The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1881-02-25
The Greer field Ghost.


a revival meeting the other day, told his
hearers that the ghost was supernatur-
al visitor sent to warn the people of the
near approach of the end of the world.
Az the same minister also processes his
belief in the alleged words of the pro-
phetess Sbipton, his intelligence and
judgment cannot be called in question,
and we must join the Greenfelders in
the genuineness of their ghost.
In the opinion of the woman of Green
field, the ghost is by far the worst that
has ever made its appearance. There
have been, according to ghost-seers, all
sorts of undesirable ghosts. Such were
the ghosts that threw things at innocent
people, and smashed crockery the
ghosts that came and stood by the peo-
Piles bed in the dead of night without
having the decency to knock at the door
or to say what they wanted and the
ghost that ratified chains and thumped
and thumped on the floor overhead mere
ly in order to make themselves disagreed
BILE. The Greenfield ghost is, in local
feminine estimation, more wicked than
any of her predecessors-fo she is fe-
male ghost. II is her loathsome habit
to waylay young men in the midnight
streets to kiss them and then to vanish.
Often she throws herself upon young
men who are on their way to visit young
ladies, and so terri6es them that they
flee to their homes or bording houses,
leaving the unhappy young ladies to
watch the front door bell in vain expec-
| tntt al al.
last degree revolving to every well
brought-up young woman, and we can
understand why the Greenfield ghost is
firmly believed by onehalf of Greenfield
to belong to the satanic host.
Among the young men of the town
the ghost is, as rule, greatly dreaded
1t must be remembered that Greenfield is
an Ohio town, and. as we have learned
during the last foHr years. Ohio is q
State inhabited exclusively by men of
the loftiest principle, the clearest intel
lect and the most shrinking modesty
Were female ghost of not unattract-
i've appeareace to infest New York or
New England village and to violently
kiss belated young men, it is probable
that ninetynine of every hundred local
young men would walk the streets of
that town all night and betray not the
slightest fear of the ghost. In Ohio, as
has been said, a total different variety of
young men exists, and young men of
Greenfield, with few exceptions, declare
that there is no more terrible wild fowl
than female ghost who lawlessly kisses
persons to whom she is a total stran-
ger.
Those who have seen the Greenfield
ghost are numb erless, and their testi-
mony as to her conduct is unvarying.
On the night of the 18th of January,
young Mr.. Smithers. assistant pastor of
a recently developed variety of Baptists,
was met by the ghost at $50 o'clock.
He asserts that she approached him from
behind with noiseless steps, threw her
arms around him, and kissed him before
he could call for help. He instantly
broke loose and fled to his home, where
he was at once put to bed and physi-
clan was summoned, who afterward said
that the nervous shock which the patient
had sustained might easily have proved
fatal. Two nights later, and at about
the same hour, Mr. Edward Potter, one
of the most respected young men of the
town, was kissed in front of ESQUIRE
Deweys house, and left insensible on
the pavement. He says. that the ghost
sprang on him suddenly and kissed him
three successive times As he had neve,
before undergone the operation of beng
kissed, he suffered acutely, not only be
cause of the outrage to his modesty
but because he feared that his life
was in danger. He has since wholly re
covered from the shock, but he never
goes out at night without tying up hi.
mouth with large comforter" and keep
ing q sharp lookout for sudden ghosts
On the night of February 3, Mr.. Thos
G. Wilson, whose purity of characte,
and freedom from all knowledge O.
languages have induced the administra
; ton to offer him no less than three for
eign consulates, but who preferred tc
earn the proud distinction of being tn,
only Ohioan who ever refused an Office
was waylaid by the ghost, and kissed il
sight of Mrs. Wilson's windows, and af
terward brought home by his neighbors
who found him lying in the snow an,
utterlng incoherent means These ar
1, but samples of the devastation caused b.
the Greenfield ghost, and so far as
known there is but one young man i
:. the town who is not in terror of his life
The young man is a notarious plumber
y and though he has repeatedly met tn
!, ghost, she has never once offered to kis
him.
The popular theory is that the ghol
8 was originally a New England schoC
! teacher and that she is now wreaking {
q mankind her vengeance for their negle,
q of her during her life This theory
!, = based principally upon the personal AZ
pcarance OF the ghost, who is describe
d as being very tall, very thin, aud who'll
h unable to cast "A shadow when one ,
u her edges is presented to the light. Tn
. may all be true, but it by no meal
/ proves that the ghost is a New Englar
N school teacher 1t might with equal for
Al be quoted to prove that she was forme
,e ly a Boston poet or formerly an emine
q. female philosopher. The ghost of Ne
is England woman of any kind would ne
n. er be guilty of kissing, and even cou
we imagine her entertaining for a IN
X ment the idea of perpetrating such
n crime, she would be utterly ignorant
nj the way in which to perpetrate it.
n. The Greenfield ghost is clearly a gre
6, mystery. That she should forcibly ki
d unwilling citizens of Ohiois simply inc
s- plicable, and the longer she continues t
a unsatisfactory and unaccountable p,
ar ceeding in the face of the fact that $
in would be welcomed to hundred Ea
ns ern villages We must assume that the
Id are ghostly idiots aswell as living Gree
rs hackers.
N
at "Many cases of fever and ague, dun