Background: My friend Sherry claims that she has never had any paranormal or supernatural experiences since meeting me. She is a farmer's kid from Northern Vermont, and has worked outside in all weather conditions, all times of the day, all phases of the moon. I on the other hand, have been raised in numerous places, from City to suburb to country, and have travelled extensively across the world while in the Navy.

Shortly after meeting Sherry in 1994, we started spending nights at each other's houses. This was due to the long commute between the towns we lived in, I in East Fairfield, Vermont and she in Swanton, Vermont. During the night, we would get restless and go outside for a walk and a long talk about whatever was on our minds. This has always occurred while at my home in East Fairfield, mind you, never at her home. (Both of us lived with our parents at them time of the sightings.) The first sighting took place in what had to be late fall or early winter due to the snow on the ground and the semi-warm air. This usually happens during November or December in Vermont, so I believe that's when it was. The year had to be either 1994, as in Fall of 1995 I'd already had the second sighting. The second 'sighting' was in Summer of 1995, before my surgery... which makes it May or June. In 1996 I moved to Swanont, so these sightings had to be 1994 and 1995.

First Sighting:

Sherry and I were restless one night in late Fall, early Winter of 1994. There was a snow on the ground, but the air was still not too chilly, as we were able to walk without too much discomfort. There was a full moon which lit up everything around, including the fields up to the tree lines in the distance. We were walking up the road from my parents' home towards the fork leading to Bakersfield or Faifield. Anyone who knows backroads will know that they often start in one direction and double back before ever coming to another road. This was the situation, as Bakersfield and Fairfield lie in opposite directiosn from East Fairfield. There are two houses before the Fork. On the left is a farm, I still don't know who owns it. On the right is the Blake house. Actually, there are several houses between Blake and my parents, but Blake is the last house on the right before the Fork, and that's why I mention it. In order to get to the Fork, you have to go up a slight rise to Blake's house, down a slight hill, then up another steeper rise, down a second hill, and up a third, even steeper, hill. Half-way up this third hill is the fork. The road is paved for some way beyond on both roads, but at the time fo the sighting, the pavement stopped at teh fork exactly. We had just passed Blake's house, and the farm (which is on the same rise as Blake's), and were heading down, going towards the second rise. I remind you that the field and road were lit up, that the winter snows had left no leaves or grass, and that this place was 'barren' as farr as you could see into the trees.

I had barely turned to face Sherry to say something, I have a habit of not looking at people when I talk, when we heard the growling of a large canine. This sound came from the road directly BEHIND us... where we'd already travelled! Naturally, we turned and tried to see what was making the threatening noise, not wanting to be defenseless. There are troops of wild dogs, called Coy-Dogs, up in that section, and that's what we assumed it might be. Either that or for some reason Blake's dog Roscoe hadn't recognized us.... though we had heard him barking when we passed the Blake house. His barking, I believe, had stopped by now. Well, turning to spot the growling animal, we were stunned to see nothing... not even my own dog, Penny, who often came with us on these walks. We checked the bare bushes and the ditches on both sides, all the while hearing a growling come and go, like a warning dog. There was no sign of any animal, dog, coy-dog, rabbit, or anything. Penny was still no where in sight, and Roscoe wasn't barking at his house, but there was a growling coming from the road between us and my parent's home.

I tell you, the decision between continuing up that road to the fork to get away from the sound (and possibly have it follow us), or to go THROUGH the sound to home was tough, but took all of a minute. Yes, it took that long because Sherry and I turned to each other and said "Which way should we go?" I finally said "I'm not going further, cause that's a warning. Something's up ahead. Let's go back, and maybe it'll leave us alone." We started running back the way we'd come, and when we reached Blake's house, Roscoe started barking. The growling stopped, and Penny came out of the farm on the other side of the road. We made it back to Mom's house, but neither of us went to walk there at night again... we always headed in the opposite direction towards the town.

Second Sighting:

This one was early summer in 1995, and actually involved Sherry and I, again. This time, we were driving in broad daylight, though the sun was about to set. We liked to explore the backroads, and had come to know the houses and farms in the local East Fairfield area rather well. I knew them from when I used to ride an ATV around... and knew which had dogs or cats, due to animals reacting to the loud sounds an ATV (All Terrain Vehicle or Four Wheeler) makes.

Deciding to head through the East Fairfield section of roads that lead to Enosburg, starting with Egypt road and heading up to what was known as Dump Road at the time (I have no idea what it's name is now, since all the road names have seemed to change. We recently got 911 in our area, and they renamed roads and houses all over Vermont.) We had toured the roads by Enosburg all day, and were about to head home. Like I said, I don't know the name of the road, but I can describe where it is. If you head from Bittersweet Farms towards East Fairfield, you will hit a fork in the road pretty early. The right road was once called Dump Road, the left leads around a curve, into some trees, and into more country. That's the road we took. As you go, this road acts like a normal country road, curving, dipping, going in and out of trees, and finally going down a very steep incline towards a farm. The farm house is at the top of the next incline, but the farm itself is at the bottom between the inclines. Once up and past the farm, which is on a curving road, you will come to another curve in the opposite direction. There's a house on that curve which had no pets at the time of the incident. They have since acquired two dogs, but neither matches the description of what we saw. Going along this curve, you go down another steep incline which ends at another road. The other raod is driven pretty fast by some, and as this incline curves, you cannot see the bottom until you are almost upon it. I believe that's the beginning of Egypt Road, but could be mistaken. Country roads are never certain, are they?

Well, Sherry and I had just passed that Farm on the incline, and we coming around the curve where the No Pet house was, when we saw a canine. I was the one driving, which is not normal for oour habits, but I was learning to drive then, which is why Sherry was in the passenger seat and had such a clear view of the animal. I slowed down, as the dog started running alongside the car KEEPING UP WITH US!!! I was afraid he might overtake us and run in front of us, so I slowed down even more. Now, I recall a wolf or huskie-like dog, but Sherry insists he was white and huskie looking. My images are of light grey. I didn't have as good a view as Sherry, who was right next to the thing, so I don't recall this next bit, but Sherry insists the dog smiled wide. Not a normal doggie smile from when they're panting or being petted, but a HUMAN-like smile. She freaked and told me about it as we slowed. Suddenly, the dog dropped back. I was afraid it was going to get under my back tires or something, or change sides of he car, so I looked in the rear-view mirror. What I saw made me hit the brakes, stopping the car with a screech. The dog had vanished! I mean, it faded as if I had left it behind, but I hadn't. The road was clearly visible in the near sunset (no, it was not twilight yet, but the sky was starting to get some reds in it). I could perfectly see in that rearview mirror where the dog had been. He had sat in the road, then vanished!

I couldn't move, and stammered what had happened to Sherry. She told me to start driving, and get out of there. I did. I don't think I went down that curving incline as fast before or after (and yes, we've driven tehre since... even in twighlight). When we got to the bottom of the incline, I had to hit the breaks hard or wind up in the middle of the road. That's when I turned to Sherry and told her "I think he was a warning. You know, like the growling that night. Maybe someone was plowing through here real fast, and we would have hit him if I hadn't of stopped for that damn dog." Sherry told me she didn't want to talk about it, but when I started driving again, it's all we could talk about. That's when we speculated that maybe the growling from before had been a warning about a rushing car, as well. You know, someone racing in the darkness that might hit two unsuspecting pedestirans on a lonely country road?

If I bring up either incident, Sherry will let me talk about it, but it makes her uncomfortable. She gets upset at me, since she hates dealing with the "supernatural". When I tell someone the story of the "Black Dog Sightings" as I later found that they're called, Sherry will invariably put in that "I never encountered anything weird until I met you, Crysty."