The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1882-05-04
THE HAUNTED INN.

Many years ago, long before the day
of railroads, there stood, in the then
wild mountain regions of Western Penn
syvania-a large, rambling, tumble
down building, which was used, at the
time of which I speak, as an inn. 1t
had been built many years before by a
visionary immigrant from the old world,
in imitation of his ancestral home.
Why such an out-of-the-way spot had
been selected for home no one ever
pretended TO guess But certain it was
that the owner had expended all of his
available means in its erection, and had
toiled and starved, and finally died of a
broken heart, his utter want of practical
training totally uniting him for wrest-
ing a living from the barren hillsides
which he had selected for a home. His
wife soon followed him to the grave,
and his children scattered, no one knew
where. And thus it was that the once
pretentious mansion went to decay for
want of a tenant and would have rot
ted to the ground had not the spirit of
Improvement and enterprise finally in
vaded the region in search of the hid
den treasures of the earth.
When l visited the spot q small vii
lage had sprung up around the old
house, and that had been taken posses
sion of, and the few rooms not utterly
ruined by decay had been converted in
to so-called tavern.
Thelandlord might have starved, how
ever, if he had depended on native GUS
tom, for the old house, during those
years of solitude, had gained an unsa-
worry reputation, and in the absence of
other tenants many-tongued rumor had
peopled it with ghosts.
Its reputation had reached me before
visited the place, but as had always
felt an inexpressible longing to sleep in
a haunted room and make the personal
acquaintance of some of the dissatisfied
denizens of the other shore, was not
sorry to learn that the haunted inn was
the only place in the town where could
find a resting-place.
was somewhat taken aback, howev-
er, when the landlord informed me, in
tones of broken English and poor whis-
ky, that every bed and every room in the
house was full. / could not but admit
the eternal fitness of things, inasmuch as
he was full, too; but begged him to
set his few remaining wits to work to
see if Es eOuld not hnd peg tor mo 70
grave consultation with the landlady, it
was concluded that they could makeme
shake-down, if did not mind sharing
my room with another gentleman who
had already retired.
There was nothing for it but to accept
the situation, and l did SO in good faith.
BY the time the shake-down was COM
pleted had finished my supper and an
! II.
ly. The landlord was by this time too
far gone to render any assistance, and
as the landlady weighed not less than
three hundred pounds, l excused her
from attendance, and acted as my own
usher. She furnished me with the re-
mains of a tallow dip, and giving me
few general directions concerning the
location of the room, bade me good
night.
I fortunately stumbled into the right
place, for hasty glance revealed the
shake-down. had just time, however,
to bolt the door when the light went out,
and it remained for the moon, which
shone brightly into the window, to light
me to bed, and to reveal the location of
the othor bed, on which the stranger
slept
I am not naturally nervous, but con-
fess that l would much rather have
known who my roommate was and the
thought of what he might be kept me
awake for some time. To add to my
nervousness the wind had risen, and it
whistled through the cracks and around
| the gables of the old mansion with a
weird and mournful cadence which was
any thing but'soothing to my tired and
already overwrought nerves.
! AS l lay there the sounds momentari-
| ly increased in hideousness. l thought
of all the stories l had heard of the ours
| ed old 'fookery, and as l did so the
sounds became more and more like the
shrteks Of the damned, or the wall of 3
lost soul. finally became so nervous
that resolved to arise and go below.
But now, as rose in my bed for this
purpose, found myself subjected to q
new source of annoyance. The mock
! ing wind, which had appeared to me
more than once tosyllable human sounds
| came at length upon my ear, distinctly
charged with tones which could not be
mistaken. 1t was the hard, suppressed
| breathing of man. I listened still, and
it camo anew, stronger and more fully
upon xny ear. 1t was like the thick res
| pirationS of an apoplectic. Whence it
proceeded l knew not; but that it was
| near NO was certain. A suspicion of
robbery, possible assassination, flashed
upon me, but was instantly discarded as
foreign to the people among whom was
travelling.
The moonlight now fell upon the cur
tanned bed opposite to me, and 1 saw
the tattered drapery move, as if the
frame upon which it was suspended
were agitated. l watched, l confess,
with more peculiar feelings of interest.
Twas not alarmed, but an unaecountable
anxiety crept over me. At length the
curtain parted, and naked human leg
was protruded through its folds; the
foot came with dumb, dead-like sound
to the floor, resting there, 1t seemed to
me, ut least half a minute before the
body to which it belonged was disclosed
to my view. Slowly, then, a pallid and
unearthly looking figure emerged from
the couch, and stood with its stark Inca
ment clearly drawn against the dingy
curtains behind it. 1t appeared to be
balancing itself for moment. and then
began to move along from the bed. But
there was something horribly unnatural
in its motions. Its feet came to the floor
with dull. heavy sound, as if there was