Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1880-04-22
Earl Duaraven's Ghost slery.


From his article in The Nineteenth Century.
"My soul and body. sir" said John,the
guide. "heVar see such luck in all my
life; most as bad IS We had two years
ago when We was eamped away down
East by the head OF Martins River.
You remember, sir. the night We saw
the little lire In the woods close by,
when there was no one there 10 make
It. Very curious that was; can't make
that out all. What was II, do you
think ?"
"peghaps ghosts are making fire,
john said |.
"Yee. sir, mebbe; some Of our people
believe In CHESTS, sir; very foolish peo-
Pile. some Indiana"
"pont you, JohnS"
20 no. air, nsVer seed no ghosts.
have seen and heard seme curious things.
though. was hunting once with two
gentlemen near Rocky River-you know
the place well. sir We were all sitting
In camp, winter time, sir; pretty late,
about bed time. The gentlemen were
driaking their grog, and we was smoking
and talking, when we heard some one
walking. coming up to the camp. Hell
lop said one Of the gentlemen, who can
this be at this time Of nlghtr Well, sir,
we stopped talking, and we all heard the
man walk up to the door. My soul, sir,
we could hear his moccasins crushing
ON the hard, dry snow quite plain. lie
walked up 10 the door, but did not open
Il, did not speak. did not knock. So. af-
ter u little, one Of us looked out nobo-
dy there; nobody there at all, sir. Next
morning there was not track on the
snow--not track--and no snow fell In
the night Well, sir, we stayed there
fortnight, and most every night We
would hear man In moccasins walk
up to the door and stop; and II we look
ed, there was no one there. and he left
no tracks in the snow. What was IL, do
you think, sir 2"
"Don't know, John. am sure" said.
"unleSs it was some strange effect of the
wind in the trees"
"Well, sir, seed q curious thing once.
| was hunting with gentleman-from
the old country, l think he was-my
word. sir, long time ago, mebbe thirty
years or more. My soul and body, sir,
what a sight Of moose there was in the
woods in those daysl and the caribou
run in great herds then all failing now,
sir, all failing. We were following carl
bou, right fresh tracks in the snow; we
were keeping sharp look-out,expecting
to view them every minute, when l
looked and saw man standing right be-
tween us and where the caribou had
gone. He was not more than two hun
dred yards OFF, could see him quite
plain. He had on cloth cap and
green blanket coat, with belt around
| thn nNfddln- faafhnr hal lilo
use, sir, but wooden one like what the
Frenchmen use in Canada There was
braid down the seams of coat and round
his cuffs. l could see the braid quite
plain. He had no gun, nor axe, nor
nothing in his hands, but just stsod
there with his hand on his hip, that way,
right in the path, doing nothing.
"'Our hunting all over. sir said to
the gentleman, we may as well go home
why, what is the matter, JohnF says
he. Why, look at the man, there, right
in the track; he's scared our caribou, l
guess Well, sir, he was very mad, the
gentleman was, and was for turning
right round and going home; but want
ed to go up and speak to the man. He
stood there all the time-never moved.
kind of bowed, nodded my head to
ulLll, dlu llo klllu VI uOuucu Ills ucdtu,
bowed just the same way to me. Well,
I started to go up to him, when up rose
great, fat cow-moose between him aud
me. Look at the moose, Captain said
/. Shoot herr Good heavens, JohnP
he say, if do l shall shoot the man
tooP No, 20. sir, never mind 1 cried,
fire at the moose Well, sir, he up with
the gun, fired, and downed the moose.
She just ran few yards, pitched for
ward, and fell dead When the smoke
cleared off the man was gone; could not
see him nowheres. My soul and bodyl
what's become of the man, Captain ?
says. Dunno. John perhaps he 10 down,
too says he. We'll, SIR says i, you
stop here, and viii go and look; meb-
be he is dead, mebbe not quite dead yet
Well, went up to the place, and there
was nothing there-Dothing but little
pine tree, no man at all. l went all
round, sir-nO tracks, no sign of man
anywhere on the snow. What was it
do you think, sir, we saw?"
"Well, john" replied, 81 think that
was curious instance of refractiOn."
'Oh, mebbe," says John.