Has your Labrador suddenly frozen and stared into a corner when there's nothing there? Perhaps he's noticed something hidden from your eyes.
In 2019, Paranormal Today magazine published an investigation: 67% of dog owners have experienced their pets reacting to the “invisible.”
Dr Samuel Bennett , a parapsychologist at Oxford, told the BBC: "Dogs are living anomaly detectors. Their reaction to emptiness is not a coincidence, but a sign of contact with another dimension."
Take this story that blew up on Reddit: User u/GhostDog2022 described how his boxer Bruno spent weeks barking at his living room wall.
After renovations, a walled-up niche containing children's toys from the 1920s was discovered there. " He didn't calm down until we took them to a museum ," the owner wrote.
Commentators are horrified: “My shepherd behaves the same way near the old cemetery at the dacha!”
But science is trying to find rational explanations.
Neuroscience professor Lisa Morris points out in Scientific American that dogs can see ultraviolet light and hear frequencies up to 60,000 Hz. They can respond to electromagnetic field fluctuations that occur in geological faults or… unexplained activity.
That's what paranormal investigator Jake Carter says happened at the Thompson family home in Colorado. Their mixed-breed dog, Shadow, began howling every midnight, pointing at the fireplace. A month later, a hidden door was found in the basement where a murder had taken place in the 1930s. " It was like he could feel other people's pain ," Ms. Thompson says.
Skeptics point to their sense of smell. “Dogs can detect scents left over from long-ago events,” explains veterinary expert Paul Randolph on the Pet Mysteries podcast.
But how then to explain the case from Japan? In 2021, a Shiba Inu named Akira saved a family by refusing to enter their apartment before an earthquake. When the owners ran out after her, the building collapsed.
"She was whining and looking at the ceiling, where a crack was later found," Yumiko's owner said in an NHK documentary.
Paranormal hunter Eric Goldman gives dozens of examples in his book "Dog Mediums."
One of the most terrifying is the story of a German shepherd named Max from New Orleans. After moving into an old mansion, the dog began growling at the mirror in the bedroom. The owners called a psychic who said: " The soul of a woman killed for an inheritance is stuck here ." After the ritual, Max calmed down.
But are you ready to trust your dog? Mystical blogger Sarah Lynch (@SpiritDog) advises: “ If your dog is persistently barking in one place, investigate. It may be trying to warn you .”
What if there is someone standing behind you right now that only your pet can see?
