A listener writes “When I was 8 years old I came home from a church choir camp only to find my dad had bought a new house and had already moved everything in. It was a beautiful house built on a slope so it was 1 story in the front and 2 stories in the back.
There was a creek in the back and all the lots were about 1/4 acre with very thick woods all around. This land was originally part of Millwood. A plantation owned by general Wade Hampton from the civil war. This is in Columbia, SC and back then this was considered the country but now it’s town limits.So, on about our 4th night of being in this new house my brother who was 12 and had a bedroom on the backside of the house (2nd floor), woke up and was visibly upset said come look.
He went to the window and pointed. Below was a massive dog on its hind legs standing up and clawing at the sliding door that had a screen on it (I thought). It was growling, snarling and clawing like crazy. This thing was solid black with brightly colored yellow eyes and I was absolutely terrified. He was super bushy around his neck and was the blackest thing I’d ever seen back then or since. I started screaming and crying and within seconds my Mom and Dad came running in and flipped on the lights and said “what is going on? ” I screamed “it’s a devil dog!” Daddy came to the window and looked down and said “I don’t see anything. You’re both just having the same bad dream so get back in bed.” My brother and I did as we were told but I can tell you I didn’t sleep well. My bedroom was on the front side of the house first floor and I was absolutely terrified.
The next morning I flew down the basement steps and turned right towards the finished basement where the sliding glass doors and screen were located. To the left of the stairs was the unfinished dirt basement. When I got to the doors there was no screen, but I was sure there had been. Anyway I was a kid and maybe it was a dream.
About a year later, I was playing with my Barbie’s in the dirt basement that was to the left of the stairs. As I said before, the house was on a slope so when you first came in there was plenty of room to walk around but as it went towards the front of the house the space was only about 3 feet high. I’m playing with Barbie’s, my toy horse’s and a bunch of toy furniture my dad made for me.
I look to my right towards the underneath part of the steps when I noticed something long and silver crammed under the steps. I crawled over to look and there was the screened sliding door. It was shredded from the top to about halfway down the screen. It wasn’t a dream but daddy wisely must have moved it the next morning before I went downstairs.
Anyway, no one ever spoke of it except my brother that saw it with me. We both referred to it as a devil dog. It wasn’t until about 2 years ago with all the talk of dogman that I saw a picture of a painting that took me back instantly to that night. I think it was the Nadolny dogman site that had the picture. I sketched out what I saw that night. I’ll never forget it.”
