The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1861-10-17
THE HAUNTED sksANTY.
PROM THE ATLANTIC MoNTilLy.

Loo httrY 1,ri nt1ih
.,arv n{icrt in tbs room could bo scan
n,orc Ar ieaa dist;nruv. nothiur ,yna oui or
10 nlace nothnr disturbed vrl tLe rortrs
ahnpst shook nnder the rail If nm hvisiblo
drun bnoton bv invisible hnntls The
sleepers tossed rcstlcssy. and It deep groan.
as if in semi-drcam, came from the man.
Utterly confomded as was, my sensations
were not those of terror Each moment
doubted my seuscs, and each moment the
terrific sound cony inced me mow. lonot
know how long sat thus sheer, stupid
amazcmcnt Ii may have been one minute,
or fifteen, before the drum, passing ovcrmy
head, through the boards again, commenced
n slow march around the shonty. When it
had finished the nrst, and WAS about COM
mcncing the second round, shook off my
stupor, aud determined 10 probe the fnys-
terry. Opening the door, ! advanced in an
opposite direction to meet it. Again the
sound passed close beside my head, but
could see nothing, touch nothing. Again
it entered the shlnty, and followed !
stirred up the fire, casting a strong ilumina-
ton into the darkest corners: thrust my
haud into the very heart of the sound, |
struck through 1t in all directions with u
stick-stll saw nothing, touched nothing.
OF course, do not cXrcct to he believed
by half my rcaders,--nor do blame thcm
for their inCredulity. So astounding is the
circumstance. even yet, TO myself, that !
should doubt its reality, were it not there
fore necessary, for the same reason to doubt
every event of my life.
At length the sound moved away in the
direction whence il came bcconiur prudu-
ally fainter and fainter until il died in the
distance. But Immediately afterwards in
the same quarter, came "A thin. sharp blast
of wind,-or what seemed to he such. It
one could only imagine swift intense
stream OF air no thicker than n tclcgWph-
wire, producing a keen, whstlin% rush in
Its passage, he would understand the m-
preston made upon my mind. This wind,
or sound, or whatever it was seemed to
strike an invisible target in tho couter of
the room, and therCupon CnSucd II new and
worse confusion. Sounds as of huge pmnlis
lifted at one end and then allowed to fall,
salnmng upon the door, hard, wooden
clasps, Crashes, and noises of splitting and
swapping, filed the shany. The rough
boards of the floor Jared and tcmblcd
and the table and chairs were iOlted off their
feet. lnstlncuVcly, icrked away my legs
whenever the invisible plauks fell too ncat
them
1t never came into my mind to charge the
family with being the authors of these phc-
nomena: their care and distress were too
evident. There was certainly no other hut
man being but myself in or near the shunty.
My senses of sight and touch avaiIcd me
nothing, and ! confined my attention Mt last
to simply noting the manifestations, withou,
attempting TO explain them. began to eX-
perlencc feeling, not of terror, but OF
disturbing uncertainty. The solid ground
was taken from beneath my feet.
Still the man and his wife ,rrooucd and
muttcrcd ns if in n nirhtm,r" sl,cn aud
the boy Tossed resflcssly ON his low bod -
| would not distnrb thcm since hv thc;,
own confession ihev wcre occusto,ncd +,
the visitation. Resides II wonld n,t assist
me. and so long ns thorc VIVA mn Inrcr -,
personal injury, preferred 10 watch nlnnr
recalled, however, the woman's remarks
rememberin~ thc mystrrions LInmc sb" & hn i
thrown upon her husband and frlt certn;,
,lat she had ndontcd some cvnlonotion nl
the noises at his exncnsn
As the confusion continued with mnrc ~
less violence sometimes r,nsin,r for , rew
minutes to herin ngain Win rnnSv,nJ G,rcn
l felt an ncrcnsinr immcssion of snnchn1y
clso brinr nrasnnt ont.iJ, H., I,,,,,t'
this reolins ceoscd hrt ovn,,, t;,no o,t',rn'
the door / mlly eynerted ~ 500 sn,nc o,n
standing in the confer or N, rnon Va
looking thronrh thc Ett,o ,,i,do,,, ,.,o,
tbe noises wore ~ tbo;r i"n1,t ,.,''lI A. ~;
covernotbinc .n''" ",o
since Grst Icord tho 1,'' l','" ',''I' /"
mvsoIf NJ lost ,'i' ,L''o Wv
frn;tcss oxor,;ons AMY t ,,,',,,,, " w., IVY
mont Ry tb;S ,;n,n 'T w., ,"J I,,' ,,"I"'i 49, i've
hncomo C,;nt ,,,itl, ,., ,'''
t,l Of on"n Sao'i S,or l,'i i 'i"o"a P"V"e''
nnar mo thot - -, ,i a '"''t ns mo"' S'S"' .
fron, tho 'Jo', ~ o'"',' NV 'o' "'No p'VI'eUe'
700 oc ,,ttSn ioao, i. ~ wa" 'son", oA press
tbor corna na,', A.. ",v'r9e'neSS' 1 'o'ioWe", el'
cnr,o u,I'G : ,,,, V,u "Uluo' ~ Wo'u"l voice
- ha n+tS na,g" no' "l,:i'Cv '"' lnSy SeVne,
Ca g. w u,'eiVu I J'oSo oeSlue me, ana !'I tar
i 10, "w"Si "tSii @ i@W great my 't"Uoic HOW
l?ni 'nS' : e,n'er was married II, th'
o'Sn1 ~ you; 10 hoer NtchoiSoh' liaN'
ii"eIoy, y i-olu ah1 give MN TO me- or re
le9SS E ine rom h,in
iileSe were the words not spoken, hu
n iu'iiol 'ioaueV iorth III SLOW, m9notohou
"'l VI uI'Gr hei eiPleSsnSSS ana broEen-hear'
oJHesS, W ! nave heard human grief express
eu III many forms, but never heard or i'm
&gmeu ahythiGg so desolate, so Snrcharge'
win Tue despair OF an eternal woe. II was
thueeu 100 hopeless Tor sympathy, II wa