O'Neill's Ghostories: They Died

"They Died"
from Ron A.
Hailing From: Didn't Say
Where it Happened: At home

When I was about 10 years old my family used to live on leased land that was owned buy a nice old guy who only charged us per year what would be pocket change to someone who was making even minimum wage today. At the time I had a German Shepherd which looked almost exactly like his dog which he lost a few years after I got my dog.

Now my dog wasn't afraid of anything he had three inch fangs and could beat any other dog in the neighborhood. He also didn't like strangers and would avoid them, even the people next door. If someone drove in our yard, and he didn't know them or the car, the dog would growl and bare his teeth and not let them out of the car until someone in the family came out and said, "OK, knock it off- it's alright!"

This was such to the point that we had trouble getting oil deliveries and the electric company made us pay to have the meter moved to where the meter reader could just drive up to read the meter without having to roll down his window!

Our land lord would only come around once in a while, maybe four or five times a year, but when my dog saw him pull into the yard his ears would go down and he'd wag his tail and bark and yip and run around in circles and he'd jump up and lick our landlord on the hands and face. He was the only one my dog would take commands from other than me (the dog just ignored my parents).

One day my dog sat down in the driveway and began to howl. Not a loud noise howl, but this low from the throat howl, that was halfway between a growl and a howl. I never heard him make a noise like that in the four years I owned him. Shortly after that we found out that the landlord had died. He was about eighty so it wasn't that big a shock but a few days later we found out that he died at the same hour my dog sat in the driveway and began this indescribable howling. It even sends shivers up my spine to remember it.

After that I swear my dog went into mourning. He wouldn't touch his food for days. He didn't go exploring around the neighborhood and he didn't even bother to chase other dogs out of the yard for like a month afterward. A month went by and he seemed to get over it but after that he wouldn't let me out of his sight. He had to go with me wherever I was. He wanted to be within 10 feet of me and he had to keep me in his sight. This was pretty annoying when I had to use the bathroom but if I didn't let him see me he would bark and whine and scratch at the door to be near me. It was like this unless I went away in the car (he didn't like cars as he couldn't ride without getting carsick) and I had him until I was 17 when his hips gave out and we had to put him down.

But the story doesn't end here.

When I lost my dog, at the same time, my uncle got a half Doberman half Shepherd puppy. My uncle couldn't do anything with him. The dog wouldn't listen to him. When I came over to see him the dog ran up to me and rolled over on his back and I scratched him on the back and belly and played with him for a while. When I went to leave the dog jumped in my car with me and wouldn't get out. Finally my uncle had to pull him out and I went home.

A few months later my uncle called my mother and said "I'm getting rid of my dog ask if your boy wants him?' So My mom asked me if I wanted him and I said "Sure!" because I missed having a dog.

Well when that dog saw me again, he had a fit! He got so excited he peed on my foot! My uncle said, "Jeez he never does that when he sees me when I come home."

We visited for a while and when I went to leave the dog had already jumped through the open window of my Chevy Camaro and was sitting in the passengers seat with his head out the window looking at us as we came out. My uncle said "well I guess he's made up his mind." And we laughed and home I went. When I got home the dog got out of the car and went right over to where my old dog used to lay and laid down! In the same exact spot!

This spot isn't remarkable in any way it isn't near a dog house or a water or food dish or in the shade or sun. It's just a place in the yard where my old dog used to lay and this dog went over and laid in the exact same spot!

After a while I noticed a few other striking similarities between the two dogs. This dog wouldn't let me out of his sight either. This dog was as protective as my old dog and acted the same way around strangers and people who came into the yard. He wouldn't listen to anyone else but me. I brought him over to see my uncle and my uncle couldn't believe the dog was walking on a leash and sitting on command and lying down and coming when called. He said I couldn't get him to do that and I took him to obedience classes and everything!"

There was one incident which I will remember even if I forget everything else in my life. One night my new dog woke us up in the middle of the night at 2:41 in the morning with the same howl that my first dog had made. My father came out into the living room and said, "What the hells wrong with him?"

By this time my mother came out into the living room and said, "Maybe he's sick."

So I said to the dog, "Hey what's the matter with you, huh?" and the dog looked up at me right into my eyes and I SWEAR I herd him SAY,

"They died."

. . . and then I said to my mother, "He says somebody died" and then I stumbled back to bed and didn't think any more about it.

It wasn't anybody in the house and we didn't get any phone calls from relatives, so we just didn't think any more about it at first. The next day we found out two people who I knew were found dead in the field near my house less than a hundred yards away. They were parking and the car had an exhaust leak and the couple died from carbon monoxide poisoning. In the paper the story listed the time of death as between one and three am according to the medical examiners report. But I swear to you That dog spoke to me and I heard him say "They died" and at first I thought he meant some ONE died but then after a while I realized The Voice had said "THEY died" meaning plural -- MORE THAN ONE PERSON !

I guess this is the creepy part that the voice that "spoke" to me knew that more than one person had died and right around the exact time of death. After that the only other remarkable thing was that whenever you wanted the dog for something and you went to the door to call for him he'd be right there. You never had to call for him when you wanted him he was always right there.

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