"A Ghostly Connection"
This is a true account by Haggard, from 1904. One night he was suffering from a nightmare of oppression and desperate and terrified struggling for life. Between the time he heard his wife and the time that his consciousness returned to him, he had a second dream - if such it was. He dreamed that he was Bob, a black retriever dog which belonged to his oldest daughter. He was lying on his side, among some brushwood, by water. He was trying to speak, to convey the knowledge that he was dying. Haggard's wife asked him why he was making such "horrible weird noises". He was now fully awake, but couldn't account for it except by recounting the nightmare. At breakfast the next morning the tale was told. That night their daughter reported that Bob was indeed missing. His body was found four days later, floating in the Waverney river against a weir. He had been hit by a train and had died - or so the vet reported - instantly. Haggard was approached by two platelayers who saw the dog killed - about 11 pm (the dream was some time after 12.30 pm).
Haggard was immensely impressed by this experience of spirit communication from a dog that his own attitude to animals underwent a profound change. Though he had once been a very keen sportsman he abandoned hunting - and "The Mahatma and the Hare: A Dream Story" shows how significant the impact on his thinking must have been. Although Haggard was always a very spiritual or mystical character, his sympathies now extended to all God's creatures.