The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1873-05-22
From the CoruhiIl Ma sgazine.I
ILLUSIONS.
A Chapter Of Strange Experiences.

\ gentleman who had lately Lost
his wife, looking out of the window
in the dusk of evening, saw her sit-
ting in a garden chair. He c He'd one
: of his daughters aud asked ner 10
look out into the garden. "Why. -
she said, "mOther is sitting there -
Another daughter was called, and she
experienced the same illusion. Then
the gentleman went out into the gar
den, and found that 4 garden-dress of
MS wiie's had been placed over the
seat IN such position as TO produce
the Illusion which had deceived him
self and daughters.
During the last weeks of the long
vacation, l went alone to BlapkDOoi
IN Lancashire. There l took lOdg-
ings IN house facing the sea. NV
sltting-rOOm was on the ground floor.
On warm autumn night l was read
ing with the window open, but the
blind was down and was waving
I gently to and fro in the wind. Il
happened that l was reading a book
on demOnOlOgy; mOreOver,I | had been
startled earlier in the evening by pro-
lOnged shrieks from an upper room in
! the house where my landlady's sister,
who was very i'll, had an hysterie fit.
III had just read to the end of a long
and particularly horrible narrative
when l was disturbed by the beating
| of curtain-the wind having risen
/ sOmewhat-and got up to close the
window. As 1 turned round for the
purpose the curtain rose gently and
/ disclosed startling object. A fearful
I face was there, black, long, and hide
Gus, and surmOunted by two mon
strous horns. Its eyes, large and
bright, cleaned horribly, and a
mouth garnished with immense
teeth grinned at me. Then the cur
tain slowly descended. But | knew,
the horrible thing was there. / wait
ed, by no means comfortably, while
/ the curtain fluttered about showing
/ parts of the black monster. At last
/ 1t rose again 50 as to disclose the
whole face. But the face had lost its
horror for me. For the horns tUere
gone. Instead Of the two nearly up
right horns which before had shown
black and frightful against the light
background of sea and sky, there were
I two slOped ears, as unmistakably ash
nine as felt myself at the moment.
! When 1 went to the window (which
before 1 felt unable To approach /
saw that several stray dOnkeys were
wandering through the front gardens
of the row of houses to which my
lodgings belonged. IL is possible that
the inquisiJive gentleman who had
looked IN my window was attracted
by the tapping curtain, which he may
have taken iUr something edible. "If
So" l remarked to myself, 1.-TWO Of
your kind have been deceived to-
night"
a friend of mine told me he had
been disturbed two nights running, by
sound as Of an army trampiDg down
a road which passed some two hun
dred yards from his house; he found
the third night Il Lad suggested an
experimental test 40 to the place
whence the sound came) that the
noise was produced by clock in the
next house, the clock having been
newly placed against the party wall.
We all know Carlysle's story of the
ghOstly voice heard each evening of a
lOw-sp:Tited mana voice as if one, in
likeful dumps, prOclaiming, "Onee
was happy, but now 1 am meeserable"
and how the ghost resolved itself
into rusty kitchen-jack.
There is a case Of a lady who began
to think herself the victim of some
delusiOn, and perhaps threatened by
approaching illness, because each
night, about a quarter of an hour af-
ter she had gone 10 bed, she heard a
hideOus din in the neighbOThOOd of
her house, or else, (she was uncertain
which in some distant room. The
No -, Il
sible creak within a few feet of her
pillow, however,, and produced by the
door of a wardrobe which she closed |
every night before getting into bed.
The door, about quarter of an hour
after being closed, recovered its posi-
ton Of rest, slightly beyond which it
had been pushed in closing. In an
other case the crawling of q snail
across a window produced sounds
which were mistaken for the strains
of loud but distant music.