The Introverted Detective: Do Animals See Ghosts?

Do animals have ghosts and see them? Here are some stories I have found that may indicate this. While I may not believe every story here or any of them at all, I thought it was at least an interesting topic to dive into. Easily scared people need not read this.

Courtesy of Rover.com

So, given I have seen cat movement after Big Boy's death (the second to last cat we owned), my mom heard a meow after the death of Emmett (the last cat we owned), and I have seen cat shapes in the house often after the death of Whitesocks (the first cat my family owned when I was a kid) I don't entirely disbelieve some of these stories. I don't know what awaits animal souls after death. I also don't believe making contact with ghosts or supernatural entities that might be demons is a sane idea. Don't make an alter to your cat, dog, horse, hedgehog, fish, rabbit, or any other pet that you might have had. Once they cross the rainbow bridge you can go find them in Heaven after you die, but barring that I don't think seeking them out is a good idea. You can put a memorial stone in your garden, by all means, and keep their ashes to your heart's content. Just don't try to contact the dead, ever. There is a reason you aren't supposed to. If you are, please stop. This has been a courtesy message of warning. Now you can read all the ghost stories.

As for my research, take it with a grain of salt; in other words, I am not going to claim it to be all true and reliable. Why? We can't prove what animals can and can't see. My sweet Whodunit (my turtle), nor any of the animals that I have loved, can speak words. Do I believe they see what we don't? Yes, but why and what they see can't be proven by anyone except God, so I'll ask God when I get to Heaven, or not since most of the supernatural includes what we maybe don't want to know or see. Be warned and don't take all the research I found as complete truth. We'll never know for sure what they see.

Pets Seeing Ghosts

Again, don't take this as fact. There are people who believe this to be true. A security dog at Molly Stark (during a change in security systems) would bark down the hall or sit at attention during the three-day patrol. Pets on Roosevelt Island (Blackwell Island formerly) are known to not go down certain stairways and bark at air on occasion in the apartment that used to be a part of the Blackwell Asylum. Both spaces have security guards and law enforcement confirming a haunting (and law enforcement doesn't jump to that conclusion on a whim!).

Coutesy of The Spruce Pets

Evidence, you ask? Yes, let's look. Owners have reported pets following invisible something and in specific areas. There is another piece of evidence that goes beyond this, which is growling and making noises at something you can't see (again, could be a mouse or squirrel in your wall or the frequency of some TV or device you can't hear, so don't jump too fast to the conclusion your pet is seeing stuff). Not real conclusive if you can't sense energy there and it only happens once. If it happens in the exact same place all the time - MOVE and have someone pray over your house. Haunted houses are no joke.

Is your cat ignoring you so it can spend time with a ghost? Some people believe it. Getting the sense your cat is more intrigued by an invisible force you can't see is reported, too. Distracted kitty may be seeing something. Cases where one's cats were playing with an invisible cat have been reported.

Our eyesight does not include ultraviolet light. Did you know that? I didn't. It is theorized that dogs and cats can see ultraviolet and have better night vision. It is possible ghosts and spirits show up in a lighting scheme only our pets can actually see.

Ghost Stories

I talked about animals seeing ghosts, but can they be ghosts? Maybe. I'm going to link my source of ghost stories here. If you would like to scare yourself silly tonight, go ahead and read these. I already did and don't feel like rehashing them because I want to sleep.

Animal Ghosts - Evidence of Animal Afterlife

Grief Hallucinations

I hate to tell you that your ghost of a loved one may be a hallucination, but it could be. Me seeing the shadows of a cat around my childhood home and my mom hearing the meow of our last cat the day after his death could be expressions of our grief. Our brains log every sound and image we encounter. It isn't impossible to understand how this combined with grief could lead to seeing our loved ones appear before us.

It is shockingly common to see this type of grief happen. Yet, we don't talk about it. We think we're seeing ghosts or we're losing it. We're not; losing someone is hard, pet or human. Usually, this fades as our grief lessens and we move on. If we never move on it may never fade, but I wouldn't encourage your brain to keep the illusion coming. You do need to heal. Grieve in a healthy way.

Don't forget! I'll be at the Carroll County District Library on March 11th to sign my suspense novel Wrenville. You can buy my book at my Amazon page on ebook or in physical form or at my table on March 11th. For more information on the book signing click here.