Animal Planet is the latest cable network to offer a weekly series focused on the paranormal. This show, which premiered last Sunday, is called The Haunted.

This 10-part series presents true stories of paranormal pet experiences. The show’s tagline: “If animals believe, should you?”

Some of the program’s segments feature pet owners who believe that their deceased pets have come back to haunt them. Other segments interview people who believe that their living pets have experienced brushes with dead people (or demons). In these segments, the pet owners serve as witnesses to this ghostly phenomena on behalf of their pets.

The show is entertaining, especially for paranormal enthusiasts who also love animals. Re-enactments involving animals supplement each segment. It presents the stories as they are told and some of the stories do get you thinking. 

The basis of the contemplation stems from the fact that some animals do appear to sense certain things that people cannot. Some animals can sense when a person is about to experience a seizure. Other animals appear to sense earthquakes, weather changes or even disasters, before the events occur.

In Indonesia in 2004, before the tsunami disaster, eyewitnesses observed elephants running to higher ground. It is said that many other animals were observed exhibiting odd behavior just prior to the tsunami. Many human victims of the tsunami, on the other hand, did not grasp the visual cue of the giant wave forming (ocean water receding from shore). Mainstream science does not venture often into the paranormal, but scientists have studied the so-called sixth sense in animals.

The Haunted isn’t Ghost Hunters, for sure. Jason and Grant, and most paranormal investigators, decline cases where the family pet serves as the primary eyewitness to paranormal phenomena. I think, however, that a dog would be a fine addition to any paranormal team, due to their acute senses. I would take Fido along on a ghost investigation if given the chance. The K9′s reaction might be more sensitive than that K2 meter, as an effective ghost hunting tool. My canine would have to exhibit more bravery than Scooby Doo, though.

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Watch The Haunted on Animal Planet, every Sunday through December 20, 2009 at 10:00PM ET, check your local listings.

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When I had car trouble a few years ago, I called my sister to pick me up from work. She wasn’t feeling up to taking me all the way home that day. I hung out with her for a while and called my dad for a ride home. My dad arrived at my sister’s house in his full-sized pickup truck with a shell, with his friend Carly by his side in the passenger seat. My sister came outside with me to see me off. We both noticed a boy, who we identified as Carly’s son Jimi, in the back of the truck. He looked out of the truck’s shell at my sister and me. He looked happy to see us and gave us a huge smile. My sister and I commented about how we liked Jimi. I hugged my sister goodbye.

As I approached the truck, Carly slid to the middle of the seat to allow room for me. I climbed in and took the passenger side seat. I greeted my dad, gave Carly a hug, and turned around to greet Jimi. Jimi wasn’t there.

I turned to my dad and Carly and asked, “Where’s Jimi?”

Jimi was at his dad’s house, they said. I was quite confused, but insisted that there was a young boy in the back of the truck. The boy smiled at my sister and me. My dad said I was seeing things. As we pulled away, I noticed my sister still outside, waving her hand and smiling at us. A confused look came over her face before she turned around and went back inside her house.

I called my sister later that night to tell her that there was no one in the back of the truck. She was as surprised as I was. She added that as we pulled away, she waved at the little boy, he waved back.

Months went by, during which time my sister and I received some ribbing about the ghost boy. Then it was forgotten, for while. Others started “seeing things” in the back of the truck, inside that  shell.

My dad worked as a contractor for a time for Qwest Communications, arranging for service and towing. One hot summer day, my dad answered a call for a broken down truck at Kolb and Valencia. The driver of the disabled vehicle was sitting against a fence when my dad pulled up. It was too hot for him to wait for my dad inside the vehicle. My dad examined the disabled truck, while the driver looked on. The driver asked if it was maybe a little too hot to let the kids stay in the back of the truck with no air conditioning. My dad said there were no kids in his truck. The driver took a closer look, and thoroughly examined my dad’s truck to satisfy himself. He said he distinctly saw kids looking out the shell windows.

Several months later, my dad took a job at a roofing company. One day, he arrived at the roofing yard, parked out front and walked in. Someone at the yard asked if the kids in the back of the truck were his grandchildren. My dad said that there were no children there. The inquirer decided to go outside to make sure. A couple other workers refused to even get near the truck at the mere thought of ghosts, particularly at the thought of ghostly children. The inquirer continued to insist that he saw kids looking out the window, and had even commented to another worker as my dad pulled in, saying that he was probably on his way somewhere with the grandkids.

Once since then, my sister and I joined my dad on a camping trip. Since we had other commitments, we only visited with him for a few hours and ate a steak dinner around the campfire. By nightfall, I kept my back to the truck, as I felt that someone was watching me. So did my sister. We drove back to Tucson through the Coronado National Forest late that night, feeling rather creeped out and quite jumpy.

My dad since removed the camper shell to install a tool box in the back of his truck. The  shell sits on my uncle’s property, reserved for occasional camping trips. I don’t know if the “children” are attached to the truck or to the camper shell. It could be a defect in the glass, but that would be an eerie defect, to say the least. My uncle hasn’t reported any activity associated with that shell stored in his yard. There’s seemingly no paranormal activity attached to the truck either.

One day soon, I will take a full camping trip with my dad. Perhaps those kids might come along with my dad. Although the kids in the truck look quite happy and not menacing in any way, I think I’ll keep my back to the truck again and let them play in peace.

It happens twice a day. The clock will, at some point in the day, display 11:11 am or 11:11 pm.

This time is significant to a growing population. These people will look at the clock at exactly 11:11. The glance toward the clock  at that exact time happens too often to be a coincidence, they say.

“Numerologists believe that events linked to the time 11:11 appear more often than chance or coincidence. This belief is related to the concept of synchronicity. Other authors believe it is an auspicious sign, and others that it signals a spirit presence.” ~Wikipedia

These people, who call themselves “eleveners” see 11′s everywhere.

I know many twenty-somethings who make a wish when they happen to see 11:11 on a clock. I’m not talking about these people. It’s the people who look for the number 11 everywhere and try to find meaning.

They even look forward to the date 11/11/2011, or 11/11/11.

The number 11 doesn’t have to appear in a date or a time. The number could appear in an address, a phone number, or even be the total dollar amount on a receipt. The number doesn’t even have to be 11. The sum of a set of numbers can result in 11. Take the year 2009 and add the digits together (2 + 0 + 0 + 9). It is an “11″ year this year. So, wait a minute. Adding the digits together for 2011 (2 +0 +1 +1) add up to 4, then on 11/11/2011, isn’t is 11/11/04? For some reason, most eleveners ignore that fact and just refer to the “11″ in that upcoming 11/11/11 date.

What does it all mean? Heck if I know.

Google “11:11” and you will find that it means something different to different groups of people. To some, the time prompt signals the coming of UFOs. To others, it is a wake up call that the end of the world is imminent. It goes on and on. My personal favorite is that the prevalence of 11′s in one’s life coincides with the meeting of a soulmate, or twin soul.

Let’s focus on the twin soul. According to some “eleveners”, we each have another half (a cosmic twin) who will make us “whole” spiritual beings. The twins have a feeling that they have known each other their entire lives (or in a past life). Their backgrounds and experiences are eerily similar. The twins face difficulties that prevent them from being together. A large age gap (usually 11 years) prevents them from having a romantic relationship. One twin is often married to someone else. Other criteria exists for a “twin soul union”, but you get the point. I once had a friend who met this criteria to the letter.

My “twin soul” wasn’t a mystical cosmic being, though. He was just an average guy with whom I had many things in common. For a while.

Our daily conversations eventually slowed to weekly, then monthly. Then, they stopped. We found other interests. It happens every day to many people.

Some would argue that we found each other back then so we could evolve into the beings we are today. Perhaps. I’ve experienced deep bonds with others when “11″ wasn’t prevelant in my life. It means that I shared a bond with someone, no matter how brief the attachment was. There’s no real label that can be bestowed on a friendship. Who wants to place a label on a bond with someone anyway?

I concluded that it doesn’t take a number to form a bond.  I’d like to think we can experience deep bonds with others, whether we see a particular number, hear a particular song, or experience any other sort of synchronicity during our daily encounters.

Just a couple weeks ago, 11/11/2009, or 11/11/11 came to pass without incident for most people. So, I am not really convinced anything will happen on 11/11/2011. We’ll see.

What does the number 11 mean to me? After serious thought, I have concluded that it’s just a number we are bound to see hundreds of times each day.

It’s nothing special.

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For a differing viewpoint on the 11:11 phenomena, the subject is likely to arise during Coast to Coast AM’s show on Thursday night (11/26/09). “The numbers lady”, numerologist Glynis McCants, is scheduled to talk to George Noory. Check the website for times and radio affiliate information.

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