Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1871-06-16
THE HAUNTED HOUSE.
A TRUE STORY OF NEW ORLEANS

In the fall of 1857, there came to New
Orleans midle-aged, robust Scotchman,
accompanied by his niece, tall blonde,
of exquisite form and features. Her
face was of the Grecian type, and, like
most of faces that are perfect and
smooth in outline, there was nothing in
it that expressed any force of character
but, on the contrary, you were immedi-
ately struck with its negative, unindi-
vidualized appearance.
She was pensive, melancholic and
unimpassioned- just such a woman as
you would imagine a clairvoyant or
spiritual medium to be; and you would
not be deceived in your surmises in her
case, for she was clairvoyant by pro-
fession. Her uncle was her agent and
magnetizer.
was bachelor then, and lived with
family in Charles Street. There were
three or four other boarders in the
house, one of whom was a lady, whose
bump of curiosity was largely developed
usually considered very rare thing
with the sex-and she had seen the
advertisement of the clairvoyant in the
daily papers, and had visited her, to get
a peep into futurity. She returned with
wonderful account of the many things
she had heard and seen-how that,
after her uncle had made the magnetic
passes on the girl, which seemed to put
her into a semi-cOmatose condition, the
young lady was then ready to journey
to the ends of the earth in the twink
ling of an eye, if you wished it, and
give you the intelligence you desired.
The lady said she was requested to
sit down by the clairvoyant, and clasp
her hands, in order to get into rapport,
as it is called, with the medium, after
which she was ready to answer any
question she desired to PROFOUND. There
was nothing limited, however, about the
world of spirits but her questions must
be confined to sublunary affairs. For
instance, if you desire to know what a
friend was doing at that particular mo-
ment, no matter how distant that friend
might be, she would tell you; and, in
order to prove that she saw the right
person, she would describe him or her,
and describe, moreover, their surround
ings, with a misattia and accuracy truly
astonishing.
From the remarkable account thus
given by the lady of her visit, was in
duced also to visit the wonderful
woman whose occult powers had so ex-
cited the admiration of my fair friend.
[ found her, as above described, and
stated my business-it was to obtain in
telligence from my home in Pennsyl-
town in that State, whose name l gave
I l. Ill
wanted, | should be very much obliged.
81 replied she would 10 so with pleas
ure, and I placed myself in a chair
directly opposite to her. After she had
been magnetized, we were left alone
| together, and took her hands in mine.
The hands were soft, little hands, and
| very pleasant to clasp. | pressed them
gently, looked into her face and saw
| that her eyes were closed. She mur.
INJURED that she was ready to answer my
questions, and travel wherever desired
to send her. She would follow my mind
in it's flight to the place, in order to save
time, hunting for the town. And, after
she reached it, she needed my assistance
no longer.
| Well, that was all right, and l, Of
course, acquiesced. How could | dc
otherwise? l must obey her in the con
dition she imposed upon me, and do it
not in the spirit of prejudiced unbe
lever, but with the feeling of one who
is sincerely desirous of obtain ing knowl
edge. although the mode of obtaining il
might run counter to all my preceiveo
| notions.
1. with the aid of the memories hac
cherished of the dear old town, soor
transported myself to the place, as
had remembered it years gone by. Many
changes had taken place since l hac
left it; but saw them not. The towr
was precisely as l had seen it last. MY
father and mother, brothers and sisters
were as l had seen them eight years
before. No changes were visible in theil
appearance in the memories l had treas
ured up of them. My father, from whom
| parted " downtown" as was leaving
on short journey to the country, anc
whom. alas, never saw again, still hac
the good-natured, affectionate smile OF
his face, as he bid me good-by-neve
dreaming it was the last he should eve
utter to me.
My mother-my energetic, activ,
bustling mother, whose honest, matron
ly face was already scanned with tn
cares of large family, could still see