We received the following report in June 2013, but the events described occurred in 1992.
"In 1992, the night of the Spring Equinox (March 20th) around 11:30 pm I got a call from my best friend asking me to come pick her up from Fort Saskatchewan (we live in Edmonton) from her mother's house where she had just finished babysitting her younger sisters. Being late winter it was a cold night but clear and nothing interesting happened until I got within a couple blocks of the house. Stopped at a stop sign, trying to remember which way to turn, I’d only been to the house once before, suddenly there was what sounded like a big dog started to bay close by, really close by but I couldn't see any dog. It startled me but didn't scare me and I turned left and continued on. Not half a block later the dog bayed again, sounding like it was right beside my moving car. I didn't hit the brakes but I checked side and review mirrors but didn't see anything. Every few minutes the baying would sound again, always near the car as I circled around the neighbourhood trying to find the house.I have owned and do own dogs now and know when it's the same dog baying/barking/howling verses different dogs so I know it was the same dog baying as would any long time dog owner.Eventually I found the house, pulled to the curb just as my friend came sprinting down the front walk, jumped into the car and slammed the door. "Did you see it?" She had asked me."See what?"Just like a in a horror movie the baying came again but this time it sounded like it was by the right front corner of her mom's house."That (swear word) dog!"By this time I'm freaked out and she’s freaked out so I pulled away as I say no and explain happened.Meanwhile, while she's waiting for me to get there and watching out the front window of the house, she's hearing the dog baying and it sounds like it's moving back and forth from the back of the house to one side of the house to the other. Then she sees me drive past, starts to open the front door, the dog bays from the side of the house closest to the door so she decides to stay inside and wait for me to come back. Worried that when I finally stop that it will attack one of us, she opened the inside door (the house has a heavy wooden door and a screen door), locks the knob lock and waits with one hand on the heavy inside door doorknob and the other on the latch for the screen door. That way, the baying sounds louder and she can hear the sound of the ice crust (that forms on top of snow) cracking as the dog walked over it at the side of the house nearest her but never sees it. When I pull up, she quickly opens the screen door, shuts the heavy door and runs for the car.Neither of us ever saw the dog but the baying followed us until we turned onto Highway 21. Next day she phoned her mom, who slept through the whole thing and there were no dog prints anywhere on the property.
I have tried to learn more about this but haven't been successful at all. About four years later my husband and I drove out there the night of the Spring Equinox and experienced the same baying that seemed to stay right with his truck but never saw a dog. He did pull over by a school, got out and looked around and when the baying came at that time it sounded like it was coming from the empty school field but the moon was out and there was no dog in the field. Again it followed us until we turned onto Highway 21 and headed back to Edmonton.My husband, who is a skeptic has refused to go back during subsequent Spring Equinoxes and I’m too weirded out to go alone and my friend’s mother has since moved away from Fort Saskatchewan and my friend and I have never had a chance to return so I have no idea if it’s still going on.A part of me wants to believe that it was just two regular dogs that just happen to be running lose in the middle of the night on two separate Spring Equinoxes and for whatever reason none of the three of us could spot them but that explanation just doesn’t sit right with me, too much of a coincidence I guess. So has anyone else ever heard of a phantom dog in Fort Saskatchewan? Is it only during the Spring Equinox or does it happen at any other time?"
Did the witness encounter a phantom creature that appears only on a specific date such as an anniversary apparition, a cryptozoological animal, or an ordinary dog? The witness may never know, but we do thank her for sharing this experience with us. If you can add any information, or have had a similar experience in Fort Saskatchewan, please contact us at admin@psican.org or fill out our reporting form Your privacy will be protected and confidentiality is assured.
