My friend Sarah told me this story last night at a BBQ on Jericho Beach. She heard it from a friend at a wedding last weekend, and claims that it happened to a friend of a friend. I’m pretty skeptical, and think that it’s probably an urban legend. But still, it is too good not to pass along…

So there’s this college-age girl out in Victoria who is house-sitting for a family while they are away on vacation. The family has an elderly yellow lab named Fluffy, and they know that Fluffy might not survive until they return. So they tell the girl that Fluffy might die while she is house-sitting, but not to panic because Fluffy has had a long life and the family has already said their goodbyes.

A couple of days into the house-sitting gig, sure enough, Fluffy is not doing so well. He is tired and listless, and it is not long before he dies. The girl, panicked, calls the family and asks what to do with the body. They tell her to take Fluffy to the vet, who will be able to take care of the body.

Hanging up the phone, the girl remembers that she doesn’t have a car, and since it is a few weeks after the end of school, she can’t think of anyone still in town whom she might call to take her and Fluffy to the vet. Looking around the house, she finds a large suitcase, and she decides to put Fluffy in the suitcase and take him to the vet.

She manages to get out of the house and to the bus stop, rolling the suitcase along. When she tries to get on the bus, the suitcase is too heavy for her to lift, and a stranger comes along and helps her out. Having shared this experience of getting the suitcase on, the two sit next to each other and start chatting. The stranger, having noted how heavy the suitcase was, asks what is in it. The girl, afraid to tell the truth for fear of seeming strange, says that she is moving her stuff out of her dorm room and that the suitcase contains clothes, books, her computer, etc.

When the stop for the vet is coming up, she reaches up to pull the cord to request a stop, but the stranger does it first, saying that it is his stop too. The girl panics, thinking that he will want to accompany her where she is going, and still not wanting him to know what is in the suitcase.

Then the bus stops, and they both get off. To the girl’s relief, he starts off in the other direction, and she starts to lug the suitcase toward the vet’s office. But then, after the bus has driven away, she hears the stranger behind her call out, “Hey!” She turns around, he punches her in the face, and she falls to the ground unconscious. When she comes to a little while later, a couple of people have gathered around. Immediately she looks for the suitcase and can’t see it. She asks the people if they’ve seen it, and they say no.

So the stranger, thinking he was getting a suitcase full of this girl’s worldly possessions, got a suitcase full of dead dog instead.

What do you think? Could this story be true, or is it an urban legend?

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