New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-05-27
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a Thrilling Incident.

a4 q d. r 3.q5y
number of years since young man was q
pupil Mt a school near West Chester, Pa, board
ing at farmhouse about one mile distant from
the academy. The house was one of those built
at different periods Of time, and presenting
long extended front to the roadside It was
situated in the gorge of lonely wood, and just
below it ran deep, dark ravine, which was the
haunted ground of the neighborhood- it is
we'll known that every Heighborhood has its
haunted ground. The sleeping apartments of
the family we're in the extreme end of the house,
while that occupied by their hoarder was the
farthest removed from them possible. One
night he remained late at a lecture delivered
to the school, and by the time he arrived, the
| family hadsau retired, it being past the hour Of
eleven o'clock. He passed into the house, and
Immediately went up to his chamber. The re-
fected light of the moon shone into the room,
and as he entered the doorway and turned
towards his bed, there stood at athe side of it
a figure dressed in white, dimly apparent to him
through the shadoWy moonlight. He was, as
may we'll be supposed, terror stricken. Turn
ing for moment from, the apparition towards
the window, to see if it were not fantastic
creation, caused by the moonlight falling on
some object in the apartment, his eye again
| looked for the strange light, hut it was gone,
| without the slightest perceptihle noise. With
/ his whole nervous system completely unstrung,
he, however, succeeded at length in convincing
| dressed and laid down, but not to sleep, for
| there was TOO much agitation to do so
| He lay in this wakeful state for about three
| quarters of an hour, when he thought he felt
| the bed slowly raised beneath him. He again
| succeeded in persuading himself that he was
deceived, and attributed this to the intense fear
and consequent nervous excitement Of the first
strange appearance After another tedious
period of time, the same rising of the bed was
felt, and on this occasion he half rose, leaned
over and locked partially under the bed, and
listened with the most intense earnestness ; but
| not the slightest noise, even of respiration, On
| any Of the different occasions, came to his ear
/ lie again strove to dismiss the fearful subject
| from his mind, and at length. by excess of
| weariness, he soon fell into uneasy and dis
! tarbed sleep, which must have lasted some two
! hours. He was aroused from this uneasy re-
pose by something between a piercing shrek
| and frenzied laugh, unearthiy in its tone,
breaking upon his ear in the dead silence of the
night, and Immediately at his side. The un-
| usual and horrible character of the Cry, with
all the preceding circumstances, renders it diff
cult, if not impossible, to represent the intense
| and agonizing fear which crept over the COM
| pletely unnamed inmate Of that lonely cham
| Der. = s
| Ten years and more have elapsed since the
/ circumstance occurred, and yet, at this distant
day, our friend always relates the incident with
| dreadful were the realities that surrounded
him. He SAT up erect in the bed, with every
fibre of his flesh quiveripg with terror, and with
straining eye and ear sought to solve the fear
ful mystery. In the midst Of this thrilling and
excited state Of feeling, there came wilder re-
petition Of the mingled scream and laugh, and,
| says cur informant, s. it was such q cry as can
never be effaeed from my memory. lie IN
stantly sprang from the bed to the floor, and in
delirium Of fear, dragged the bedstead from the
corner Of the room, and there, behind the high
headboard, stood the apparition which presented
I itself to his astonished sight when he first en-
tered the room on that dreadful night. 1t was
| the figure of n woman clothed in white, with
| long, black, luxuriant hair, hanging wildly
about her person. It was maniac girl, from u
neighboring house, who came in the afternoon
during his absence to spend the night, and had
wandered from the room where the family sup
posed they had secured her. When he entered
the room she was standing as he first described
her position, and while his eye was turned for
a moment towards the window, she silently
erept beneath the bed, We hope the recital of
this story may not have the effect to disturb the
repose of our young or lady readers. If there
are any tears on that subject, we advise them,
before locking their chamber doors at night to
look under the bed, and into the band boxes and
closets. After such an examination, they may
| retire without the slightest alarm.