White Dog of Death

[Agent_21]

After seemingly interminable time on the housing list, Mr FP and his family were happy to move into number 32 C Road in Birmingham (W Midlands). With a growing family, a new baby had recently been born, the new home meant more space and modern facillities. Compared to their previous homes the P family though it a palace. They had it blessed by their local priest.

Mr P was an ex-paratrooper who had seen active service and was not the kind of man to be easily intimidated. But, within a week, the family noticed odd unaccountable incidents around the house. These were relatively trivial; doors heard to slam were found securely shut, tapping noises came from the ceilings. Then the house became permeated with an overpowering smell. At first this seemed like garlic, but presently came to resemble burnt rubber.

Three weeks later the body blow fell. The new baby was found dead in its cot. The post-mortem indicated suffocation but Mr and Mrs P felt uneasy with this since every care had been taken with the child and no obvious cause could be found. Distraught as they were, they found comfort within their faith and through the councel of their priest friend.

However, the intensity of the haunting began to increase. The rappings had slamming became louder and more frequent. Large temperature fluctuations occurred within a short space of time in certain rooms. Strange and variable odours came and went. More disturbing was the whispering of indistinguishable words around the house.

Even more disturbing was when the couple's 4-year old son asked, 'Did baby go away with the little white dog?' A terrified Mrs P asked 'What dog?' The child replied' 'The little white dog that comes and sits on my bed. I saw it sit on baby's face the night baby went away.' Mrs P collapsed.

Part 2 to follow...

[Agent_21]

Though the family thought there was little use in calling the police, they did. Nothing came of their involvement. Their priest seemed more likely to assist them so they invited him back and told him what their son had said. Later, with the help of a relative of the family, the priest went around the house sprinkling holy water. Both men heard the whispering and rapping as they did so. As he left, the priest advised them strongly to leave the house. The wait for decent accomodation had been so long, however, they opted to remain.

A fortnight later Mr P was shaving at the kitchen sink when he heard a terrible gibbering right behind him. He could see nothing in the mirror. Since his wife was the only person present apart from him he rushed out to find her. As he reached the bottom of the stairs he looked up. Mrs P was standing at the top, her face distorted and she was screaming, yet no sound reached him. Mr P dashed up the stairs towards her but hit an invisible barrier half way up. This barrier began to push him downstairs. He grabbed the bannisters and pushed back with all his strength. Eventually he burst through whatever barrier was there to hear his wife's sobs and screams. She too had heard the inhuman mutterings.

Mr and Mrs P left the house at once without packing and never returned. A niece and her fiance volunteered to clear thing up there but one evenng was enough. The mutterings and other sounds drove them away too.

The council were convinced enough by the P's tale to rehouse them. A reporter and photographer from a newspaper spent some time at no 32C, but only recorded temperature fluctuations and noted the strange smells that came and went. All is silent at no 32C today...probably.

[dancin'hamster]

Lordy Agent!!!!!!!!

That's a cracker!

*scampers off to look under bed for white dogs*

Hammy x x x

[Agent_21]

The thing about this is that the property concerned has not become known in the subsequent years as an evil or even haunted place. If there were problems before this family moved in, they haven't come to light since the story was published. (various sources)

It appears that there was something about this particular family that someone or something took a dislike to. Alternatively a member of the household acted as a catalyst for whatever caused the trouble.

[dancin'hamster]

Do you think that it was some kind of creature that had been 'created' to torment them? Like they do in Africa? Dang.........can't think of the name - will have to go and find my book ......

[Agent_21]

Do you think that it was some kind of creature that had been 'created' to torment them?

I don't think it's possible to tell from the accounts I read. But a devout Catholic family who took the trouble to have the house blessed wouldn't seem to be the kind of people to draw enemies of that sort. Again, we would probably have heard about it if anything followed them to a subsequent address.

Another thought I had was that the act of blessing the house might have stirred up something dark and resentful and the use of holy water brought more trouble. I think Peter Underwood said once that he tended to think excorcism, of buildings at least, was not very effective in the long run.

[dancin'hamster]

Sadly, good devout families attract hatred too.........

The exorcism thing? I would tend to agree in general. A pub by us was exorcised in the early 90's but what-ever-it-is is back and more spiteful than ever.......apparantly....

[Agent_21]

Sadly, good devout families attract hatred too.........

Yes, good point. Like the cat story I know the address. I wonder about revealing addresses in books and on websites of this nature. A bit alarming if you live there now.

I was wondering about the dog too. Was it part of what was tormenting the family? For a start, who could allow the death of an innocent baby. But maybe if something really evil was present and threatening the child, the white dog was some form of protective spirit. (Black dog compared with White dog, in one's mind, gives quite a contrast in their perceived nature, at least on first thoughts)

If it was protecting the child's soul/spirit - assuming you believe in them - maybe it led it to 'far better (or safer) place' - a psychopomp, as some black dogs are believed to be.

Some random thoughts.

[dancin'hamster]

I've read about white dogs protecting people before..........

[Cufflink]

Exorcisms don't last, I know from personal experience.

We had a LOT of trouble in my previous house, and so my mother called in a priest. The female vicar (shan't give her name, naturally), performed a full room by room exorcism, and for one year, things were fairly quiet.

We left, almost a year after the exorcism and moved to our current home (out of the frying pan....but that's another story).

The first full night the house stood empty, the neighbours we left behind thought we were back in there. Banging, shouting, a woman calling out to them, and screams. (Not that WE sounded like that normally... )

The neighbour checked the house, thinking someone had broken in, but all was quiet, in darkness and secure.

This went on for a full week, night after night. We spoke to these old neighbours of ours, some weeks later, and they were ashen-faced at the mention of it.

The house has seen families come and go in the six years since. Being a total scaredy, I have no intention of going back to check on things.