This isn't really a ghost story as much as a very strange series of events, but it spooked the heck out of me then and I still wonder about this.....
I swear that every word of the following story is true:
My mom was always worried when I traveled alone on business and insisted that I carry a St. Christopher's medal with me (St. Christopher is the patron saint of travelers, for you non-Catholic readers.) Mom was also a real dog lover. And, my mom had the most beautiful hazel eyes I've ever seen -- very distinctive in their coloration.
Mom died very suddenly in April, 1993 -- massive heart failure, no advance warnings. Two weeks later, I had to travel to Dallas/Ft. Worth for a business convention -- but my heart was very heavy. On day three of the trip, several of my colleagues convinced me to attend one of the evening social events of the convention...a visit to Billy Bob's -- the worlds largest honky-tonk at the Ft. Worth Stockyards. I went, but it did little to lighten my mood until I saw a dog inside the bar. My colleague said she thought the dog was watching me and I just laughed. (By the way, I was stone cold sober ... not even one drink in me.)
A little later, I was on the other side of Billy Bob's -- which if you haven't been there, is a huge space -- and saw this same dog standing a little ways from me. I thought "how odd that they allow dogs inside the bar." With that, the dog started to wag its tail and came up to me -- now before you think "this woman's nuts," let me assure you that I have a SOBER witness to the following:
I started to pet the dog's head and noticed that she had the most beautiful hazel eyes I've ever seen on a dog. In fact, I mentioned to my colleague that this dog's eyes actually reminded me of my mom's eyes. While I was petting the dog's head I noted that she had on a collar with a tag on it -- I picked up the dog tag and saw that it was a St. Christopher's medal -- I said "how strange is this? I've never seen a religious medal on a dog's collar". Then I turned over the tag and on the reverse side was engraved: "My name is Sophie."
My mom's name was Sophie.
I burst out in tears -- which did cause folks around me to kind of move away -- but even moreso when I looked at the dog and said loud enough for every one to hear: "Mom?? You came back as a dog....in a honky-tonk??!! In Texas
Mom!!"
I finally calmed down and asked my colleague to keep an eye on the dog while I went to the nearest bartender to find out if he knew anything about this dog. The bartender said it was the strangest thing; the dog just showed up about three days before and hung around every night, but wouldn't allow anyone to touch it and toward the end of the evening the dog seemed to disappear each day. I turned back to my colleague and saw the dog was gone -- my colleague said that when I went to the bar, the dog wouldn't come to anyone else and just seemed to disappear in the crowd.
I must say that this strange event gave me tremendous comfort as if it was an opportunity to see my mom one last time. But when I finally get over to the other side -- none too soon, I hope -- I definitely have some questions about this whole thing!
I swear this is a true story!