Happy Haunting

Today one of my colleagues ended up talking about ghosts. She had ended up living in a house in which the previous owner had died. She experienced two incidents - an attempted strangling when she first moved in and then a lot of banging of doors just before she moved out. This sparked further conversation. Colleagues told of shadowy figures at the end of their bed that vanished in the blink of an eye. They told of a strange non-solid figure running across the road, seen by more than one person....

It makes me wonder why I have never seen a ghost. but then most ghosts seem a little unhappy about something or other, maybe not seeing one is no bad thing really.

I always hoped big Dog would come back and visit me. I do believe he came back and visited, but not me. I believe he visited Little Dog.

Big Dog used to bark and howl as soon as he heard F or I outside. He would go completly crazy and make such a ruckus. Little Dog was so quiet when she first arrived here but big Dog soon whipped her in to shape. Before long, her crazy howling yip / yelps joined his and this crazy canine chorus always made me smile as I waslked to the front door.

Little Dog stopped singing for us after Big Dog died. She was still just as happy to see us, but she no longer had her chorus leader. I still miss the canine chorus. In the months soonest after he died, she did however sing twice more. F and I were both in the house and no one was outside. She sang alone and she sang in greeting of someone she completely loved. Maybe Big Dog sang with her those last two times or maybe she sang for him as she sensed him near by, but i believe he came for her.

Tonight I took Little Dog to the cliffs to enjoy the wind (which was warm rather than wild, I wa slooking forward to wild). I realised that probably the last time I was there was shortly after Big Dog left us. It was where F felt closest to him. I still miss him. but I believe that he has moved on now.... and so have we. Memories always live in the heart.

The only real experience I have had with a spirit was very different. Some black entity was stalking me for a while. It got dealt with.... but... I remember one incident. I had traveled from Cornwall to my childhood home to visit my family. While I was there I had a wierd sort of vision of the black thing. I realised it was stood at the gate, unable to cross over the threshold. The power of this home was such it could not even enter the garden. I have always felt so safe there. I will sadly miss it when my parents move. We moved in on my first birthday.

So I was sat there today, wondering why I never saw a ghost. Why my family home wasn't haunted. People must have died there. The house was two tiny farm labourers cottages, now joined together and has existed for over 400 years. Surely there must be a spirit or two lurking around?

Then I remembered the incident with the black thing and the visiting Big Dog. Maybe there are many, many more ghosts around than we think. Maybe those who manifest briefly in anger, fear or any other powerful emotion may appear the stronger spirits. Maybe those that quietly watch and haunt us with happiness and love, that is far more constant and no less powerful than the emotions their negative cousins send us, maybe they are far more common than we can ever imagine. Maybe they are all around us.

I think I grew up surrounded by ghosts. Happy ones. Loving ones. Protective ones. They had no powerful message to deliver, no reason to manifest. But I think they are there all the same. I shall ask my Mum to light a candle for them at Haloween I think. They deserve my thanks, who knows how many things they protected me from, they sure dealt with the black thing.