The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1863-10-29
Very Strange If True! 1.-TWO
Ghosts in WapcllO County! --
Grent CONSERVATION An .Ad
ans Township

Nfeut conservation An 1Ad
ANS Township
We learn, by gentleman of unaueston.
able veracity, that great CONSERVATION pre-.
walls in Ada ms township, in this county
occas,oned by the nightly visita,,ons of two
seeming men, at the residence of Mr.. WIN
Spautling, vino lives We miles east Of
Blakesbnrg. These visitors, be they who
they may. and whether in the flesh or spir
its in human shape, make their appearance
about seven O'clock in tue evening, and
remiin until about five in the morning, thei,
first appearance being on Friday night, ,
week ago. They seem the liu,n. sized, heavy
set ,nen, dressed in black! Ga their first
appearances. on Friday sht, the family and
some of tho ncighbrs, were boiling molas
ses about forty rods from tie horse, when
about seven o'cs"ck. suidenly, cIu',s, cubs
(they had been Smelling corn during the day
and small sticks, began to Fly in shower,
from certain direction, occasionally hitting
some one Of the persons present, but gener
ally falling in one small place. Once
candlcs,ick, held by Mrs. Spaulding, wa.
hit, nearly knocking it out Of her hand. N,
person was then visible, but they heard
something walking about with heavy tread
About one O'clock, they quit boiling
and two Of the men, Harmon Wellman anc
j. n. Spaul,iiug, started out IN the direction
from whence the missiles seemed to come,
armed with clubs and brick bats, to find
and chastlsc the strange intrujers. NJ
sooner had the men started than tho mis-
siles came, larger and thicker. The fire o.
missiles was returned by the men, but with
out evidence of their hitting anybody. The
party about the kettles returned about thi:
time Gone o'clock) to the house.. After
their return, the missiles seemed to strike
the fence and the house with great violence
Spaulding and one of the men went out t.
turn out the horses. taking their guns with
them. No sooner were they out of tn,
house, than large club fell near them
seemingly coming from behind. One of the
men wheeled, and saw a man standing nea,
enough to be distinguished in dark night
at whom he instantly shot. The man rar
and disappeared. They turned out the
horses and returned to the house. Nothing
more was see OF the men that night, al
though they were heard walki ng about nea,
the house. The next night, aad for the
four succeeding nights, the same state o.
things existed, two being seen on Tuesday
night. Missiles struck the fence and house
but left no dents and marks distingu ishable
by daylight. In the meantime, Mr.. Spaul
ding and his ncighbors became alarmed by
such a strange phenomenon, and from time
to time. met at Spauling's house to try
and solve the mystery. On Monday night
j. W. Wcllm,n, VIM. Hayne, WIN. Spaul.
ding and his sou, spent the night watching.
Sometime in the night, ono of the men
looked out Of the window and distinctly
saw, ny the light OF bright moon, a man
standing before the door. After sitting a
while, they lookei out again, and saw the
man PROSTATE on plank, lighting dark
lantern with match. Gcttin, their revolt
vers and gnns ready, tho party prepared to
open the door, but strange to say, the four
powerful men could not open it. They
afterwards remained quietly in the house
until about five o'clock in the morning.
One night, Mr.. E. B. Day took his dog, a
very sagacious animal, and tried to set her
on, but she trembled, ran between her mas.
ter's legs, and refused to make any demon
stration against the ghosts.
The above are the leading facts as related
to US, of the most strange phenomenon.
Mr.. Spaulding at first attributed the perse.
cution to political enmity, but certain evil
dence of the absence, in other places, OF
those he only could suspect. at times when
the visitors were seen and engaged in their
operations, satisfied him that he must look
for some other solution of the mystery.
We give the facts precisely as they are
related to us, merely expire ssng, by way of
comment, our decided conviction that no
Union men, in or out of the h,sh, have re-
sorted to that mode of converting Mr..
Spaulding and his political friends from the
error of their political ways. The story is
a strange one, and we await, with consider.
able anxiety, further developments. In the
meantime, IN opportunity is afforded to the
curious to speculate upon the subject of
ghosts! We don't believe in ghosts, and
II we did, it is against all ghostly rules to
visit in couples, and they have generally
been clothed in white. invariably so as far
as our recollection serves u.s. 1t is barely
possibly that some evil disposed persons have
been playing rather fatiguing and protra
ed trick upon Mr.. Spaulding and his friends.
Most of the phenomena can be accounted
for without resort to the supernatural. To
persons laboring under apprehension o.
danger, everything, particularly in the night
seems unnatural aad distorted. Ghosts can
be manufactured with the greatest ease. 1,
is also extremely difficult to aim accurately
under such circumstances. and a person
would stand many chances of escaping ia
one Of being hit. And so we might specu
late upon all these occurrences, supposing
them to be real occurrences. AS to tina,
we repeat, we merely give what is related
to US.
VoTE OF THE 7TH IowA.-The vote for
Ga.za..oz L., IL. 1tr, Iau-. i.