Dog and that danged wall

I turned in around 11:30 pm last night. The older dog curled up on his pillow in front of the heat register and the younger dog took her place on the foot of the bed. Sometimes she's a nice footwarmer. We had all settled in for a good night's sleep. I was sound asleep when all of a sudden I was almost knocked out of the bed by the younger dog who suddenly jumped from the bed hitting the floor a good six or seven feet into the bedroom and ran screaming bloody murder down our upstairs hall. I heard her hit the rear stairs still screaming. Strangly the other dog only looked disturbed. Wondering if someone had broken in, I armed myself and went after the younger dog who I could hear screaming downstairs. Those of you who own dogs know what I mean when I say "screaming". They are not barking, they are screaming. I went cautiously down the stairs where I could hear her screaming and digging frantically at that section of wall, beside the door from the dining room to the library. Needless to say I couldn't hear much of anything; it would have had to be thounderously loud to be heard over the frantic dog screaming only a few feet away. But I saw nothing amiss with the wall, other than dog scratches. I finally got her settled down. The wall is just the wall. I have no idea what she thinks is there. The other dog could not care less what is there. He didn't even come down and give me moral support. I looked at the mantel clock which read 1:30 am. Its a good thing I can usually go back to sleep easily; unfortunately my wife has problems going back to sleep.If nothing else this moron dog is going to ruin that section of wall requiring replastering. I really do not need to be suddenly awakened between 1 and 3 am by a dog with a wall fetish. Anyone with ideas please comment.

Haunted cupboard?

Today, my wife and I were out and about. My wife wanted to visit the owner of a high end antique furniture store that is located in the same town her store is  located. She wanted to discus some matters with the store owner. When we arrived the store was heavily patronized and so we entertained ourselves looking at the beautiful furniture that had come in since we were last there. But customers tend to be like bananas, they come in bunches. Finally a pause occured and my wife and the store lady had a chance to catch up. After a bit, the store owner said, "Can a piece of furniture be haunted?" This may sound strange or funny for someone to ask; but the lady knows us well enough to know we will take the question seriously. She continued by sayng her husband had purchased  this antique, large, old kitchen cupboard for resale in their store. They brought it in and displayed it in the middle of the main showroom floor. I inspected it. It is a very solidly built piece of furniture. It has two large glassed-in doors. The glass in the doors is very secure. So what about it being "haunted". She says that since that piece of furniture was brought in she has experienced a loud tapping on glass. Like some one tapping the glass with a coin or fingernail. At first she thought someone was tapping on her front windows trying to get her attention. But there was no one there. This occured several times; more often than not when she is in another room of her store. Like she says," it can be very disconcerting when you think you are the only one there". Because the event occurs several times a day, she has narrowed down the source of the noise to this large old cupboard. I have read stories about "haunted furniture" but I have never experienced such. I would rather think the cause was something more mundane, but I haven't a clue what it could be. Anyone out there know how a piece of furnituire could make tapping noises?

Cat on the stairs

I thought I had posted this two weeks ago when it happened. The post must not have been completed. I will retell tell the event as best as I can remember it. It occured at the foot of the rear stairs, just off the downstairs bathroom and kitchen. The dog gate was up to keep our two schnauzers downstairs during the day. The weather was cloudy outside and cold.  The kitchen light was on which gives some reflected light to the bottom few stairs of the rear stairway. The rearstairs light was not on. As I walked from the diningroom toward the kitchen movement on the stairside of the dog gate caught my eye. I saw a black cat move across the bottom step, turn and go up the stairs fading in the darkened hallway. At first I thought a stray cat had somehow gotten into the house. Then I thought of my dogs who were totally unaware of it. A cat in the house would have had them going berserkl. But to be sure I opened the gate and went upstairs, seeing nothing in the way of a cat. Both dogs followed me and bounded on upstairs as they are wont to do. If there was a cat anywhere upstairs the dogs were not aware of it; which I find hard to believe. Checking out the upstairs is not that difficult in winter as we typically keep all doors off the main hall shut except the master bedroom and the bathroom. Even the hallway to the frontstairs is closed off. So any cat in the upstairs would be isolated to the hallway, bathroom and master bedroom. Quickly checking those out it was acertained that no cat existed there. Calling my dogs who were busy romping around the hall and rooms, we went back downstairs and I had to chalk up the incident to another strange sight in this old house.