Animal Ghosts; Or, Animal Hauntings and the HereafterO'Donnell, Elliott
Religion
Animal Ghosts; Or, Animal Hauntings and the Hereafter
O'Donnell, Elliott
Animal ghosts; Extrasensory perception in animals
The house, deriving its name from the fact that a moat surrounded it,
stood near the meeting point of the four roads, which was the site of a
gibbet, the bodies of the criminals being buried in the moat.
Well, the B----s had not been living long on the farm, before they were
awakened one night by hearing the most dreadful noises, partly human and
partly animal, seemingly proceeding from a neighbouring spinney, and on
going to a long front window overlooking the cross-roads, they saw a
number of spotted creatures like pigs, screaming, fighting and tearing
up the soil on the site of the criminals' cemetery.
The sight was so unexpected and alarming that the B----s were appalled,
and Mr. B. was about to strike a light on the tinder-box, when the most
diabolical white face was pressed against the outside of the window-pane
and stared in at them.
This was the climax, the children shrieked with terror, and Mrs. B.,
falling on her knees, began to pray, whereupon the face at the window
vanished, and the herd of pigs, ceasing their disturbance, tore
frantically down one of the high roads, and disappeared from view.
Similar phenomena were seen and heard so frequently afterwards, that the
B----s eventually had to leave the farm, and subsequent enquiries led
to their learning that the place had long borne the reputation of being
haunted, the ghosts being supposed to be the earth-bound spirits of the
executed criminals. Whether this was so or not must, of course, be a
matter of conjecture--the herd of hogs may well have been the phantasms
of actual earth-bound pigs--attracted to the spot by a sort of
fellow-feeling for the criminals, whose gross and carnal natures would
no doubt appeal to them.
A lane in Hertfordshire was--and, perhaps, still is--haunted by the
phantasm of a big white sow which had accidentally been run over and
killed. It was occasionally heard grunting, and had the unpleasant knack
of approaching one noiselessly from the rear, and of making the most
unearthly noise just behind one's back.
_Sheep_
Lambs and sheep, possessing finer natures than goats and pigs, would
appear to be less earth-bound, and, in all probability, only temporarily
haunt the spots that witnessed their usually barbarous ends.
Most slaughter-houses are haunted by them--as, indeed, by many other
animals. A Scottish moor long bore the reputation for being haunted by a
phantom flock of sheep, which were always heard "baaing" plaintively
before a big storm.
It was supposed they were the ghosts of a flock that had perished in
the memorable severe weather of Christmas, 1880. Here is a case that may
be regarded as typical of hauntings by sheep, presumably the earth-bound
spirits of sheep, overwhelmed in some great storm or unexpected
catastrophe.
"_The Spectre Flock of Sheep in Germany_"
"During the seven years' war in Germany," writes Mrs. Crowe, in her
_Night Side of Nature_, "a drover lost his life in a drunken squabble on
the high road.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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