Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1867-10-11
MisesIlann.
From the Newton, Mass. Journal.
The Haunted House at Water
town.

|
zine j" for September, has an illustrated
article Of some length, giving an account
of dwelling in Watertown, which has
the reputation of being a place of ghostly
visitatons. The writer has industriously
collected all the wild gossip of the neigh
borhood in connection with this exciting
affair, and has produced for the edifcation
of the fifty thousand or more readers of
that publication. a fiction of domestic
wretchedness, crime, despair and death,
which would do credit 10 the merest PEN
ny-a-liner of the ultra-sensa,ional order.
The first illustration is Of
THE HAUNTED HOUSE."
which is thus described:-'I 1t is low
rooted rambling structure, half hidden by
grove of sombre hemlocks, and standing
not far from the main road which leads
from Cambridge to Waliham, in Massa-
chusetts In its front cluster few grace
full elms and naples, and in its rear
plowed field slopes gently up 10 level
ridge, from which one may see, spread out
at his feet, the town of Boston and the net
work of roads which, branching outward
from it like the spokes of a wheel, bind IFS
glilterng tire of villages TO the Hub of
Universe" The place has been hu-
man habitation for twenty years, and y ct
an air of desoaion and decay hangs over
it, which well accords with the received
notion of house that is haunted. The
grass around It is thin and starved; the
weeds grow thick and rank on the lawn !;
the encircling wall is fast crumbling away,
and the one window which looks out on
the driveway is boarded up as if the mortal
, tenants of the house would shut Fl ON view
the ghostly visitors who are supposed to
alight from a spectral vehicle at its door
: way. g From the high-road il seems a
modest cottage of very moderate dimen-
sons; but as one comes nearer he sees,
stretching back from the main edificc, a
rambling row of low, disjointed buildings,
* containing more than dozen rooms and
e, giving the whole spacious look, which
q well becomes country mansion. In these
~ secluded rooms, shut out by dense masses
ar of shrubbery from the gaze Of passers-by
were, i. is said, enacted the
: DARK DEEDS
that have given the Haunted House it
ghostly reputation in the neighborhood
Its original owner was cultivated gentle
man linealy descended from an early
Governor of Massachusetts,, and connected
with some of the most distinguished states
men of New England. His college life
S. was wild and dssipated but after he wa
graduated he is said to have reformed, ant
marrying daughter of one of the Judge
of the Supreme Court of the State, I,
have settled down in the pleasant cottag
Is which had been bull. for his occupation
Here for several years he led an aimles
y but otherwise blameless life, following n
regular pursuit and living, as was supposed
i'd, on the income of an ample property. Hi
1T, widowed mother-in-law came to reside i
"a a the neighborhood, and soon two or thre
~ children were born in his family. This wa
not far from twenty years ago, and the fe'
Of his neighbors who are still left in tn
vicinity speak of the unity and affectio
ali which there seemed to exist in the littl
in household. But in an evil hour the dt
in mestic harmony was broken A youn
~ woman come TO reside in the house as-e-'
by erness 10 the children. She was an orPha
nag nag girl, without friends, and is said by th
he he aged woman who then served in the fam
In ", to have been very accomplished an
handsome. She had queenly form, dar
dreamy eyes, and wealth of wavy brow
hair that was d wonder to look at"
W. portrait of,this governess, ascending Il
and stairs, is introduced as the second illustr
'eep ton. The writer continues his
ITS, ROMANTIC AND HIGHLY WROUGHT sroR
at considerable length, of which we gi
ders the following brief outline "A DESERT
wife abandons her home, and soon the go
. crncss deserted cleo and mysteriously disa
TX. pears. A niece Of the infatuated man a
pears on the stage to enact similar pa
\ and she finally goes off in an equally mys
rious manner. Money grows scarce, and
itinerant yender of watches, rich in mon
,RK, and iewelry, also conveniently disappe'
s,ss to recruit the exhausted exchequer of
a O, colonel, as he is called, who was known
fas'S NV come suddenly into possession OF consid
outh able sums of money, though previousl,
l and bankrupt for dinner. The death of
master of the house occurred some fifte
erery years ago, and the place remained vac'
until sold under foreclosure, some Il
rtford years ago. The story told by Mr. III
York superintendent for Mr.. Chase, who P
''' chased the estate some four years ago );
been in substance previously made pal