True Ghost Experiences

Vermont Dogs

Background: Myfriend Sherry claims that she has never had any paranormal orsupernatural experiences since meeting me. She is a farmer's kidfrom Northern Vermont, and has worked outside in all weatherconditions, all times of the day, all phases of the moon. I onthe other hand, have been raised in numerous places, from City tosuburb to country, and have travelled extensively across theworld while in the Navy.

Shortly after meeting Sherry in 1994, we started spending nightsat each other's houses. This was due to the long commute betweenthe towns we lived in, I in East Fairfield, Vermont and she inSwanton, Vermont. During the night, we would get restless and gooutside for a walk and a long talk about whatever was on ourminds. This has always occurred while at my home in EastFairfield, mind you, never at her home. (Both of us lived withour parents at them time of the sightings.) The first sightingtook place in what had to be late fall or early winter due to thesnow on the ground and the semi-warm air. This usually happensduring November or December in Vermont, so I believe that's whenit was. The year had to be either 1994, as in Fall of 1995 I'dalready had the second sighting. The second 'sighting' was inSummer of 1995, before my surgery... which makes it May or June.In 1996 I moved to Swanont, so these sightings had to be 1994 and1995.

First Sighting:

Sherry and I were restless one night in late Fall, early Winterof 1994. There was a snow on the ground, but the air was stillnot too chilly, as we were able to walk without too muchdiscomfort. There was a full moon which lit up everything around,including the fields up to the tree lines in the distance. Wewere walking up the road from my parents' home towards the forkleading to Bakersfield or Faifield. Anyone who knows backroadswill know that they often start in one direction and double backbefore ever coming to another road. This was the situation, asBakersfield and Fairfield lie in opposite directiosn from EastFairfield. There are two houses before the Fork. On the left is afarm, I still don't know who owns it. On the right is the Blakehouse. Actually, there are several houses between Blake and myparents, but Blake is the last house on the right before theFork, and that's why I mention it. In order to get to the Fork,you have to go up a slight rise to Blake's house, down a slighthill, then up another steeper rise, down a second hill, and up athird, even steeper, hill. Half-way up this third hill is thefork. The road is paved for some way beyond on both roads, but atthe time fo the sighting, the pavement stopped at teh forkexactly. We had just passed Blake's house, and the farm (which ison the same rise as Blake's), and were heading down, goingtowards the second rise. I remind you that the field and roadwere lit up, that the winter snows had left no leaves or grass,and that this place was 'barren' as farr as you could see intothe trees.

I had barely turned to face Sherry to say something, I have ahabit of not looking at people when I talk, when we heard thegrowling of a large canine. This sound came from the roaddirectly BEHIND us... where we'd already travelled! Naturally, weturned and tried to see what was making the threatening noise,not wanting to be defenseless. There are troops of wild dogs,called Coy-Dogs, up in that section, and that's what we assumedit might be. Either that or for some reason Blake's dog Roscoehadn't recognized us.... though we had heard him barking when wepassed the Blake house. His barking, I believe, had stopped bynow. Well, turning to spot the growling animal, we were stunnedto see nothing... not even my own dog, Penny, who often came withus on these walks. We checked the bare bushes and the ditches onboth sides, all the while hearing a growling come and go, like awarning dog. There was no sign of any animal, dog, coy-dog,rabbit, or anything. Penny was still no where in sight, andRoscoe wasn't barking at his house, but there was a growlingcoming from the road between us and my parent's home.

I tell you, the decision between continuing up that road to thefork to get away from the sound (and possibly have it follow us),or to go THROUGH the sound to home was tough, but took all of aminute. Yes, it took that long because Sherry and I turned toeach other and said "Which way should we go?" I finallysaid "I'm not going further, cause that's a warning.Something's up ahead. Let's go back, and maybe it'll leave usalone." We started running back the way we'd come, and whenwe reached Blake's house, Roscoe started barking. The growlingstopped, and Penny came out of the farm on the other side of theroad. We made it back to Mom's house, but neither of us went towalk there at night again... we always headed in the oppositedirection towards the town.

Second Sighting:

This one was early summer in 1995, and actually involved Sherryand I, again. This time, we were driving in broad daylight,though the sun was about to set. We liked to explore thebackroads, and had come to know the houses and farms in the localEast Fairfield area rather well. I knew them from when I used toride an ATV around... and knew which had dogs or cats, due toanimals reacting to the loud sounds an ATV (All Terrain Vehicleor Four Wheeler) makes.

Deciding to head through the East Fairfield section of roads thatlead to Enosburg, starting with Egypt road and heading up to whatwas known as Dump Road at the time (I have no idea what it's nameis now, since all the road names have seemed to change. Werecently got 911 in our area, and they renamed roads and housesall over Vermont.) We had toured the roads by Enosburg all day,and were about to head home. Like I said, I don't know the nameof the road, but I can describe where it is. If you head fromBittersweet Farms towards East Fairfield, you will hit a fork inthe road pretty early. The right road was once called Dump Road,the left leads around a curve, into some trees, and into morecountry. That's the road we took. As you go, this road acts likea normal country road, curving, dipping, going in and out oftrees, and finally going down a very steep incline towards a farm.The farm house is at the top of the next incline, but the farmitself is at the bottom between the inclines. Once up and pastthe farm, which is on a curving road, you will come to anothercurve in the opposite direction. There's a house on that curvewhich had no pets at the time of the incident. They have sinceacquired two dogs, but neither matches the description of what wesaw. Going along this curve, you go down another steep inclinewhich ends at another road. The other raod is driven pretty fastby some, and as this incline curves, you cannot see the bottomuntil you are almost upon it. I believe that's the beginning ofEgypt Road, but could be mistaken. Country roads are nevercertain, are they?

Well, Sherry and I had just passed that Farm on the incline, andwe coming around the curve where the No Pet house was, when wesaw a canine. I was the one driving, which is not normal for oourhabits, but I was learning to drive then, which is why Sherry wasin the passenger seat and had such a clear view of the animal. Islowed down, as the dog started running alongside the car KEEPINGUP WITH US!!! I was afraid he might overtake us and run in frontof us, so I slowed down even more. Now, I recall a wolf or huskie-likedog, but Sherry insists he was white and huskie looking. Myimages are of light grey. I didn't have as good a view as Sherry,who was right next to the thing, so I don't recall this next bit,but Sherry insists the dog smiled wide. Not a normal doggie smilefrom when they're panting or being petted, but a HUMAN-like smile.She freaked and told me about it as we slowed. Suddenly, the dogdropped back. I was afraid it was going to get under my backtires or something, or change sides of he car, so I looked in therear-view mirror. What I saw made me hit the brakes, stopping thecar with a screech. The dog had vanished! I mean, it faded as ifI had left it behind, but I hadn't. The road was clearly visiblein the near sunset (no, it was not twilight yet, but the sky wasstarting to get some reds in it). I could perfectly see in thatrearview mirror where the dog had been. He had sat in the road,then vanished!

I couldn't move, and stammered what had happened to Sherry. Shetold me to start driving, and get out of there. I did. I don'tthink I went down that curving incline as fast before or after (andyes, we've driven tehre since... even in twighlight). When we gotto the bottom of the incline, I had to hit the breaks hard orwind up in the middle of the road. That's when I turned to Sherryand told her "I think he was a warning. You know, like thegrowling that night. Maybe someone was plowing through here realfast, and we would have hit him if I hadn't of stopped for thatdamn dog." Sherry told me she didn't want to talk about it,but when I started driving again, it's all we could talk about.That's when we speculated that maybe the growling from before hadbeen a warning about a rushing car, as well. You know, someoneracing in the darkness that might hit two unsuspectingpedestirans on a lonely country road?

If I bring up either incident, Sherry will let me talk about it,but it makes her uncomfortable. She gets upset at me, since shehates dealing with the "supernatural". When I tellsomeone the story of the "Black Dog Sightings" as Ilater found that they're called, Sherry will invariably put inthat "I never encountered anything weird until I met you,Crysty."