The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-10-11
THE HAUNTED HOUSE AT
WATERFOWL.
7 COnhRued.I I

On the following night no sound
broke the quiet of the infested house
until the clock struck the hour Of mid
night. Then the noise of wheels echoed
on the graveled driveway, and the in
mates heard the crack of tho drivers
whip, and his loud"whoa " to the horses.
Soon there was a sound us of some one
alighting from carriage. and, a mo-
ment later, quick, sharp ring at the
door bell This surely could be no
ghostly intruder, and Mr.. King rose,
partly dressed himself, and went out to
admit his midnight visitor. He had
gone only as far as the upper landing he
heard the grating of latch-key in the
lock, and saw the outer door open and
close again. Then the soft rustic Ofthe
same light but rapid football assembled
the stairway. Swiftly it swept by him,
and was once more lost in the silence of
the deserted chamber.
Not an hour afterward the noisy car
nival began in the lower story. Again
the wood-houSe door was battered down,
the kitchen window broken in, the
chairs tossed about, and the stove
thrown across the room with crash
that shook the building. The man of
the house listened for while, but he
had begun to suspect the character OF
his nocturnal disturbers, and, with the
philosophical reflection that "he could
endure the racket as long as they
could" he closed his eyes and went
soundly to sleep till morning.
The noises were continued, with some
slight variations, until April. They
subsidized for time, but only to break
out again with greater violence. Every
night, for long time, the carriage came
to the door, the bell rang, and the light
football went up the stairway, and ev-
cry day heavy tread echoed in the
library. Then these sounds ceased and
q woman was heard weeping aad Ia
menting. Then this went away and
there was a shoveling of earth in the
cellar, the grating of saw in the wood
house, the falling of the door, and the
noise of the axe, hewing it in pieces;
and then the general letting loose of all
the ghostly artillery. There was meth
cd in the manifestations" Who knows
but they were the terrific refrain of
some awful tragedy, which, first enacted
here, was being repeated in eternity
Space would fail me if were to re-
count all the strange sights and sounds
which, now fer four years, have been
seen and heard in this perturbed DOM
icil. Unless my own senses have been
deceived, and multitude of good men
and women have borne false witness,
all the laws which govern well regulat-
ed matter have been set at defiance; and
some unknown agency has demonstra-
ted that there are more, many more
"things in heaven and earth than are
dreamed of in eur philosophy" In
broad day wood is split by an invisible
axe; doors are opened, and furniture
displaced by invisible hands; and at
dead of night the house is shaken when
there is no W ind; earth is supturned and
graves are dug without shovel or spade;
unnatural mOans and laughter issue
from unoccupied apartments; and the
whole building is at times so illumina-
ted by spectral lights dancing from
room to room that passers-by on the
road rush to the door, thinking the
house on FIRE and the lives of its in
mates in danger.
But somew hat similar things are re-
lated of other houses that have been
"haunted," and therefore ! need detail
only such incidents as cast some light
it may be dim, unreligious light-on
the unhappy history OF the original
tenants of the cottage.
On one occasion, when the lady of the
house was sitting alone in her room IN
the daytime, she experienced an indis-
scribable sensation as of a palpable but
invisible human presence. In few
minutes she distinctly saw the shadowy
figure of man glide along the wall
and disappear through the closed win
dow. His form, features and clothing
were vividly impressed upon her mem-
ory, and not long afterward she describ-
ed them toS the aged woman who for
merly served in the family. She recog-
nized them at once as those of her old
master. Many times since the same
man has been seen by her and by others
emerging from the guest chamber, or
from the room which was formerly the
library, and passing slowly through
the hall and ont at the front doorway
with his head down and his hands be-
hind him.
One day the same lady was ironing at
the kitchen-table when her attention
was arrested by a sound like the whet-
ting of a knife on q flint-stone in the
pantry. Laying the flatiron down soft
" she suddenly opened the door OF the
pantry; but no knife and stone were
there and the noise ceased suddenly
On another day, while she was IN the
kitchen, she heard the grating Of saw
in the adjoining woodroom but on
opening the woOdroom she found the
wood untouched and the saw hanging
idly on the peg by the window. Again
while in a lower room of summer al
ternoon, she heard loud sobs and moan'
issuing apparently from the empty
upper chamber, which is said to have
been occupied by the governness- Go
ing softly up the stairs she opened th'
door, and in that moment all was silence
After this, time and again, she and he
husband heard the same sounds coming
from the same empty chamber; but the!
went about their work and left the un
| - L. n Man,