For eight years, a squirrel knocked on the McAllisters’ door every morning without fail. Local folklore claimed animals sometimes carried messages from the other side — omens or debts owed by the unseen. An elderly neighbor even recalled a marked squirrel knocking on her parents’ door decades ago, just before a devastating flood. The McAllisters laughed it off as superstition. But in the eighth year, everything changed. That spring morning, the squirrel didn’t just knock — she refused to leave, chattering urgently, until they finally decided to follow her into the woods…
The first time it happened, the McAllisters thought it was a trick of the wind.
A soft, rapid tap-tap-tap at the front door in late October, just as the leaves turned copper and gold. But when Mrs. McAllister opened it, there was nothing — only a small squirrel standing perfectly still on the doormat, her tail arched high like a plume.
The squirrel didn’t run. She met Mrs. McAllister’s gaze with such intensity that it made her step back. Then, just as quickly, the animal darted into the woods.