The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1865-06-08
Esta blished 1926.

tne tack or saddie--but on the neck.
No~, there was the strongest Ell.
denee in the world 10 prove this fact,
for there could be seen tho name ali
tan gled and twisted into knots. and in
fact had the appearance Of stirraus.
10 that it was difficult TO nnravel these
"te1tch stfr7ups.' One man : aid Cn bis
Pennsylvania diaiect) :" Die naeht
hen a5er die bexa alncl die geyi vic.
der recht rum gritta.' never heard
OF a better way 70 drive these noctu
raj riders from the horses necks, than
by a daily application of the curry
comb, &c.
But enongh Of this l will now
give few spook SfOrtes, as there were
also many in those days. There were
always certain localities which were
renowned for being "haunted." :" Some
how or other the children fonnd out
these places By sort Of uaditionary
legend. Most generally some partic.
ular place in a lane, or at the foot Of a
hill in some old vacated home, or dark
part Of aroad. A grave yard was also
among the places known to be uncean
in this respect. Then again when
once a apook was seen il certain
place, thatspot was most certain 10 be
a permanent institution Of these IN.
earthly ghosts and hob goblins. But
TO story number one. First, then, one
Of our neighbor boys one night had
occasion TO go through piece Of Dad
that, on account Of the heavy forest
on both sides Of the road, it was usually
very dark after night. And now this
very place had a very bad name after
night. John. the boys name, now q
man of family, tells the spook story
himself: II will never forget that
night, how my hair stood on my head
when l saw just before mo something
with two great big shining eyes about
the size Of a fist; with big white
spot between the eyes This was ter
ribIe for boy of my age, but | had
too much spunk 10 run back, and I
was afraid TO 90 forward. So picked
npa club and fired away, and 10. and
behold! a big spook with four legs
and two horns-u 5rds q cosc."
Now, lastly permit me to speak
about my own experience Of spooks.
This was not only for one night, but
for number Of nights in week.
yea, this spook tornented me for
months. This was not a COW in the
road with big shining eyes, nor little
''fox-fre" in All old stump, for it
made noise. Then, again, l cati
prove all / say by three Witnesses
one, however, since died. a-..r.
But to the facts. When we built
the log store house No 2, we had .
also bedroom partitioned off at the
north end. My bed was in the North.
east corner Of the room.
Some time after l took up my lode.
ing | thought now | would have a
much nicer and more comfortable
room than had in the log cabin gar.
ret whe:e had never heard Or seen
spook. The first intimation that |
had that "GIL ,cas not clean up stairs,
one night / heard slight rap or
noise up stairs which | thought was
too loud for either cat or rat, of which
of which so far as | know there were
none about the housc.) In might or
two | heard the same noise, if anything
louder and more of it. The third .
night ! hearc 1T again; covered my
head and tried to persuade myself
that it was nothing. I must con fcss
though / was no mcyc atraia Of srooks
than other boys of my aye. yet this
thing tormentrd me so one night that
| took the candle and determined to .
see what was up stairs took = club .
in my right hand, candle in my lott,
hair raising on my head as | went up,
| went in every corner, made diIgent
search, could find nothing living or
that could make a noiso-no loose
boards that the wind could shake. /
went back to bed again, satisfied that
there was nothing. But II was not
long before heard the same noise
again only louder it seemed then to
me TO be as loud again Us it was be-
fore. Now what was | to conclude
the noise was? Next night my
brother John slept with me. We
were not long in bed before We heard
the old rap and stamping at irregular
intervals. II did not sound like walk
ing over the foUr-more like person
who would take a cane or something
else and tap on the Aoor Then some-
times it sounded like person pound
ing on the floor or wall with his fist
Ny brother soon slid; Whats thAt'2
l said, so, nothing" ] had my rca-
sons for saying so. In the first place,
| did not want TO frighten him, and in
the next place, if would tell him my
feelings he would never sleep in the
store alone. This noise or spook
was more common on moonshine
nights, Sometimes for whole weeks
or more l never heard rap. Next
morning when my brother and
came home to breakfast, he told his
mother in the Swiss dialect: IMAM
me ich schlofa nun i'm stohr, es isch
oppss nit recht dort," or in English,
|" Mother. sleep no moro in the storej
there is something wrong there. -
When father heard John say so he
looked at me and wanted to know if
ever heard such noise before. l told
him, yes" but l tried to make as
light Of it as possible. He then told
me that he bad heard it too, (as he
sometimes slept there when l went
to Lancaster for goods and stayed
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