sewer. Newgate did, however, have a bar and the prisoners who could afford it seem to have been perpetually drunk. The stench from the jail was so bad that passers-by clasped vinegar-soaked handkerchiefs to their noses. Newgate was demolished in 1904 and the Old Bailey now occupies most of its site though some cells are preserved in the cellar of a nearby pub.

The exercise yard in Newgate Prison by Paul Gustave Dore

The exercise yard in Newgate Prison by Paul Gustave Dore

It’s perhaps inevitable that such a sinister institution evolved its own black dog legend, with its canine ghost darkly symbolic of centuries of suffering. The story goes that in the reign of Henry III (1216-1272), a scholar accused of sorcery was sent to Newgate to await trial. Unfortunately for him, his imprisonment coincided with a terrible famine that was sweeping through England, a famine so bad it had prompted some inmates of Newgate to resort to cannibalism.

The weedy scholar, unable to defend himself, soon fell victim to these depraved inmates and was killed, dismembered and gobbled up. Shortly afterwards, prisoners began seeing the spectre of a huge black dog padding the jail’s corridors, a spectre they became convinced was the sorcerer come back to take revenge on those who’d eaten him. Sure enough, the dog began to hunt down and consume those responsible for that crime.

The remaining prisoners who’d scoffed the sorcerer were so terrified they plotted to break out of the jail and managed to escape by murdering some guards. But while they were free of Newgate, they were not free of the dog. One-by-one, the black dog sought them out, killed and ate them.

The first written evidence for this story appears in a publication with a woodcut cover, dated 1596 and entitled The Discovery of a London Monster, called The Blacke Dogg of Newgate: Profitable for all Readers to Take Heed by . The legend is probably, however, older than this. The pamphlet’s author is one Luke Hutton, an inmate of Newgate who claimed a stranger – ‘a poor thin-gut fellow’ – had once narrated the tale to him in the Black Dog Public House. Upon concluding his terrifying account, the stranger tells Hutton the legend is untrue, saying the only black dog in Newgate is ‘a great blacke Stone standing in the dungeon called Limbo, the place where the condemned prisoners are put after their judgement’ against which some anguished felons have dashed their brains out.

The Black Dog of Newgate, from a book published in 1638

An illustration from a 1638 edition of the book ‘The Discovery of a London Monster Called the Black Dog of Newgate’

Hutton appears to have written the pamphlet as a morality tale, to draw attention to prison conditions and the behaviour of his fellow inmates during a period in which life in Newgate was especially appalling. Hutton dedicated the booklet to the Lord Chief Justice John Pophame in the hope its moral message might help secure his release, which it seems to have done.

Despite such scepticism, the black dog has been sighted in and around Newgate over the centuries, especially on evenings before executions. Within the prison there was once an alleyway called Dead Man’s Walk – the snicket acquired its name because condemned criminals walked down it to their executions. The names of all the convicts who plodded this grim passage were etched into its walls and many were buried under its flagstones. Dead Man’s Walk was demolished along with the rest of the prison in 1904. Where it ran is, however, close to Amen Court, a precinct attached to St Paul’s Cathedral containing canons’ houses. Part of Amen Court is bounded by what was once a wall of Newgate.

Amen Court is said to be haunted by Newgate’s black dog. The spectre appears as a shapeless black form which glides around the court and nearby streets and slithers along the top of the prison’s remaining wall. The ghost gives off a disgusting stink and is often accompanied by the sound of footsteps dragging, a noise reminiscent of prisoners trudging to their deaths.

Amen Court where the black dog's ghost has been sighted

Amen Court with the former wall of Newgate Prison on the left – does the black dog’s ghost slither along its top? (Photo: Knowledge of London )

Number Two: the Barghest of Yorkshire – a Sinister Black Dog and Herald of Death

A particularly ominous black dog – the Barghest – can be found in the folklore of Yorkshire and north-east England. The Barghest heralds death. If a Barghest lays down across the threshold of your house, it’s a sign you’ll pass away soon.

If a person of local importance is about to die, the Barghest will appear and all the other dogs of the neighbourhood will fall in behind it in a kind of funeral procession, barking and howling mournfully. If, while the Barghest is leading its solemn parade, anyone obstructs it, the dog will gouge them with its claws, leaving wounds that never heal. In his Notes on the Folk-lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (1879), William Henderson recalled that his ‘informant, a Yorkshire gentleman, lately deceased, said he perfectly remembered the terror he experienced when a child at beholding this procession before the death of a certain Squire Wade, of New Grange.’

A Barghest is said to haunt Troller’s Gill, a lonely limestone gorge south-east of Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales. A ballad – The Legend of Troller’s Gill – is recorded in William Hone’s Everyday Book (1830). This folksong tells of a man who clambered up to ‘the horrid gill of the limestone hill’ to try to summon the Barghest with ritual magic. The man’s body was found with uncanny maul marks on its breast. Another Barghest was rumoured to prowl a tract of wasteland called the Oxwells between Wreghorn and Headingly Hill, near Leeds.

Some argue ‘Barghest’ comes from the term ‘Berg-geist’ meaning ‘mountain ghost’; others claim the name derives from  ‘Bur-ghest’ or ‘town ghost’. Perhaps both etymologies are right as the Barghest seems equally comfortable in the countryside and the city. It’s whispered that a Barghest haunts York, preying after dark on lone wanderers in the city’s winding narrow alleys, known as snickleways. With its massive jaws and yellow fangs, the dog devours these wayfarers.

Might a phantom black dog haunt York's narrow snickleways?

Might a phantom black dog haunt York’s narrow snickleways? (Image: VAMzzz )

A Barghest is rumoured to roam Whitby, the coastal town that appears in Bram Stoker’s Dracula . In the Whitby section of the novel, the Count transforms into an enormous black dog – a beast that may have been inspired by local Barghest legends. The Barghest also roves the moors around Whitby – locals say if you’re unlucky enough to hear its chilling howl at night, it means death is coming soon. Soon claim you’ll pass away before dawn.

Though usually depicted as a large shaggy black dog with blazing red or green eyes, the Barghest has shapeshifting powers. In Northumberland and County Durham, the Barghest can appear as a type of household elf. A Barghest that lived close to Darlington could manifest as a headless man who’d vanish in a flash of flame, a headless woman, a white cat and even an unearthly rabbit. The Barghest can also make itself invisible. Perhaps this shapeshifting ability is reflected in the fact some think its name originates from ‘Bar-geist’ or ‘bear ghost’. Others, though, maintain – again referencing the animal’s links with death – that ‘Barghest’ comes from ‘bahr geist’, meaning ‘ghost of the funeral bier’.

Some say the Barghest is accompanied by the sound of rattling chains and that – like vampires – the beast can’t cross running water.

Wild moors around Whitby haunted by the Barghest

A Barghest was said to haunt the treacherous moors around Whitby – monuments and way markers had the function of helping travellers keep their bearings in thick fog. (Photo: Whitby Gazette )

Number Three: the Gytrash of Northern England – an Ambiguous Shapeshifter with a Brontë Connection

The Gytrash is a black dog that lingers by the lonely moorland and marsh roads, forest paths and high passes of northern England. Often malevolent, the dog delights in leading travellers dangerously astray, but sometimes it can be helpful, guiding them onto safe tracks.

Like its cousin the Barghest, the Gytrash is a shapeshifter and can appear as a crane, mule or horse. In its equine aspect, the Gytrash is known in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire as the Shagfoal – a phantom horse, mule or donkey with burning eyes. In this form, the creature is utterly wicked. The Gytrash could be partly a personification of the dangers that plagued travellers in the days of substandard unlit roads, highway men, and unreliable maps and methods of transport.

The Gytrash – again, like the Barghest – can be a portent of doom. According to the English Dialect Dictionary (1898-1905), the Gytrash could adopt the guise of ‘an evil cow whose appearance was formerly believed in as a sign of death.’

The most famous mention of the Gytrash – and possibly the first ever committed to print – occurs in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre . Before Jane’s first meeting with the Byronic hero  Mr Rochester – out in a lonely country lane – she’s reminded of the spooky tales she’s heard of this black dog:

‘As this horse approached, and as I watched for it to appear through the dusk, I remembered certain of Bessie’s tales, wherein figured a North-of-England spirit called a “Gytrash”, which, in the form of a horse, mule or large dog, haunted solitary ways, and sometimes came upon belated travellers, as this horse was now coming upon me. It was very near, but not yet in sight; when, in addition to the tramp, tramp, I heard a rush under the hedge, and close down by the hazel stems glided a great dog, whose black and white colour made him a distinct object against the trees. It was exactly one form of Bessie’s Gytrash – a lion-like creature with long hair and a huge head … with strange pretercanine eyes … The horse followed – a tall steed, and on its back a rider. The man, the human being, broke the spell at once. Nothing ever rode the Gytrash: it was always alone.’

Jane Eyre meeting a 'Gytrash' - a ghost that takes the form of a black dog or horse

Jayne Eyre encounters the ‘Gytrash’ – a ghost legend says can appear as a black dog or horse.

And so these fearsome Gytrashes turn out to be Mr Rochester’s utterly ordinary horse and harmless dog, Pilot. Charlotte Brontë uses the scene with the ‘Gytrash’ to subtly mock the overly romantic and gothic associations Jane will soon attach to Rochester. Having said that, Rochester is in some ways like the Gytrash: a dark, haunted, ‘spectral’, often solitary character prone to shifting shape and generating illusion.

It’s also interesting that Jane’s formed her ideas of the Gytrash from the stories of her maid, Bessie. In Victorian culture, servants were often assigned the function of transmitters of folklore, reflecting the notion that – in a world scarred by industrialisation and filled with mechanical progress – the ‘lower orders’ still retained a vital connection with the mythic past. Jane says, ‘All sorts of fancies bright and dark tenanted my mind: the memories of nursery stories were there amongst other rubbish; and when they recurred, maturing youth added to them a vigour and vividness beyond what childhood could give.’

Charlotte wasn’t the only Brontë whose literary output was influenced by the Gytrash. Branwell Brontë wrote a short story called Thurstons of Darkwall . Branwell’s tale – based around Ponden Hall, a real-life house which may have been a model for Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights –  features a Gytrash. The story emphasises the Gytrash’s shapeshifting capabilities. In addition to appearing as a black dog, the spectre can take the form of ‘an old dwarfish and hideous man, as often seen without a head as with one’, as well as a calf and even a flaming barrel. Branwell’s phantom was based on an apparition that people claimed to have witnessed on the wild and isolated moors around Haworth.

Number Four: East Anglia’s Old Shuck – a Devilish Black Dog and Destroyer of Churches

Old Shuck – also known as Black Shuck – is a terrifying, even demonic, phantom in the form of a black dog that haunts Norfolk, Suffolk, northern Essex and the Cambridgeshire fens. Sometimes Old Shuck attacks wayfarers; sometimes the dog’s appearance foreshadows deaths – either of the person who glimpses it or of someone close to them. The term ‘shuck’ may derive from an old word for ‘devil’ or ‘fiend’ or from a word meaning ‘terrifying’ or it might simply refer to the shagginess of the dog’s coat.

The first mention of the name ‘shuck’ in print comes from an 1850 edition of the journal Notes and Queries , in which the Reverend E.S. Taylor writes about ‘Shuck the dog fiend’, stating, ‘This phantom I have heard many persons in East Norfolk, and even in Cambridgeshire, describe as having seen as a black shaggy dog, with fiery eyes and of immense size, who visits churchyards at midnight.’

East Anglian black dog legends, however, go back far earlier. On Sunday 4th August 1577, a fiery demon in the form of a black dog appeared at Blythburgh Church, Suffolk, during a tremendous storm ‘consisting of raine violently falling, fearful flashes of lightning, and terrible cracks of thunder, which came with such unwonted force and power … the church did as it were quake and stagger.’ A service was taking place and the dog sprinted up the aisle, killing a man and boy, badly burning a man’s hand, ‘blasting’ other congregants, and bringing the church steeple crashing down through the roof. As the fiend exited the church, he left burn marks and incisions from his flaming talons on the doors.

Frontispiece of the pamphlet 'A Straunge and Terrible Wonder' telling of a black dog attacking two churches

The front cover of the 1577 pamphlet ‘A Straunge and Terrible Wonder’

The demon then headed over to St Mary’s Church in Bungay. Here, in an assault described in the pamphlet A Struange and Terrible Wonder (1577) by Abraham Fleming, this ‘black dog or the divel in such a likeness’ was soon ‘running all long down the body of the church with great swiftnesse, and incredible haste’. The dog ‘passed between two people as they were kneeling … occupied in prayer … (and) wrung the necks of them both at one instant cleane backwards, in somuch that … where they kneeled, they strangely died.’

Not content with this slaughter, Old Shuck continued the carnage. A piece of local verse states: ‘All down the church in midst of fire, the hellish monster flew, and passing onward to the quire, he many people slew.’ Like at Blythburgh, the dog left scorch marks on the door of St Mary’s.

The accounts of Old Shuck’s rampages in Blythburgh and Bungay are probably overdramatic memories of a catastrophic storm. It seems Abraham Fleming put his booklet together from exaggerated oral testimonies. Fleming worked as an editor for several London printers so it may have been in his interest to make sure his rendering of the story was suitably spectacular. The burn marks on the churches’ doors – still referred to as ‘the Devil’s fingerprints’ – are more likely to have been inflicted by candles.

Burn marks on the door of Blythburgh Church, supposedly left by Black Shuck

Burn marks on Blythburgh Church door, supposedly left by Black Shuck. (Photo: Atlas Obscura )

Legends of spooky black dogs in this part of England have, however, persisted over the centuries. In Highways and Byways in East Anglia (1901), W.A. Dutt describes Old Shuck as a being who ‘takes the form of a huge black dog, and prowls along dark lanes and lonesome field footpaths, where, although his howling makes the hearer’s blood run cold, his footfalls make no sound.’ Dutt ascribes a curious feature to Old Shuck: ‘You may know him at once, should you see him, by his fiery eye; he has but one, and that, like the Cyclops’s, is in the middle of his head.’

Encountering Black Shuck will ‘bring you the worst of luck: it is even said that to meet him is to be warned that your death will occur before the end of the year. So you will do well to shut your eyes if you hear him howling.’

Black Shuck, the legendary black dog ghost of East Anglia

An artist’s impression of Old Shuck, based on W.A. Dutt’s description. (Image: Mattias Thatch )

Despite all this, Old Shuck, like other black dogs, can be ambiguous and there have been accounts of the creature being companionable and guiding lost travellers.

But do legends of Black Shuck belong firmly in the past? The poet Martin Newell – while doing research for his epic poem Black Shuck: The Ghost Dog of Eastern England – talked to East Anglian locals. He was surprised by how many believed the legends and claimed to have seen Black Shuck.

‘Ah, you’re writing about that now, are you?’ a Norfolk shopkeeper stated. ‘Well, be careful.’

A woman Newell spoke to said she’d seen Black Shuck near Cromer in the 1950s when coming home from a dance and a man told him he’d spotted the dog while crossing marshes near Felixstowe. Newell also found a newspaper article from the 1930s about a midwife who – cycling on a winter night near the Essex village of Tolleshunt Darcy – had been followed by Old Shuck. However fast she pedalled through the country lanes, the black dog kept up with her. Eventually, the apparition vanished.

Number Five: the Isle of Man’s Moddey Dhoo – a Sinister Black Dog That Haunted Peel Castle

According to a legend recorded by the English poet and topographer George Walden (1690-1730), Peel Castle on the Isle of Man was once haunted by a Moddey Dhoo. ‘Moddey Dhoo’ simply means ‘black dog’ in the Manx language and this specimen apparently looked like a giant shaggy-haired spaniel. Though such a creature might sound somewhat comical, all who came into contact with this entity soon realised there was something otherworldly and sinister about it.

The Moddey Dhoo had been seen in every room in the castle, but – during the reign of Charles II – it began frequenting the guard chamber. As soon as the guards had lit the candles in the evening, the black dog would come padding along a certain corridor and into the room, where it lay down before the fire in front of all the soldiers. Then, as day began to break, the Moddy Dhoo would rouse itself and trot off back down the same passage.

Peel Castle was haunted by the Moddey Dhoo, a phantom black dog

Was Peel Castle home to the phantom black dog known as the Moddey Dhoo? (Photo: July Wind )

This corridor – via an ancient church – connected the guardroom with the captain of the guard’s quarters. The soldiers had to walk along it to return the castle’s keys at the end of the night. After the dog started padding down the dark narrow passageway, they never did this alone, but always went in twos.

The guards had been in the habit of drinking ale and telling stories to make their nightshift pass more quickly, but after the dog began visiting their room, they became more sombre. Still, they pretended to ignore the apparition and after some time grew accustomed to the presence of the phantom pooch, though they were still unsettled by it.

One soldier, however, became too relaxed around the strange spaniel. One night, he got drunk and boasted loudly that he’d be the one who’d take the keys back to the captain in the morning and that – moreover – he’d do it by himself. He wasn’t scared of any dog, whether normal or supernatural. It wasn’t even the soldier’s turn to take the keys and his friends tried to talk him out of his mad plan, but – when daylight started to appear – he snatched the keys from their hook and strode out of the guardroom. The Moddey Dhoo got up calmly from its place by the fire and followed him.

A couple of tense minutes passed before the most terrifying screams and wails resounded from the passage. The soldiers wanted to help their comrade, but were all too frightened, and soon they heard someone staggering back towards their room. The door swung open and their colleague tumbled in, his face utterly white and contorted with terror, his eyes bulging with fear. The man was unable to speak so he couldn’t tell his friends of the horrors he’d endured. He soon sickened and a few days later was dead. As for the black dog, no one ever saw it again anywhere in Peel Castle.

There seems to have sometimes been a tradition in Britain and Scandinavia of burying black dogs in graveyards or in the foundations of churches in the hope their ghosts would protect such sites from evil spirits and the Devil. The Moddey Dhoo’s corridor ran through an old church and excavations there in 1871 uncovered the grave of a bishop who’d died in 1247. At the bishop’s feet was the skeleton of a large dog.

Though the Moddey Dhoo may have disappeared from Peel Castle, phantom black dogs have been seen elsewhere on the Isle of Man. A black dog that haunts a field near Ballmodda is termed an ‘ordinary Moddey Dhoo’ in contrast to the headless variety, one of which is said to appear in a farm lane in Ballagilbert Glen. A Moddey Dhoo – which, according to some, is as big as a calf and has burning plate-sized eyes – has been spotted at Milntown Corner on the outskirts of Ramsey.

Number Six: the Black Dogs of the South West – Yeth Hounds, Whist Hounds, the Devil’s Dandy Dogs and The Hound of the Baskervilles

The Hound of the Baskerville may be based on Dartmoor black dog legends

The Hound of the Baskervilles may be based on black dog legends from the south west. (Image: Visit Dartmoor )

Devon folklore states that large black dogs known as Yeth Hounds are the souls of children who passed away before they could be baptised. The Yeth Hound – which is headless – wanders through woods at night howling.

Another species of Devon black dog is the Whist Hound. Though some regard them as similar to Yeth Hounds, they seem more sinister. They hunt in packs across Dartmoor and it’s rumoured the huntsman is the Devil himself. Whist Hounds are said to haunt Wistman’s Wood – a spooky high-altitude tangle of moss-covered oak trees – as well as the area surrounding the Dewerstone, an Iron-Age hillfort on a rocky outcrop above the River Plym. Any mortal dog who hears the horrendous howling of the Whist Hounds soon dies.

A different Devon legend claims the spirit of Sir Francis Drake – as a punishment for his obsession with the occult – is forced to drive a black hearse coach through the night between Taverstock and Plymouth. Headless horses pull the coach, which is followed by demons and black headless hellhounds. This story could be a variant on the wild hunt motif, in which a mythological figure leads a band of phantom huntsmen and yelping spectral dogs. Those who, in various places, are made to lead the hunt – usually as a penalty for some sin – include Cain, the Devil, King Arthur, King Herod, Odin and Herne the Hunter. The black coach could be viewed as a relatively modern addition to this ancient archetype.

Yet another piece of Devon black dog folklore tells of an aristocrat named Richard Cabell. Cabell, a ‘monstrously evil man’ and a squire of Buckfastleigh on Dartmoor’s southern fringe, is – among other crimes – rumoured to have murdered his wife and sold his soul to the Devil. When he died, local people were relieved, but they soon realised they were far from free of the wicked squire.

Cabell had been an obsessive hunter and it seems he saw no reason why death should interfere with his enjoyment of this pastime. On the night of his burial, a pack of ghostly black dogs came across Dartmoor to stand howling at his tomb. Cabell’s ghost began leading these dogs – in his own version of the wild hunt – over the moors at night, especially on the anniversary of his death. If Cabell didn’t feel like going out hunting, the dogs hung around his grave, disturbing Buckfastleigh’s residents with howling, barking and unearthly shrieks. Determined to quieten Cabell’s evil soul, his neighbours laid a heavy slab over his grave and built a ‘prison-like’ mausoleum above it, a plan which appears to have been successful. Even to this day, Buckfastleigh youngsters dare each other to stretch their arms through the mausoleum’s barred window and touch Cabell’s tomb while hoping his wicked spirit won’t seize them.

Some say Arthur Conan Doyle heard about this legend while visiting a friend in the area and that this prompted him to write his Sherlock Holmes mystery The Hound of the Baskervilles . Apparently, Baskerville was the name of one of the coachmen at the house he stayed at. Set mostly on Dartmoor, the book tells the story of a devilish dog – ‘an enormous coal black hound, but not such a hound as mortal eyes have ever seen’ – that has for many years haunted the aristocratic Baskerville family. This haunting began as a punishment for the debased behaviour of Hugo Baskerville, a character with similarities to Richard Cabell. The dog appears just before the deaths of the family’s heirs, deaths which are often disturbingly premature.

An illustration from the Hound of the Baskervilles

An illustration by Sidney Paget from The Hound of the Baskervilles

It’s not clear, however, how such apparent influences square with Doyle’s own statements. When asked about the origins of his novel, Doyle said, ‘My story was really based on nothing save a remark of my friend Fletcher Robinson that there was a legend about a dog on the moor connected with some old family.’ Bertram Fletcher Robinson, a Daily Express journalist, explored Dartmoor with Doyle, supplying him with local legends and accounts of Devon oddities. Doyle paid him a third of the profits from the serialisation of the novel in gratitude.

Some, on the other hand, claim the influences for The Hound of the Baskervilles came from outside the south west. Doyle once holidayed in North Norfolk, near Cromer, an area where legends of Black Shuck are well-known. During his trip, he stayed at the pre-Gothic Cromer Hall, which in many ways matches Doyle’s fictional Baskerville Hall. Another possible source of inspiration was Crowsley Park in Oxfordshire. The gates to this estate feature statues of hellhounds with spears through their mouths while another fearsome dog can be seen above a lintel on the front of Crowsley Park House. This estate was owned by the Baskerville family and a daughter, Florence Baskerville, married one of Doyle’s friends. Perhaps all these things came together with the legends Doyle heard in the south west to inspire his idea of a hellhound-haunted family.

As for Richard Cabell, the mausoleum supposedly put up to quieten his unruly spirit contains Cabell family tombs older than his. It’s unlikely, therefore, to have been built after his death. Cabell is also unlikely to have killed his wife as she’s mentioned in his 1671 will.

If we travel further west, we’ll find black dog legends in Cornwall. Black dogs in that county have been known to haunt tumuli, lonely roads and the scenes of tin mining accidents. Dark-coloured canines also feature in Cornish versions of the wild hunt. The vicinity of the village of St Germans is haunted by a pack of dogs that belonged to a wicked priest named Dando. Dando was a keen huntsman who regularly committed the sacrilege of hunting on the Sabbath. He was also a heavy drinker who – after one Sunday hunt – declared that if his companions couldn’t give him enough booze he’d go to hell to get it. A strange huntsman stepped forward and offered Dando a drink before seizing and dragging him down to the netherworld. Dando’s Dogs can still be heard on Sunday mornings, running after game or seeking their lost master.

Phantom black dog, England

Phantom black dogs allegedly roam the moors 0f south-west England. (Image: Ghostly Activities )

Another legend – sometimes confused with that of Dando – concerns the Devil’s Dandy Dogs. Satan himself is in charge of this pack and his dogs are not just phantoms but genuine flame-breathing hellhounds. This terrifying hunt roams the moors and any travellers who hear it are urged to kneel and pray that the Dandy Dogs don’t come in their direction. Black hellhounds are also rumoured to pursue Jan Tregeagle, a damned soul who escaped from hell. Jan is said to have once haunted the eerie Dozmary Pool high on Bodmin Moor , where – on stormy nights – his shrieks could be heard along with the howls of the infernal dogs chasing him.

Number Seven: the Church Grim – a Guardian Spirit in the Form of a Black Dog

Legends from Britain and Scandinavia state that certain churchyards are haunted by a ‘Church Grim’, a spirit that usually appears as a large black dog. Rather than being a malevolent entity, the Grim protects the churchyard from all who would desecrate it, including vandals, witches, warlocks, thieves and even the Devil.

A tradition, apparently, once maintained that the spirit of the first person to be buried in a churchyard would be tasked with guarding it. In Scotland, the last person buried in a cemetery would have to be its guardian until a new interment took place. To save the spirits of the departed from these onerous duties, a large black dog would be buried either in the churchyard or in the foundations of the church itself, especially under its cornerstone.

Some say the black dog’s ghost tolls the church bell at midnight on the eve of the death of a local resident. During the funeral service, the clergyman might spot the Grim staring out from the church tower and from the dog’s behaviour be able to tell if the deceased will go to hell or heaven. The Church Grim is also associated with stormy weather. Though normally manifesting as a black dog, the Grim has been known to take the form of a horse or pig.

Honourable Mentions from Britain’s Many Black Dog Legends

Black dog legends are widespread across the UK and versions of this myth have been recorded in almost every English county. Yorkshire, especially, seems a centre of black dog folklore. As well as the Barghest and Gytrash, there’s the Padfoot. You might encounter this creature close to Leeds, Wakefield or Bradford. It apparently follows people with a soft padding sound, sometimes augmented by the clanking of chains. A harbinger of death, the Padfoot can let rip a roar like no earthly animal. You shouldn’t attack or try to speak to the Padfoot – doing so will put you in its power. A man who once kicked the dog found himself seized by the supernatural hound. Pulled through a ditch and hedge, the man was dragged all the way back to his house before being dumped under a window.

Yet another black dog that roves Yorkshire – and parts of Cumbria – is the Cappelthwaite. This dog first appeared on a farm near Milnthorpe, Cumbria. He lived in a barn called Cappelthwaite Barn, from where he got his name. The dog was helpful to the farm’s residents, rounding up sheep and assisting with chores, but was malevolent and mischievous towards everyone else. The dog was eventually expelled by the local vicar and has since roamed the countryside. Though the Cappelthwaite prefers the form of a black dog, he can materialise as any four-legged animal.

Some particularly curious black dogs are known as Gabriel Hounds. They are hounds with human faces that fly yelping through the air and are heard far more frequently than seen. If they hover noisily over a house, it’s a sign death or calamity will afflict those living there. Some say the dogs are spirits of unbaptised infants; others that Gabriel, their owner, must lead them across the sky as a punishment for hunting on a Sunday. Legends of Gabriel Hounds may have evolved from flocks of night-flying geese, whose honks can sound like dogs barking.

Not all ghostly black dogs are evil, however. The Gurt Dog of Somerset is a friendly, protective beast. Mothers in the Quantock Hills once let their children play unsupervised as they felt the Gurt Dog would look after them. The dog also guides and defends travellers.

Various legends speak of benevolent black dogs. Manx folklore relates the tale of a fisherman who wanted to get to his boat, but met a black dog on the way who – however much the fisherman tried to dodge around it – refused to let him pass. The fisherman eventually gave up and returned home. That night, a terrific storm blew up that would have pulverised his ship. A number of tales have solo travellers passing through dark and lonely woodlands who suddenly find a black dog accompanying them. The dog doesn’t leave them until they exit the forest. The travellers later invariably find out that bandits have been watching them and would have murdered and robbed them if not for the presence of the dog. Tales of guardian black dogs seem to have become more common around 1900, perhaps showing the influence of late Victorian sentimentality.

Ghostly black dog in woods

Ghostly black dogs have been known to guard travellers in lonely woodlands. (Photo: Holy Stones and Iron Bones ) 

A benign black dog is said to have haunted a farmhouse near Lyme Regis, Dorset. The dog never caused any trouble, but one night the farmer got drunk and attacked the dog with a poker. He chased it into the attic, where the creature escaped by jumping straight through the ceiling. The farmer struck at the dog as it disappeared and – at the spot where his poker crashed down – he found a hidden hoard of gold and silver. The man used this loot to set up an inn – a bed and breakfast, called The Old Black Dog, claims to stand on its site today. The black dog still prowls a nearby lane – pet dogs wandering down this road have mysteriously vanished. Black dogs in Scotland are also believed to guard treasure. If you dare to move a standing stone near the village of Murthly in Perth and Kinross, you’ll uncover a treasure chest protected by a black dog.

Cannock Chase,  a spooky tract of countryside in Staffordshire, is reputedly haunted by a number of black dogs, such as the Hednesford Hellhound and the wonderfully named Slitting Mill Bastard. Local folklore alleges Cannock Chase has also played host to UFOs, werewolves, big cats and even Bigfoot.

The sites of gibbets seem popular hangouts for black dogs. Such an animal has haunted Galley Hill, near Luton, Bedfordshire, since lightning set fire to a gibbet in the 18th century. In Tring, Hertfordshire, a chimney sweep was hung in 1751 for drowning a woman he suspected of witchcraft. His corpse was then suspended in chains from a gibbet. The sweep’s ghost is said to haunt the spot where the gibbet stood in the guise of a black dog and you can sometimes hear the clattering of his chains. The dog once appeared before two men in a flash of fire – the size of a newfoundland, it had blazing eyes and long fangs.

Black dogs also sometimes haunt tumuli. One has been sighted around the Six Hills, a group of Roman barrows in Stevenage, Hertfordshire – mounds, folklore asserts, the Devil constructed.

A particularly frightening black dog is the Welsh Gwyllgi – known as the ‘Dog of Darkness’ or ‘Black Hound of Destiny’. The dog – described as a huge mastiff or black wolf with noxious breath and burning eyes – appears to individuals after dark, especially on isolated roads. Glimpsing the dog is a prediction you’ll suffer a horrendous death.

Where Might Britain’s Black Dog Legends Come from and What Could Account for Them?

Though Britain has an especially high concentration of black dog legends, the menacing ghostly black dog is an archetype found in many regions of the world. Tales of phantom black dogs have been recorded in Belgium, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, the United States, Mexico, Central America and Argentina and more stories could probably be found of these spooky canines in other parts of the planet.

The archetype also seems an old one. The earliest-known written record of a black dog legend is from France – in 856 AD, one manifested in a church even though the doors were shut. The oldest document attesting to black dogs in England is from 1127. It describes a wild hunt that haunted the surroundings of Peterborough Abbey. The huntsmen ‘rode on black horses and black he-goats and the hounds were jet black with eyes like saucers and horrible’. It’s likely black dog legends go back quite some time before these sources, however.

Most black dog legends cast the beast as some sort of harbinger of death or messenger from the otherworld. The more sinister black dogs are associated with the Devil and hell; others are linked to tormented souls forced to conduct wild hunts. The dogs predict death for those who see them or – less commonly – guard people from such a fate, but in both cases the animals know the spectre of death is near. The connection with death could account for them haunting graveyards and gibbets. The black dogs’ deathliness is also emphasised by the fact some are headless and drag chains – both of which are general characteristics of ghosts.

The ability of black dogs to pass between the otherworld and this one might explain their manifesting at liminal spaces like crossroads and tumuli. Folktales describe ancient barrows as entrances to other realms and crossroads have long been seen as spots at which one reality might intersect with another. The ambiguous nature of the black dog is also expressed in its shapeshifting.

But why, we might ask, are dogs associated with death? This largely comes from their scavenging habits. Though dogs can certainly hunt, they often prefer to feed on carrion, a tendency that has likely linked them to decay and death in the popular mind. Another scavenger with similar folkloric associations is the raven – a bird notorious for banqueting on battlefields and haunting gallows and gibbets. This bird’s links with executions seem to have been a powerful factor connecting ravens in legend with the Tower of London . The colour black – in the case of both the black dog and the raven – is also symbolic, being a colour of death and mourning in Western cultures.

If we delve back beyond folklore and into mythology, we can also find dogs associated with death, the underworld, and liminal spaces and thresholds. The entrance to Hades is guarded by Cerberus, a multi-headed dog whose eyes – according to some accounts – flash with fire. The gate of the gloomy Norse underworld Hel is guarded by Garmr, a terrifying blood-bespattered wolf or dog. Some equate Garmr with Fenrir, the ferocious cosmic wolf who – by bursting out of his chains – will help usher in the Viking end times Ragnarok.

Cerberus, the guardian of the Greek underworld - a possible source of black dog legends?

Vase showing Cerberus, the guardian of the Greek underworld – was he a prototype of the ghostly black dog?

In Welsh Myth, the Cwn Annwm are the hounds of the lord of the otherworld, Annwm. These dogs – rather than being black – are white with red ears. Celtic culture associated the colour red with death and white with the otherworld. Annwm leads his dogs in a wild hunt, especially at liminal ‘turning points’ of the year, such as Christmas and midsummer.  To hear the dogs howling is a portent of death and the hounds are sometimes thought of as escorting souls to the next life.

Dogs have been domesticated for thousands of years and many of their traits can be found in black dog legends. Dogs can be companionable; they can work at useful tasks, protect humans and guard property; but – encountered under the wrong circumstances – they can be vicious and dangerous. The wolf has not been completely bred out of the species. All this probably helps account for the ambiguity and unpredictability of black dogs in folklore. How many of us would shudder, even today, if – walking alone on a remote, twilight path – we were to see a large, unaccompanied dog padding towards us or silhouetted, staring in our direction, down the road?

(This article’s main image is courtesy of the London Fortean Society .)

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Speaking of greek mythology: Hellhounds were also the companion of Ecate (Hecate), goddess of boundaries, crossroads, witchcraft, ghosts, poisons ect.. Dogs were sacred to this specific deity and usually even sacrificed to her. Maybe that’s also one of the correlations between dogs and lost people and even this specific ghostly depiction of them as infernal beasts. Cerberus isn’t really a “hellhound”, yes the Ade is indeed the “greek hell” in a christian reading of the greek cosmology but Cerberus is just another dog-monster like others in the greek mithology (like Ortro, his brother) and put as a gatekeeper of Ade because of his monstrous appearance, violent behavior and dog attributes (fidelity and diligence) but still hellhounds/ghostly dogs existed as a separate creature in the greek mithology.

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Thanks for your comment, deadlosh. I think Cerberus is more of a guardian of the underworld rather than a hellhound in the later Christian sense, but there might be some vague relation between the underworld guardians of Greek and Norse myth and later black dog legends. I’ll have to check out the differences between dog-monsters/hellhounds/ghostly dogs in Greek myth.

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Ghost survived living with a pack of Nevada coyotes. Now the dog's part of a bitter custody feud.

A nevada nonprofit is working to figure out who, if anyone, the dog belongs to or whether he should go up for adoption.

dog ghost stories

It seemed like a simple feel-good story: A dog living in the Nevada desert with a pack of coyotes was rescued after hurting his paw and capturing the attention of local dog lovers. 

The two women who trapped him in Henderson on Jan. 28 called him Ghost because he had a habit of disappearing when people got near. They thought he'd get treated for his injuries and put up for adoption.

But first, a local news station wanted to do a story about Ghost's life in the wild and his rescue. The news soon made headlines across the nation, and that's when things got complicated.

A Las Vegas family who says Ghost is theirs, and that his name is really Hades, came forward to claim him. The women who trapped Ghost didn't believe the family, leaving the two sides in a bitter feud that culminated this past weekend with a confrontation involving police.

LATEST UPDATE: Dog famed for living with coyotes in Nevada desert has emotional reunion with family

Living in the wild

Ghost was first spotted in July by Henderson residents who saw him running with a pack of three coyotes. Residents would post videos and photos of him from time to time on a neighborhood Facebook group, tracking his movements with keen interest. 

Then last month a resident named Judy Hendrickson saw that Ghost was limping heavily and shot a video of him. 

That's when a two-woman crew calling themselves the Southern Nevada Trapping Team say they knew they had to intervene and capture Ghost for fear the pack would turn on him. 

In all, Ghost lived among the coyotes for at least six months and it showed. He's got bite scars all over his face and body, he had a broken toe (which was causing the limp and needs amputated), and his scrotum was so badly infected, a veterinarian said it would have to be removed altogether, said Carole Sandy, a board member with Amor Paludo Animal Rescue, which had taken charge of Ghost's care and potential adoption.

The surgeries would cost thousands, and a GoFundMe page raised more than $14,000 to pay for it.

A fight ensues

Christy Cabada of Las Vegas was watching the local news with her husband when they saw a story about Ghost. 

Cabada said they immediately recognized the dog as Hades, the 4-year-old bull terrier mix that had escaped from their family member's home while they were dog-sitting last summer. 

Cabada was soon texting with Susan McMullen of the Southern Nevada Trapping Team. Ghost had been staying with McMullen as he awaited surgery, which was scheduled for Tuesday. 

Though Hades hadn't been vaccinated or chipped, Cabada said she had plenty of photos to prove ownership and sent them to McMullen. 

McMullen, in consultation with Sandy, decided the dogs weren't the same and told Cabada that she would not be getting Ghost. 

Soon after Cabada and her husband went to McMullen's house. Both women's stories vary wildly as to what happened next, but McMullen ended up putting Ghost in her car and leaving, prompting the Cabadas to follow her. 

Police soon responded to the Cabadas' call that they were following the car of a woman who had stolen their dog. 

When police arrived, they called Clark County Animal Protection, which impounded the dog and turned him over to a group called Animal Foundation. 

Officer Luis Vidal, a spokesman with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, confirmed the agency was involved in the call. Officers determined that no crimes had occurred but could not decide who rightfully owned the dog, Vidal said.

VIdal said two people at the scene were cited for obstructing officers but declined to identify who that was. The department has no further involvement in the case.

What happens now?

The dog is now on a 10-day hold with Animal Foundation, said the group's spokeswoman, Kelsey Pizzi. 

She declined to say whether he has gotten any surgeries but said that "we are caring for Ghost and he's doing well."

"He's being monitored by our veterinary team," she added. 

During the 10-day hold, which ends early next week, she said her group is wading through "a handful" of claims from people who say Ghost is their dog, including the Cabadas.

She said they'll determine if any of them are his owners and whether he goes with one of them or is put up for general adoption. 

Meanwhile both the Cabadas and the trapping team have obtained attorneys and believe the issue is headed for court. 

The Cabadas say all they want is Hades back and for money from the GoFundMe to be returned to the donors.

"We just want him back home and pray that the day does come," Christy Cabada said. 

Sandy said she wants a court injunction to keep Ghost away from the Cabadas and to be able to take charge of his adoption so they can find the best owners possible. 

"We don't believe that this is their dog," she said.

Interesting Literature

10 of the Best Novels and Short Stories about Dogs

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Novelists and short-story writers have created some classic narratives about man’s best friend, the dog. But what are the very best stories and novels about dogs? Where should we begin in assessing the classic, canonical literature that features dogs?

From Homer’s Odyssey onwards – where the hero’s faithful hound remembered him upon his return to Ithaca – the annals of literature are full of famous literary dogs. Here are ten of the best works of fiction to feature our four-legged friends.

1. Mark Twain, ‘ A Dog’s Tale ’.

My father was a St. Bernard, my mother was a collie, but I am a Presbyterian. This is what my mother told me, I do not know these nice distinctions myself. To me they are only fine large words meaning nothing. My mother had a fondness for such; she liked to say them, and see other dogs look surprised and envious, as wondering how she got so much education …

This 1903 tale is one of several stories on this list which are told from the dog’s perspective. The dog in question is sold to a new owner and is sad to leave her mother behind, but the family she goes to live with are kind to her. One day, a fire breaks out in the nursery of the house – and the dog comes to the rescue …

2. Eleanor Atkinson, Greyfriars Bobby .

Bobby slipped out, dry as his own delectable bone, from under the tomb of Mistress Jean Grant, and nearly wagged his tail off with pleasure. Mistress Jeanie was set in a proud flutter when the Grand Leddy rang at the lodge kitchen and asked if she and Bobby could have their tea there with the old couple by the cozy grate fire …

Perhaps the most famous novel ever written about a dog, Greyfriars Bobby (1912) is a Scottish tale about the faithfulness of dogs towards their owners. Written from the perspective of the Skye terrier which gives the novel its title, the novel also features Auld Jock, Bobby’s owner, who has a close bond with his pet terrier.

When (spoiler alert) Jock dies, Bobby refuses to leave his master’s side, even when Jock is buried. Bobby ends up guarding Jock’s grave, by day and night, thus neatly symbolising the two main features associated with dogs: fidelity and vigilance.

3. O. Henry, ‘ Memoirs of a Yellow Dog ’.

But you needn’t look for any stuck-up literature in my piece, such as Bearoo, the bear, and Snakoo, the snake, and Tammanoo, the tiger, talk in the jungle books. A yellow dog that’s spent most of his life in a cheap New York flat, sleeping in a corner on an old sateen underskirt (the one she spilled port wine on at the Lady Longshoremen’s banquet), mustn’t be expectcd to perform any tricks with the art of speech …

In this 1903 story from one of America’s greatest writers of the short story, the yellow dog of the story’s title recounts his life, his owners, and his love for his master (and his dislike for his master’s wife). Man and dog really do have a stronger bond in this story than man and wife – but we won’t spoil the ending …

4. Rudyard Kipling, ‘ Garm – a Hostage ’.

First published in 1899, this short story from the writer who also gave us the poem ‘ The Power of the Dog ’ – tells of a man whose friend gives him a bull-terrier as a ‘hostage’. However, ‘Garm’ – the name the narrator gives to his newly acquired dog – misses his original owner, who visits his beloved terrier on a regular basis. This is another tale tinged with sadness, but shot through with the strong bond between a man and his dog.

5. Jack London, The Call of the Wild .

London (1876-1916) was the first writer to become a millionaire from his writing, and although he wrote a vast number of different books including an early dystopian novel ( The Iron Heel ) and a novel set in the days of early man ( Before Adam ), he is best-known for his two short novels set in the Yukon Territory in Canada during the Gold Rush, The Call of the Wild (1903) and White Fang (1906).

The first of these is probably the most famous and widely read, and focuses on a dog which is stolen from its home in California and made to work as a sled-dog in the snowy wilds of Alaska. As the novel’s title suggests, The Call of the Wild is about the canine protagonist’s transition from a life among civilisation to the relative freedom he finds among the wilderness of the Yukon.

6. Virginia Woolf, Flush: A Biography .

Although it’s subtitled A Biography , this short 1933 book is as much fiction as non-fiction. However, its subject was real enough: the Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s pet dog. The cocker spaniel, Flush, is acquired by Barrett Browning and taken from the countryside to London, where he lives among the London literati before travelling out with the Brownings to Italy.

This is Woolf’s funniest book, and although it’s wildly different from The Waves or Mrs Dalloway , it shows off her distinctive modernist style.

7. Franz Kafka, ‘Investigations of a Dog’.

Kafka is a master of the weird, the unusual, the not-quite-right, his stories and novels haunting us long after we have finished reading them. And although he’s well-known for longer works like The Castle and The Trial , he was also a master of the short story form, including the long short story (witness his masterpiece, ‘The Metamorphosis’).

This 1922 story is another tale narrated by a dog, telling us about its experiences. But Kafka’s canine narrator is a philosophical creature, who is interested in the deeper meaning behind his existence and who seeks rational explanations for the things which have befallen him.

8. Richard Adams, The Plague Dogs .

Everyone knows of Watership Down , Adams’ bestselling 1972 novel about a group of rabbits, but his 1977 novel The Plague Dogs is not as well-known. The novel focuses on Rowf and Snitter, two dogs which escape from a government research station in the Lake District in northern England.

They survive among the wilds of Cumbria, which Adams describes with great power and skill, but there’s a price on their backs – especially as it’s feared they may be carrying a deadly strain of plague which they acquired at the research station …

9. Philip K. Dick, ‘Roog’.

This story was written in 1951, and is an early work by the prolific science-fiction author – and a patron saint of the counterculture – Philip K. Dick (1928-82), best-known for writing the novel that inspired the film Blade Runner as well as other classic novels and stories such as ‘The Minority Report’ (also made into a film) and for the alternative-history novel, The Man in the High Castle .

This is another story told from the point of view of a dog. Boris believes the garbage-men who come to collect the trash from his owner’s house are aliens invading from another planet. He calls the strange creatures ‘Roogs’, but his attempts to warn his owners about the alien invasion are futile.

But Dick leaves enough doubt in our minds that the dog may, after all, be right, and the ‘garbage-men’ may not be all they seem – as usual with Dick’s fiction, our understanding of reality and everything we take for granted is given a good shake.

10. Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time .

Perhaps no pick of the best novels and stories about dogs could be without this more recent example, this 2003 mystery novel loosely inspired by the Sherlock Holmes adventures and featuring a teenage protagonist, Christopher, who goes in search of the neighbour’s missing dog.

Although people tend to assume that Christopher has Asperger’s, Haddon has refuted this, and the book makes no reference to it. Instead, as Haddon has said in a blog post, the novel is about being an outsider.

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16 very real ghost stories that'll chill you to the bone

Do you check under the bed for monsters before you go to sleep? Double check the closet to ensure the boogeyman isn't hiding inside? Are you afraid of...ghosts?

Then perhaps you should stop right now, because we're about to delve into the world of the paranormal — and these tales are not for the faint of heart.

Whether you believe ghosts are rea l or just made up for the movies , these ghost stories, as told by real people who experienced things they simply can't explain , are sure to give you pause — if not proof — that there's more than meets the eye when it comes to supernatural happenings.

To help curate our collection of spooky yarns, TODAY.com spoke to Derek Hayes, host of " Monsters Among Us ," a podcast in which callers share details of mysterious encounters.

According to Hayes, he receives hundreds of calls each week and submissions from across the globe. "But every once in a while, somebody will call in one of those personal stories. It's that personal connection for me that really brings it home," Hayes tells TODAY.com.

"And some of those are just terrifying ."

We've collected a sampling of those 'terrifying' stories right here, along with a handful of other scary ghost stories from a ghost hunter, as well as unexplained incidents told by a variety of ordinary people who claim they've experienced something extraordinary.

Whether you believe them or not is, of course, entirely up to you. But if you end up sleeping with the lights on tonight, don't say we didn't warn you.

The ‘grandmas’ in the cemetery

Headstones in a misty graveyard.

Jeff, a resident of Dayton, Ohio, was driving with his 3-year-old son, Miles, in the back seat, when they passed by a cemetery. It was a modest cemetery with only flowers and small plaques.

“It basically looks like a giant garden,” Jeff explains on “Monsters Among Us.”

According to Jeff, as they drove by, his toddler, who’d been happily singing, abruptly stopped, pointed to the cemetery and exclaimed, “Look at all those people!”

Jeff turned to look, but didn’t see a soul. Confused, he asked Miles what he was talking about. “All those people over there,” his son replied. “There sure are a lot of grandmas.”

As Jeff tells it, chills ran down his spine as he asked his son what the people were doing. “They’re all standing there, looking down at the grass,” Miles said.

Completely unsettled by the conversation, Jeff sped up and drove home. Later that same day, he says his young son was watching TV when he turned to Jeff and said, “You know … they weren’t alive.”

Thinking Miles was referring to the cartoon, Jeff asked what he meant. “Those people we saw ... they were all paused,” his son replied.

“I don’t know if my kid has the sixth sense,” Jeff says. “Or if he just has a wild imagination.”

The ghost of The Stanley Hotel

ghost stories the stanley hotel

The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, has been around for more than 100 years and was built as a posh getaway for the wealthy seeking solitude in the mountains.

As the years passed, however, occupancy declined and by the 1970s, the grand hotel had fallen into disrepair. It was around that time that famed author Stephen King spent the night there and was inspired to write the book “The Shining.”

The book and blockbuster film helped return the Stanley to its former glory. Now, guests come in droves to see the hotel that inspired one of the scariest horror movies of all time.

Given its history, it should come as no surprise that many visitors report strange happenings. Aware of the ghostly rumors, Texas resident Henry Yau booked a last-minute getaway in April of 2016 to “check it out.”

After arriving, Yau had dinner, then wandered around the Stanley to take photos. Stopping at the staircase, he waited for people to clear the area, then took a picture, thinking nothing of it.

Later that night, however, Yau fell seriously ill. “I felt really sick, I had the shivers, I was like, something’s really wrong,” he tells TODAY.com. His companion suggested he go to the emergency room, but Yau refused.

On the trip home, Yau began swiping through the photos he’d taken when he discovered what he said was a “really, really strange image” of someone standing on the stairs.

Except no one had been there.

The next day, he posted the photo on Instagram, half-joking that he’d captured a ghost — and the world took notice. Almost overnight, Yau found himself in the limelight with his ghost picture warranting attention from global media outlets and paranormal experts who wanted to examine the photo.

“Some experts say that there’s two ghosts, and other people said that the reason I got sick is because the ghost was trying to materialize, taking energy out of me,” he said. “There’s so many theories about this.”

And what does Yau think? “I have no idea,” he says with a laugh.

The ghost truck stop

Empty Bar

On his way to get married, a military man and his best man set off on an 800-mile road trip from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina to Lafayette, Indiana.

It's 1 a.m. on a cold January night in 2014 and the man tells "Monsters Among Us" that the weather is bad and temperatures are in "the negative double digits."

As the pair close in on Indianapolis, they discover they have no money to pay for gas to refuel the car and are about to run out.

"Growing up in the trucking industry with my dad, I decided to stop at a truck stop," the man explains. But because the main interstates were shut down due to the weather, they had get off the highway and search for a truckstop along the back roads instead.

"(We) found a smaller truck stop. It had one truck and it was just kind of strange. It was just a blacked out truck with a blacked out trailer. There was no real markings on it, nothing distinguishable," he says.

They went in, hoping a clerk or waitress would spot them a few dollars for gas enough to make it to Indianapolis, at which time they'd go to the bank, take out cash and pay back the loan.

Inside they found a tidy diner, occupied by a waitress, cook and a lone truck driver.

"I went inside, talked to this driver and he bought us a cup of coffee. We sat there and talked for about 30 minutes about what was going on and why we were headed, where we were and what we were doing. And he gave us 20 bucks for gas. I went outside, pumped our gas, came back in and I told him, 'Hey, I really appreciate it. I'll be back.'"

Making good on his word, the man got cash from the bank upon arriving in Indianapolis and returned to the diner.

"When we arrive at about 10 o’clock in the morning, it's boarded up," he says. "It looks like it’s been abandoned for years and the truck’s gone. But we had just been in there."

They pull in anyway and find a police officer parked in the lot. They explain what happened just hours before to which the cop chuckles and replies, "Oh, you met the ghost of three."

"So, two military members converse, had a cup of coffee with, interacted with, three people at a diner that had a fuel pump. I got $20 worth of gas," says the man. "When I came back, it been boarded up for, if I remember correctly, the cop said it had been boarded up for the last 25 years."

The hauntings at the Lizzie Borden House

The Borden House in Fall River, Massachusetts.

On August 4, 1892, Andrew and his wife, Abby Borden, were found brutally murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts, home. Though murder wasn’t uncommon in the late 1800s, the fact that they were bludgeoned to death with an ax and the main suspect was their 32-year-old daughter, Lizzie Borden, certainly was.

The crime and trial that followed made headlines around the world. Lizzie was ultimately acquitted of murder, but she remains forever linked to the heinous killings, as does the home where the crime was committed.

Now a bed-and-breakfast and museum, the Borden home attracts history buffs and thrill-seekers who come to see for themselves if rumors that the house is haunted are, indeed, true.

“When I started working here, it was more of the history. I really didn’t care about the paranormal,” Suzanne St. John, a realtor and tour guide at the Lizzie Borden House, tells TODAY.com.

However, that all changed after St. John says she experienced a few unusual happenings of her own.

“Guests tell us they hear laughing and playing in the middle of the night, things get moved around,” she says. And St. John has experienced a few unusual things herself, saying that once she discovered toys scattered across a room that no one had been in.

St. John also talks of a picture that fell over and slid two feet across the floor without any plausible explanation, as well as a closet door that once opened on its own volition.

On the eve of the anniversary of Andrew and Abby’s murder, St. John says that she and two other tour guides at the house felt a sudden sharp, piercing pain in their left eyes — the same exact location of Andrew Borden’s fatal injuries.

Perhaps the most unsettling, however, is the story St. John tells of a tour guide at the Lizzie Borden house who asked her group to silence their cell phones before beginning the tour. Moments later, a guest’s cell phone rang. She looked up and said, “It’s my mom.”

The tour guide asked if she wanted to leave and take the call, to which the woman replied: “She died two years ago.”

The ghost of Captain Joseph White

A shadowy image is captured in front of the Gardner-Pingree House in Salem, Massachusetts.

Though Salem, Massachusetts is best known for its infamous witch trials, there have been plenty of other chilling stories throughout its 400-year history.

One of them is the tale of Captain Joseph White, a wealthy merchant who was found bludgeoned to death in his bed.

It was a crime motivated by money, according to Giovanni Alabiso, owner and tour guide at Salem Historical Tours, who says the 82-year-old merchant was allegedly targeted by greedy brothers hoping to get their hands on his will.

Brothers Joseph and Francis Knapp enlisted the help of Richard Crowninshield to help get the job done. “Late in the evening, when Captain White is asleep, Dick Crowninshield comes in, he goes upstairs to the second floor and takes a club and bashes the captain over the head and crushes his skull,” Alabiso tells TODAY.com.

The murder resulted in a scandalous trial and is said to be the inspiration for Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” as well as the game “Clue.”

Whether it’s the brutal nature of the crime or revenge for the attempt to steal his money, the spirit of Captain Joseph White is said to still wander the halls of his former home. “People believe Captain White is roaming around that house, protecting whatever treasure he reportedly has,” Alabiso said.

Tourists take photos of the house, and despite being empty, many pictures reveal shadowy figures (both male and female) in the windows and on the landing of the Gardner-Pingree House.

Who are they? No one knows.

“It’s definitely, absolutely active,” Alabiso says.

The haunted ventriloquist doll

Ventriloquist doll playing piano

When Marty was a child back in the '90s, she tells "Monsters Among Us" that she was a fan of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his dummy sidekick, Charlie McCarthy.

She says that when her father came across a ventriloquist doll as he wandered through a small magic shop located outside of Santa Rosa, California, he decided to buy it for her birthday.

While ringing up the sale, Marty says the cashier gave her father "weird vibes" and said to him: "You know when you put your hand inside the doll, he's going to come alive."

Laughing off the comment, he brought the dummy home to his daughter.

According to Marty, she was over the moon when he dad gave her the doll, saying: "I was so happy when I got that doll, I was obsessed."

But before long, strange things began happening. Though impossible because the doll's head was made of hard plastic, she says its expression would change, including his smile.

Worried something would happen to her precious dummy, Marty's family shut it away in a cupboard most nights. One night, she and her family were awakened by the "pitter patter" of steps in their living room. Thinking it was the dog or another family member, they went to look.

No one was there. Except for the doll, who was sitting on the couch.

"We remember specifically we always put it away because I loved that doll so much that I took care of it," Marty says on the podcast.

Other strange occurrences began happening. While Marty and her dad were away, her uncle was alone in the house. The uncle says he heard Marty's father calling his name from the living room, even though he wasn't home.

When he went to look? He found the doll, once again, sitting on the couch. And no one else.

"All of our family was pretty much scared of the doll," Marty says. "People would start hearing their names being called, and we would hear walking at night. So, we just decided we needed to get rid of it."

Being Mexican and religious, Marty says her parents wanted to burn the doll in case it was demonic. They put it on the grill and, according to Marty, it wouldn't burn. "This doll would not go up in flames, at all, whatsoever."

They tried cutting it up with a knife, but were unsuccessful. Finally, they threw it in the trash can. After the garbage was collected, Marty's dad went to retrieve the bin.

In it? The doll.

To rid themselves of the dummy, they dug a hole in the backyard, then filled it with cement.

Marty and family have long-since moved away, but she says they still think about the doll and the possibility that eventually "it finds one of us."

The imaginary 'friend'

Ghost Stories

Jacqueline from Oklahoma says that while her memories have faded over the years, she recalls having an imaginary friend when she was young.

Her grandparents, "Granny Junie" and "Pa Hank," lived in a small home with a quiet backyard. Jacqueline recalls visiting them as a child.

"I have very good memories of my Pa Hank," Jacqueline says on the podcast "Monsters Among Us."

"He would sit under the tree with me and tell me stories." The stories were often about his life and memories of prohibition, she says. "He was actually a very interesting character."

The only problem? Her grandfather died in 1981 — and Jacqueline was born in 1982.

"I don't think I ever realized that I was getting stories from a ghost," she says, adding that the rest of her family knew of his presence in the house. "My Granny Junie would never stay in the house on the anniversary of his death," she says. "He did die in the house."

Jacqueline also recalls hearing Pa Hank get up in the middle of the night when she was staying at the house. "It never occurred to me that these were memories of an entity," she said.

In hindsight, Jacqueline says that even though her childhood "imaginary friend" was actually her dead grandfather, it casts a different light because it was a relative and not a stranger.

"It never felt like ghosts, it felt like talking to my Pa Hank."

The kidnapping ghost

Ghost Stories

On "Monsters Among Us," a caller named Joe tells of moving to Georgia from California in the late 1990s. Soon after, he says his brother followed him to the Peach State and rented an old house built in the 1800s.

"It looked nice from the outside ... it did not feel good from the inside," Joe says during the podcast.

According to Joe, things seemed off from the moment he helped his brother move into the home. "I walked into the house and went, 'Oh, man.' The hair stood up on the back of my neck, and I just felt ill-at-ease, like this place isn't cool at all," he says.

Moments later, while carrying items into the bedroom, Joe says he heard whispering.

"A heated whispering, almost an argument, between two people that seemed to be hovering in the top of the ceiling area of the room," he adds.

Joe ran out of the room and asked his brother if he'd felt something off about the house, too. His brother had picked up on the vibe, but assured Joe that things would be alright.

"As long as you're good," Joe says he told his brother. "I'm not good, but I'm going to help you. I'm going home and I probably won't come back here."

And, sure enough, Joe's brother began experiencing unusual occurrences in the house.

The most alarming, however, was when Joe says his young niece was found wandering alone on a busy road with her hand up in the air.

Police and other agencies were called to investigate the incident and when asked, his brother's 4-year-old explained that she'd gone for a stroll with the "old lady that lives here."

"She just wanted to go for a walk, so we went for a walk."

Given that the front door was too heavy for a 4-year-old to open by herself, no one could understand how she was able to leave the house.

According to Joe, his niece said, "The old lady opened the door, then we petted the dog for a little bit, then went for a walk."

"She was so genuine and honest at 4 years old, that he couldn't call her liar," Joe says during the podcast.

Soon after, his brother moved and never returned.

The ghosts of Stone’s Public House

Ghost Stories

Considered one of the most haunted restaurants in America, Stone’s Public House in Ashland, Massachusetts, doesn’t have a ghost problem — it has a ghosts problem.

Janet Morazzini, a longtime resident of Ashland, is the bartender and manager of Stone's Public House, which was built by John Stone back in 1832.

According to Morazzini, even before she began working at the inn, she heard stories of the ghost of a young boy roaming the halls of the restaurant, which once served as an ad hoc hospital during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918.

It makes sense, Morazzini tells TODAY.com. “That’s where they would quarantine all the sick people,” she explains. “Apparently, quite a few souls have passed just due to that.”

The inn is also the site for other untimely deaths, including that of a young girl who was struck and killed by a train while she played near the railroad tracks bordering the property.

According to Morazzini, a father and son visiting the inn stepped outside the restaurant to watch the trains. After coming back inside, Morazzini overheard the father reassuring his young son that there wasn't anyone else outside — despite the son insisting he'd seen a little girl sitting beside them.

“He’s like, ‘She was sitting right next to me. She was crying. You didn’t see the little girl?’ And the dad said, ‘There was nobody there, it was just me and you, buddy,'" Morazzini recalls.

Other ghosts are said to haunt the old inn, including that of proprietor, John Stone, who Morazzini says didn’t actually die there, but is believed to be “watching over” the place.

One night when Morazzini was alone at the inn, she says she heard footsteps walking directly above her on the second floor. “I was just like, there is no explanation for that whatsoever. I’m leaving," she tells TODAY.com.

Still, she doesn’t believe that the spirits have bad intentions. “I’ve never had that scary, hair-on-the-back-of-your-neck-gotta-get-out-of-the-building feeling there."

The unexpected passenger

Ghost Stories

In the 1990s, Julie, a resident of Portland, Oregon, was driving out the city to meet with friends when she found herself in traffic. The 18-year-old soon discovered that the cause of the slowdown was due to a dreadful car crash and to her horror, as she passed the scene, she realized that someone had died.

A moment later, “there was a woman sitting in my passenger seat.” Julie says on “Monsters Among Us.”

Though she admits it sounds crazy, Julie reports seeing a woman dressed in work clothes seated next to her. And despite being in complete shock, the woman in the passenger seat was even more freaked out. “She looked like somebody who just suddenly ended up in somebody else’s car,” Julie says of the incident.

Panicked, the woman demanded to know how she got there and who Julie was. It was then that Julie noticed the woman had an unearthly quality about her and realized that whoever she’d passed on the side of the road was somehow in the car with her.

“'Ma’am, you need to calm down, my name is Julie and I’m here to help,’” she says she told the stranger. Julie later went on to explain to the woman that she’d been in a car accident and somehow ended up in her passenger seat. The woman was stricken.

At that exact minute, they passed a clearing in the trees. With some encouragement from Julie, the woman peacefully walked toward the sun, then disappeared.

In completely disbelief, Julie pulled over and convinced herself she’d imagined the whole thing. Several days later, however, a story came on the news about a trucker injured in a car accident.

“Before they finished, they threw a picture up of the woman that was in my car and explained that she had passed away in the accident,” Julie says during the podcast. “It was unbelievable, it was too much.”

The ghost in the choir loft

The First Church in Salem, Massachusetts.

Alicia Diozzi, teacher, tour guide and owner of Salem Kids Tours , typically sticks to talking about Salem, Massachusetts' long and diverse history.

However, there’s one story she likes to share about a ghost that haunts First Church in Salem. The plot twist? Only children can see it.

“The little ones, maybe age 4 or 5, will ask about a ghostly presence that they see up in the choir loft in the main sanctuary of our church,” she tells TODAY.com.

According to Diozzi, kids often point to the same spot in the church and claim they see a woman there.

“The kids will say she’s in a long dress, long-sleeves, and that she sometimes can be heard singing with the choir," Diozzi says.

Tales of the choir ghost have been circulating since the 1960s, says Diozzi. And she might have dismissed them had her own son not pointed to loft 15 years ago and asked about "the lady who sings with the choir."

Was she chilled?

“Yes, definitely,” Diozzi says. “I feel like the main sanctuary at First Church has that feeling, you do kind of feel the presence of the past.”

It’s not a bad feeling she says, but rather a history or energy that’s comforting in a way.

The ghosts of 'Shawshank' penitentiary

The Ohio State Reformatory.

The Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio is widely known for being the location of the classic movie, "The Shawshank Redemption."

But the old penitentiary, which was shut down in 1990, also has a reputation for being haunted.

Home to some of the most hardened criminals, the maximum-security prison was once the site of murders, suicides and other violent encounters, according to Theresa Argie, author and paranormal investigator known as “ The Haunted Housewife ."

“(The reformatory) had this incredible vein of violence that ran through it almost from the beginning," Argie tells TODAY.com.

“You can imagine why a place like that would be haunted,” she says. “There’s something negative there, you can just feel it in your bones.”

And there are, in fact, plenty of ghost stories from the old prison.

“We ran into female spirits there, which I thought was incredibly interesting,” Argie said. One of them, she says, is likely the wife of a former warden who was accidentally shot and killed while pulling a box down from a closet shelf.

According to Argie, they've captured recordings of a woman crying and, on occasion, smelled rose perfume in the bedroom.

Another spirit that’s said to haunt the reformatory is a woman who sits in the prison chapel and cries. “When you approach this woman sitting in the pew, she disappears. Other people have seen her walking," Argie says.

Then there's the malevolent presence there, according to Argie. And with the help of a medium, she says she communicated with it.

“He would literally be cussing at me,” she recalled.

While their sessions with the angry ghost were unnerving, it wasn’t until he followed Argie’s partner home that they were truly terrified.

“One day, she saw him, through a reflection of her window, she saw this thing in the back, this shadow figure, and she knew it was him," Argie tells TODAY.com.

After seeking the help of a paranormal expert, Argie says that "we haven't seen him since."

The phantom ambulance lights

Ambulance on forest road

In the mid 1990s, Robert worked as paramedic in a small Texas town and tells the story of a "strange happening" that he and his partner experienced on a call one night.

After receiving a call for a female having chest pains, he and his partner climbed in the ambulance to make their way to the address.

"We took off Code 3, which means using our emergency lights and sirens," Robert recalls.

In the absence of GPS back then, Robert says that they relied on maps and mailbox numbers to guide them to the rural location.

"The address we were going to was a very rural one," says Robert. "So, there was no street lights and it was a very dark night, so it was very difficult to read the mailboxes."

As they searched for the correct driveway, Robert says he turned off the sirens. After determining they'd found it, they pulled in only to discover they were mistaken.

"So, we turned off the emergency lights as we backed up to the road and went up the correct driveway," he explains.

Upon arriving at the scene, the paramedics realized that they'd been at the exact same address the month prior for a male suffering from cardiac arrest.

"In typical medical black-humor fashion, we mentioned to each other that this was probably the wife who was now having a heart attack and was now going to go join her husband."

They jumped from the ambulance, bags in tow, and began treating the woman, who, fortunately, ended up being alright. Robert says he sent his partner to get the stretcher from the ambulance so they could take her to hospital for evaluation.

"When he returned, he had this strange questioning look on his face," according to Robert. The pair wheeled the patient out to the emergency vehicle and that's when Robert saw that the ambulance "had nearly every light it was equipped with turned on."

"Strobe lights, flood lights, some interior lights ... everything on."

After taking the patient to the hospital, Robert asked his partner why he'd turned on all the lights.

In fact, he reminded Robert that they'd shut them all off after going to the wrong address.

"Neither of us recall activating the emergency lights, strobes or flood lights when we arrived at the house. There was no real reason to do so, we'd already gotten there.

"In the end, we wrote it off as her dead husband letting her know that he was still there."

The ghost dog

Fog in the nature park

Sarah, from Lancaster, Ohio, tells "Monsters Among Us" the story of her childhood dog, Cricket, who according to Sarah was a "pretty unhappy dog."

"She was super cranky, she only liked my grandma," Sarah says. "She didn't seem like she felt well."

Still, the family loved their dog and was devastated when the pup ran out into the road and was struck and killed by a passing car as they were preparing to leave on a family vacation.

"It was very sad, very upsetting, especially with me being a child. My grandmother was there, she loved Cricket and Cricket loved her. They had this special relationship that none of us had."

Despite the loss, the family had prepaid for their vacation, and not having a lot of money, decided to still go, leaving Cricket with an aunt who offered to take of the necessary details.

Upon arriving at the hotel where they were staying, Sarah says the family was "melancholy and sad" over the tragedy.

"We go to bed, and in the middle of the night, I'm not sure why I woke up, but I startled, woke up, sat up in bed, and looked down, and on the floor was Cricket, a full-body apparition, of her," says Sarah.

"She looked so happy, she looked like a different dog. She was jumping around. All that crankiness, all that unhappiness she had, was gone. It was like she was coming to tell me that she was OK. It was the clearest apparition. I've never seen an apparition again. It was the first and only time."

Sarah says she told her mother in the morning what she'd seen and her mom dismissed it as her middle-school brain just trying to make sense of the loss.

"I guess that's possible," says Sarah, "but to this day, I can still envision Cricket in that moment. I've never forgotten that image and it helped me feel better about what had happened because she seemed so happy and I do think she was visiting me that night."

  The ghosts of Willoughby Coal

The Willoughby Coal building in Ohio.

Built in the late 1800s, the Willoughby Coal building in Willoughby, Ohio, housed a variety of businesses in it's time, including a train depot, cheese factory and flour mill.

In 1912, it became the very prosperous Willoughby Coal, supplying coal to local residents before it was sold to Henry Windus and William “Don” Norris in the 1930s.

Over time, the relationship between the two owners grew contentious, according to Theresa Argie. “Henry Windus wanted to buy the business from Don Norris, but Don was unwilling to sell," the paranormal investigator tells TODAY.com

One morning, Norris allegedly told his wife he was going out for bread and to check on repairs being done on the Willoughby building.

He never returned.

Several hours later, his body was discovered in front of the door. “He was laying in a bloody heap,” Argie says.

Even though his death was ultimately ruled accidental, Argie says that Norris' family believed he'd been murdered. Though no one knows what really happened that morning, Argie believes his spirit still haunts the building.

“We have come in contact with him on many, many occasions,” she says and claims that others have reported seeing faces in the window and heard unexplained footsteps and other unusual occurrences at the building.

But Norris isn't alone.“We’ve probably got five or six resident spirits in the building."

The ghost nanny

Ghost touching sleeping granddaughter

Kip, a caller from New York state, talks of an old home that he and his wife purchased. Upon moving in, his wife invited her sister and newborn baby to come for a visit.

“The stayed in the downstairs bedroom and my wife was sleeping in an upstairs bedroom,” Kip explains on "Monsters Among Us," and says the first night their guests stayed, his wife overheard her sister talking to someone in the middle of the night.

The next morning, Kip’s wife asked who she’d been talking to and her sister replied, “I woke up in the middle of the night and there was an old lady standing over my baby and I had to tell her to get away.”

According to Kip, there were more unexplained incidents in the house including mysteriously moving lamps and a creepy occurrence with a fire alarm that went off while his wife was outside working in their garden.

“She immediately runs back into the house, figures out that it’s the smoke alarm in that same downstairs bedroom going off,” Kip says on the podcast. “When she opened the door, she said for a split second all she could see in the room was this white fog.”

Within moments, however, the white fog disappeared and the alarm shut off.

Convinced the house was haunted, Kip’s wife reached out to a neighbor to learn more about the property and discovered that the previous owner was a 90-year-old woman who tragically died in a house fire.

“Needless to say, we fixed up the house and got out of there as fast as we could and moved someplace else," says Kip.

Read on for more scares!

  • Are witches real? What to know on fact or fiction
  • Are werewolves real? The truth might surprise you
  • Scary books to read, from classics to modern fiction

dog ghost stories

Sarah is a lifestyle and entertainment reporter for TODAY who covers holidays, celebrities and everything in between.

Last of Us Part 2 PC Port and Bloodborne Remake Tease by Ghost of Tsushima PC Leak Source

Playstation has a lot in store for us..

Last of Us Part 2 PC Port and Bloodborne Remake Tease by Ghost of Tsushima PC Leak Source - The Last of Us Part II Remastered

Ghost of Tsushima, the 2020 action-adventure RPG, has finally been announced for PC. However, before the official announcement, the news was already leaked online. Interestingly, the same leaker that provided the Ghost of Tsushima information also has more details to share about other games such as Bloodborne and The Last of Us Part 2.

It seems that this leaker’s area of expertise is PlayStation titles, as they have been providing information only on PC ports and remakes for PlayStation first-party titles. Interestingly, in the same post that the leaker, Silknigth, revealed that Ghost of Tsushima for PC will be revealed soon, they were also asked where they had information about any other PlayStation ports that could be in the works, other than Horizon Forbidden West and Ghost of Tsushima.

The leaker replied stating that they cannot provide the players with any specific window for this release but according to them, “among other ports, The Last of Us Part 2 is very close.” This is not the most surprising bit of news, seeing that The Last of Us Part 1 remake also received a PC port within months of its release, we could see the same being done for the sequel too. Timing the release of The Last of Us Part 2 PC port to coincide with the release of The Last of Us season 2 seems like a great idea.

I don't have a specific time for this, but among other ports, The Last Of Us Part 2 is very close. — Silknigth (@Silknigth) March 5, 2024

Furthermore, the same leaker recently posted about Final Fantasy 9, stating that it is going through “challenging development”. In the same post, they were asked whether they had anything to share about Bloodborne. They had an interesting reply for the fans as they revealed, “Certainly, the game will receive more than just a simple remaster, but it will take time”. This is exciting news, however, players should know that none of this is official, so take it with a grain of salt.

Certainly, the game will receive more than just a simple remaster, but it will take time. — Silknigth (@Silknigth) March 5, 2024

dog ghost stories

The Last of Us Part II Remastered

The Last of Us Part 2 Could Have Been an Open World Title Inspired by Bloodborne (News The Last of Us Part II Remastered)

The Last of Us Part 2 Could Have Been an Open World Title Inspired by Bloodborne

Sony Reportedly Refunding The Last of Us 2 PS4 Digital Owners Who Bought PS5 Version Full Price (News The Last of Us Part II Remastered)

Sony Reportedly Refunding The Last of Us 2 PS4 Digital Owners Who Bought PS5 Version Full Price

The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered: New Trailers Goes Into Detail About the New Game Features (News The Last of Us Part II Remastered)

The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered: New Trailers Goes Into Detail About the New Game Features

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dinhbaochau.com

Unleash the Spooky Side of Canines Dog Ghost Stories

dog ghost stories

Dogs have long been known as man’s best friend, but what happens when our faithful companions cross over to the other side? Throughout history, there have been countless tales of ghostly canines haunting their former homes or protecting their owners from beyond the grave. From chilling encounters with spectral pups to eerie legends passed down through generations, dog ghost stories are sure to send shivers down your spine.

Join us as we explore the supernatural side of our furry friends and uncover some of the most bone-chilling dog ghost stories from around the world.

Unleash the Spooky Side of Canines Dog Ghost Stories

The Haunting of Houndsville: Dog Ghost Stories

In the small town of Houndsville, nestled in the mountains of Colorado, there is a legend that has been passed down for generations. It is said that on particularly foggy nights, the ghostly howls of a pack of hounds can be heard echoing through the streets.

According to the legend, these dogs were once owned by a wealthy family who lived in a grand mansion on the outskirts of town. The family was known for their love of hunting, and they kept a large pack of hounds for this purpose.

One fateful night, while out on a hunt, the family never returned. Their bodies were never found, and it is believed that they perished in a tragic accident. But to this day, the howls of their beloved hounds can still be heard, roaming the streets and searching for their lost owners.

Unleash the Spooky Side of Canines Dog Ghost Stories

Furry Phantoms: True Tales of Dog Ghosts

While the legend of Houndsville may seem like just a spooky story, there have been numerous reports of actual sightings of ghostly dogs throughout history.

One such tale comes from the famous author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who is best known for his Sherlock Holmes mysteries. In his book “The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes,” Doyle recounts a chilling encounter with a ghostly dog.

According to Doyle, he was staying at an old manor house in Sussex when he heard the sound of a large hound baying outside his window. When he looked out, he saw a spectral dog with glowing red eyes staring back at him. The dog disappeared into thin air, leaving Doyle shaken and convinced that he had encountered a ghost.

Another famous account of a dog ghost comes from the Tower of London, which has a long history of paranormal activity. According to legend, the ghost of a large black dog, known as the “Black Shuck,” haunts the Tower’s grounds. It is said that anyone who sees the Black Shuck is doomed to die within a year.

Unleash the Spooky Side of Canines Dog Ghost Stories

These are just a few examples of real-life encounters with dog ghosts, and there are countless more stories out there waiting to be discovered.

Bark at the Moon: Spooky Dog Ghost Legends

Dog ghost stories are not limited to just one culture or country – they can be found all around the world. In Japan, there is a popular legend about a ghostly dog called the Okuri-Inu, which translates to “escorting dog.”

This ghostly canine is said to appear to travelers who are lost or in danger, leading them safely to their destination before disappearing into thin air. Some people believe that the Okuri-Inu is a manifestation of the spirits of loyal dogs who died while protecting their owners.

Unleash the Spooky Side of Canines Dog Ghost Stories

In Mexico, there is a legend of a dog ghost known as the Cadejo. This creature is described as a large, black dog with glowing red eyes, similar to the Black Shuck of the Tower of London. However, the Cadejo is seen as a protector rather than an omen of death. It is said that the Cadejo will appear to those in danger and lead them to safety, often taking on the form of a loved one who has passed away.

Ghost Paws: Supernatural Stories of Canine Companions

Dogs are known for their loyalty and companionship, even in death. Many dog ghost stories involve a loyal pup who refuses to leave its owner’s side, even after they have passed away.

One such story comes from the town of Hull, England. In the 1920s, a wealthy woman named Emily Pratt was struck by a car and killed while walking her dog, Toby. Her husband, who had died a few years earlier, had left a will stating that the family fortune could only be inherited by someone who had seen both him and Emily’s ghost.

Unleash the Spooky Side of Canines Dog Ghost Stories

Years went by, and no one had ever claimed the fortune until one day, a man named Arthur Cadman came forward with a strange story. While out walking his dog, he claimed to have encountered the ghosts of Emily and her husband, who told him where to find a hidden key that would unlock the fortune.

Many believe that it was Toby, Emily’s loyal dog, who guided Arthur to the key and helped him fulfill the conditions of the will.

Canine Spirits: Haunted Dog Tales

In some cases, it is not just the spirits of dogs that haunt us, but their physical forms as well. There have been numerous reports of ghostly dogs appearing to their owners or roaming the streets, only to disappear without a trace.

One particularly eerie tale comes from the small town of North Yorkshire, England. In the early 1900s, a large black dog was said to roam the streets at night, appearing in the windows of homes and scaring residents. The dog became known as the “Barphant”, which means “black dog” in the local dialect.

Unleash the Spooky Side of Canines Dog Ghost Stories

However, what makes this story truly frightening is that the Barphant was not just a ghost – it was also sighted during the day. It was described as having menacing red eyes and would often vanish into thin air before anyone could approach it.

To this day, no one knows for sure what the Barphant was or where it came from, but its legend still lives on in North Yorkshire.

Tales from the Dark Kennel: Chilling Dog Ghost Encounters

Dogs may be known for their friendly and playful nature, but when it comes to ghostly encounters, things can take a dark turn. Many people have reported being chased or attacked by ghostly hounds, leaving them terrified and confused.

One such story comes from England’s most haunted village, Pluckley. In the early 1900s, a farmer named John Furze was walking home late at night when he was suddenly attacked by a large black dog with glowing red eyes. The dog chased him through the fields until he finally reached his house, where he collapsed from fear and exhaustion.

Unleash the Spooky Side of Canines Dog Ghost Stories

The next morning, John told his neighbors what had happened, and they searched the area for any signs of the dog. They found nothing except for strange tracks leading into a nearby pond. Some believe that the dog was a ghostly manifestation of a local legend known as the “Black Bishop”, who was said to be buried in the pond.

Puppy Poltergeists: Unexplained Canine Ghost Sightings

While some dog ghost stories can be explained away as just legends or tall tales, there are others that have no logical explanation. These sightings often involve ghostly puppies, whose presence brings comfort and joy to those who encounter them.

One such tale comes from a family in Wisconsin. After their beloved dog passed away, the family began experiencing strange occurrences in their home. Toys would move on their own, and the sound of playful barking could be heard throughout the house.

One night, the family woke up to find their bed surrounded by six ghostly puppies, all bearing an uncanny resemblance to their deceased dog. The puppies stayed with the family for a few minutes before disappearing into thin air.

To this day, the family still believes that their beloved dog’s spirit returned to visit them in the form of playful pups.

Howling in the Night: Dog Ghost Legends from Around the World

We have explored some of the most chilling and eerie dog ghost stories, but there are countless more from different cultures and countries around the world. In Ireland, there is a legend of a spectral dog called the Dullahan, who is said to ride through the countryside on a black horse, carrying his own head under his arm.

Unleash the Spooky Side of Canines Dog Ghost Stories

In Romania, there is a tale of a large, black dog known as the “Barghest”, which is said to be an omen of death. It is believed that if you see the Barghest, someone close to you will soon die.

And in India, there is a myth of a ghostly dog called the “Sirius”, which was believed to possess supernatural powers and could even bring the dead back to life.

No matter where you go in the world, it seems that tales of ghostly dogs are ingrained in our cultural history.

The Ghostly Guardian: Eerie Stories of Dogs Protecting Their Owners

While many dog ghost stories can be scary or unsettling, there are also heartwarming tales of our canine companions continuing to protect and care for us even after they have passed away.

One such story comes from a woman in New York City who claimed to be visited by her beloved dog, Brownie, every night after he died. She would feel him jump onto her bed and curl up next to her, just like he used to do when he was alive.

But what makes this story truly remarkable is that during a particularly dangerous incident, the woman heard Brownie growling and barking, warning her of the danger before she even saw it. To this day, she believes that Brownie’s spirit is still watching over her and protecting her.

This is just one example of the many stories out there of dogs continuing to protect their owners, even after they have passed away.

The Barking Dead: Terrifying Tales of Haunted Hounds

From playful puppy spirits to menacing spectral hounds, dog ghost stories can range from heartwarming to downright terrifying. But one thing is for sure – the bond between humans and dogs is so strong that not even death can break it.

So the next time you hear a strange noise in the night or see a shadowy figure out of the corner of your eye, remember that it may just be the ghostly presence of a loyal canine companion, watching over you from beyond the grave.

Unleash the Spooky Side of Canines Dog Ghost Stories

Dog ghost stories may seem like nothing more than spooky tales, but to those who have experienced them, they are very real. From sightings of ghostly pups to eerie legends passed down through generations, these stories show just how strong the bond between humans and dogs truly is.

Whether you believe in ghosts or not, one thing is certain – our furry friends will always hold a special place in our hearts, even in death. So the next time you take your dog for a walk or snuggle up with them on the couch, remember that their love and loyalty will never die.

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    The blue ghost dog legend is one of the oldest ghost stories in the United States, dating to the 1700s. As the story goes, Charles Thomas Sims was attacked by a pack of thieves after a night of drinking and bragging about the amount of gold he had. Sims fought to his last breath, with his faithful dog, a blue tick hound, battling at his side.

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    2. Port Tobacco, Maryland - The Blue Ghost Dog. The blue ghost dog of Port Tobacco is said to be the oldest ghost story in America. The story dates back to the 1700s. The story says Charles Howard Sims was attacked by a man after a night of drinking and bragging about the amount of gold he had.

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    The legend of the Blue Dog might be the oldest ghost story in American history. The story dates back to the 1700's in Port Tobacco, Maryland. Late one night, a soldier named Charles Thomas Sims entered a tavern with his faithful hound, Blue Dog. Sims drank and bragged to the locals about his wealth in gold and a deed to a large estate.

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    Sidney Paget's illustration of The Hound of the Baskervilles.The story was inspired by a legend of ghostly black dogs in Dartmoor. The black dog is a supernatural, spectral, or demonic hellhound originating from English folklore that has also been seen throughout Europe and the Americas. It is usually unnaturally large with glowing red or yellow eyes, is often connected with the Devil (as an ...

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