Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1879-02-27

! easements ratJleO Violently; al lnQlS-
tinct murmur of angry voices was
heard, apparently muttering threats;
however closely they drew the bed-cur-
tains, they were withdrawn by unseen
hands; angry faces looked in upon
them if they ventured their heads from
under the clothes; and the bedclothes
themselves were often forcibly pulled
away, in spite Of their frantic efforts to
hold them fast. And all this went on
! during the whole night, only ceasing
with the dawn Of day, when they most
ly fell into a troubled, uneasy sleep
which was far from refreshing them.
OF course this state Of affairs could not
go on. The cook, a Manufactured,
strong-minded woman, determined to
give warning, and Lucy, the house
maid, a young woman of very delicate
health, became alarmingly i'll. 7 had
to represent to my dear mother the
absolute necessity Of yielding to their
fears, and although lat that time we
both utterly repudiased the possibility
of ghostly vistations, yet it was thought
better to give up to the terrified women a
spare bedroom, kept for visitors. on the
floor with ourselves. Peace and tran
guilty were again restored to the fami-
II, and as far as | know no member OF
it ever went near the haunted attic. l
have often deeply regretted that did
not myself take some pains to investi-
gate these mysterious occurrences.
THE FARMHOUSE GHOST.
A stout Yorkshire farmer of the
name of jams Wreggitt, having emf
grated to Canada, settled himself and
family on a good farm which he rented
in one of the townships. He was con-
sidered fair-dealing and honorable in all
transactions with his neighbors, and in
every respect bore most excellent
character In the farmers house was
frst-foor sitting-room with a large
Fireplace. In this room the children
slept, but from the first night evinced
the greatest dislike. to going to bed
there, screaming with terror, and say
ing that a man was in the room with
them. For a long time the parents
paid no attention to their complaints.
During harvest time change was made,
and the farmer himself slept in this
room, as twas cooler and more con-
yenient. The first night he slept there
he was about to rise almost before the
break of day, when, glancing toward the
fireplace, he saw standing there a
stranger of q dissipated, drunken ap-
pearance "Hallo! what's thee doing
there?" was his very natural exclama-
ton. Receiving no reply, he said,
'Won't thee speak? I'll make thee
speak," and, picking up one of his
heavy boots from the bedside, he was
preparing to throw it at the intruder,
when the man, suddenly raising his
arm as fto ward off the blow, vanished
in moment from before his eyes.
Wreggitt, u bic to get this matter out
of his head, Trooded over it till the next
day. when about noon he entered into
conversation with neighbor who was
working with him, and asked him to
describe the forma r tenant Of the farm,
who had dieG from excessive drinking.
The description so entirely resembled
the man he had seen in the room that
be at once exclaimed, " saw him last
night" Wreggitt recounted this to
some old friends near whom he had
lived be6re taking the farm, and it is
from the dictation of one ofhis auditors
that | had written down this remark
able circumstance. At the time nei-
Their Wreggitt nor his friends had
the slightest belief in apparitions.
THEOLD WOMEN OF THE PEAR TREE.
An English family who lived for
years n the Rue Neuve at Calais, were
constantly annoyed by ghostly vista
tons, mostly from a little withered-
looking 2ldwoman, who obtained in the
family tie sobriquet of "the old woman
of the pear .ree," from her so often dis
appearing at a pear tree which stood
close to the spot where an old stone
staircase had been discovered leading
down to a iubterranean vault. The
house and garden stood upon part Of
the old site If the great Capuchin con-
vent, and though the vault was at this
time closed all round, with no visible
mode of egrss, yet tradition whispered
that there we're passages leading from
it in all directions, one in particular ex-
tending as fir as Fort Neuiii, consid-
cradle distance off. The old pear tree
had been blghted while in full bloom,
or, as the Fench curiously phrased it,
111OOlSllu(h. DOOu dIJSl pliS ldlI1lly
took possession of their apartments, the
visits of the old woman began. They
saw her ii the bedrooms, they met her
on the staircase, and often when the
four young ladies of the family stood
talking a twilight in the garden, they
would fad one more than their number
standing with them; but if they ventur-
ed even to whisper a remark about her
presene, she would glide away, turning
an angry look upon the young party,
and vanish by the pear tree. At first
they wee much alarmed, and the eldest
daughter mentioned the circumstance
to the lady from whom they hired the
house. She infinitely described the
quaint, old-fashioned dress of their I'M
welcome visitor, and even the bunch of
keys at her girdle. Her auditor turn
ed pale, and begged the young lady not
to talk 10 any one Of the old woman's
visits, as they had already been the
cause of her apartm ents remaining long
inlet; thatshe was said to have been a
former proprietress of the house, who
had been a dreadful miser, and had
passed long life in prowling about the
premises day and night in search of
buried treasures. Her most disagreed
BILE visitation was to the bedroom of the
mother OF the family, who for long
time could not be persuaded that the
young children had not been lying on
her bed, a. every evening the marks Of
its havingbeen lain on were distinctly
visible She was also much disturbed
in the night by the bedclothes being
forcibly piled away; and whenever the
: father of ne family Ia lawyer in Eng
land came over for little recreation
from his ltbors, he complained that he
could notget nights rest, so incessant