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Howling Shadows

 

There are times in my life that I just get a feeling. I do not mean that I have premonitions or experiences I just mean to say that I have gut feelings. I'm sure that it is a universal thing; just imagine the feeling of falling on a roller coaster mixed with a car crash (that is the closet as I can describe it.) These feelings usually come before something unpleasant happens; the most vivid memory I have of this is right before my previous story concerning a Ouija board and the most recent is before the birth of my nieces, my sister-in-law had extreme difficulty in labor and we almost lost all three of them.

My parents, who are disbelieving in certain phenomenon, believed that I suffered from acid reflux and had me examined and medicated for what they believed to be acid reflux and anxiety. However, I truly believe that though I am not in any way whatsoever 'special' I have the common sense to follow my gut and listen to what my body tells me.

Recently I moved out of my old residence into a home that is a great distance away from my family and friends. This area is a new life experience and I am well aware that stress will do strange things to your body but there is a difference between stress and the activity going on in my home and life.

I moved into a home that has a long history, not a dark or mysterious history just a long standing life. The research I have done on my home reveled that there was one human death on the residence (that of an older woman who passed away in her sleep after living a long healthy life.) There was also a period in which a woman hoarded numerous animals on the residence- though she kept them in relative health and comfortable conditions-this is how I came upon the home, the price had dropped from her housing conditions from the amount of animals. Besides the history the home is not located near any burial grounds or churches or rivers. It is located at the end of a neighborhood road in the middle of a small town. All in all the I can not find any reasoning behind the things going on in my home other than overreacting, or hopefully stress; though the feeling that I have in my gut tells me otherwise.

To get on with it, I have had shadows, sounds, smells, and a strange animal taking place on the ground of my home. I started noticing these things after my dogs starting acting strange; both of them are older rescue dogs, Cardamom a massive shaggy mix breed who was abused as a pup and because of this is deaf and has sever hip dysplasia and Damiana a large pit-bull mix who was a rescued "bait dog", both usually laze about and love to just cuddle or beg for treats. I had been living in my home for about six months and had my dogs for about a year so I know what they're usual behavior consists of, but recently they started to act protective and almost aggressive (never towards me though) at times.

At first Cardamom would just follow me wherever I went despite his hip issues; I played it off as him wanting to be let out or asking for food, but he refused to eat or go outside -he just wanted to be near me. Then Damiana started "standing guard" wherever I went, she walked in front of me and sat next to me putting herself between doors and myself. Both of them had become anxious when I went into the dinning room, which has two double glass doors that lead out into the backyard that leads down into a wooded area. I usually never enter the room unless I have company and when I'm cleaning, lately if I even go near it Damiana will stand still and refuse to let me enter and Cardamom will howl or whimper if I step over Damiana and enter.

At first I put aside my worry and just played it off as weird behavior from dogs that I was still becoming accustomed to, both were almost seven and I had only spent a year with them. Then I started noticing a smell on the side of my house that was near the backyard (the dinning room, kitchen, family room, restroom, and garage) the smell isn't a bad one per say it just smells as if I have left the windows open and the wood area has wafted in. It usually just smells like decaying leaves (again not necessarily bad), wood sap, and something else; honestly, it smells like an air freshener. The smell is just disconcerting because for the longest time I believed that windows were left open or there was something wrong with the walls or insulation, allowing cool air to get in and hot air out increasing my bills. It was only once or twice that the smell became overpowering and almost acrid-that will come later.

Along with the smell came sounds that I can not identify, at first it was scratching at the double doors leading toward the back-I came to see if the dogs needed to be let in or out on the off chance that they weren't in my immediate vicinity. Usually I would see them both before I even came close to the doors so I would assume that it was debris catching on the doors. Then I began to suspect raccoons may be making a ruckus and getting into things (my dogs wouldn't notice-one is deaf and the other is lazy) but there was never any evidence of raccoons. Still the scratching continued and then added to it came a whimper at times. Usually the whimper sounded late at night when I was about to go to bed and brushing me teeth in my adjoining bathroom and the dogs were already choosing which area of my bed to lay claim to. I thought it might have been Cardamom asking for help onto my bed but whenever I went in both dogs would just look at me and I caught onto the fact it wasn't them. The sound stopped when I left my room and it only ever started when I was about to go to sleep. There were moments when I would just faintly hear something-once it sounded like a strange grunting, then 'thunking' like a heavy ball and another sounded like a low groan that went on for awhile- but both were inside of my home with no locatable sources.

I never really had my "feeling" until I started noticing a shadow in my house. Both of my dogs would always be around me so I knew it could not have been them. At first I just caught it out of the corner of my eye outside of the living room window (it was usually a hunched up mass around the size of a large dog) and when I turned to look at it the shadow wouldn't be there. Neither dog seemed to react to it so I just put it from my mind; it wasn't until I started to see it out by the woods that I became concerned. It would hover by the tree ledge and stand there so I honestly just believed it to be an animal or maybe a stray dog. The first great feeling I had was when I walked into the dinning room (without my furry entourage) and opened the door to call to it. I always found stray animals when I was younger so I thought to see if I could get it closer to return it or maybe startle it off if it was wild. When I pushed against the door to enter my backyard I felt my stomach clench-it was as if I was staring at a semi truck coming straight at me and I couldn't move- the shadow seemed to turn towards me and hunch up into itself. My hand was frozen at the point of the door and I didn't have the strength to close it, like my arm was full of warm water and unable to do anything but stay where it was. There was this sudden silence as I looked at this shadow thing and it wasn't until Cardamom howled that I slammed the door shut-hard enough that it rattled the glass panes.

Damiana seemed to push against my legs and tried to maneuver me out of the room but I couldn't look away from the tree line and the shadow thing, I think I may have stumbled on the carpet because the next thing I knew I was flat on my butt with Damiana standing over my torso with her hackles straight up and growling like I have never heard her. When I managed to wiggle out from under her and stand up I called to her and tried to get her away from the door. But she refused to move-I finally grabbed her by her collar and pulled her out of the room. When I hauled her out of the room I hurried to the phone and called the local animal shelter and their officers to report a possible wild dog of large size. I told the officer what I had seen and heard, a large black or dark colored dog relatively the size of a Great Dane with a great deal of hair who was by the woods in my backyard and I was apprehensive about approaching because of my own dog's reaction to the animal. I waited for the officers to come and sat with my dogs loving on them and trying to calm us all down from what had happened-especially me, my stomach refused to unclench.

Within the hour I had two officers come out and take my statement, both of my dogs were fawning over the visitors and loving the added attention. The men said they would check out the area and see what they could find, I told them that the woods was only half a mile wide and adjoined my neighborhood to a elementary school-and children constantly took it as a shortcut home. The men took what I said seriously and started off into my backyard. When they came to the edge between the woods and my yard both of my dogs started to become nervous wrecks- drooling, whimpering, and stalking out the area between my kitchen and the dinning room. The officers were out there for almost three hours, until it became dusky and their flashlights would be of little use in the dark. They came around to the house again, near the front door, and rang to bell; usually Card and Dami will rush to the door even when they know who it is-but this time they came cautiously and when the men tried to enter both started to growl at the officers. It surprised me greatly to see the turn around in their attitude to the men-they had been rolling over before to have their stomachs scratch by these same men, now they sounded like they were ready for an attack!

Even the officers seemed surprised so instead of coming inside I went out and left Card and Dami inside-and they went ballistic (howling and whimpering and barking) although I was just right outside. The officers had to yell over the noise to tell me that they didn't find an animal matching my description but they had found dog tracks near my house, but that the animal could have just been passing by but they would inform the neighbors and schools to look for a stray dog. They informed me that a fence might help ease the tension and that if I saw it again to call them immediately. They left and I reentered my house to be pushed down and become reacquainted with my dog's tongues and I went about looking for fencing estimates.

It was around three months later-the fence had been put up since then- and I was going out for a morning walk with my dogs. My sister in law and my two nieces had come over for a visit so I had left a note telling them I'd be gone for a while and I had my phone with me-although I didn't believe they would need me it was close to four in the morning. We went in the opposite direction of the woods and it was about 45 minuets later my gut went cold and I received a frantic call from my sister in law. Her two girls had woken up screaming, not crying or colicky-just screaming. They had been placed in the family room because that was the largest place for their cribs and when my sister in law rushed in she saw a "friggen big dog" staring into the window from my backyard inside of the fence. Later she told me that when she looked at the thing that she was afraid, no reason for it but just primally afraid. It took her a moment but she threw a blanket at the window and then the dog disappeared. By the end of her call I had already made a good track back to the house but when we reached the block Card and Dami almost took out my arms by just pulling me home. Inside my sister in law had all the windows covered and every door locked-the girls had quieted down but the smell was back-stronger then it had ever been but it was acrid, like it was spoiled.

Dami had gone to the window the dog was at-no one told her which-and just paced with hackles raised and tail straight up. Card had gone to the trio and was snuffing the girls and my sister in law and would stop and lick them at random intervals. Once I was assured everyone was fine I called animal control and demanded that someone come out. Again they searched to no avail but they could not figure out how something had cleared the seven foot fence unless the dog was simply that massive-not necessarily reassuring but a good to know fact. My family left soon after, my sister in law was just so uncomfortable that she would jump at a door shutting to quickly. I was lately informed that things had started to occur with her and the twins but that is another tale all together.

Since that day I still have the strange behavior of both Card and Dami, but with a reinforced fence and safety precautions it has eased a lot of their tension and

Abnormalities. I have since then rescued another dog (Anemone-a large white mutt) who also seems to dislike the woods behind my house-she also 'guards' me and will join Dami on stalking patrol but otherwise shows no strange behavior. I still have the woodsy smell in my house and I can hear the whimper occasionally. But the shadow has not reappeared and the strange animal has not made an encore performance. I occasionally have the gut feeling when walking home or anywhere near the wooded area but I have yet to feel afraid. There was only one more time that heard of the animal showing up-my neighbor has two children who are students at the school behind the woods and they reported to their mother a strange occurrence.

They were approaching my yard and they heard something walking towards them-they said it sounded like a large animal, so they assumed it was one of mine. However, when they turned around all they saw was a large dark dog with yellow eyes (like it was looking at them sideways) and they took off running only to have the animal follow them to my fence. Their mother said they were extremely frightened after the experience and demanded to know why my dog had bothered them. I pointed out to her that my dogs are both light colored animals who are either to afraid of children or are physically incapable of chasing the boys. She had to coincide to my point after she saw Dami with her bright white face and Card's trouble rising up to greet her. I informed her of the issues I was having with a similar animal and we left it at that, though I did inform her that I had notified animal control and the school of the issue-just so she understood and wouldn't further blame my dogs. There is still some apprehension over the strange animal but I deal with it and I still have to walk away from the woods with my dogs in tow, otherwise they seem to want to stalk the wood line.

I honestly hope that what I described is just a strange occurrence of a wild animal coming too close to society, and my dog's reactions thereafter. Some where deep down though I still feel a little uneasy when I think about what happened, I can logically explain the occurrence -the smell just being down wind of the area, the sounds being from my dogs or otherwise normal animal behavior, the shadow my imagination, and the strange menacing shadow animal just a menacing animal. I just can not shake my gut feeling of this though and until something happened to the contrary I will hold onto my gut and keep an eye open. Maybe someone here can put my fears to rest or explain it?

Well thank you for your time and anything you have to offer.

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The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, RubberBandBall, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will participate in the discussion and I need help with what I have experienced.

vanlewie232711 (1 stories) (42 posts)
 
10 years ago (2013-12-06)
😨 I have family in Alaska Great Uncle and a few cousins but my deceased Great Aunt before she passed away from black lung in 2005 told my Uncle about this black bear sized bear dog that she saw behind there house she said it gave her the creepies but she was an "alaskian woman" and didn't scare easily as she said "you can't scare me... I have teens"
it wasn't long after that my grandmother passed away then of that same year in 2005 I lost my grandma 10/21/05 Great grandma 10/26/05,my Great Aunt 11/22/05 stepmom 12/17/05 and lastly my first born nephew 12/27/05 I am not sure that this is the same thing but I do hope it don't bother you and your furr babies anymore... Also I am wondering if the whimpering you heard was close in time to the sightings? Because maybe there was a beloved pet that died there of natural causes and sees this thing and is scared of it? Just wondering thanks for the scary feeling seeing I live in front of woods and cannot have pets my grandson is allergic to them... ❤
Selfridge (2 posts)
 
12 years ago (2012-07-02)
Miracles51031,

Black Shuck, Old Shuck, Old Shock or simply Shuck is the name given to a ghostly black dog which is said to roam the coastline and countryside of East Anglia. Accounts of the animal form part of the folklore of Norfolk, Suffolk, the Cambridgeshire fens and Essex.

The name Shuck may derive from the Old English word scucca meaning "demon", or possibly from the local dialect word shucky meaning "shaggy" or "hairy".

Black Shuck is one of many ghostly black dogs recorded across the British Isles. Sometimes recorded as an omen of death, sometimes a more companionable animal, it is classified as a cryptid, and there are varying accounts of the animal's appearance. Writing in 1877, Walter Rye stated that Shuck was "the most curious of our local apparitions, as they are no doubt varieties of the same animal.

Its alleged appearance in 1577 at Bungay and Blythburgh is a particularly famous account of the beast, and images of black sinister dogs have become part of the iconography of the area.
barnowl (9 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-03-10)
I've gotten that gut fealing before, always before I see or hear somthing. You discribed it quite well, I've never had a way to discribe it before. Thank you.
Miracles51031 (39 stories) (4999 posts) mod
 
13 years ago (2011-01-08)
AndreaRC - I've never heard of a Shuck. Can you give me some info on what that is?
AndreaRC (12 stories) (31 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-01-08)
My initial thought was it was a Shuck, but I've never heard of one becoming so consistent and seemingly attempting to get physical.
Hm...now my second thought would be to agree with some of the other responses and say it's an animal's spirit.
dragonwalker (5 stories) (77 posts)
 
13 years ago (2010-10-26)
Was wondering Anchorage, Fairbanks, Eagle River area, the Mat-Su Valley? I don't want to know your address. LOL. That would just be creepy. It's just that I don't know too many people who live up here who have had experiences like that, so getting to know people is awesome, and a rough idea of the area is fun to know just to look into what all may be causing activity, such as burial grounds, etc. I promise I'm not creepy (not that that helps). If you would prefer to share whatever in private, my e-mail is akiceprincess [at] hotmail.com
RubberBandBall (2 stories) (12 posts)
+1
14 years ago (2010-09-18)
Dragonwalker, may I ask why you are inquiring? I'm hesitant to state where I live over the internet-even if it is as large an area as my town. Are you asking for a general location or area? I don't mean to be rude but I've had ugly past experiences when I was younger where I slipped up and shared to much online so I am very hesitant to share personal information over a large forum that isn't just pertaining to the broad details of the incident at hand.
dragonwalker (5 stories) (77 posts)
 
14 years ago (2010-09-13)
You live up here in Alaska? If you don't mind sharing, what part do you live in?
scrapmetalkitten (306 posts)
 
14 years ago (2010-04-22)
This was a very well written story. As to what the dog is can be anyone's guess. It sounds more like a spirit then a living creature. It seems very connected to the woods behind your house and that seems to be its territory. Next time you do a blessing ALSO go around and bless those woods too, since it seems to come from the woods. It almost sounds like a spirit was summoned there through some sort of magical practice. You said that many kids go through the woods, it would make the theory a definite possibility. They could have even been using an ouija board there and that would be enough as well. I hope you are able to get rid of this thing, because it may also not have even been an animal and could just be some sort of demonic or negative entity from the way you described it.

-Sydney
pman2010 (2 stories) (7 posts)
 
14 years ago (2010-02-26)
That sounds very similar to what happened to me but what I saw never seemed to interact so much with anything except me. But the last time I saw the dog my mom called me the next day and told me that my grandma's sister was going too pass away very soon.
Arc-en-Ciel (31 posts)
 
14 years ago (2010-02-17)
It's sooo scary o.o
You said the former owner used to have a lot of pets with her. Maybe there is a connection between her activities and the big black dog. But you surely thougth about that before:)
I don't know why but I would feel incredibly threaten by this apparition. Moreover, the description of the big black dog makes me think of a wolf more then a wild dog.
Anyway your story is truly interesting as it deals with animals spirit and the connnection you have with your doggies is amazing.
There is something I'd like to add... Well, you pointed that you have are quite... Instinctive (sorry don't know if this word exists in english, I'm french and I'm on my mobile phone so I can't check it) anyway even its a good thing, a gift, such instincts are an ability given to wild animals... Like dog. Or wolves. Maybe this shadow animal is linked to you. Maybe its here to tell you something. It could be a projection of your wild side or of your fears. It could just be here "to test" you, to awake something in you. I don't know. Its the idea I had reading your story... There is so much thing we don't know about our little world...
RubberBandBall (2 stories) (12 posts)
 
14 years ago (2010-01-24)
jazzeyjay,
I will do as you advised and I appreciate your help. I am sorry if I have offended you in anyway in regards to the questioning on the prayers. It is just that I have had some of my friends (who practice Wicca, Shamanism, and my priest) come over to bless my house on several occasions and my Wiccan friend advised me not to attempt her same ritual as she believes that dabbling without any knowledge would be more detrimental to the situation. Thank you again for your advice and you can be sure that I will be loading up on that salt pronto.
Picollo30 (2 posts)
 
14 years ago (2010-01-24)
can it be that someone killed this dog or it died in a violent way and his ghost is trying to find his path? Who says animals can't have a soul too?
jazzeyjay (3 stories) (215 posts)
 
14 years ago (2010-01-18)
RubberBandBall: I am not Catholic, I am a Baptist, but I would assume that it would not matter what faith you are, God hears all prayers. Since you are a Catholic, pray some of your Catholic prayers and resite some of your verses that you are familiar with. I sure hope this helps you.
RubberBandBall (2 stories) (12 posts)
 
14 years ago (2010-01-17)
fatthead, I'm no quite sure what you mean by me having "a lot of dogs and spirits" I only have three dogs-and to my knowledge a larger wild dog that I have no ownership of. I do thank you for your reply and would have to agree that my lovelies are watching out for me too. Thank you
RubberBandBall (2 stories) (12 posts)
 
14 years ago (2010-01-17)
justin102798 and chicken thank you for your reply, I do have a question as to what you mean by a "black dog" though. I did a quick internet search and I came up with an answer that it is an omen of death (as chicken mentioned) is there anything else I need to know about this or is there something I can do to prevent a return?
Thank you
RubberBandBall (2 stories) (12 posts)
 
14 years ago (2010-01-17)
jazzeyjay, thank you for your reply. AsI stated before I already have researched my home before I posted, because I wanted to verify that nothing of the sort that you had suggested happened on the property. I will take your advice with the salt, however do I just pray (I am Catholic and will be praying in that manner) as I put down the salt or does this involve some kind of ritual? Thank you for your advice.
fatthead (1 stories) (55 posts)
 
14 years ago (2010-01-16)
YOU have a lot of animals in your house your two dogs and the rest are spirts or I should say it could be and your dogs are protecting you no?
blue_raven80 (13 stories) (338 posts)
 
14 years ago (2010-01-15)
Scary. I'm thinking it might be a spirit of a dead animal or a human. Might be a mountain or forest spirit that was disturbed and doesn't like people or any other animal. Still...SCARY! 😨
chicken (29 posts)
 
14 years ago (2010-01-15)
You're not going to like this, but usually a black dog with yellow eyes is a symbol for death. Usually it means that someone in the family or yourself will get horribly sick or even die.
The good news is that it has to be a small dog. (I think).

This story seemed to scare me a lot more than the other ones... I don't know why, however.

Best of luck!
justin102798 (9 stories) (96 posts)
 
14 years ago (2010-01-14)
I'm with jazzeyjay. This could also be a black dog encounter. I've had many and this dog sounds like a black dog. I personally think it's a black dog, but it might be one of the animals that is still trying to discover how it suddenly died. That gut thing could be a 6th sense. I have one and this sounds like you are psychic and have the rare gift to see the dead. If you need help with this, E-mail me. To get in contact with this spirit, meditate, but brace yourself to go to the spirit world or to see the disturbing past of this spirit. This has happened to me to. Make sure to contact me if you need help with what you see. You definitely need to be prepared for this if you make the decision to make contact with the spirit world.

On that pleasant note,
God Bless!
jazzeyjay (3 stories) (215 posts)
 
14 years ago (2010-01-14)
RubberBandBall: You sound like you're having problems out of an animal that is no longer living. Animals are very sensitive when it comes to these things and this is why your dogs are reacting this way. They are picking up the spirits of these other dead animals and are also sensing the tragic way they died. I would do some research and see if any animals were tortured there and maybe that's why you hear the whimpering sounds, someone could have also been practicing some dark magic there too. Try getting out there and sprinkling some salt all around your property and praying and even spray blessed salt water into the corners of your house and pray. I sure hope this helps you!
Pete16 (2 stories) (49 posts)
 
14 years ago (2010-01-14)
Yikes! Whatever it is... Please keep posting any updates.

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