Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1882-03-22
THE HAUNTED INN.

Many years ago, long before tne Gays
of railroads, there stood, in the then
wild mountain regions Of Western
Pennsylvania, large, rambling, tum-
ble-down building, which was used, at
the time Of which l speak, as an inn.
1t had been built, many years before,
by 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 GER
tain it was that the owner had expend-
ed all of his available means in its
erection, and had toiled and starved,
and finally died of broken heart, his
utter want of practical training totally
uniting him for wrestling living from
the barren hillsides which he had select
ed for n 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 rottcd to the
ground had not the spirit Of improve
ment and enterprise finally invaded the
region in search Of the hidden treasures
of the earth.
When / visited the spot, u small
village 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 a so-called tavern.
The landlord might have starved,
however, if he had depended on native
custom, for the old house, during those
years of solitude, had gained an un-
savory reputation, and in the absence
of other tenants, many-tongued rumors
had peopled it with ghosts.
It's reputation had reached me before
l visited the place, but as l 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 resting-place.
I was somewhat taken aback, how
ever, when the landlord informed me
in tones of broken English and poor
whisky, that every bed and every room
in the house was full, / could not but
admit the eternal fitness of things, in
asmuch as he was full, too; but l beg
ged him to set his few remaining wits
to work to sec if he could not find
peg for me to hang my tired bones upon.
After grave consultation with the land
lady, it was concluded that they could
make me shake down, if / did not
mind sharing my room with another
gentleman who had already retired.
There was nothing for it but to ac-
cept the situation, and / did so in good
faith.
BY the time the shake down was
l had finished my supper
and announced my desire to retire i'm
mediately. The landlord was by this
time too far gone to render any assist
ance, and as the landlady weighed not
less than 800 pounds I 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, babe me good
night.
/ 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 other bed, on which the
stranger slept.
am not naturally nervous, but /
confess that / would much rather have
known who my roommate was, and the
thought Of what lie might be, kept me
awake for some time. To add to my
the wind had risen, and
t whistled through the cracks and
around the gables of the old mansion
With n weried and mournful cadence,
which was anything but soothing to
ny tired and already ovcrwrought
nerves.
AS lay there, the sounds momen-
arily increased in hideousness.
bought Of all the stories / had heard
# the cursed old rookery, and as did
o the sounds became more and more
ike the shrieks of the damned, or the
vail Of lost soul. I finally became so
lervous that ] resolved to arise and go
'elow.
But now, as l rose in my bed for this
purpose, / found myself subjected to a
lew source of annoyance. The mock
ng wind, which had appeared to me
nore than once to syllable human
ounds, came at length upon my ear,
istinctly charged with tones which