Editor’s note: This article was submitted for publication Fall 2018. This is a late upload.
By: MacKenzie Taylor
I have been a pet sitter since I was about 13-years-old. It was always an easy way for me to make extra money on the side, but now it’s pretty much turned into my third job. I have regular clients who call on me throughout the year, and people even book me for Thanksgiving shortly after the Fourth of July. It keeps me busy, and it has given me an opportunity to bond with people and their pets. Throughout my pet sitting career, however, I have experienced some strange, embarrassing, weird, and even terrifying moments. I swear to you that one of the houses I stayed in was haunted.
I had clients who were a military couple with a baby. They had a security system, which I’m used to because the majority of my clients do. It was pretty standard, goes off when you walk in the house, you put in the code and it stops. They had two dogs. My very first night staying with the dogs, I made sure the house was armed for stay and went to sleep around midnight. I was jolted awake an hour later by the sound of a door closing and the piercing screech of the alarm that followed. The dogs shot out of the bedroom, barking and growling. I was staying at the back of the house, so I could just barely see the entrance way where the alarm was. I had the comforter clutched to my chest in a death grip, and my heart raced as I scanned the room for a potential weapon. I had just decided on going for the lamp, when suddenly the dogs stopped barking and the alarm ceased. I was a little less panicked at this point, but still significantly freaked out as I began to creep out of the bedroom. I got to the kitchen and finally saw the husband, who I had not met beforehand, standing in the entrance way with the dogs jumping all over him. So, there I was standing in the middle of the kitchen in my pajamas with my unicorn pillow pet held against my chest, still shaking from the scare. The husband introduced himself, shook my hand, apologized for scaring me, told me I was free to go home, and I got the hell out of there.
At a different house, I once thought there was a ghost in the bathroom. And no, I’m not kidding. I was sitting in the living room watching TV. Suddenly, I heard the toilet flush in the bathroom down the hall. Here’s what I knew: I’m the only one in the house, the two dogs are asleep on the couch, and the toilet just flushed. A chill immediately went down my back and my heart began to pound. I continued to sit there, trying to figure out if I should get up and go investigate, or just stay there and see what happens next. I was too paranoid to wait around, so I walked very slowly and quietly down the hallway. With my hand on the door frame, I peered into the bathroom. I don’t know what I expected to see, but it definitely wasn’t the sight that greeted me. I immediately noticed the big orange mass in the corner. It was the cat. Standing on his hind legs and reaching up with his paw to flush the toilet, watching the water swirl as it disappeared from the bowl.
I once dog sat for an older couple with an older dog who lived in an older house. The dog had her spot in the front room, and that was where she slept every night. I slept on the opposite side of the house, and I was not a fan of sleeping in there alone. The bed was really high up and covered in fancy white sheets, and an antique lamp sat on either side of the bed. One of the nights I was there, I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night. All that greeted me was the pitch-black darkness that surrounded me. I didn’t see anything. I didn’t hear anything. I felt something. The room felt heavy and suffocating, and all I knew was that something was in the room with me. I quickly shut my eyes again and just let myself lay there, too afraid to move. I eventually rolled onto my side and just prayed until I could drift back to sleep. To this day, I still can’t say for certain what was in that room with me, but I have never been more terrified in my life than I was that night.