Missing dog last seen in November found dead in Greene; owner adopts second husky

GREENE — It was news so sad, the town of Greene collectively mourned.

Ghost the husky has been missing from his Greene home since mid-November. Submitted photo

The body of Ghost, a white husky missing since November, was found on Tuesday in a roadside ditch. Indications were that the animal had been dead for at least a month.

For James Ember, owner of the dog, it was a grim homecoming. After spending a week in Acton, in search of Ghost after sightings of a dog matching Ghost’s description, he came home with his second dog, Charlie, to face the worst news possible.

“We just dug Ghosty Boy out of the deep snow. He’s now in my car,” Ember wrote on Facebook Tuesday afternoon. “Charlie understands that this is his brother. He’s staying close and he’s so sweet while I weep. I never stopped trying to find my boy. I’m so tired. He was such a good boy, I love him so much. That’s not how this story was supposed to end.”

Ember said he came home Tuesday to get a change of clothes and to visit his other pets when he got a call from a man who reported finding Ghost in a ditch.

“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you, but I noticed your dog in roadside ditch a month ago,” that man told Ember.

It was not clear exactly where Ghost’s body was found.

Later Tuesday night, Ember returned to East Wakefield, New Hampshire, neighbor to Acton, and successfully took possession of that second husky he had been tracking assuming it was Ghost. He named her Spirit Shadow. For the many who have followed the drama of the search for the missing dog, that was a comfort after the tough news that broke earlier in the day.

The unidentified man who found Ghost’s body said he had contacted the animal control officer Dec. 20 about finding the dead husky, but said he never heard back. Until recently, the man didn’t realize that the entire town of Greene and surrounding communities had become invested in the search for Ghost, a search that featured a variety of twists in recent days.

Ember and several others had been searching for Ghost in the town of Acton after photos emerged of a white husky running wild in that town some 70 miles away. For several days and nights, the search continued, with homeowners opening their garages to serve as traps for the wayward dog.

It was only on Monday that Ember got a close enough look at the white husky to realize it wasn’t Ghost. In fact, that dog was a female that has been running wild with a pair of other dogs.

Ghost had been Ember’s pet for several years and was said to be a comfort to Ember after he lost his daughter to a car crash in 2021.

For Ember and a whole lot of others in Maine and beyond, the sad search for Ghost is over, not with a happy climax and possibly a parade in Greene, as some had suggested, but with genuine grief shared by thousands.

“Rest in peace my Ghosty Boy,” Ember wrote. “I wish you could know how many people cared about you. Your life and death has affected whole communities.”

On the Citizens of Greene Facebook page, within minutes of Ember’s post, dozens had already weighed in with sympathy, for Ember, for Ghost and for themselves.

“I am just sitting here blubbering,” wrote Kim Schortmann. “My heart breaks for you. So glad you were able to get him and bring him home to rest. I pray for you and all that you’ve been through.”

“Tears streaming down my face as I read this,” wrote Mary Sylvain Leonas. “Heartbreaking news.”