Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-03-19
sPooKs ON HIGH MOUNTAINS.
Cneanny sounds Heard and MysterI-
Gus Lights Seen by the Valley Resi-
dents.

Gus Lights Seen by the Valley Resi-
dents.
Superstitlous residents of the re-
gions known as Preakness, Haledon.
and other suburbs hemmed ia by the
lofty hills known as High mountain.
writes q Paterson n. j., correspondent
ty The New York World, place extra
bolts on their doors now o. nights and
are careful to be indoors latter hours
Numbers of superstitious ones, and
some who are not superstitlous by any
means, are willing to make sffidavits
that they have heard uncanny sounds
proceeding from the heights, and
nearly every body in the vicinity who
has been near the foot of the noun
tain after dark will vouch for the
statement that mysterious lights have
been seen fitting to and fro up among
the trees. No soul lives there, and, as
it is said that several murders We
been perpetrated there, the villa yers
state, with a solemn shake of the head,
that 'the devil is at work and no mis-
take, and that there are ''spooks on
High mountain
A party of the brave and brawnier
lads of the bailiwick endeavored TO
solve the mystery few nights ago,
but they soon returned with white
faces and quaking limbs, and informed
thoss in waiting by the stove Of the
place of rendezvous that it was all
well enough for them TO be sttin' there
toastin' their shins and ioakin', but if
they wanted TO find out anything
about the speoks they had better make
the "trip themselves Upon being
modified with something hot, they
became more communicative, and re
lated to their enmouthed audience
the following hair curdling tale
They said they had climbed to the
top of the mountain, where the lights
had been seen, when all at once they
were surrounded by lights that jumped
around them and climbed the trees and
performed other acrobatic feats.
Although they appeared to be right in
the midst of the flames not a hair of
their heads was injured and their
clothing wasn't even singed. They
smelled phosphorus just as plain as it
could be smelled, and while they were
wondering what TO do next the winds
whistled through the trees, producing
such unearthly sounds that they came
right straight away and let the wind
have it all to itself.
Doubling Thomases in the audience
plucked up courage and firearms
enough to make the trip themselves,
and they, too soon returned, looking
as pale as the historical ghosts and
shaking like rattle-boxes. Nobody
showed disposition to go home, and
finally, when the host informed them
that it was time to close up, they
started off in group and spent the
night together by a hospitable neigh
boris fire rather than pass the mountain
until daylight did appear.
Since then the phenomena have
been witnessed by scores of those who
were brave enough to approach within
sight of the bleak and densely wooded
mountain. and the matter has been
tho chief topic of conversation ia the
country stores, in the taverns, in the
village schools, and has even been
referred to by the local dominies.
The town hoodlums are not free of
going TO the stores after dark, for their
parents would not think of sending
them where they would not go them
selves. The jolly hosts of the roadside
taverns are Jolly no longer, or must
be c0ntent te be jolly by themselves,
for the loungers now lounge at home.
Old residents say that the same
thing occurred just before the last
cholera epidemic, and that the lights
presage another visitation of that
dread scourge. Scores of 0ld-tmers
are willing 10 wager on this, and
prominent citizens are willing to
encourage them in their belief, for it
is on record that the same thing did
occur in 1886, just before death
stalked through this section ef the
country.
Reports from Pike county, Pehnsyl-
vania, say that the same phenomena
have appeared there as it did in 1886,
and that the citizens Of that place
spend most of their night-times in
their homes.
Citizens who pretend to be wise
assert that the Pike oounty phenomena
are caused by the escape Of coal gas
from the mountains, and that it is
really no phenomenon at all, but is
the result of natural causes. They
also say tRat the mysterious lights on
High moUatsin can be traced to the
same cause, and are apparently honest
ia their belief that vein of coal could
be found By anybody taking the
trouble to hunt for it, Should this
prove true there is wealth in store for
the gentlemen who own High moun-
tain, but they will have to seek for
elgn aid to unearth it, for no native
viii go in gunshot distance Of it since
the experiences above related.
The Late Mistress of the White House
Boston Transcript
AT her reception two weeks ago,
among others who were presented TO
Z. L. Y al.