Preble County Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1857-1859, 1858-12-23

wanted should know that he kept dead
bodies about. He concluded to watch
and pray" and see what would come Of
EVERY suceesding night the noises
grew l0oder and louder, the raps on the
tGble and Aoor became terrific, the
skelet0a bones Of his tmanakin would
Faftle on the wall against which It hung,
uhd there was evidently u whistliBg
ghost around, as shriIl sound ike q
boAtsWain's b whistle would occasionally
be heard. At last the neighbers got
Mid Of the doings about the DOCTORS
h6ases Some had been about aud heard
sda6ds. They knew the d-i was to
pay. There was dead body In that
ho9se. That they knew. It might be
the body Of some Of their friends or
somebody else friends. They actually
sheR bloodfi Il might be q murdcr !!
They we're determined t. know. and
there was soon a mob assenibled to
tear doNn the house If the whole matter
was not explained The Doctor was in
. fx. He did not want to open his dis
seeGing room to q mob ofekcited citizens.
He did have fresh body there under
dissection, 80 m0tilated that no one
toala sidehtify the person, and it was
that of - fetnalez too. His wife made
her escape aud took fight up into Ash
tabula county where she had some
friends. 5 The Doctor kept the mebsat
bay until he got said female body hid
in his under ground disseeting room, or
rather vault. He then invited them in
A II
hissOld skulls, skeletons. &C.. told them
be was pursuing the study Of anatomy
~ much for their benefit as his own. as
|sured them, he had violated no grave in
Stark cousty, that his subjects, when he
got them, come from distant Potter's
Fields aHd were generally the bodies of
Paupers withour friends. aud Supposed
to be without souls. L. ..i-5tEveFso 9ffT
This Gained the crowd They left
satisfied net to say ashamed, that they
carried their suspicious So far. B. They,
pat down thei wonderful reports they
had heard about the Doctors house be.
.ing ha1uted as - sort of Chick Lane.
Ghost story, ard sosiaashed their fears
away. vi-e.-[ : -,-jtFJ s3'H4. 27essl fss
'Netaso with the Doctor. He had got.
over one trouble only to act iHto ano'
I fher.' a He fouDdihe could not sleePtin
that house.szs III seeiaean as stiiaag all
Parnasus was let loose every time the
nj. ht came and the candles blown out.
He finally locked up the house and fol-
lowed his wife to Ashtabula. He
sought refuge from Internal spirits, and
rest, not having slept for :, week. On
meeting his wife he was told there was
no peace for him there, as she had been
annoyed by whistling in her room and
raps loud enough on the wall the wake
the whole household. It-was arranged
TO sleep in the room with the old folks
aud to have a mat h and candle ready
to light the moment any noise should
be heard. So they ail retired and the
candle blown out. Almost Instantly
the whistle was heard and rap on the
wall as if made with a sledge hammer.
The candle was light:d and all were up
to catch glimpse of the tormentor.-
Nothing was visible except some night
dresses and pale faces. At last the
company eOncludedtherem must be some
thing in that crazy theory of Spirit
RapPings, at all events they had to do
Something, and they might as well try
it on and see what would turn up. So
they ros 1lved to s'eall the alphabet" and
SEQ 1t they could get u response. They
formed a circle, blew out the eandlo,
and the experiment begun They were
sastonished to find an intelligent sentence
freely spelled out, giving the name of a
person they did not know, but who
claimed to be the spirit which had
haunted them, saying she was we'll
known in Cincinnati as "Old Mag" had
recently died there a pauper, was buried
in Potter's Field, and had been dug up
with others to supply one of the Nledi-
cal Colleges at Cleveland as subject
for dissection. This was all news to
this party and they afterwards found
the whole to be literally true. The
body had been given the Doctor by one
of the Medical Colleges here as an over
supply, without particularly informing
him who the subject was or from whence
it came.
A letter was written to Cincinnati to
ascertain if such. person had died
there and if so where buried and what
became of the body. 1t appeared that
.t'Old Mag" though id soul had told
the truth and it appeared further that
she
"WoTld not down and be still'
until they sent her remains back to
Cincinnati where she claimed they be-
louged, which they accordingly did.
The Doctors wife, it appears, proved
to be medium which enabled "Old
Nag" to manifest herself in the way she
did. The whole family with hosts of
friends knowing the circumstances have
since became strong believers in spirit
ual ism. The facts were related to US
by the father of this lady who wished
them kept profound secret, as he and
most of his family connections were
members in good standing with the
churches and did not want their names
"open to reproach," SO their names are
omitted in this article; all the rest is as
we received. it from the old Doctor him
self.
p9- The boy upon foot cannot bear
to see the boy who is riding. And so it
is with. envy of a larger growth. We al