Even the Dog Sees It
It was 2009, late evening after my grandmother’s funeral. My aunt and I are at my grandmother’s house going through her paperwork in preparation for the coming disbursement of her estate to the rest of the family. I had my dog, Jack, with me as he went everywhere with me in those days. He was the most chill dachshund anyone ever met.
My aunt and I are discussing some random memories of my grandmother when Jack jumps out of a dead sleep on the couch, runs to just a few feet away from the empty chair my grandmother always sat in, and starts going absolutely insane, barking toward her chair—not the chair itself, though. The angle of his gaze suggested he was looking at someone in the chair.
Now, Jack never barked at anyone in his life, but here he is going absolutely bonkers over…nothing. It was the singular moment in his life that he seemed upset. He wasn’t angry, he wasn’t excited, he just clearly had a big problem with something in the chair. This went on for a solid 60 seconds as my aunt and I could only stare in shock and disbelief, occasionally exchanging baffled glances.
Then, as quickly as it began, Jack stopped barking, stared at the chair for maybe another three seconds, then went back to the couch. My aunt and I exchanged one more puzzled look before she said, “Very funny, mom!” I had never seen my dog act that way before and never saw it again. I’m on the fence about believing in ghosts or anything, but that experience was very difficult to rationalize.