The Wild Dogs

​There is an unusual Ukrainian cemetery that exists in Alberta, Canada and this cemetery, for reasons you are about to find out, has been abandoned long ago. No longer do people visit the church for mass or visit the cemetery to place flowers on the graves. It is a place that is considered mystical to many and because of this mysticism people stay away. It is not mysticism as such that scares the people but it is the type of mysticism that does. This cemetery is one where babies that had never been given a chance at life have been buried in their little pine coffins. The cemetery has been neglected since the 1950s and most of the tombstones for the babies are from the late 1800s and early 1900s. It is interesting to note that the writing on the tombstones is not in English but in Ukrainian. 

​You may ask yourself why this cemetery has been left behind and why people seem frightened to visit the spirits of their forefathers. The reason is a strange one. Whenever people had gone to visit the baby graves the mourners would start to pray and talk to the spirit of their loved ones and off in the near distance they would hear the wailing of wild dogs. Minutes later several wild dogs would suddenly appear from the bush, making their way towards the cemetery. They would leap over the short fence and attack the mourners. 

Since the last baby soul had been deposited in the graveyard in the 1950s, four people had been mauled to death by the wild dogs and several others have been disfigured by attacks. People tried to figure out why, but eventually gave up and decided it was not worth risking their lives to visit their loved ones. 

Over time several theories emerged about the wild dogs. The one that seemed to hold the most water was that some believed that the wild dogs were able to communicate with the spirits of the dead babies and had a six sense to know when intruders had entered the cemetery. Therefore the wild dogs were known as the keepers of the baby's souls. 

Then one day a young man of Ukrainian descent, whose relative was buried in the baby cemetery, went to say a prayer. At the same time there was a old man walking on the perimeter of the cemetery who hollered at him to stay out. But to the old man's amazement no wild dogs came to attack the young Ukrainian. The old man entered the cemetery and told the young boy he was in danger. He also told the boy that he had to pray in Ukrainian to connect with the souls of the deceased babies. The young boy told the old man that he did not speak Ukrainian so the old man decided to say a prayer in Ukrainian for him. The old man screeched loudly and soon the wild dogs started to howl and the old man started to run. The boy watched in horror as the wild dogs ran down him down and tore him to shreds. 

So the questions still remain. Why did the wild dogs only attack when prayers were said in Ukrainian? Did they understand the language or as some have speculated: are there sounds in the Ukrainian language that the wild dogs can relate to which causes them to become aggressive? Or possibly, were the wild dogs the mystical keepers of the baby's souls as many have believed? The answer we will likely never know.