The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1850-08-03

cd aud haRpRrd enough, ior nv hnst look od
upon n'o with an expression Of surprise and
inquiry.
".Shut The door," said J.
/ IL wac done
~ have had an uneasy uight IN the room
you assigned me, sir may say iudccd,n mis-
cradle night" I sail.
Pray" resumed l. intcrruiting his apol.
! opclic expressions OfAurprisc. "has any Der
son but niysolf ever complained Of being dis
turbcd In that room 2"
"Ncvcr," ho assured me.
h"d CNporicl the ghasily old practical
Joke ~ often played of i,y landlords in stnr,
books aud Luirird might have been dclil,-
"ini"ly "si~'-''l ~ the ,.ituurrs ut a '.hnuu,rtl
Ch"lnhcr But there was no acting ia the
frank look and honest denial Of ii2nr ho.t.
~ ~ - n rtr'- -trUuEU thing, MIN hGEitTt-
i'"g-''"d 81 q" iiot sr- why shuuid not trll
You what hal occurud. And as / could
car - ''''' --i'ft, ~ the perfect reality OF
lhr rniirr scene, IL hchoyo- you think, IN
siltiho matter raviully. For m,-clG / can.
not entertain doubt ~ Ia the nature al IA,
irnl} terrible visitation to which have been
"'J'T''dHnd'wcrc ia your position, should
transfer nay establishment a. once Ia some
other house o. well suited 20 the uurpnsr and
irre from the dreadful liahlitc, of tins.
proceeded 10 detail the particulars of the
occurrence of the past night, Ia which hc lis-
tened with nearly as much horroras rtcitel
them Ia him
"MrrNyn's tomb" he repeated AFTER me,
why that's down there in l.--r: the church
yard you can see from the window OF the room
you ,lcptin.'.
Let us 60 there iu1tantly."I exclaimed,
with an most icNcrsh anxiety to ascertain
whether We should discover in the place indi-
Gated any thing corrohomiyc Of The authcn-
uoity ofmy vision
wei, -han't say no." said he, obviously
braring himself for au effort of courage; "hnt
we'll take Faukcs aud Jan,ce the hrlpcr.uitb
u'' AMI please, sir, you'll not mention the cir
cnmslance a. has occurred tn either ON m"
gave HIM th" assurance hc asked for and
IN few minutes our little party were ia full
marrh upon the point of interest
Ihcrr had been an intense black frost. aud
the ground, rrvcrhcmting To our tread with
the hollow sound Of a vault emitted the only
noi-c that accompanied our rapid advance
and my host were too much prcocrupicd for
conversation, and "jr att,udaut- maintained
i r7Tii5JrrTt Siionr". \ few minutes brought
~. to the lpw,gray walls aud bleak hrdgcrow,
that surrounded the pretty old church, and
an H. melancholy and picturesque mcmori-
'Mcr,yn'- tomb lies there | think. sir" hc
Sud polptug to corner of the church yarl
brambl,s were thickly accumulated under the
solemn, though imperfect shelter of the wintry
trees.
lie exchanged some sentences with our at
tcndants in Welsh
"Ics sir, that's the place" he added, turn.
ing to me.
And as we approached it, I bcthought me
that the direction in which, rs stood upon
the stilc, had heard the voice IN the night
preceding, corrcspondcd accurately with that
indicated 10y nay guides The tomb in qucs-
ton was a huge slab of black marble support
cd,as was made apparent when the surround
inc hramhlcs wcrc rCmnXcl. unnn y ,lill llarz-
little morr than two feet high cach There
was ample room iur a human body TO lie IN
side this funeral pcnt house; and, on stopping
to look beneath, | was unspcahahly shocked
to see that something like a human figure
was actually extended there.
II was indeed, corpse, and what is morr,
corrcspondcd in every trait with tho Internal
phantom which on the preceding night hal
visited and appalled, me.
y The body, though miscrablv cmaciatcd was
that of large boncd, athletic man, of fully
six feet in hcighth; and it was, therefore, no
easy task to withdraw it from the receptacle
where it had been deposited, and lay it, as
att assistants dtd atHtit the tor,l,~inne which
had adcovcrcd IT, Strange tu say, moreover,
the feet oi the body, A. Va ist.r.l IT, had been
placed toward the west.
As looked upon the corpse aud rccogniz-
ed, but too surely in its proportions and lin
caments, every trait of the apparauon that
had stood at my bedside, with the countcn-
ance animated by the despair and malignity
of the damned. .mN-heArt ltiiefeel aud sank
within me, and rccolcd from the eiRcv of
the demon with terror, second only to that
which had thrilled me ON the night preccd-
ing.
Now, rcader--Aoacs rcaIcr-I appeal to
your own appreciation OF testimony, and ask
YOU having these facts in evidence, and upon
the disposition of an eye and ear witness,
whose Ieraclty, through long life, has new
cr once been compromised or questioned, have
you, or have you not, in the foregoing story "a
wcll-authcntiCatcd ghost story?
Before you answer the above question how
crer. At may be convenient to let YOU know
certain other facts which were clearly cstab-
lshrd Upon heiit,tttt-t t4t-,rt4 very proper
ly held upon the body which in SO strange a
manner We had discovered.
Ipurposely avoid details, and without as
signing the dcpositons respectively 10 the
witnesses who made them, shall restrict myself
to a naked outline OF the evidence as it APP
pearcd.
The body have described was identified
as that OF Abraham Smith, an unfortunate lu-
matte who had, Upon the day but one proceed
ing, made his escape from the parish work
houSc where ho had been for many years con
fined. His hallucination was, n strange but
not bv any means an unprecedented one He
iancicd that he had died and was condemned;
and, rs these ideas alternately predomnatcd,
sometimes importuncd his keeper to bury him;
using habitually certain phrases which1 had
no difficulty in recognizing those which he
had addressed to me. He had been traced to
the ncghborhood where his body was found.
and had been seen and relieved scarcely half
II mile from it about two hours before my Wis.
VT to the churchyard There were, further,
unmistakrablc evidences ofsomc persons hav-
ing climbed up the trcllis work to my window
on the prerinllS might shutter of which
had been lett uuharred, aud, rs the window
might have been easily opened with push,
the cold which experienced, as an accompa-
liimeRt of the nocturnal visit was easily ar-
counted for, There was a mark of blood up
on the window stool, aud s"rapc upon tho
knee Of the hatlV- CORES tAatltitfits- with IL