Middletown transcript., 1877-02-03
.HoE lhrilling I, | remarked seepti.


md had almost reached the shore, when
suddenly bright light appeared, hover
ed for a moment over yard or two
away, apd then vanished. At the same
BY moment piteous, unearthly cry echoed
all around The horse became wild
eli With terror, and broke loose, throwing
in his rider to the ground. When be re-
covered himself, be found lying on the
:. ground at bis feet, the body of beau
tiful young girl She was quite dead.
he with a ghastly wound in her side, from
which the blood had flowed all over her
~ white dress.
cd The traveller staggered away to the
nearest house. got assistance. and had
= the girls body laid in an upper room
That night an awful storm arose. A
i ship was wrecked on the Horse Bank,
and only one man, the captain, saved
He was taken to the same house where
d tho traveller had already found shelter.
and, by some mistake, was put in the
), room where the murdered girl was
lying. At the sight be made an ap-
e palling shrek, and fell down senseless
When he revived, be was questioned,
and confessed that the beautiful young |
r girl was bis wife, whom in a moment Of
rage and Jealousy be had stabbed to the
h heart and cast into the sea And the
sea bad given up her dead, and the
waves had cast him on shore, and the
murderer and his victim we're face to
face. And now they say the voice of
) the murdered girl haunts the place
where she was found 1t seems to rise
frem the sands and goes echoing and
wailing along, calling as if in mortal
agony The old boatman says people
have followed it. believing some ono
Was in peril, and have been lured on
and Oh, till the tide has overtaken them.
aRd they we're drowned"
"What a horrible tale p l said, with
sbudder II wish you had not told
it to me"
"And be says" went on Nellie, un-
needing my remark, "thas, whoever
hears the voice, is in risk of great peril
or danger, or some kind Of sorrow or
trouble is about to happen to him."
Nellie's voice bad unconsciously taken
a tone of awe The still, sombre dark
ness, the midnight hour, aHd the weird
melancholy legend, had infected US
both with an underlined sensation Of op.
preston and fear, prssentment Of
dread and evil t
We kept eur places by the window, .
looking out into the deep. velvety dark =
ness. with the far-aWay, solitary light
from the lighthouse cleaning like a
red hot spark a
Suddenly, while we sat, the sound Of s
a voice rose up again from the lonely 6
sands, a meaning piteous voice wailing u
and imploring, as if in uuutterable dis c
tress. 1t seemed to mingls with the a
boom Of the distant sea, now rising. 4
falling, lonely, desOlatc wall, thrill 4
ing through the darkness like soul in 0
mortal agony. It was dying away in b
the distance, in a low, faint sob, when q
Nellie suddenly sprang back into the d
room. c
"Oh Jean, look p she cried. "Look. il
the phantom light" E
| leant out Of the window, and gazed q
out along the promenade Flashing Il
through the sombre darkness like a b
great star was a brilliant, beautiful Il
light 1t came rapidly towards us from 7
the right, apparently floating in the air. to
and Illuminating the space before it for 81
several yards 1t advanced very swift le
ly, with a steady, forward motion, float pI
ing along about yard from the ground
As it came nearer we perceived, loom d.
ing dimly behind it, giant shadow, ",
weird and grotesqus, with outspread CO
wings and misty, underlined form, while to
sharp ruStling whirring sound accom- vi
panied it's progress an
As the phantom approached, the DESC
late moaning rose again from the sands th
and swept along in low, shuddering CO
cries, dying away sad and pitious as "a
before. With the last faint sound. the bu
light leaped up for one second into in th
tense brilliancy and disappeared. mt
"Ohi" cried Nellie, fearfully.- fol
What is it. Jean p MI
II don't know" I replied, feeling gr
of unaccountable dread and horror tax thr
ing hold Of me. The very demon Of nj
fear seemed to possess my senses, an WI
icy grasp Of terror laid hold Of my wi
heart. by
The air outside seemed to have be- plt
come suddenly clamny and cold, ed
chilly, brisk wind crspt in at the win a
dow The very darkness seemed filed gel
with shapes, hideOus and impalpabls, str
at which | dared not look, less they the
should take the form before my eyes. full
There it is again. shuddered Nellie prs
And with unutterable dread we saw AM
The brilliant star-like light again float the
ing toward US. this time from the right
hand. vol
It came on swiftly, with the palpable the
'antastic shadow in the air above it, and Of
Shen exactly opposite, vanished pre-
We sat paralyzed With terror, and q
laring to move, horrible benuming del
error seizing our hearts. san
This phenomenon happened several tho
ines, the light alternately appearing she
rom the right and left, and always ask
Isnishing when exactly opposite to US, fed
md always accompanied by moaning you
Toice bef
Again the low wailing sounds from Th,
be sands, profoundly mslaDcholy. in sch
xprsRsibly mOurnful, like nothing akin cas-
o humanity. No words were uttered, sue
mt the agony Of the tones was like a up,
-oics from the grave gra
jean, Jean here it is again ~ cried and
tellis, covering in my arms
And once more the brilliant phantom leas
ght appeared. This time it came on INV
1ore slowly, glancing to. and fro un-
tsadily. while the shadowy form be- and
ind it seemed more grotesque and thsl