When Ghosts Speak - Mary Ann Winkowski [77]
Still other animals apparently linger to offer protection. When I do radio shows, I often get a lot of calls from long-distance truckers who are listening as they drive. Most of them have had an encounter with what I call “highway animals.” These ghosts are usually white dogs, though I have heard of people who have seen bears or coyotes. The drivers explain that they were driving on a quiet stretch of highway when suddenly they saw a big white dog in the road, usually when they were cresting a hill or starting a deep curve. They slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting the animal and proceeded cautiously. Almost always, they then saw—slightly up ahead—a person standing by the side of the highway, or an accident, or a disabled vehicle. To these drivers, it was as if the animals were purposely warning them of a danger ahead.
I have also heard from people who do not have pets at home but have been startled awake at night by the sound of a dog frantically barking or the feeling of a cat batting at their face. Once awake, they become aware of some kind of emergency such as a fire or a seriously ill family member.
And I’ve seen animals stay out of a sense of a job unfinished. I have encountered ghost racehorses that still exercise themselves on the track each morning and run in actual races with the living horses. In the end, much like humans, I believe that animals’ personalities influence whether their spirits stay behind or cross over.
Recognizing When an Animal Ghost Is Present
When I do visit someplace where a ghost animal is present, people frequently ask me, “Why didn’t my dog/cat/canary sense this ghost?” Again, my experience has shown that animals are very like people in this regard. Animals notice both animal and human earthbound spirits and react to them as they would to any living animal or person in their space. They may also be more sensitive to the subtle changes in temperature that can occur around earthbound spirits.
Like some people, some animals are more aware of the presence of earthbound spirits in general. There are animals that will notice if a spirit comes into a home, but if they move with their family into a house where ghosts are already present, they act as if the spirit belongs with the home. In this situation, an animal will largely ignore the presence of the earthbound spirit unless the ghost torments the pet by poking or kicking it, slamming doors on its tail, stepping on its paws, or trapping it in certain rooms.
Depending on the type of animal you have in your home, you may notice different behavior patterns—the spirits of animals definitely influence the living animals. For example, your cat may be peacefully sleeping in a sunny spot on the back of the couch when, suddenly, she’ll wake up and intently track something across the floor or even the ceiling. If you are in the room, you’ll follow your cat’s gaze, but you won’t see anything. Maybe you’ll tell yourself that she’s just noticing a bug or a spider. But nine times out of ten, if you get up and go look at the spot where she was staring, you won’t find anything there.
Both dogs and cats may avoid certain areas in a room. They may suddenly stop dead in their tracks and turn around or take a different route out of a room. But unless there is an animal or human ghost that is purposely mean or threatening to them, animals are pretty laid-back about the earthbound spirits they see.
Are Animal Ghosts Harmful?
Because the ghosts of domestic animals are small, they don’t need the same amount of energy as human spirits. And generally, having the earthbound spirit of a house pet in your home will not disturb you very much. In many cases, people who say they can sense the presence of beloved pets who have died tell me that they feel comforted. However, an animal’s earthbound spirit can upset the other animals in the house and