Yesterday we awoke to find our neighborhood blanketed in a thick fog. No surprise really. After all it is spooky season, and this is par for the course. Besides we’ve walked in far worse conditions than fog. So in the predawn, just as the sun was starting to rise, we set off into the fog for our neighborhood patrol.

Guided by the sound of an owl, that coincidentally sounded right from a haunted house soundtrack, we walked along. On the surface, everything seemed normal. But I just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Were we being followed? Nonsense! My imagination was getting the better of me. Surely I’d hear their footsteps in the fallen leaves.

But apparently I didn’t! Just as we rounded the cul-de-sac, we were surprised to barely make out in the dense fog the shape of a hooded form, with a large dog by its side walking ahead of us. Why didn’t we hear them sooner? Furthermore, what struck me was this mysterious mass wasn’t walking towards us, but ahead of us and in the same direction we were headed. Surely we would have seen them if we were following them along the road? We certainly didn’t pass each other, because I would have noticed them.

Could they have come out from one of the neighbors’ houses? Well here’s the thing. The human form was very nondescript. But as I strained my eyes to see, the dog was very large and had obvious pointy ears. We only have one such dog with pointy ears in the neighborhood, but she isn’t as large as the dog ahead of us. Nor, no offense, have we ever seen her walking at a perfect heel, like this mysterious dog was doing. In addition, she is never out this early, nor so quiet. She would have definitely barked a hearty “hello!”

Asa sniffed the air, but even with his powerful sense of smell he showed no signs of recognizing these forms. I quickened my pace in the hopes of catching up to get a better look. Clearly Dad understood this cue, because he gave no resistance to our faster than normal pace. Dad also took out his flashlight, but it was powerless to penetrate the fog. Despite our efforts, it seemed like the forms ahead of us also picked up their pace, keeping just out of view surrounded by fog.

That’s when it happened! A neighbor, returning home from working the nightshift, turned onto the street, temporarily blinding us in the glow of the headlights. It was only an instant, but once our eyes adjusted the figures were nowhere to be seen! Did they follow the nearby path in the woods to another neighbor’s house? I scanned the darkness to try to see their forms. Surely the motion detecting floodlights in that driveway would have picked up on their movement if they did. Those lights shine bright for even the smallest squirrel trespasser. But nothing! All was quiet and dark at that house.

Moments later when we reached the top of the street, the only other obvious escape route for them, we paused and stared in either direction. By then, although still foggy, the sun had risen over the trees making it a little easier to see. And yet we saw no trace of the phantom dog walker!

This leads me to three theories:

• Theory One: They were both ghosts
• Theory Two: The hooded figure was a ghost and the dog was just keeping it company
• Theory Three: The figure was a neighbor who had no idea the ghost dog was walking with it

Discuss amongst yourselves, because we sure don’t know what we saw!