Phantom Felines And Other Ghostly Animals - Gerina Dunwich 2006
Rebel
Hounds and Hauntings
by Suzy Johnson
My mom was working as a home health aide in 1980, and she was particularly fond of one family in her care. When this family’s dog gave birth, my mom was given one of the puppies—a little black schnauzer I named Rebel.
Rebel soon became my dog, I guess because I gave him most of the attention. We were always together. Sometimes when Rebel and I sat in the living room and watched TV, I noticed Rebel’s attention on something in the room that I couldn’t see. Apparently, someone or something was walking around the room and Rebel was focusing on them, his head moving in slow, steady motion back and forth. He did this almost daily.
In March 1986 I got married and moved a few miles away, and Rebel was left to live with my mom. I thought she would need a companion and Rebel was the perfect choice. He would always alert us when someone we couldn’t see was in the room.
Around 1995 my mom told me that Rebel had a lot of tumors in his chest area. This broke my heart because I knew his days were numbered. He had trouble breathing, and walking down the hall left him winded. So I did the only humane thing I could and took him to the vet to be gently put out of his misery. I stayed with him the whole time and when the end was near I whispered in his ear, “Please come back to us Rebel, you can do it.” Heartbroken, I left the vet’s office and brought Rebel’s body home to be buried in the backyard under Mom’s bedroom window. The house seemed really empty without him. He was such a sweet dog.
One day, a few months later, I went to mom’s house to see her but she wasn’t home. I had a key, so I let myself in and sat in the living room for a while. I wasn’t thinking about anything in particular when I just happened to look up through the living room doorway into the dining room and I saw Rebel run past. He had so much energy as he ran past; it was obvious he was having fun doing something he couldn’t have done in his last few months of life. And it gave me great comfort knowing he had come home.
I now own my mom’s house and Rebel’s visits are few and far between. But last year a family member visited and told us he “saw something solid black and low to the floor” run down the hallway toward my mom’s old bedroom. I asked him what he thought it was and he said, “I don’t know what it was, but I know I saw something.” I just grinned because I knew Rebel was paying us another visit.