Can animals become ghosts?

There are many tales of animal spirits haunting various locations and while they are not as common as human spirits, there are too many stories of encounters to ignore.

The church next to the old site of Borley Rectory, allegedly the UK’s most haunted home at one point, is said to be haunted by the ghost of a headless chicken.

There have been numerous sightings of large black dogs haunting grave sites, however, whether these are spirits of dogs that once lived or are instead Shucks, remains to be proven.

Early paranormal investigator Elliot O’Donnell wrote an entire book on people’s encounters with animal spirits.  The book, Animal Hauntings and the Hereafter is now freely available to read on the internet.  

Through our own experiences, we are able to confidently say that animals do come back as ghosts.  

I lost my little rescue dog very suddenly to a genetic condition.  She was only two and had spent most of her life as a breeding dog.  She hadn’t been out for walks and was confined to the house most of the time. When I got her, I took her everywhere with me.  She loved going out and seeing the world and most of all she loved being in the car.  She knew that when she got in the car, it meant she was going somewhere new.  She would get so excited that her whole body would wag with her tail.  She used to sit between the driver’s and the passenger’s seat and would lick my elbow pretty much most of the time I was driving.  When she passed away I was devastated.  She had been such a happy little soul and I missed her so much.  I was on my way to work one day when I felt the licking on my elbow.  Without thinking anything was wrong I reached round to stroke her on the head, forgetting that she was no longer with us.  It was only when my hand didn’t touch anything that I remembered.  This still happens about twice a week.  I just smile now as I know that it is her way of showing me that she is still with me and still enjoys her trips in the car.  

Another of our group remembers seeing her cat many times after she had passed away.  Daisy had come from a family who no longer wanted her.  They were moving and didn’t want her to come with them.  Daisy had clearly not been shown much affection but as soon as she realised that I actually wanted to hug her, she followed me everywhere.  I had her for 4 wonderful years and she was totally spoilt. While I was at work, Daisy would sleep under one of the cars in my close.  When I got home, she would come running out to greet me.  It was mid August and I pulled into my drive and sure enough she was asleep under the car in the next drive, only this time she didn’t come running over.  She had passed away in her sleep while I was at work.  She looked so peaceful.  We gave her a lovely burial on the common so I could always visit her.  When I got home from work the next day I pulled in the drive and was amazed to see Daisy asleep under the car again.  I rushed to get out and by the time I did, she had disappeared.  This carried on for weeks, every day I would come home and see her asleep under the car.  Some days she got up and started to run over, only to disappear by the time I had got my car door open.  I also started to hear her in the house.  I would hear her basket creak as if she had got in it.  I would hear her jump off the bed in the middle of the night.  I think she was so happy with me that she chose to stay around.  It has been 5 years since she died, but I still see and hear her regularly.