The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1883-03-21
THE HOUSE WAS HAuNFRD.

How Family Were Driven, from Thelr
Residence by Ghosts-A solution Of the
Awful Mystery by Brave Reporter aud
Few Other Desperate Men. - Z
Although the belief in CHESTS and ma
teriall<ed spirits is not very general IN
this day and age, yet there are siffl
hundreds Of people whose fears of su-
pernatural manifestations make them
excee1in gly nervous in the dark. A re-
cent illustration of this was the case of
iamily, who lived near the Morris
street bridge, whose house was ..haunt-
ei," and became the terror oil the neigh
borhood. so much 50 that twas avoided
by nearly all the people in the neigh bor-
hood The head of the family, James
II. Norton, who Is q tailor by trade,
rented the no ise IN question about q
month ago, and has since, lived in it
until within the last few days. Every
hing mo. ed along in the even tenor
ulItil last week, when one night about
ele en- o'clock, Mr.. Norton being alb
sent. h wife and little daughter were
start ed by an unearthly shrek. APP
parently from the eel ar. They natur-
ally did not stop to investigate,
their voices, to an adjoining house. But
the neighborhood, and the sto-
ries of the frightened women worked
up the excitement to fever heat Mr..
Norton returned about this time. and
with few Il his drawer neighbors be-
gan to search the house. Every apart
ment above ground was entered, but
nothing was found. A sort of instinct
i've dread of the dark cellar seemed to
taIe possession of the men, and a coun-
Gil of war was held before they de-
scended into the regions below. Nor
ton volunteered to go down first. TAX
ing lamp in one hand and a revolver
in the other, he started down the rick
ety stairway, followed by the others.
" hen near the ottom their senses
were almost paralyzed by one Of The
most blood-curdling yells that ever re-
sounded from the depths OF the bottom
less pit Before they could recover
from the sho K. potatoes, cans of
fruit and other missiles came fiying
from the interior, knocking the lamp to
the ground and bruising more or less
the anatomies of the investigators.
There was no perceptible hesitation
about beating hasty retreat. and. hay-
ing once gained the outer atmosphere,
more terrified and perplexed lot of
men it would / g hard to find.
After rallviEg of their forces, and at
distance from the scene of recent hos
lities, courage revived in a moderate
degree, and another trial was deter
mi ed upon Reinforcements strength
ened their ranks and toned up their
spirits o wonderful degree, and the
search was resumed. The last stair was
safely passed. and penetration of the
apartment began without incident or
mishap. Ever. mo- and corner had
been searched but an abandoned cellar
cis'ern. a part Of whose brick wall had
been torn on several years before. Be-
fore approaching it Norton dema ded
immediate surrender of the supposed
occupants. threatening d re disaster to
the intruder il he did not show up.
There was no response, and, after wait
ing few moments, the brave tailor
W Mt throu b the opening. His COM
pa ms had braced themselves for A
desperate struggle at about this stage
Of ths game, but Norton peered caIl-
tiously aroun !, but found nothing bot a
lar pile of gravel q d sand, which he
supposed b d been used in cementinr
the cellar bottom. The cellar doors had
b IN fasten, d curely after the first
visit an every p ace that could con-
ceal a human being hal been searched
W thout a all There was but one solu-
ton OF the mystery that superstit' ous
hnman nature could reach, and what
that was could be easily read upon the
sob-r faces OF the group. Ther- was no
donlt that the in rdi rate hu hub had
come from the realms of the beyond. Z
through the instrumentality of some en-
terpr sing spirit whose being yearned
Tor livel er see les than could be found
n the silent tomb.
Re ore another night all. Norton and
family had secured other quarters, and
their forner haitation stood desolate
the remainder of the summer. It's
owner i not relish the idea OF having
his property standing idle. AMI he
watched se'eral nights for the ghostly
dist r er OF his income. Noises were
heard ut di ierent times, but eriorss to
discover their origin invariably allied.
He w 10th to eve that there was any
thing upernatural about the alta r, and
yet he coul not find the slightest clew
to solution of the mystery. The
ghost. whe NJ one was within, would
occasionally illuminate the house, and
could be distinctly seen as a white ap-
PARTON standing before the windows,
waving hi arms la Miser Gas aard.
and utting other ghostly capars. The
place final y became terror to the peo-
pie and a night they would make 70 q
detours to old pass ng by it. Deter
m ned to fathom the thing at any cost.
the owner selected a party of men from
the city, among whom was a Journal
representa- We, and Saturday night was
chosen as the time to visit his ghost
ship. ~
Armed with revolvers as weapons of
de ense against an earthly foe, for such
it was believe to be, and with a doubt
fu' amount of courage to withstand the
appearance of n sample of materialized
spiritualism, the party, about nine
o clock, st rted for the spot. There
were any number of jokes cracked and
jesting references to tie project ON
hand. but as they neared the place a
sober, thought nj look would replace
the omer smile. The whoe affair
had been kept up so long, and the
manifest tons whi b no one could ex-
plain, had had 81 many witnesses, that
sn oceas onaI doubt as to the fallibility
of modern spirituslism would intrude
Itself. despite the efforts to the con-
tr ry. as the owner of the property re-
ga ed the party with a lengthy recital
Of what had been heard and seen. easc
The place wa' finally reache I, and the
ghost-raiders Sc, tied themselves down
to smoking and telling stories in a room,
out Of VIII ch opened the door leadin to
the celiar. That door was favored with
many nervous z ance, that would
have immoderately pu ed up its vanity
II it could realize the amount of atten-
ton OF which it was the recipient.
Everyth ng was owing along serenely,
and courage re ived in proportion to
the de.ay of the dread appearances. Il