I had a pet monkey for over 18 years. I had him since he was 12 days old. He had the run of the house during the day, but when no one was home or at bed time he went into a large cage, and he had his own bedroom.
Over the years, on rare occasions he would wake in the night and just scream. I would always rush to his side and he would be very shook up. I would hold him and comfort him until he fell back asleep. I had assumed he had nightmares, just like humans do.
One night, I was up late in my family room. I had been suffering with back problems, and sleeping in the recliner helped elevate the pain. I had fallen asleep when I had a dream of an elderly woman dressed in all black with a scarf around her head. The woman walked boldly up to me and leaned into my face and said in this rather aggressive tone, "I watch him a lot, you know. And sometimes he sees me and he gets afraid."
The next thing I saw in the dream was a glimpse of my monkey's cage. I was on the ceiling and looking down at the monkey in his cage. The monkey was looking up at me and cowering in the corner of the cage. I heard that elderly woman's voice in the background, and she said in a dark tone, "I am a ghost, ya know." The elderly woman actually scared me, too, and I woke up.
I was in the recliner and the house was black and silent. My heart was pounding from the dream. I just sat there for about a minute in the dark when all of a sudden I heard the monkey let out a blood-curdling scream. I flew off that chair, down the hall, and into his room. I flicked on the light and there he was, just like I saw in the dream, cowering in the corner shaking.
I opened his cage door and he just leapt into my arms and was grasping me so tight it actually hurt. Now I was really scared. I turned with him and started walking quickly back down the hall. As I rounded the corner, I swore I saw a black shadow in human form, and without even thinking I said out loud, "Leave him alone!"
Both he and I slept the rest of the night in the recliner with all the lights on in the house. I had the monkey for three more years after that, and he never had another "nightmare." That is if it really was... or maybe he was being visited by a scary old lady? I truly don't know if that dream was just a coincidence that night or if there was a ghost around.
