The Duke's Ghost
by "Anonymous"
Published: 10/20/98

Back when I was in Jr. High (or "middle" school), we had a boxer-shepherd mix dog named "Duke". The strange thing about Duke was he adopted us, rather than the other way around. It was almost as if he was SUPPOSED to be with us. He was extremely intelligent as well as protective of all of us. He didn't even like us kids to wrestle each other (he'd grab us gently but firmly in his mouth and pull us apart until we stopped).

At night, when we were all bedded down, Duke would make the rounds of each bedroom to check on us before lying down on the floor at the foot of mom and dad's bed. This routine happened every night without fail until the day someone poisoned him and he died. Needless to say, we were all crushed by Duke's untimely demise, but we moved on with our day-to-day lives.

It wasn't too long after Duke's passing that my mom and I began to notice a presence about the size of a large dog moving around the house, especially at bedtime. At times we could hear the clicking of a dog's nails on the hardwood floor and see a shadowy figure pass from room to room and stop at the foot of my parents' bed, just as Duke had done. My mom and I had first noticed this on separate occasions, and eventually asked each other if we had noticed anything "strange". When we compared stories, it was obvious that Duke was still watching over the family.