What's /x/'s take on the spirits of our pets? Story below:
About 8 months ago, I had to do the hardest thing I've ever done and put my German Shepherd, Otto, down due to cancer. He was only 6.
When Otto was alive, he loved to rub his head/face on furniture to scratch it. He took a particular liking to a touch-activated floor lamp I had in the corner of my living room. I would always get annoyed with him because late at night when all the lights are off and we're curled up on the couch watching TV, he'd get up to have a drink of water or get some food, then come back and scratch himself on the lamp and end up turning it on. I would even sometimes wake up in the morning to find the lamp had been turned on my Otto at some point during the night.
About 3 days after I lost Otto, I was laying on the couch watching TV in the dark like we always did together. I got startled when the floor lamp turned on all by itself. I kind of sat up and looked at the lamp, but nothing else happened.
This started to happen every few days without interruption. Sometimes the lamp would come on at its lowest setting (the lamp had 4 different brightness settings, so one touch = dim and 4 touches = bright) and stay there, where as other times the light would strobe between all 4 settings quickly and then turn off.
My immediate thought was Otto was trying to let me know he was still with me, but my skeptical self decided to take the lamp in for repair. The guy who did the work on the lamp said he didn't find anything wrong with the lamp, but he replaced the pressure sensor anyway since they tend to cause what I was experiencing when they go bad.
Cont.
Nothing happened for about 2 weeks after I got the lamp back home, but sure enough one night it started turning on by itself again. I've moved the lamp around the house, just to make sure it's not something else setting the sensor off (air vents, vibrations, etc). But I would always eventually come to find the lamp had turned on by itself. I live alone, so that rules out the possibility of someone else turning it on.
I eventually moved the lamp back into the living room, coming to terms with the fact that I can't do anything about it turning on by itself. I debated getting rid of it, but then I realized it's really the only connection left I have to Otto.
It's always sporadic - sometimes I go days without it turning on. Sometimes it turns on multiple times in a night. Sometimes it just comes on to its lowest setting and stays on. Other times it strobes between brightness levels and then turns off. I've slowly come to terms with the fact that it could very well be Otto letting me know he's still with me.
What does /x/ think? Has anyone ever had a similar experience? I never really believed in the paranormal before this - but I'm found comfort in the thought that my boy is still around.
I totally believe pets souls remain with us sometimes. Almost nine years ago I lost the first chihuahua I had, and mom, dad, and sis have either seen his shadow or heard him sniffing under the door. I have to say it only happens in the house we used to live in, which is now my parents' office. No other pets are there, so it can't be another dog. Don't get rid of that lamp, apparently, he still loves it
>>17493857
i'm sorry about your dog.
a few years back i was sitting out by where my cat was buried. she died a long time ago from leukemia, she was a really good natured cat all around
was just quietly meditating and i heard the tiniest little sounds on the ground, coming my way. the ground was covered with leaves and i could see the leaves compressing down as if tiny little cat feet were invisibly striding my way. i heard the faintest sound of that vibrating low purr that cats do when they are happy
another cat story from my friend's house last halloween. she had two black cats but the older one died and the younger one was depressed for a long time because he had no one to play with. that night we were all sitting out on the back porch, very dark except for the kitchen light streaming out from the window. my heart started beating quickly and my skin felt prickly as i was looking out at the backyard. i saw a black cat running in the shadows just beyond where the light from the kitchen fell.
i thought, oh it's just gandalf. but then i saw gandalf run by chasing the other cat. i realized the first cat i had seen had been slightly transparent, which i dismissed as a trick of vision until i saw gandalf run by. no doubt in my mind the shadow cat was gandalf's buddy
>>17494465
Yeah I decided to keep it. Funny I posted this last night and woke up this morning for work. to find the lamp had turned on after I went to sleep last night.
>>17495530
Great story. I'm glad I'm not the only one.
And thanks for the condolences. I know it's weird but losing Otto has been harder on me than losing any human being by a long shot. It's just really comforting to know that he may still be around
>>17493857
I had a dear old dog named Bill who was in very poor health and quite a lot of pain before the end. At this point we decided it would be a mercy to put him down.
His back legs didn't work very well when he was alive, and we trained him not to bark. So when he wanted to come inside from the back yard he would lift up one front leg and do one scratch against the back door.
Ever since he died we've been hearing that single scratch more than once daily. I'd attribute it to something else, but our door is completely unobstructed, no sticks or bushes nearby.
I'm happy he's still around in some sense.Just too stinky for the other side I guess. If it keeps happening I just tell him to be quiet, and he usually chills out.
You know you can go to animal communicators and summon up your dead pets.
>>17496647
Actually, no
>>17496429
i think animals do not possess a concept of a barrier between life and death like humans might conceive of. human beings think in terms of alive or dead - no in between. but many creatures straddle the line between life and death. frogs and turtles freeze solid in wintertime. groundhog's heartbeats slow from 80 beats per minute to 5 while hibernating. all that to say that maybe life and death are different experiences than we might imagine. it might be perfectly natural for your friend to hang out with you like he did in life, even if he has 'crossed over' from our perspective.
i don't doubt that he's just trying to comfort his buddy
and don't say any of that above to upset anyone - not implying that an animal couldn't find peace after death. i really don't know, but i do imagine that maybe time, space, life, and death are different and more mysterious than how we have been brought up to perceive them.
i know it's not easy, i don't think you are weird for being more broken up about losing your dog than losing a human. i think i get where you are coming from and i hope you find some peace
>>17496713
No I think what you're saying makes sense. I have other friends who have stories that are similar. A lot of them hear noises that can only be explained by their since passed on pets. I always chalked it up to auditory hallucinations. Kinda like they were so used to hearing the noise, their mind was playing it back to them. But after all this I'm rethinking that theory.
>>17496941
Pic related I lost my shit
I may have done a bad, When my first dog Oliver died i was wrecked about it. a few months later we got another dog that ended up impregnating another one of my dogs that became very attached to me after my first dog died. When the pregnant dog was into the last month of her pregnancy i decided to do a sort of black magic/voodoo ritual to imbue the spirit of Oliver into one of the puppy's while they were still in their mother. Not quite sure if it worked but the resemblances between the 2 dogs (Oliver and puppy) are striking both physically and temperament wise.
Did i do a bad /x/?
>>17493857
Your cat has became lamp
>>17497010
His story is about a german shepherd.
>>17496713
i've always been very nice to animals my whole life and up to date i take in injured strays into my home and help them heal, take them to vet, comfort them, etc. My mom said the other day that if you are nice to animals in your lifetime, then those same animals that you helped will guide you through limbo into heaven or peacefulness after death. it's kinda interesting how her theory kind of ties into yours-- how they stay in the barrier between life and death.
I had a dog pass away a little over two years ago now. I've always had two dogs, but for about 6-7 months after she passed I just had the one. Every now and then I'd feel a dog walking across my blankets in bed, when my living dog was already asleep between my ankles, or little things like that. Running up and down the hallway, once I even saw a white fluffy tail disappear around a corner. Both my current dogs are brown and shorthaired, Suzi was the only white and fluffy one I've ever had.
I mean there could be perfectly good explanations for all of it. But it's kinda nice to think that maybe sometimes your old dogs like to say hi every now and again, I think. Especially since her remains are still in the house - this might be weird, but I had her cremated. I didn't want to move and have to leave her behind, y'know? I pretty much grew up with her.
