Animals Hauntings
Hell Hound When we hear about the paranormal, it is usually in terms of a supposed haunting. Sometimes we hear that things are being moved around by themselves, apparitions of dead people appear, or dark black shadows are moving throughout an area. These events are usually tied in with dead humans. I think that you might be able to see where I am going here, I will continue. Many believe that the paranormal has other things going on besides human spirits haunting a place. Supposedly animal spirits haunt places also. Many different stories of sightings of animal spirits exist, along with tales of hell hounds and such. Hell hounds are large black dogs with burning red eyes, just in case you have never heard of them. If one believes that only humans have souls and this is what some religions teach, then there could be no possibility of animal hauntings, because supposedly a haunting is by a soul that has not passed to the other side. There are those that say this is the case, but it is not really. They state that there is a type of haunting called a residual haunting and that this is something that is somehow captured by its surroundings and which is replayed at certain intervals and this type of haunting is more like a movie and that no one can have any effect on it, or change it. Among these residual hauntings, is a pretty famous one. It takes place in the old Roman catacombs beneath the city of Rome and has been seen by quite a few tourists. It is a squad of Roman soldiers marching through the catacombs along with a couple on horseback. The theory is that something in the surrounding rock has captured the images of Romans and plays it back. Interestingly there are the animals involved also, the horses. Unfortunately this is not the type of haunting that I am talking about, since it is residual.
Devil Cat Large black cats are said to some how be connected to some hauntings. There are stories about this that go back thousands of years. It may have something to do with the fact that cats were revered by the ancient Egyptians. This gave them a special place in society. One story states that cats used to be sacrificed by members of the Hellfire Club. Supposedly this was a club where anything was permissible. It was said that the upper crust of England would meet there to take part in immoral acts. It was popular in the 18th century. One club, there were many, held meetings in a cottage and one day a big black cat ran a table, knocking down a candelabra and setting the club on fire. This cat was thought to be the devil. I guess that hearing about dogs and cats haunting places, while rare, is still not as unexpected as hearing about the ghost of a monkey. Yes you heard me correctly. There is a house in England called Athelhampton Hall, it is located in Dorset, The family that built it was the Martyn family, who’s crest was that of a monkey. They had a monkey that they allowed to go anywhere in the house. A teenage girl lived in the home, I am not sure what her relationship was and she was feeling more and more depressed every day. Finally she decided that she was going to commit suicide. The reasons for this are lost in the sands of time, but she went up to a secret room in the home and killed herself. She thought that she was alone in that room, but the monkey was there also. The girl wasn’t found for months, but when they did find her, the monkey was still at her side, he had starved to death. While the ghost of the monkey is never seen, it can be heard scratching at the secret panel in a desperate attempt to get out of the room, or so the story goes.
Chicken Another odd animal ghost is the ghost of a chicken. Some find this very disturbing, especially those that like to eat chicken dinners. It was 1626 and extremely cold. Sir Francis Bacon was discussing food preservation methods with a friend, while in a carriage, traveling through the countryside. He stopped at a farm and purchased a chicken. He wanted to prove that food could be preserved by the cold. His friend thought that this was ridiculous. Bacon killed and cleaned the chicken and packed it with snow. All this running around in the snow gave Sir Francis Bacon pneumonia and he died. He was buried at St. Michael’s Church in St. Albans. It is said that if you go there you will see the ghost of a plucked chicken running around a pond and also around a tree. The bird had been seen by many air raid wardens in World War II. It is said that the best time to see the ghost chicken is when the weather is cold. It has been about 30 years since the last reported sighting.
Goose Ghost England seems to be the place to find odd animal ghosts. The reasons for this are not clear, but it does have a much longer history than a lot of countries, therefore more events have taken place there. Since we are talking about FOUL ghosts, I would be remiss of me if I didn’t mention the ghost goose of Melsonby, Yorkshire. A farmer was driving a horse drawn cart on a road when the horse suddenly bolted. The horse began to race and the farmer could barely control it. He happened to look down and next to the cart was a large goose. To his shock, It was on the ground and yet it was traveling as fast as the the cart with the racing horse. The farmer reached a church yard and at that point the goose turned and left. Over the years this ghostly bird has been reported by many different people. I recently saw a questionnaire that is supposedly from Animal Planet. You have probably seen their show at one time or another. It asks the question, “WHAT IS YOUR FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF AN ANIMAL HAUNTING? ARE THERE LIVE ANIMALS BEING HAUNTED, OR IS SOMEONE BEING HAUNTED BY THE SPIRIT OF AN ANIMAL?” Can it be that in videoing all those animal stories over the years, that they have come across tales of animal hauntings? The questionnaire lists an email address of hauntedanimalls@yahoo.com as the reply address. This certainly does make one wonder, doesn’t it? In Japanese folklore the ghost kitsune or fox has supernatural powers. |
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