Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1866-02-16
G6t 4aiIg auupnaT.
From the Cincinnati Commercial.
Haunted HOnsps.

ma, such as the violent pitching about OF
furniture, the slow gathering of a mist
on a mirror, which took the form of a
human hand and arm The editor of the
Observer also visited the ghostly spot,
land promises the most soul.harrowing
description of what he saw there. Equal
ly interesting 10 the phenomena witness
ed daily in an unpretending three-story
house in South Fifth street, Philadelphia,
1t is q god-send to the reporters, who
work up the incidents with due regard
to the dramatic prophecies. The first
indication of the presence of spirits was
in the sleeping room Of the young ladies
Being awakened by the noise, and
searching for the caIse, they were sur
prised to find their combs, head dresses,
and waterfalls, &C., tossed about the
room, and still more alarmed when the
looking glass jumped from the wall, sail
ed across the room, and was shivered in
pieces. Giving an account of The sub
seGuent developments, q Philadelphia
paper says;
On Friday night the aDnoyances be-
gan again; doors few open with great
violencep an ivory ornament jumped from
table through o pane of glass and
clattered on the pavement below. The
mantel ornaments again became erratic,
and chased over the floor; pictures be-
cgme loosed from their fastenings, and
few across the rooms with remarkable.
velocity, at times dashing the glass to
pieces, and damaging the frames and in
other instances sustaining no damage
from their rapid transit and sudden stop
page.
Not liking to have the ornamental
furnitureiGdestroyed the pictures and
mirrors were unhuDg and placed upon
the floor. BIT this did not deprive them
of their powers of locoEotion. One
large looking glass took zig-zag fight
across a room, brought up against an
opposing wall, and was smashed out
! of all the semblance of respecta-
4 BILE reflector. Ii was a night of
horror to the afflicted inmates of the
4 haunted hree-story brick. Next morn
ing their plates Jumped from the dresser
and dashed themselves TO atoms against
the floor, waAsand ceiling. The morn
ing meal had to be partaken from the
laps of the haunted people. During FRI
day they removed all their pictures,
: looking. glasses and valuable mantel or
naments to the house of neighbor,
where they still remain.
"The master and mistress of the fami-
", being communicates OF the Baptist
Church, impaired the circumstances of
their strange visitation to their pastor,
and on Saturday evening that gentle
man, accompanied by another clergy
. man, went to the haunted dwelling to
pass the night With one of these
clerical gentlemen we had protracted
f. interview. Re is very clear-minded
scholar, has received a collegiate train
ing, and during his studies paid ccnsid-
cradle attention to the seeming phe;
nomena of natural philosophy. He as.
sures us that he entered the haunted
dwelling with the belief that the inmates
we're the dupes Of trickery, and he left
the house yesterday morning perplexed
in the extreme.
"Soon after he entered the parlor
hymn-book was projected from table
and thrown with violence against the
door, With his own hands he picked
up the book and replaced it; before his
J Il eyes the volume was. seized by an invisi-
/ BILE force, and for a second time thrown
across thec room, and testament sent
to keepiit company. Again the books
were replaced, and again sent whirling
around the room, at times making the
entire circuit of the apartment, then
they would fly off at q tangent and come
to full stop violently against the walls.
Bibles, testaments, and hymn books
were endowed with strange powers of
volition during several hours of Satur-
day night. a
Both the ciergymen present did their
best to discover some trick by which the
inanimate objects were made to circum-
navigate rooms in so mysterious man.
ner, but in vain; they could discover no
clue to the mystic movements.
"Many other mysterious manifesto
tions took place on Saturday evening.
- A writing slate was projected against
the ceiling and broken to atoms. The
y model of boat sent sailing through the
ri air, and finished its aerial voyage by a
- violent butt against the wall. The we'll
known picture Of tue late President
Lincoln. and his son Tad, was taken
from nail on the wall, by the unseen
force, sent diagonally across the room
with great swiftness, and dashed against
an opposite wall with sEch force as to
break the glass, crushing the picture
into minute pieces. Over this picture
- hung q green baize bag, such as lega
!. men carry; the picture, although hang
ing under thesstrings of the bag, was re
moved as stated, while the bag itsel
was undisturbed. A young gentleman
present who expressed himself an I'M
y believer in supernatural phenomena
/, was roughly jostled by strong, though
invisible hands. The violent manifesto
tons continued for about three hour
F, 4ahen they ceased
This reads Ike the account of the gu
pernatural performances in the old Yves
lev parsonage in England, more than G
hundred years ago But there is new
feature. The ministers being unable to
account for all this uproar, the spiritu'
alists were called into the consultation
vi They ri se it as their opinion that evi
q spirits have obtained possession of tn
house. They have been unable to exer
! else them. Ii is said lady spiritualis
boarded in the house some months ago
Ii but left it ION rather i'll terms with tn
inmates. The spiritualists express tn
conviction that she has "conjured th
evil spirits into the house" Does thi
not look like q return to the days OF Co
ton Mather and the Salem witchcraft
D We shall be in q pretty fix when lad
mediums have the power to copjure q
al spirits from "the vastly deep" to brea
up the furniture, spoil the cooking, an
u disturb the domestic tranquility of wei
ordered families, Even the Metropol
tan Police would find their match,
they should undertake arrests for disol
derby conduct.