Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-10-29


Surrency, a neighborhood in Appling county,
Georgia, is just now afflicted or blessed, its in
habitants are not sure which, by the mysterious
and eccentric behavior of those objects which
we are accustomed, unadvisedly it would seem
in view of the narrative which now comes to
us, TO call inanimate things. Surrency is the
name Of a station on the Macon and Brunswick
railroad, about which are clustered a few houses
and two or three shops where whiskey chiefly,
and few such other articles as the primitive
habits Of the people thereabout demand, are
sold. The principal house in the neighborhood
is the home of Mr.. Surrency, a "plain,
old-fashioned Georgia gentleman" from
whom the station was named. The occu-
pants of this house were somewhat dis
concerted one evening by the falling of billets
of wood upon the floor in various parts of the
house. A thorough search failed TO develope
the cause of this phenomenon, the strangest
feature of which was that all the doors and win
dows were closed and were not broken, al
though the wood plainly came from without,
since there were no such sticks in the house be-
fore. They all seemed to fall in vertical direc-
tioas and hit nobody; but some members OF the
family had narrow escapes. This novel method
of getting in firewood was unpleasant and per-
picking, but the family seem to have borne it
with more calmness than could have been ex-
pected, and, after vainly trying TO solve the
mystery, they all went TO bed, lodging the
falling billets as they could.
The next morning all was quiet; the house
hold gathered up the scattered firewood and
hoped for peace. But it was vain hope In
the course OF the day various articles of domes-
tic use became endowed with eXuberant vitality.
The hands of the clock spun round regardless
Of duty and Of the regulating machinery with
in; dishes elattered in fragments upon the floor;
pans and skillets leaped from their places and
danced about the room, re-enacting with extrav-
agant variations that kitchen carnival, whose
story Mother Goose relates to only half incredu-
loas, childish ears, when "the dish ran away
With the spoon" The Surrency household was
demoralized The neighbors, hearing of these
strange doings, focked in to wonder, theorize
and condole. The news spread fast and
by night reached Macon, 800 miles distant,
where the editor Of one Of the papers immedi-
atey dispatched a special reporter to investigate
the wonder. Arriving at the Surrency mansion
with true Georgia hospitality and until the day
was wen advanced, he saw nothing unusual.
Then, however, as he sat before the fire, a brick
fell from above near his chair, breaking as il
struck the floor; he took up one of the pieces
which proved TO be almost too hot 10 handle
and tried to break it again by throwing il with
all his force against the floor Not succeed
ing in this, he placed it on the window
sill, with the intention of carrying il
back to Macon with him, but in few
moments it leaped from the window to the spot
where it fell at first, breaking again as it struck
Some smoothing irons which stood in the fire
place soon hurled themselves across the room;
the hands Of the clock spun round as ON the day
before; more dishes dashed themselves TO pieces
and all the moyables in the house seemed TO
have acquired life and to be urged by an Insane
impulse toward acts Of which plain and substan.
tial articles Of furniture have never been thought
capable.
il was observed that while the domestic chat
tells were conducting themselves in this bewilder.
ingiy indecorous manner nobody with one or
two exceptions, saw any article at the instant
when rs movement began. Attention was d.
rected to them only by their rapid fight or the
noise they made as they struck the floor or some
other obstacle. On this day several hundred
people gathered from the country about. and
special trains ran from Macon and Brunswick
10 accommodate the sightseer. All saw the
mayels aud wondered, but no one could detect
any human agency in them. Theories were
abundant however, illustrating the superstition
and ignorance Of Georgia community. Ac-
cording 70 one which had many adherenis, the
house was bewitched; a still more popular
hypothesis aiuibaicdtlie strange proceedings 70
pifliaal influence, while that portion Of the