Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1884-01-26

always begins drinking In the evening.
The third evening he goes to bed In .
beastly state OF i~ntoxication. At about
midnight bis vision comes to him dc
dreams that he went to bed, and slept
soundly until awakened by . hard,
white, Pickering light. he lies awake
wondering what causes the light, and
bears q loud knock on his bedroom door.
Come int he cries. The door Is
thrown wide open andfa man who has
been freshly layed stalks in. The
Aayed man smiles in a CHASTITY manner,
and mods in friendly recognition The
flesh is gone from his mouth. His teeth
grin mockingly. He stations himself
opposite the bed and leans against the
wall. his shoulders making a bloody
mark where he leans. His hdless eyes
roll and his tongue Tolls. The bedroom
door remains open. My friend looks out
of the door and into the street. There
be sees a long column OF dayed men
marching rapidly down the road. Stray
glers drop out from the column and en-
ter his room. When ten men have
entered, his bedroom door closes. The
hayed men, who are covered with fresh
flood. walk silently around the room
looking al him. They point their
bloody fingers a him AZ a@signAl
| from the man who Hrst entered they. eli
march out.s Presently they return, each
| carrying a. fiayed and bloody corpse.
The blood has dried on the live men
while they we're absent, and it flakes
from them % they re-enter the room
with their ghastly burdens. The
corpses are placed on the foorin q row,
| side by side. At a signal from the
leader OF the skinless horrors, they
straddle the dead bodies. and bending
Then Strengthening up, with the legs Of
The dead men between their own, they
move around the room in a weird dance,
now advancing, now retreating, then
circling around the bed, and always
lecring and grinning at my friend. After
desperate efforts he awakens, and the
vision disappears. It is his warning to
quit drinking, and he heeds it, too"
Then spoke an ext Confederate artil-
lery officer: sMost sprees have visions,
all Of them horrible, that are natures
warnings to them to quit drinking. But
there is another class Of illusions arising
from an unwise use of alcohol, which ]
suspect are much more common than is
generally known. The men who suffe,
froTu these illusions are apt to concea1
their troubles, being ashamed to confde
them to their most intimate friends.
know Of two that may interest you.
They are queer manifestations Of
alcoholic disturbances of the BRAIN"
We gathered closely around the table.
and all Of US, as one man, demanded
the stories. The ex-Confederate Officer
said: johnson was raised III the
Sea Islands. He married shortly before
the war. He entered the Army of Viz
ginia. His wife, toswhom he was de
voted, died shortly after he left her
After the surrender johnson came West
He is a we'll educated, courageou!
gentleman. I will tel you OF the vision
that invariably arises before him if h.
drinks at all. I will tell it in the frs
person., inst as he told it to me. I'm
agine that Johnson is talking: When
, eve<sI drink. I am haunted by q vision
t thet arises before me az loon as l an
asleep~s It is this: My wife is by M,
side, her soft hand lovingly slipped i
mine. We are walking up an oyster shel
path toward our Sea Island home
Entering our house I realize that it ha
] been deserted, and all u%naccountabl
. feeling of dread rolls over me in an ic
wave at this discovery. Then my wifi
9 speaks, saying, softly, II am afraid.
f Instantly my mind is flooded with tn
Q recollection Of a dreadful horror that
had not thought Of for years. 1 remen
Der that we had abandoned the hous
because it was haunted. Our experience
=. as l recall it. was that a spirit wake
nightly in the attic, and, after a sho1
walk, descended the stairs. When th
door at the foot Of the stairway opene
q before the ghost a column of whitis
: vapor foated sinuouslv into the hall
j. then, turning to the left, it entered m
. room and passed out of the window.
@H'Supplemented to this horror was a,
other manifestation Of rare occurrenc
and at highly irregular intervals. Til
u was a voice accompanied by footsteps
" Sometimes heavy footsteps, at others
if the infirm steps of age were ~totterin
Z around the house. Again they cre]
Q along the inside of the partitions. The
the voice groaned, as if in pain.
knew the voice to be that of a g
4 hideous aspect and gigantic size, who
= n Of my ancestors had scourged
Il death. That voice threatened US vi,
direful disasters, and maize the mig
Q hideous with its cries. 1t always can
o in the gray Of the evening. and stayf