Ghost Dogs Series: Preston the Boxer

Sadly, not all dogs go to heaven. Lucky for us, the ones that don’t will stick around to watch over their old haunts! That’s the spooky tale of Preston the Boxer who’s Halloween hijinks help the many trick or treaters of the Bellmont Hillsboro neighborhood in Nashville.

The Tale of Preston the Boxer

Preston’s story starts over 50 years ago during a fateful Halloween evening. He was accompanying a group of trick or treaters on their evening adventures, shepherding a flock of costumed kids around. It just so happened that an innocently clumsy young boy in that group didn’t successfully hold on to all his candy while crossing the street.

Like most kids his age would, he stopped in the middle of the street and bent down to pick up his dropped treats. The rest of the group moved onto the sidewalk and a car came careening down the street at a dangerous speed.

The boy’s older sister noticed his absence and turned back to see where he was. She took in his crouched figure and the reckless vehicle vrooming toward him in the same moment.

She sprung into action running toward her brother, but Preston the Boxer beat her to the punch. Just in the nick of time, the heroic hound heaved the boy out of the way but in doing so put himself in front of the oncoming automobile.
Preston was struck and launched into the air, landing down the street in a house’s front yard.

When the entire group calmed down and confirmed the boy’s safety, they ran to check on Preston. However, when they got to the yard he was nowhere to be found. They checked the entire neighborhood but he had disappeared completely.

Ever since that night, each year when the residents of Bellmont Hillsboro are trick or treating, if any youngster gets a bit too close to the street, they have a guardian angel watching out for them. Some say they’ve felt a gentle bump from Preston the boxer, nudging them back toward the safety of the sidewalk. It's pretty easy to imagine how super his Halloween costume was.