As told by Patrick McNicholas, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
As many of you know, a few months ago I lost my puppy dog. His name was Jack. He was a miniature pincher from the Doberman pincher lineage. Jack was a small dog. He only weighed about 18 pounds when he died. Jack passed away unexpectedly from a bronchial sickness and I truly miss that dog. We buried Jack in the backyard in the far back corner of the yard and I put a statue of St. Francis there to mark his grave. I keep fresh flowers and doggy treats out there at his statue and change them out every couple of weeks. Sometimes when I'm in the backyard, I can feel Jack's presence. I have three other dogs and I think they can feel him there too. Every once and awhile I will see my other dog, Nowanda, just sitting there staring at that statue like she can see something I can't.
Well, one night at about two in the morning, I woke up to use the bathroom and right next to the toilet in my bathroom is a window in to the back yard. You can't help but to look out the window while you are standing there using the bathroom. So I was staring out the window in to the back yard and all of the sudden, I saw something moving in the darkness. I looked more closely and I could see the back gate open up and a dark shadowy figure move across the backyard. Of course, my heart sank in fear. As I stared more closely and as he moved closer to my house from the fence line, I could see a silver shiny object in his hand, reflecting off the moonlight that was shining down in the back yard. When I looked back up I could see the man's face staring right at me. He saw me through the window and raised the knife so I could see it. He had the true face of evil! All I could think was my phone is on the dresser in the bedroom, so I ran as fast as I could and grabbed my phone and started dialing 911.
I ran back to the bathroom and looked out the window again to see where this intruder was and I was shocked at what I saw. The man hadn't moved. He was frozen in the middle of the back yard. Just then I could hear it... this horrible growling noise. As I got closer to the window the noise got louder and louder. It sounded like a mad, mad dog or a wolf of some kind and I could tell that the intruder could hear it as well. The noise was coming from the far back corner of my yard, back by where Jack was buried. At this point my other dogs came running out in to the backyard through the doggy door, barking and growling as well, but as soon as they stepped off the back porch they became silent and just stared at the man in the darkness. Just then, the 911 operator came on the line and I quickly gave her my name and address and told her there was an intruder in my backyard with a knife. As soon as I got those words out, I looked out the window again and I could see the man now cowering in fear and backing away from the corner of the back yard. Just then I could hear the growling noise again and this time is was so loud, like it was in my head and all around me. All of the sudden the man turned and I could see the absolute fear in his eyes as he ran past my house along the side and over the small fence in to the front yard. My dogs came running back in the house. Following the man was a black mist, like a cloud of darkness. I ran to the front of the house and I could see the man hunched over my bushes and screaming "get it off me, get it off me"! Just then the police pulled up and the man actually ran to them screaming, "Please save me"! They immediately took the man in to custody. He had large bites marks all over him and was bleeding profusely. I told the officers that I saw the man enter my backyard with a knife in his hand. The police told me they were not able to find any weapon on the man and they searched my yard looking for it, but could not find it.
The police noticed my dogs, which are all very small and could not have caused such bite marks as what this man had endured. The police were very puzzled and asked me if I had another dog? To which I replied "no." The officers told me that once they calmed the man down and got him in to ambulance he said he had been mauled by a very large and very mean Doberman pincher! A couple of weeks later, the police informed me that the intruder they apprehended in my yard that night was linked to a home invasion and double homicide in another town not far from here.
The next day, after all had calmed down, I noticed all three of my dogs were lying down at the foot of Jack's grave. Laying there in front of the statue was the large kitchen knife that the intruder was carrying.
I still make sure to keep fresh flowers and dog treats out there for Jack.
