This is an excerpt from Dogged Days, a book by Ellis Taylor.

In this excerpt,  Ellis recounts events that he and Sacha Christie experienced over the same weekend at Ann Andrews home in Lincolnshire.

Dogged Days is available from this website and from all good book sellers.

For more on Dogged Days, please click here

I lay down to sleep on the sofa and was just drifting off when the clock chimed loudly. ‘I hope that it doesn’t keep me awake all night,’ I thought. Then immediately I heard this loud scratching noise coming from the back of the room, either the patio doors or the back window. ‘Oh, go away!’ I grumbled to myself, ‘I’m not up for this tonight, I’m too tired.’ The next thing, directly behind me, I could hear several objects moving about on the coffee table, scraping along the surface; and through my closed eyelids I saw bright lights flashing around the room. Next came some garbled voices… what they were saying I could not comprehend. Then quick as a flash something shot right into my head, it felt like my brain was being squeezed, and it bloody well hurt! By this time I could not move, I felt paralysed and I had the sense that whatever this was it was trying to read my mind. I saw visions…A great long bridge that spanned a bay, which could have been the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, although after looking at photos of this, it was much longer than that. I think it was symbolic. Right now I cannot remember what the other visions were but what happened next left me with evidence that what was happening was very real.

Somehow I got to be standing at Ann’s back door. I was looking out towards the sheds but it was pitch black, darker than hell. Then I noticed something moving around my feet; and it rose up. It was a large black dog, with eyes that looked back to before the dawn of everywhere; and flecks of white on it; and the beast began to chew on the ends of the fingers on my right hand; not biting chewing, and hard. I felt the dampness of its breath… and I couldn’t move or call out. From behind this dog came another big black dog which also rose up. The first dog nudged the second away and then resumed its chewing… and then the clock chimed, and there was daylight. It seemed to me as if I had only just gone to bed. I got up and climbed the stairs to the bathroom. As I did so I passed Jason’s bedroom and saw that the door was open. Sacha was awake and dressed sorting the bedclothes out. “I’ve had the most terrible night!” she trembled. Not wanting to awaken anyone else I suggested that we go down stairs, have a cup of tea, and then she could tell me about it.

“I heard these voices talking to each other,” she said shaking, “And I couldn’t move, but I could see that I was wrapped in something like cling-film, and I was hot and sweating. “I brought this tape recorder along with me and I left it on. It starts recording when it hears something… and listen to this…”

She switched it on and peculiar sounds emanated from the device….

The cover of the book is an illustration of Ellis’ experience that night.