Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-09-06
GHOSTS IN CoNNECTICUT.
Houses on Long Island sound said to be
Haunted.


NEW HAVEN. sept. 1.-''Fhere ID as
much superstition In New England today
"a there was in those old times when they
. sashed Quskers and built bontres tor
witches" II was New York man who
gave expression to tins rather startling
statement. lie has been summering in
Connecticut, and he AYERS that his talk
about native superstition is founded on
close observation. Perhaps it is; any
how he RECALLED the correspondent with
some entertaining incidents, which he
claims establish the truth of his some
what astonishing theories.
Old Stratford the whtewashed town
between this place ana Bridgeport, made
famous by mysterious "rappings' many
years ago, and more recently celebrated
as the scene OF poor Rose Clark Ambler's
strange murder, is much concerned over
house which the almost universal YER
dict prOnounces "haunted." The family
Of Elihu Osborne lives in this house, and
ghosts have been clamberlng through 1t
lately in a wonderfully promscuous fash
ion. Two or three families were COM
PEELED to vacate the premises before the
Osbornes, proud and skeptical,
took possession Of them.
Now the Osb0rpes are hunt
ing for new home. Children Of the fam
~ have been awakened Mt midnight by
visitors which persisted IN stalking tn m
out Of beds Mrs. Osborne has been con-
fr0nted with ghOstiv speCtacles, and
through the halls aud vacant rooms
strange footsteps are frequently heard
when all tue family are trying 70 sleep
sounds loud enough - arouse every men,
Der OF the household Then the nantes
tations sometimes change to meanings and
Groanings sufficiently vehement aud pitt
. ful To distract all who hear
them. Once upon time, per-
maps dozen years ago, iona
than Rlgss lived in this house, and as the
/ local g0ssips assert, Riggs caused the
death OF his wife By his brutal conduct,
and then swallowed poison to end his own
+ he. The anniversary Of the murderOus
month In the Riggs family has arrived,
and the manifestations are so frequent
and 81 lively that ''the like has never been
seen before" as is affirmed by a veteran
StraiiOrd citizen. Vaere Is no shadow Of
doubt in StratfOrd that the spirits Of the
I Nggses are spryly cayorting arOung their
former abode.
over at the Thimble islands of Stony
/ creek is al acre or two Of soiled piled
/ high on n lot OF rocks. The natives call
it Frishie island. Not more than a hun
dren yards o6 shore it contains a big
/ bleak looking house which was built
y
mer hotel when Connecticut capitalists
we're deep in schemes TO tempt New York
ers 70 this part Ofthe sound shore 10 spend
their summers. New Workers declined to
I be tempted, and the old house is rapidly
/ approaching decay 1t has recently as
sumed peculiar interest for the resi-
dents Of stony creek. Midnight lights
have suddenly appeared IN all its win
/ doBs at frequent intervals, titfully flash
ing up aud down like the blaze In the
/ Long Island lighthouses. Ghosts This
is the universal verdict. Nobody dis
putes it. Once or twice q hardy crew of
local sailors have volunteered to 20 out
and investigate the mystery, but when
the time for the test bias arrived, there
somehow have always been reasons tor
postpOning the excursion. Cynical peO-
pie profess to believe that practical jOkers
are at the root Of the manifestations, but
such pr0fane view Is not widely enter
tained among the good people who have
their homes at stony Creek.
over near MiddletOwn is farmer
| named Edgar q. Stokes. "a gentleman who
is said to have graduated with honor in
| New England college more than quarter
Of century ago. lie enjoys. perhaps,
| the most notable bit OF superstition to be
found anywhere in this country, in or out
/ OF Connecticut He owns the farm on
[ which he lives and il is valuable; not
quite $50 valuable though as it once
was, for Mr.. otOkes's eccentric DISPOSE
tion has somewhat changed the usual
tactics that farmers pursue when they
own fertile acres. the average man
clears bis soil of stones. MIR. Stokes has
been piling rocks all over bis land Little
by littie the weakness--Or philosophy
has grown upon him; and not only
from every part OF Middlesex coun-
", but from every part Of this State
be has been accumulatipg wagOnlOads Of
pebbles and ROCKS. He seeks for no
peculiar stone, either IN shape, color or
quality. II they are stones. that is sufii-
cieut. Aud his theory is that stones have
souls-sous, too, that are not so s0rdd
ahd earthy as tie sOu1s that animate hui
manity. They are souls purified and eX-
allied. In lie rocks are the spirits of the
greatest men who have lived in past ages,
developed by some divinity until they
have become worthy of their new abode.
Napoleon Bonaparte's soul inhabits a
stone, 50 does Hannbafs, % does Cmsar's.
but DOR plebeiaa John Smith and William
Jenkens, they never attained such immor-
tally.
Farmer Stokes has dumped his rocks
! with more or less reverence all along his
fields, and this by one name ard that ~
another he knows and halls them all. 4
choice galaxy OF the distinguished lights
! ~ tAE Nlt udls are III hiN AOhHtSrluus dhu
just between the burly bits of granite al
the very threshold Of his home is a
smooth-faced crystal from the Rocky
mountains. This stone has no soul vet
The rough, Jagged rock on its left il
George Washington. The granite spar
on the right is glOrlhed with the spirit OF
good Queen BCss. The smOoth-f8ced
crystal one Of these days is to know the
bliss of swallowing up the spirit of good
! Farmer Edgar Carton stokes n was
not until recently that mystitied neigh.
bors obtained the secret OF the vast ac
emulation of rough stones on the Stokes
farm. Mr.. Stokes has a family. They
all seem 70 be olligent, practical bust.
ness people. There may be will con
tested in Middlet0wn one or these days.
| M. -. Z. -. n