The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-08-07
THE RATIONALE OF HAUNTED
HOUSES.

THE RATIONALE OF HAUNTED
HOUSES.
That q very old house should gain the
reputation of being haunted is not sur
prising, especially if it has been neg.
lected and allowed to fall out of repair
The woodwork shrinks, the plaster
-crumbles away; and through minute
sits and -chasms in window-franes and
decreases there comes weird and un-
canny noises. The wind signs and
whispers through unseen assures sug
gesting TO the superstitious the wall.
ings of disembodied spirits. A whole
household was thrown into consterna.
ton, and had its repoSe disturbed one
stormy winter, by a series of lamenta,
BILE bowls and shrieks that rang through
the rooms. The sounds were harrow
ing, and as they rose fitfully and al
intervals, breaking the silence of the
night, the stOutest nerves among the
listeners were shaken. For long time
the visitation continued to harrass the
family, recurring by day as well as by
night, and especially in rough weather
when there was storm, piercing yells
anu Bill ADhS SOluCs dllt
startling, changing anon into low,
melancholy walls. 1t was unaccounta-
BILE. At length the mystery was solved.
Complaints had been made of draughts
through the house, and as a remedy
strips of gutta-percha had at some
former time been nailed along the
window-frames, while its owners were
at the sea side. This, for some
reason -eXplainable upon acoustic
principles had caused the disturbance.
Even after the gutta-percha had been
torn away a sudden blast of wind.
striking near somespot to which afrag-
ment still adhered, would bring q
shrek or moan to remind the family OF
the annoyance they had so long en-
-dured.
Meantime the house got a bad repu-
-tation, and servants were sly of engag-
ing with its owners. A maid more
:strong-minded than the others, and who
had hitherto laughed at their fears,
came fleeing to her mistress on one oc,
-casion, saying that she must leave in.
.stantly, and that nothing would induce
her to pass another night under the
roof. There was along corridor at the
Jtop of the house, and the girls story
was, that in passing along it, she heard
footsteps behind her. Stopping and
looking back she saw no one; but
=as soon as she went on the in
visible purSuer did so, too, fol-
lowing close behind. Two or three
times she stood still suddenly, hoping
the footsteps would pass on and give
h, Nv. Sn.3noA IS lor
pulled up when she did, and when al
last, wild with terror, she took to her
heels and ran, they came gathering
along after her to the end of the pas.
sage.
The mistress suspected that some one
was trying to brighten the girl, and she
urged her to come up stairs and en-.
deavor to find out the trick. This the
terrified damsel refused to do, so the
lady went off alone. On reaching the
corridor and proceeding along it, she
was startled to find that, as the maid
had described, some one seemed to be
following her-tap, tap, clack. clack,
as of one walking slip-shod with shoes
down at the heel-came the steps, keep
ing pace with her own, stopping when
she stopped, and moving on when she
did. In vain the lady peered around
and beside her; nothing was to be seen.
1t could be no trick for there was no.
body in that part of the house to play a
practical joke.
Ere long the cause was discovered in
the shape of loose board in the floor,
ing of the corridor. The plank spring.
ing when pressed by the foot in walk
ing along gave an echoing sound that
had precisely the effect of a step follow
ing; and this, in the supposed haunted
house, was sufficient to raise alarm.
1t happened to us once to be tenn
porary dweller in a mansion that had a
ghostly reputation. We were on our
way to Paris travelling with an invalid,
and the latter suddenly becoming too
ill to proceed on the journey, we were
forced to stop in the first town we came
to. The hotel being found too noisy. a
house in a quiet street was engaged by
the week. 1t was grand old mansion
shat had once belonged to a mag
nate of the land, fallen now
from its high espate, and but
indiflerently kept up. Wide
stone stair-cases, with balusters
of carved oak led to rooms lofty and
spacious, whose walls and ceilings were
decorated with gilded enrichments and
paintings in the style of Louis XIV. At
the side of the house was a covered
way leading to the stables and Offices
This was entered through tall porte
%cochere; and at either side of the great
gates, fixed to the iron ratings, were a
couple of those huge metal extinguish-
ers-still sometimes to be seen in quaint
old houses-used in former times to put
out the torches or links carried at night
by running foomen beside the carriages
of the great. The stables and offices of
the place were now falling into decay,
and the porte cOchere generally stood
open until nightfall, when the gates
were locked.
We had been in the house for some
little time before we heard the stories
of supernatural sights and sounds con-
nected with it-of figures fitting
through halls and passages-the ghosts
of former occupants; of strange whis-
perings and uncanny noises. There GER
tainly were curious sounds about the
house, especially in the upper part,
where Tuberculosis were locked and
sealed up, through whose shrunken and
il-ftting doors the wind howled with
uneaTthly walls. In the dining-hall
was row of old family pictures, faded
and grim; and the popular belief was
that, at the s'witching hour" these
WORTHLESS descended from their frames
and held high festival in the scene of