Delaware inquirer. (Wilmington, Del.) 1859-18??, 1860-01-07
SIflisttuaneous.
Story of q Haunted House.
By MRS. RoMER.
ltTh.rah,, bo,~s n +aIo -

|
1t is scarcely possible for any race of people t,
be more strongly imbued with superstition thar
the Egyptian Mohammedans. Their beliefin su
pernaturalnfuence is unlimited and not tt
mention the inexplicable withcraft of the Evi
Eye, the different descriptions ofspirits supposed
by them to be allowed to wander upon earth, ,and
interfere with the actions of mankind, exceed in
variety the category of kelpies, wraiths, and
bogles, which the Scottish peasantry formerly
pinned their faith upon. Besides the legions
of viewless ginn Tor genii) for whose propitia-
tion all mannor of deferential observances are
in nse, and the ghOols which are believed to
haunt cemeteries, and feed upon the ghastly
tenants of the grave, there are efreets, a term
equally applied to malicious demons, and to
the ghosts of murdered persons, which latter
are believed by the Egyptians to "revisit the
glmpses of the moon" and wander restlessly
round the scene that witnessed the destruction
of their earthly part. Woe to the luckess NOR
tai who should come in contact with the efreet
during its nocturnal perambulations, for one
touch of that shadowy form would turn him
into deinoniacl Such, at least is the faith
of the ignorant Egyptians; and that being the
case, it is not to be wondered at that they in
variably fly with terror from any habitation
that has acquired the unenviable reputation of
being possessed by haunting spirit.
Mrs. Poole, in her "Englishwoman in Egypt"
has given an interesting account of her sojourn,
| during the commencement of her residence in
| Cairo, in house where murder had been
haunted of the yexations to which she was
subjected by the strange noises that were
nightly heard, and the consequent terrors of
her seryants-of the curious methods that were
resorted to in order to lay the ghost--and of
the mpenetrable mystery that involvedits final
disappearance. When | was in Egypt, Mrs.
Poole had removed to another habitation,
therefore had no opportunity of seeing the
haunt of her unearthly vistant; but it was my
lot to visit a house in the enyirons of Cairo,
similarly circumstanced, where, although did
not see the ghost, heard allabout ii. 1t is Of
that house that ] am now about to treat.
About three miles from Cairo, and not more
than quarter of a mile from the vice-regal
residence of Shoubra at place called Minieh
(which, however, must not be confounded with
elers going up the Nilc,) situated in the midst
of verdant fields, and just near enough to Mo-
hammed Alis rus In urbe to benefit by the su-
perior cultivation, and the shady avenues that
surround that luxurious retreat, there is pretty
country house, at present in the possession of
the English vice consul, but which, for several
years before he became its proprietor, had re-
NAMED uninhabited. Notwithstanding the ad-
vantages of its position, it had been completely
deserted, for popular belief had marked it out
as a place accursed-a spot haunted by an
efreet-and among people so credulously SUI
perstitious as the Mohammedans, no one was
to be found either sufficiently esprit fort to
laugh at the story, or sufficiently courageous to
tempt the demon by disputing the locality with
it. The tenement would soon have fallen to
ruins, had not Mr.. Walne, wisely disregarding
the public rumor, ventured upon becoming its
tenant, and testing in his own person the
truth of the strange stories that were circula-
ted concerning its supernatural occupant. He
caused the forsaken mansion to be thoroughly
repaired and comfortably fitted up and from
the moment of his installing himself there, he
has continued to divide his time equally be-
tween it and his official residence in Cairo.
| had the pleasure of visiting him at Minieh,
and heard from his own lips the circumstances
that had attached so unenviable a reputation
to his pretty retirement Certainly nothing
could look less like the idea had formed to
myself of haunted house than that cheerful,
commodious habitation, with its cool, airy
chambers and its elegant deewan, Tor recep-
ton room,) adorned with fasceaux of yalua-
BILE Mcmlook arms, and blending the evidences
of oriental usages with European comfort
looded in vain for any of those gloomy features
which are supposed to characterize localities
identified with tales of horror; everything was
serenely bright and the haunting spirit of the
place, / should have pronounced to be--the
spirit of courteous hospitality
Mr. Walnc told me, although he had so fur
prevailed over the terrors of his Egyptian SER
wants as to have succeeded in inducing them
to live in the house, yet that no earthly con-
sideration would tempt any one of them to set
foot after dark in that portion oft which COM
posed what had formerly been the women's
apartment, or hareem. 1t was in the hareem
the last Moslem posscssor; and it is in the ha-
\ reem that the spirit of the victim is said night
| ly to wander and bemoan itself. That strange