The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-03-01
SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS.

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From time tofime our love of the mar
vellous is fed ID welisustained tales Of
supernaturalisl1. We read or hear oE
apparitions, shadow hands, footprints
where the foot winch made item was
not visible, and in One case a viewless
visitant who from his feats must have
been a defunct pugilist, for he kept a
whole family with black eyes a%ndbruised
fOreheads for a Whole. month
But now comes to us. the latest sensa-
ton In the shape of a phantom pig, and
lively smoothing irons, on the line Of
the Macon and Brunswick railroad. The
pig, or rather a full grown hog, walks
into the station office, gives two or three
turns through the room, gruntsand van
ishes before the eyes of the Mortified
spectators. What brings his hogship
back from the land of shadows, and
what wrong he is bound to avenge no
one can say.
Mr.. Bergh would probably trace this
porcine apparition back to his crue1mur-
der on the railroad, and indict all the
officials on one of those pleas which have
made Mr.. Bergh famous. But failing
the great humanitarian, the unhappy
ghost wanders grunting to and fro, play
ing the aVenging Nemesis with the char
acter of the station and sending ladies
into fits. AS for the smoothing irons
they are playfully inclined, and dance
up and down, giving sometimes an I'M
lucky blow to intruding feet. With de-
hcious qaivete the narrative goes on to
tell of a'sea captain who set himself to
the task Of piercing these mysteries.
According to the custom of sea captains,
he grew very dry whilst keeping his vigil.
and bethOughth himself of a fine bottle of
whiskey in the next room. Presto, with
the thought the bottle came flying into
the room, and addressed itself to his lips,
Nothing daunted by the singular visitor
the Captain took a long pull, OF a great
many pulls, and as he laid the bottle
down, Likes c~onsiderate ghost, thinking
the sailor had enough of spiritualism, it
vanished and the festive irons with it.
OF course thirsty folk focked in after
this experience to see or taste this genial
ghost. But so far, the hog and smooth
ing irons keep the track but the whiskey
has "vamosed." We think the sea Cap
tain exhausted its capabilities.
Since the ghosts of animals are revisit
ing the scenes of their torture, shall not
the small boys Of Opelousas who delight,
On summer nights, in nagging the hap
less dOnkeys, and making their lives a
burthen, be haunted by the vengeful
presence of sOme murdered victim? Let
them beware.
DOnkeys might be killed in spite Of an
opinion to the contrary, and the small
boys, so dear to our heart, carry with
them haunted lives, which would make
their nights hideous, and themselves a
sore burthen to their tender parents.
Only imagine a donkey ghost braying
away sleep? Let our precious small
boys listen ana need,
It is certain that the status of the mod
ern ghost has fallen far below that of its
predecessors. Whether illusions or not,
the works wrought by these freaks Of
fancy, fill the darkest and saddest chap
tiers in the worlds past history. Read
the vOluminous History of Witchcraft
in New England, which passed through
the press hast year, and which took a
mans whole life time tocompile. Many
of the actors in it hadno wish to deceive
for some Of them it would have simply
been impossible. s.4s .
FROM first to last it reads to us, like a
bloody, monstroNs ehimera, or the real
satanic agency of wicked men and wo-
men. We have neither time nor space
10 mention the former popular spectral
delusions save to compare them with the
present, and showa ghostly deteriora-
ton. Even the spirits OF animals which
chronicles Of experimentation give us
aFeo of Q very different calibre from these.
AAOAo NHS UlO AA1GE uU6 "a hNlGSU0n
that only appeared to those about to die,
the black horse of the Hartz forests,
whose flaming nostrils would lead the
unwary traveller into impossible quag-
mires-the swans of Ibycus whose silent
testimony conEicteda murderer. These
ghosts all had a certain mission on earth,
either good or evil, and even the spec
trail boar of Thuringia was the Nemesis
of a cruel parricide. But what has this
hog to avenge? Poetry can do nothing
with it. Totbe killed is the natural con
dition Of the animal, and to be eaten the
certain sequence. Even if the railroad
made mince meat of il, are sausages not
in demands How then did iteome back,
and is it initiating a new era of ghosts 7
These delightfully."- absurd y~isitations
are giving a death blow to old supersti-
tions. The wisest ghost seer can make
nothing of the hog. @a=a a.@ .@aa
Lands Restored to Entry Under