6 Days 'Til Halloween: Ghostly Siblings

My family has some really good ghost stories. I thought I'd share a few this week before Halloween. To begin, here's my own true ghost encounter with a particularly hair raising epilogue.

Back in the mid 90's I was living in a rented house in Burbank, CA. My dog at the time, Flannery, would sometimes just stop and stare at a wall or empty space giving a whiny small growl. I never thought anything of it. Being a dog I assumed she was reacting to some distant sound or maybe a mouse in the wall. I was wrong.

Late one night I dozed off while stretched out on the couch reading a book. Flannery's whining woke me up. She was on the floor between me and the coffee table. I reached over to pet and comfort her wondering what was wrong. She was fixated on one side of the room. I was still lying down so my view of what she was looking at was blocked by the arm of the couch.

I lifted my head. Standing there were two children holding hands. A boy and a smaller girl. Both were looking down at Flannery. They were physically real, but their clothing and features were only implied and undefined like a roughed in clay sculpture. Their coloring was washed out like an antique hand tinted photo.

The little girl looked in my direction and seemed surprised to see me. She grabbed the boy's arm tighter. At that instant I felt they were siblings. I lowered my head back behind the arm of the couch spooked and scared by what I saw. I got my courage up to look again. They were gone.

I shook it off believing it was just a half awake/half asleep still dreaming kind of thing.

Until months later that is.

I was propmaster on a talk show. One guest that week was an animal psychic. The segment producer had arranged for several people to bring their pets in for readings. The day before the show it looked like one person and their pet might drop out. The producer knew I had a dog and asked if I'd bring her in as a replacement if needed. I did. As it turned out though, they did make it after all. The producer and psychic graciously offered to give Flannery a reading after the show in thanks for having her there just in case.

During the reading the psychic asked me "Do you have children?" 

"No." I answered.

The psychic looked puzzled, then said "Odd because Flannery does NOT like the little girl and boy living in your house."

A chill went down my back.