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
"Though I am by no means over-indulgent to dogs, the latter generally
greet me very effusively, and it would seem that there is something in
my individuality that is peculiarly attractive to them. This being so, I
was not greatly surprised one day, when in the immediate neighbourhood
of X---- Street, to find myself persistently followed by a rough-haired
dachshund wearing a gaudy yellow collar. I tried to scare it away by
shaking my sunshade at it, but all to no purpose--it came resolutely on;
and I was beginning to despair of getting rid of it, when I came to
X---- Street, where my husband once practised as an oculist. There it
suddenly altered its tactics, and instead of keeping at my heels,
became my conductor, forging slowly ahead with a gliding motion that
both puzzled and fascinated me. I furthermore observed that
notwithstanding the temperature--it was not a whit less than ninety
degrees in the shade--the legs and stomach of the dachshund were covered
with mud and dripping with water. When it came to No. 90 it halted, and
veering swiftly round, eyed me in the strangest manner, just as if it
had some secret it was bursting to disclose. It remained in this
attitude until I was within two or three feet of it--certainly not
more--when, to my unlimited amazement, it absolutely vanished--melted
away into thin air.
"The iron gate leading to the area was closed, so that there was nowhere
for it to have hidden, and, besides, I was almost bending over it at the
time, as I wanted to read the name on its collar. There being no one
near at hand, I could not obtain a second opinion, and so came away
wondering whether what I had seen was actually a phantasm or a mere
hallucination. No. 90, I might add, judging by the brass plate on the
door, was inhabited by a doctor with an unpronounceable foreign name,"
etc. etc.
I think one cannot help attaching a great deal of importance to what
this lady says, as her language is strictly moderate throughout, and
because she does not seem to have been biassed by any special views on
the subject of animal futurity.
Correspondent No. 2 (who, by the way, is a total stranger to the writer
whose letter I have just quoted) is candidly devoted to dogs, regarding
them as in every way on a par with, if not actually superior to, most
human beings. Still, notwithstanding this partiality, and consequent
profusion of terms of endearment, which will doubtless prove somewhat
nauseating to many, her letter is, in my opinion, valuable, because it
not only refers to the phenomenon I have mentioned, but to a certain
extent furnishes a reason for its occurrence. The lady writes as
follows:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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