Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1885-05-14
HIGH MOUNTAIN sPooKs.
urosany Sounds Heard and Mysterioas
Lights Seen by the Valley Resi-
dents.

dents.
Superstitious residents of the regions
known as Preakness, Haledon, and
other suburbs hemmed in by the lofty
hills known as High mountain, writes
Patterson, n. j., correspondent TO
the New York World. place extra bolts
on their doors now O. nights and are
careful to be indoors ''after hours"
Numbers of superstitious ones, and
some who are not superstitious by any
means, are willing to make affidavits
that they have heard uncanny sounds
proceeding from the heights, and near
iy everybody in the vicinity who has
been near the foot of the mountain
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 have been perpe-
trated there, the Villagers state, with a
solemn shake of the head, that ''the
devil is at work and no mistake" aad
that there are ">spooks on High moun-
TAIN
A party of the drawer and brawnier
lads of the bailiwick endeavored to
solve the mystery few nights ago,
but they soou returned with white
faces and quaking limbs, and inferm-
ed those in waiting by the stove of the
place of rendezvous that it was all
well enough for them to be sittin' there
toastin' their-shins and joken', but if
they wantedto find out anything about
the spooks they had better make the
trip themselves. Upon being Modified
with "sometiiing hot" they became
more communicative, and related ito
their opeu-mouthed audience the fol-
lowing hair-egrdling tale:
They said they had climbed to the
top of the mountain, where the lights
had been see1, when all at once they
were surrounded by lights that jumped
around them and climbed the trees and
performed 0t4er acrobatic feats. AL
though they appeared to be right lin
the midst Of the flames not hair
of their head was injured and their
clothing wasn't even singed. They
smelled phosphorus just as plain as il
could be smelled, and while they were
wondering wk&t to do next the wint
whistled throRSh the trees, producing
such unearthE sounds that they came
right straight away and let the wind
have it all to itself
Doubling Themases in the audience
| plucked up courage and firearms
enough to make the trip themselves
and they, too, sson returned, looking
as pale as the historical ghosts and
shaking like rattle-boxes. Nobody
showed disposition to 60 home, and
finally, when the host informed them
that it was time tC,elese up, they start
|, ed off in group and spent the night
together by a h0spitable neighbor's
Istire rather than pass she mountain I'M
I'll 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 the
chief topic of conversation in the coun-
try stores, in the taverns, il the village
schools, and has even heen referred to
by the local dominies. The aown hood
lums &se now free of going to the
stores after dark, for their parents
would Rot think of sendingthazn where
they wosild not 60 themselves. The
jolly hosts of the roadside taxerns are
jolly no langer, or must be content to
be jolly by themselves, for the loNr gers
now lounge at home.
Old residents say that the same thing
occurred just before the last cholera
epidemic, ana that the lights pEesags
another visitation of that dread scourge.
Scores of old timers are willing to
wager on this, and prominent citizens
are willing to encourage them in their
belief. for it is on llecord that the same
thing did occur ia 1886, just before
death stalked through this section of
the eoaatry.
Reports from Nke county, Pennsyl-
vania, say that the same phenomena
have appeared there just as they did in
1886, and that the citzeus of that place
spend most of their night-tfmes IN their
homes.
Citizens who pretend to be wise as-
sert that the Pike county 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 that the mysterious lights on
High mountain can be traced to the
same cause, and are apparently hon
est in their belief that q 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 noun
tain, but they will have to seek foreign
aid to unearth it, for no native will 60
within gunshot distance of it since the