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Legend of Stiffy Green
A Story about a man, and his dog, His best friend that lived on after his death to watch over his grave daily, and eventually to depart himself, to remain forever immortalized as a favorite ghost.
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Stiffy Green was a well-known character around the Terre Haute area, always seen with his life long companion Mr. John Heial, as they would walk along the sidewalks of the small town of Terre Haute, John was seldom ever seen without his old wood pipe, and his old companion Stiffy Green. He got his unusual name from his awkward stride and his piercing green eyes, which would not have made him so memorable, had he been a person. But Stiffy Green was a stiff legged, green-eyed bulldog. The Dog has often times been referred to as man’s best friends, Well if any dog down through the ages has ever made a mark in the annals of canine loyalty and companionship, it was surely Stiffy Green.
The dog and his master could be seen nearly every day taking long strident walks around town, John stopping often to speak to a friend along the way, and Stiffy, always there between them making sure no one got to close. It is said that even during the night while John lay in his bed sleeping, that the dog would keep a constant vigil at the foot of John’s bed always watching for any possible danger that may be under foot.
It was death that finally parted the two close friends in the late year of 1920. The aged Mr. Heinl died in his sleep one night. The dog was inconsolable refusing to leave the side of his former master, even after his entombment in the family crypt at Highland Lawn Cemetery. Several of John’s friends tried to leash the dog and walk him away, but the dog refused to leave. Even in death Stiffy would not leave his life long companion. Eventually the dog was captured and transported to the house of a distant relative of John’s who had agreed to keep the dog, but even in his new home the dog refused to be consoled, and on several occasions escaped his captures only to be found lying later at the entrance to John’s crypt in the cemetery.
Eventually it was agreed that the dog should be allowed to stay there in the cemetery with his friend, and people often took him food and water on their visits to the cemetery, even the cemetery watchman, who grew quite fond of the dog, began to bring him food and water. It was eventually noticed that the dog had stopped eating and drinking, scarcely moving from the stoop where he had kept his vigil day and night. And that was where the body of the dog was found one cold winter’s morning. Much discussion ensued about what to do with the remains of the dog. The friends and relatives were hesitant to part the pair, because of the dog’s undying loyalty, but the dog could not be buried in the cemetery like a human either. It was finally decided upon that the dog should be taken to a taxidermist and stuffed. Once he was stuffed he was placed inside the tomb beside his friend’s casket, where he remains to this day.
Shortly after the death of the dog, which is where this story should have ended, but didn’t, people began to report hearing a dog barking in the cemetery sometimes late at night. And on more than one occasion Stiffy was seen trotting around the cemetery as he had in his declining years. At first the reports were dismissed attributed to the over imaginative minds of those closest to John and Stiffy, but eventually others began reporting the same thing, sometimes people who were unfamiliar with the story of Stiffy Green. As time passed the story like all stories of this kind became somewhat of a local legend, and Stiffy went down in the annals of local ghost fame as one of Terre Haute’s favorite ghosts.
It is said that every once in a while, sometimes early in the evening when the shadows begin to fall, and other times under the cover of night, an old man smoking an old pipe can be seen strolling along the sidewalk being lead by a small stiff legged bulldog with piercing green eyes. –TC
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