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Ghosts Of Pets

mrs_mose

Junior Acolyte
Joined
Nov 1, 2016
Messages
35
Has anyone else seen a ghost of their pet or had spooky experiences after the death of an animal?

I have had a couple of experiences like this.

The first was after my Dad had taken one of my dogs to be put to sleep. I was about 20 and I was laying on the grass in our back garden. I was looking up at the sky and I saw a cloud shaped exactly like the head of a Labrador, being in a delicate frame of mind at the time I took it to be a sign that my pet was no longer in pain and at peace.

The second occasion was not long after I had left home and moved in with my boyfriend (now husband). I woke up in the middle of the night and I saw my dog very distinctly sitting next to my bed with his head resting next to me. He didn't appear ghostly, he looked quite solid, and I remember thinking " oh there's Toby" and went immediately back to sleep. I remembered it the next morning with a comforted feeling that even though I had moved house he could still find me!
 
Welcome, and what lovely experiences. There are people here who've had similar things happen to them.

In fact, we have whole threads about ghost cats/pets (on which I have posted!) which you might like to take a look at.

We had a ghost cat for years, haven't seen it for a while but I'm sure it's still around somewhere.
 
Genuine question; If you believe ghosts to be earthbound spirits, who still hang around their old familiar locations or close to friends and family because they don't realise they have died, would the same hold true for pets?
Personally, I don't believe that and, if anything, would subscribe to the Stone Tape theory to explain ghosts.
There are though mediums who claim they can help earthbound spirits to accept their situation and move on to the spirit realm where they should be.
With a cat, dog or maybe a bunny, how could they be made to understand that it's time to move into the light?
Is there even a feline, canine or leporine (like that last chapter of Watership Down?) afterlife?
 
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Genuine question; If you believe ghosts to be earthbound spirits, who still hang around their old familiar locations or close to friends and family because they don't realise they have died, would the same hold true for pets?
Personally, I don't believe that and, if anything, would subscribe to the Stone Tape theory to explain ghosts.
There are though mediums who claim they can help earthbound spirits to accept their situation and move on to the spirit realm where they should be.
With a cat, dog or maybe a bunny, how could they be made to understand that it's time to move into the light?
Is there even a feline, canine or leporine (like that last chapter of Watership Down?) afterlife?



Ah now, try this. It's from b3ta, a few years ago. I've posted it before but here it is again because I think you'll like it.


The night our dog died


When our family dog died, I was in my early twenties still living in the home I was raised, an Indian family in the suburbs of London

As anyone who has had a pet will know, it was devastating for all of us and it marks the one creepy story in my life

The evening that our dog passed away, my younger brother walked into my bedroom at about 2am and quietly asked if i was awake. Of course, that did the trick and I said I was. "Can you hear that?". With such a question, I was wide awake in a nano second and sitting upright.

I strained to pick out what he seemed to hear very obviously, but couldnt hear anything. he repeated twice "there, can't you hear that?".

I might add at this point that my Brother is very level head-headed. Very anti drugs and anti anything that results in loss of mental self control, very stoic... So i did not think then, or now, that he was imagining it and asked him what he could hear. "I can hear Dad outside calling me"

I got out of bed and in my sleepy state, I imagined that perhaps our Father had gone sleep walking or got stuck outside (why, I didnt know, but I was trying to match scenarios to what my Brother was telling me). He had never done either. So, we walked to my Parents room and peered into the darkness.

I quietly called out "Dad?" and he woke with a slight start obviously a bit suprised to have both his adult sons looking in to the room. This time my brother just said he could hear a voice in the garden and now the whole family was awake

What followed would be comical if it wasn't so odd at the time. We all quietly trooped downstairs and I picking up the nearest solid object as now I supposed there must be an intruder in our back garden

Our garden is accessed by huge sliding glass doors. It means that you can see the outside clearer than the inside because of the ambient light from the street. As we walked towards the doors, it was obvious that the garden was empty

Again, my brother asked "Cant you all hear that???" By now he was slightly bewildered more than anything. My Father asked "what exactly can you hear?" and he told him what he told me orginally "Dad, I can hear YOU calling out to me". I still remember my Father's reaction when he asked him to repeat what he just said.

My Father's face showed a sense of recognition & sadness. He seemed to nod.. He looked out at the garden and said to all of us "everyone go to sleep, I am going to stay up a while"

At this point I just thought the whole thing was rather silly and happily trooped up to bed, and was asleep immediately

The next morning, I came downstairs and of course asked what all that was about. My brother was already awake, but my Father was waiting for me to get up before saying anything

My father is a hindu. The religion is the world's oldest major religion and is a unique combination of culturally led traditions, supersitions & dogma. My Father is a humble man and never imposed the religion on us London born boys (he even sent us to Roman Catholic Schools without blinking).

So he chose words knowing that his audience were in many ways removed from his beliefs, neither familiar nor overly skeptical

He told us that according to Hindu belief, when animals die, they dont know that they have passed on. Humans know that they have died, so, unless they have 'unfinished' business, they dont hang about. But pets want to come back into the home that they have lived in for years.

As they are on the outside, they call out to someone in the family in a human voice that this person will recognise in the hope that they will let them in.

I went quite cold, and my Brother was so unnerved, his face actually went completely blank

My Father then said that he had sat facing the garden and prayed for our pet dog and told her to go in peace.

I never questioned my Brother about it and he did not defend what he said he had heard nor started to fob it off as something imagined

We never spoke about it again.
 

Ah now, try this. It's from b3ta, a few years ago. I've posted it before but here it is again because I think you'll like it.


The night our dog died


When our family dog died, I was in my early twenties still living in the home I was raised, an Indian family in the suburbs of London

As anyone who has had a pet will know, it was devastating for all of us and it marks the one creepy story in my life

The evening that our dog passed away, my younger brother walked into my bedroom at about 2am and quietly asked if i was awake. Of course, that did the trick and I said I was. "Can you hear that?". With such a question, I was wide awake in a nano second and sitting upright.

I strained to pick out what he seemed to hear very obviously, but couldnt hear anything. he repeated twice "there, can't you hear that?".

I might add at this point that my Brother is very level head-headed. Very anti drugs and anti anything that results in loss of mental self control, very stoic... So i did not think then, or now, that he was imagining it and asked him what he could hear. "I can hear Dad outside calling me"

I got out of bed and in my sleepy state, I imagined that perhaps our Father had gone sleep walking or got stuck outside (why, I didnt know, but I was trying to match scenarios to what my Brother was telling me). He had never done either. So, we walked to my Parents room and peered into the darkness.

I quietly called out "Dad?" and he woke with a slight start obviously a bit suprised to have both his adult sons looking in to the room. This time my brother just said he could hear a voice in the garden and now the whole family was awake

What followed would be comical if it wasn't so odd at the time. We all quietly trooped downstairs and I picking up the nearest solid object as now I supposed there must be an intruder in our back garden

Our garden is accessed by huge sliding glass doors. It means that you can see the outside clearer than the inside because of the ambient light from the street. As we walked towards the doors, it was obvious that the garden was empty

Again, my brother asked "Cant you all hear that???" By now he was slightly bewildered more than anything. My Father asked "what exactly can you hear?" and he told him what he told me orginally "Dad, I can hear YOU calling out to me". I still remember my Father's reaction when he asked him to repeat what he just said.

My Father's face showed a sense of recognition & sadness. He seemed to nod.. He looked out at the garden and said to all of us "everyone go to sleep, I am going to stay up a while"

At this point I just thought the whole thing was rather silly and happily trooped up to bed, and was asleep immediately

The next morning, I came downstairs and of course asked what all that was about. My brother was already awake, but my Father was waiting for me to get up before saying anything

My father is a hindu. The religion is the world's oldest major religion and is a unique combination of culturally led traditions, supersitions & dogma. My Father is a humble man and never imposed the religion on us London born boys (he even sent us to Roman Catholic Schools without blinking).

So he chose words knowing that his audience were in many ways removed from his beliefs, neither familiar nor overly skeptical

He told us that according to Hindu belief, when animals die, they dont know that they have passed on. Humans know that they have died, so, unless they have 'unfinished' business, they dont hang about. But pets want to come back into the home that they have lived in for years.

As they are on the outside, they call out to someone in the family in a human voice that this person will recognise in the hope that they will let them in.

I went quite cold, and my Brother was so unnerved, his face actually went completely blank

My Father then said that he had sat facing the garden and prayed for our pet dog and told her to go in peace.

I never questioned my Brother about it and he did not defend what he said he had heard nor started to fob it off as something imagined

We never spoke about it again.

Astonishing, simply astonishing. I'm lost for words.
 

Ah now, try this. It's from b3ta, a few years ago. I've posted it before but here it is again because I think you'll like it.


The night our dog died


When our family dog died, I was in my early twenties still living in the home I was raised, an Indian family in the suburbs of London

As anyone who has had a pet will know, it was devastating for all of us and it marks the one creepy story in my life

The evening that our dog passed away, my younger brother walked into my bedroom at about 2am and quietly asked if i was awake. Of course, that did the trick and I said I was. "Can you hear that?". With such a question, I was wide awake in a nano second and sitting upright.

I strained to pick out what he seemed to hear very obviously, but couldnt hear anything. he repeated twice "there, can't you hear that?".

I might add at this point that my Brother is very level head-headed. Very anti drugs and anti anything that results in loss of mental self control, very stoic... So i did not think then, or now, that he was imagining it and asked him what he could hear. "I can hear Dad outside calling me"

I got out of bed and in my sleepy state, I imagined that perhaps our Father had gone sleep walking or got stuck outside (why, I didnt know, but I was trying to match scenarios to what my Brother was telling me). He had never done either. So, we walked to my Parents room and peered into the darkness.

I quietly called out "Dad?" and he woke with a slight start obviously a bit suprised to have both his adult sons looking in to the room. This time my brother just said he could hear a voice in the garden and now the whole family was awake

What followed would be comical if it wasn't so odd at the time. We all quietly trooped downstairs and I picking up the nearest solid object as now I supposed there must be an intruder in our back garden

Our garden is accessed by huge sliding glass doors. It means that you can see the outside clearer than the inside because of the ambient light from the street. As we walked towards the doors, it was obvious that the garden was empty

Again, my brother asked "Cant you all hear that???" By now he was slightly bewildered more than anything. My Father asked "what exactly can you hear?" and he told him what he told me orginally "Dad, I can hear YOU calling out to me". I still remember my Father's reaction when he asked him to repeat what he just said.

My Father's face showed a sense of recognition & sadness. He seemed to nod.. He looked out at the garden and said to all of us "everyone go to sleep, I am going to stay up a while"

At this point I just thought the whole thing was rather silly and happily trooped up to bed, and was asleep immediately

The next morning, I came downstairs and of course asked what all that was about. My brother was already awake, but my Father was waiting for me to get up before saying anything

My father is a hindu. The religion is the world's oldest major religion and is a unique combination of culturally led traditions, supersitions & dogma. My Father is a humble man and never imposed the religion on us London born boys (he even sent us to Roman Catholic Schools without blinking).

So he chose words knowing that his audience were in many ways removed from his beliefs, neither familiar nor overly skeptical

He told us that according to Hindu belief, when animals die, they dont know that they have passed on. Humans know that they have died, so, unless they have 'unfinished' business, they dont hang about. But pets want to come back into the home that they have lived in for years.

As they are on the outside, they call out to someone in the family in a human voice that this person will recognise in the hope that they will let them in.

I went quite cold, and my Brother was so unnerved, his face actually went completely blank

My Father then said that he had sat facing the garden and prayed for our pet dog and told her to go in peace.

I never questioned my Brother about it and he did not defend what he said he had heard nor started to fob it off as something imagined

We never spoke about it again.

That's just so poignant.
I would hate to think of Puss, who obviously is very attached to us, crying and wondering why no-one will let her in and pat her, when she departs this mortal coil.
 
That's just so poignant.
I would hate to think of Puss, who obviously is very attached to us, crying and wondering why no-one will let her in and pat her, when she departs this mortal coil.

You do what the Hindu father did - prayed for our pet dog and told her to go in peace.

I saw my big dog Rocky a few days after he died. Well, I saw his reflection in a glass door, with his brindle-striped back and curly tail. He was walking out through the back wall of the house.
 
I've had the pleasure, over more than a few years, of visits from four dogs who've gone to the other side.
The first came and sat in the doorway of my history class ( so practically pre- history) to say goodbye. She wasn't solid like a living dog, but was definitely there. I, sitting three rows in opposite the door, (so ~15 ft if that as it was a porta-cabin) looked up, made eye contact and then she wasn't there.
The second climbed on the end of the bed that night same as every night. The bed dipped down with his weight and he lay down. I just couldn't see him.
The third, who I wrote about earlier in a different thread appeared in a dream. I knew he was gone (in the dream) and was quite emotional. He sat on the doorstep and I tried to get him to come inside, but he couldn't. Then he turned round and walked off across the garden.:( (It was dark in the dream so almost felt like real-time).
Lastly was the dog who I'd looked after on and off for a few years but he wasn't mine. He became ill quite quickly and the day after burying him in the woods he came and sat in the kitchen briefly, and just as before, he wasn't a solid looking dog. He hung round just long enough to say goodbye, I didn't see how he left.
There's been other animals in between who haven't put in an appearance post mortem, but only a couple.
 
Years back I had a dream and I remember it because it was not like any dream I've ever had. The landscape was featureless, just a curtain of grey all around, mist covering my feet so I couldn't see the path I was walking on. A large ball of blue light floated towards me (yes it seemed corny even then) but as it passed through me, everything I knew and recognised about Honey the family dog (who'd died eight years before), the touch of her fur, her smell, the wetness of her tongue, came back to me in that instance.
It puzzled me when I woke because I hadn't been thinking about her, there were no memory triggers. I'd never grieved for her, she'd had a good life and died of old age and I was seven years into a new family dog. But, it was definitely Honey. Perhaps she had sought me out ?
 
Our dog passed away this summer after a sudden illness. I haven't seen her since then, but I can swear I've smelled her. So has my husband, and one night we were both sure we heard her bark.

One of my sons had walked her nearly every evening for years, it was their special ritual and losing her was especially hard on him. A couple of weeks later, I was driving home and saw my son walking on the road ahead. I noticed what seemed to be a small terrier bounding along beside him. I thought "huh, where did that dog come from?" but when I came closer, there was no dog (though it wasn't impossible there had been one, since there are plenty of dogs in the neighborhood.) When I asked son about it later, he said there had never been any dog with him at all.

It was interesting, but our dog had been a saluki, not a terrier, so it didn't seem particularly ghostly.

A few weeks later, I was standing on the corner watching the moon rise, and my husband drove past on his way to town. He stopped and asked - somewhat puzzled - if there had been a dog with me a moment before, as he was sure he'd seen one standing there as we were outlined in the headlights. I said the same as my son had a few weeks earlier - no, there hadn't been any dog - but the coincidence made me wonder.
 
Some years ago our cat Magic died of old age, I remember seeing a shadow out of the corner of my eye and heard him walk across our wooden floor. But some weeks ago someone left us a lovely photo of him and wether it's wishful thinking or not, heard him walk across the floor.
 
My mums sister took this picture this summer gone.
image.jpeg
 
After my Labrador, also called Honey had to be put to sleep at the age of 13, I heard her bark and had a corner of the eye glimpse.

A friend of mine kept a big dog which wore a chunky chain round its neck. The chain would rattle against the metal bowl at mealtimes. She still heard the chain rattling for a year or so after the dog's death.
 
So why some and not others? I would LOVE for my big old Dilly to come and pay me a visit, he was part of our family for 14 years, my children grew up with him and he was the biggest teddy bear of a dog, who adored me and I him.

I always hoped that I'd hear the click of his claws or his shuffle across the carpet, or that the remaining dogs would greet a shadow as a returning friend. But no, nothing. So my last memory of him is the day I had him put to sleep in the kitchen, unable to stand or raise his head. So why would he not pay a last visit?
 
One of our dogs Poppy died 4 weeks ago this Friday. She was ill, although we expected to have a few more months with her. The day before she died she started bleeding internally and went into shock. We called out vet and were able to have an after hours emergency appointment. She had a tumor on her bladder and an enlarged liver with a growth which had erupted. He was able to stabilize her and we brought her home, my wife and I getting some take away as it was almost 9pm.
24 hours later she took another turn and had gone into shock so with our vets advice, we decided to have her put to sleep rather than have her endure this happening again and again. Our vet came to our home and she died peacefully in my wife's arms with me patting her head as we tried to hold the tears back but couldn't.
The previous night, I had prepared a meal before we left for the vet visit and as we left there so late, we didn't eat it.
Some hours after she died, upset and distraught, I suggested that perhaps it would be best if we tried to have something for dinner, despite not really feeling hungry. With that I went into the kitchen to cook the meal, I has prepared the night before.
Poppy was a dog who loved food, in fact she was obsessed by it. The moment she heard the fridge open or heard a packet rustle she'd be there in the kitchen waiting either for a treat or for something to fall on the floor. If something wasn't forthcoming she would often jump against the back of my leg, to let me know I was neglecting to slip her a little something of whatever I was preparing.
At this moment, my wife was in our lounge room sobbing, cuddling our other dog, Toby and I was weeping in the kitchen prepping the meal when I very distinctly felt Poppy jump onto the back of my leg, so much so that my leg actually buckled a little as it did when she did so.
Although only two hours after she passed, I was and still am convinced that she was coming for one last treat and saying goodbye.
We had her cremated and she sits in a lovely timber box just across from where I'm sitting as I type this.
I desperately want to see her again.
 
I'll admit to being initially sceptical over the title of this thread, I'm an animal lover myself so I know how grief stricken pet owners can get over the loss of a pet .. if this video isn't faked, for me, this is the best ghost video I've ever seen. To me, I can clearly see a cat's face, the man holding the phone says it's disappeared (which is the most suspect part of it .. no it hasn't, you've just moved a bit to the left and the furniture has blocked your/our view?) .. but then then we see it again more clearly, it appears to turn around and then turns into a light 'smear' across the floor heading in the direction of the bathroom that quickly fades out from right to left.

A video of a suggested ghost cat:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/f1kxkpb2l5nprqf/Gc trim.3gp?dl=0

.. posted on the ghost study forum, paranormal soup with further conversation about this footage:

http://www.paranormalsoup.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=43502&st=0
 
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with further conversation about this footage

From the discussion, it seems that the poster had some "past form" on that Board and the ghost-kitty was his come-back. Though it dated back some years, he had never posted it earlier, despite it being his most impressive video.

The proposal that the ghost-cat is a Pepper's Ghost illusion, where an off-stage, living cat is reflected in a sheet of glass, seems likely. :cat:
 
From the discussion, it seems that the poster had some "past form" on that Board and the ghost-kitty was his come-back. Though it dated back some years, he had never posted it earlier, despite it being his most impressive video.

The proposal that the ghost-cat is a Pepper's Ghost illusion, where an off-stage, living cat is reflected in a sheet of glass, seems likely. :cat:
Good points .. I read the whole feedback, I couldn't see any evidence of glass within the portrait setting mobile phone footage that could have created the pepper's ghost illusion (the whole angled glass with something elsewhere artistically lit to create that illusion thing for anyone else reading) .. even if he's lying, I couldn't spot it, he seems to have provided a link to an image of the furniture behind 'the cat' to disprove the reflection theory although I can't get that link to work. It's a fantastic illusion if he is so full points to him for that at least! .. and I've no idea what he's seeing in his ghost dog about to jump on his bed photo.

The paranormal soup forum is deliberately sceptical so I wouldn't hold their snarky replies as evidence that this guy's a fraudster, it has more online 'work politics' than this forum does by far. I'm still impressed with this footage and I don't even like cats especially ..
 
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I will have another look at it later - needs a change of browser for me!

There is also his claim that he was investigating an unusual light in his daughter's room. This must be a reponse to the perennial ghost-footage question: "why were you taking this picture in the first place?"

It may be that a bloke's first response to that these days would be to get his phone out and start filming but it seems more like ghost-hunting than good parenting! :popc:
 
They don't always come back. I fully expected my old cat to come back after he was put to sleep as we were inseparable, devoted to each other and he was fiercely intelligent.

Nothing though.


Just to add. Like Houdini's wife I fully expected the Old Fella to make the effort and contact me from beyond the grave. He couldn't be arsed.
 
They don't always come back. I fully expected my old cat to come back after he was put to sleep as we were inseparable, devoted to each other and he was fiercely intelligent.

Nothing though.

When I saw my dear departed Rocky he was walking away from me. If it were really Rocky then I'd feel he was off on his way to Doggy Heaven where the tripe grows on trees and rabbits like being chased.
 
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