The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1850-10-04
From the Columbus Enquirer.
THE CRAWFORD GHOST.

| Inc citizens OF the quiet little town
Of Crawford, Ala. were three weeks
ago, suddenly alarmed at about two
o'clock Of the night, by an exceeding.
y strange and singular noise, or rath.
er hallooing, slightly resembling that
made by the human voice. when ut.
terIy lost, crying in hopeless despair.
The time when it was first heard too,
added greatly TO the alarm, which
even under any circumstances would
be attendant on so strange an occur.
renee. 1t was on the night Of the
storm, the widest of the season, the
rain was falling in torrents. and
tremendous gale swept over our town
from the North East, when of sud-
den the sleeping inhabitants were
startled from their slumber, by sound
which seemed to be IN the infuriatcd
element, the most unearthIy that had
ever before fallen upon their ears.
The cause OF, and the source from
which emanated this unusual sound.
was, and remains a mystery. Yet
scarcely night has passed since, that
you cannot at late hour hear the
Identical halloolng, that rang out upon
the blast the night Of that storm.--
Some of our more resolute citizens
have attempted to approach it, when,
apparently, it would halloo on or near
the earth, but such efforts to gain a
glimpse of its form, Gf form 1t has.)
have been unsuccessful. Its powers
of locomotion are extraordinarily
great, for in few seconds after hear.
ing the haIlooing in one place, 1t may
be heard half mile or more from
the spot where you supposed it was.
This fact has induced some to believe
it travels in the air, speculation is rife
as to what it is; but for its slight re
semblance of the human voice, when
in distress, it is unlike any noise or
sound that could he made by any
thing living. We are not prepared
to say what sort Of noise, or sound an
inhabitant of another world or the
grave, would or could make if again
permitted to roam on this earth. yet
we are satisfied to say that if such an
one was to visit us, it could not make
demonstration that would more
clearly indicate the country from
which it came, than does the grave
yard.likc screaming of the Crawford
Ghost. The more tlmid have imagin.
ed it 20 be the Ghost of Grimes, wild
and reckless young man who was
hung in Crawford many years ago,
for murder. He had been often
heard TO say, in his frantic moments,
and in prison after sentence of death,
that his Ghost should revisit the earth
to deal out his vengeance on his enc.
mics. In his lifetime, when infurialcd,
he was said to be noted for perpc,ra.
ting species of screaming resem.
bling that by which we are now al.
most nightly annoyed. The day on
which Grimes was hung was one Of
storms and the night on which our
Ghost was first heard was the STORM.
est of the season. Some say it is an
owl or wolf, but it is neither, as
very well know. | am an expori..
enced hunter, and have lived many
years in the frontier settlements, and
must be presumed to know the sound
produced by the hooting Of the one,
and the bowling Of the other. Others
have said, probably by way Of ridi.
cuIej that it is the echo of the cry Of
disunion, that now seems to be waited
by every breeze over the land. Blu,
all this is mere speculation, for no eye
hath seen the unwelcome stranger,
and certainly no car hath ever before
heard sound like it.