The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1876-06-08
Mysterious Sounds.

altude to the ordinary phenomena OF |
speech, singing, and music, where the
sound-producing apparatus is tolerably
familiar, and its distance from the nearer
estimated with q near approach to accu-
racy. The effect is only mysterious
when there is any doubt as 20 where the
sound comes from, and how it has Origi;
mated; the Imagination then begins, and
sometimes works itself up to very singu-
lar halIucinations. Night, or darkness
without night, has much to do with this
matter. When we cannot see the sound
producing agent, conjecture is apt to run
wild and ghost stories often depend on
no better foundation than this. For in
stance, certain sounds may frequently be
heard at night, coming from the air
above, but from an invisible source-a
kind of whistling or prolonged cry, the
producers of which are known ID GER
tain parts of England as 'whistlers'
Some legends make il out that these
whistlers are ghosts, some evil spirits,
some Wandering Jews. But the truth
is that the sounds proceed from the birds,
such as wild geese or PlOvers, which are
| in the habit of flying in fiOcks by night,
either for the purpose of reaching distant
| feeding-grounds, or during their annual
migrations. The cry which is usually
uttered by the leader during these noe
tnrnal bird-fights has, from ignorance of
It's cause, been regarded as weird and
mysterious by superstitiOus folks, who
associated it with impending evil.
Sir David Brewster gives an interest
ing account of a mysterious night-sound
which would have frightened many per
sons, but which proved innocently harm
less when tested by a steady observer.
| A gentleman heard strange sound every
night, soon after getting into bed; his
wife heard it also, but not at the time
when she retired, a little earlier than he.
No probable cause could be assigned !;
and the effect upon the imagination be-
came rather unpleasant. He found
some time afteTward, that the sound
came from a wardrobe which stood near
the head of his bed. He almost always
opened and closed this wardrobe when
undressing; but as the door was a little
tight, he could not quite close it. The
door, possibly affected by the gradual
changes of temperature, forced itself
open with a sort of dull sound which was
over in an instant. From the lady not
being in the habit of using that ward
robe, the mystery became associated with
her husband only. Many a ghost-stOry
would receive its solution by little atten-
ton to the sounds resulting from the ex-
pansiOn and contraction of woodwork,
such as doors, panels, wainscotting, and
articles of furniture. Heard at night,
when all is still, the sudden creaking OF
| furniture in a room is apt to be some
what startling, until one comes to know
that it is simply due to the weather.
} Sound being generally more audible at
night than in the daytime, is often ex-
aggerated by these who overlook that fact.
Humboldt specially noted this when
listening to the cataracts of the OrinocO,
and traced it to differences in the hui
nudity of the air. The atmosphere is
something more than usually opaque, to
sounds as well as to light; DR.. Tyndall
has recently proved this in striking
way, in relation to the audibility of fog
signals in different states of the weather.
A little mystery is also due to the fact
that we sometimes know that sound is
being prOdced by an object visible to us,
and vet we cannot hear it. The chiTp OF
the sparrow is audible to some persons
others, who can hear it, cannot hear the
squeak of the bat; and all of us are at
the mercy of a kind of tOne-deafness
analogous in some degree to DIR. Dal-
, toms -bliDdness), in regard to sounds
of an acute pitch. A singular case OF
visible but inaudible drumming occurred
during the American war of independence.
English and American troops were drawn
up on opposite sides of a river the out
posts were mutually visible; and the
English could see an American drum
mer beating his tattoo, although
no sound could be heard. This
is attributed to kind of tone
opacity which affected the air over the
river in particular state of temperature
and humidity.
There is, to most of us, much mystery
in sounds when louder than we expected
te find them. A we'll at Carisbrooke
Castle, Isle of Wight, has water aC the
bottom and when even so small an OBJ
iect as a pin is dropped into the water,
the sound can be heard above, although
the well is more than two hundred feet
deep. At St. Adams cathedral 1T used
to be said, the tick of a watch could be
heard from end to end of that very long
building; whether the recent restOra-
tions have interfered with this phenOme-
non. VIC do not know. Sound can be
heard over water at 4 greater distance
than over land; DIR. Hutton heard per
son reading at hundred and forty feet
distance on the Thames, whereas he could
only hear him seventy feet on the shore.
Sound can be heard over ice, also, more
easily than over land. When lieutenant
Foster was wintering in the arctic re-
giOns, he found he could converse with a
man a mile and a quarter distant, both
being on the ice in Bowen harbOr. The
human voice, it is asserted, has been
heard ten miles off at Gibraltar we pre-
sumo over the water of the strait. The
whispering gallery at st. PauPs is always
a mystery to visitors; a whisper becomes
distinctly audible at the opposite side OF
the gallery; but not at intermediate pO-
, sitions. The late Sir Charles Wheat
stone once made a curious observation Oh
sound at the colosseum in the Regents
Park (recently pulled dOwn). Placing
himself close to the upper part of the in
terror wall Ca circle hundred and thirty
feet in diameter), he found that a spoken
word is repeated many times; that al
exclamation appeared like a peal o.
laughter; and that the tearing of piece
of paper was like the pattering of hail
In the cathedral of Girgenti, Sicily, {
whisper can be heard the whole length o.
the Building, if the whisperer places him
self in the focus of the semicircular aPst
at one end. A story Is told that, Ions
ago, a confessional box was inadvertently
placed Just at that spot; that the detail.
of the confession were audible at another
spot near the entrance to the church
and that the authorities were first made
acquainted with this awkward fact by {
ferment arising out of one particular con
: fession.
So long as the cause of any unusual
sound is unexplained to the non scientific
listener, he is apt, naturally enough, Il
term that sound mysterious but the ele
ment of mystery Will disappear when he
is assured that sounds of every descrip
ton are due to natural aud unalterablC
acoustic principles hambers's Journal