The Asheville citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1885-1889, 1886-02-12

II She then explained that they nad pee
) disturbed at night by strange noist
4 through the house ever since occgpyin
iB,91nd that recently these noises ha
!, become so violent as to thofodglll
i alaim them; that the servant eift ha
!, been told by the grocery man at the cpl
liner that the house was haunted an
J that no eoile ever remained IN It. Yer
Ifopg. So she had decided to ask 4
ffqenlaiil over night, without telling me {
! ithese distErbances, and to zee whethef
4 @Eould iit.tiee anf.thinS wrong. The dis
charged servant had been made q pre-
. text fol the request. Upon inquiry
q l1ealned fhat these noises generally be
gan about tue time the family eretir6d 10
1.-THE night; between eleven and tWeiY
to'clo6k. Seeing their alarm wasyso thoI
Tough and genuine, remained until aftel
those hours, in fact, until quite two
O'Clock in the morning, When, rs every
j thing had been quiet, took my leave.
i = II kept thinking the matter over al
next day, and finally reached the eohclu
sion that the sefHants<-ther were two
i were at the bottom of it. I went owe
ffhat evening prepared to sifl MP an neltel
the night throughx On arriving, wa
/ told by Mrs. that no sooner had z
! !e.t tlies house that morning, when til;
most violent noises began, In tho lowe
part of the house, as If al. the furnitua
In the dining room and parlors was bein,
1 moved. The piano was rolled across tht
/ foor, and its keys struck. -. .;..5
Il sat up all that night in the front par
lor, and kept myself awake by reading
ana smok ns; and by and by, when daj
light showed through the chinks of tn,
shutters, not sound had beer heard
/ A olyCac Z ,.l-< =
the first nights rest they had had fol
some time.
II I.did not visit them again for seyera
evenings, and when 1 called, found them
in fresh state of excitement and with 8
great deal to tell. One of the children, a
little girl, ON the evening previous, re-
ported having seen a lady in black in
the hall. Later in the evening, one oil
| the neices, coming up from tn basement
encountered q ladyson the parlor stairs
and as she stood aside to allow her to
pass, noticed that she was dressed in
black silk; black veil concealed hel
| features, and, although the weather was
not at all cold. yet her right hand was
thrust into mutf. This mysterious 6s-
ule passed the neice without any sign OF
having seen her. There was a rustline
of silk and an intense chillness impaired
to the air as she passed, and wended her
| way down and entered the front parlor.
Without stopping to think, the young
lady ran quickly down and turned up the
gas in the parlor, and though she search
ed both rooms yet failed to see any one.
Ehe door of the back parlor was locked
as usual, and ell the sashes were down
and bolted. A sudden terror seized her
and to spring up stairs, dash into hel
aunt's chamber and. lock the door, was
but the work of a few seconds.
-"Later, on the same night, after the
family had retired. Mrs. B, having
occasion to go out of herchamberinto the
hall, saw a figure sitting at the top of the
stairs. Thinking it was one of her neices,
who, sitting there to watch, had fallen
asleep, she approached for the purpose of
awaking her. As she leaned over the
banister and reached down to touch her
shoulder with the words Mary. my
chi wake u, spfs go 70 your bed; you
s.sss IN ) .sasif sitting here She
ilU7aeeN thai the figure was dressed IN
| black silk, its face buried in its left hand,
while the right was bound in black veil.
At this rnhlrent an ley chill came over
her, and deadly terror seized hel; and
the figure slowly lifting its head, che saw
its face was OF woman, and as of one
dead. Sh2 fed shrieking to ker room,
and there spent the rest of the night with
her children and neices in mortal terror.
:'On the day of my call, son ot
Mrs. B, laJ OF II years, had come
home from b b1arding school to spend Sa
turday and Sunday with his people OF
course nothing was said to him about the
disturbances. During the afternoon he
found his way to the garrct, and rImmag-
Jag about amidst lot of old plunder,
found q tin box shaped like a telescope
case, which he took down and showed.
See MOTHER said he-'what nice box
fonnd in the garret; there's something in
it, continued he, shaking it. Go at once
my son. and place it where you found it.
You must not disturb any thing in the
garret; every thing there belongs to the
owner of the house, tAny how. I'd
tugging at the cover, which at that mo-
nlent few off, and a parcel fell off upon
the floor. 1t was something carefully
wrapped in canvass. Picking it up, the
lad unrolled it, and then flung it from him
and ran screaming to his mother. There
it lay upon the floor with ontstretched
fingers, g. human hand.
''rhe neic picked it up, rolled it care
fully again in the canYass, replaced it in
the box, and took it back to the garret.
"GentleMen"-contin the Colonel,
THAT young lady had more nerve than
any person have ever met. While Mrs
b was telling me of this, her neice
| quietly left the room and, taking light
| went up into the garret and brought
down the box. Sure enough, it was q
hand, the right hand; evidently that of q
lady, for it was shapely and delicate. II
had been severed at the wrist, and, with
the exception of being somewhat discoi
ored aud shrunken about the finger
nails, looked quite perfect and in good
preservation.
II learned from Mrs. B., upon in
i quiry, that the house belonged to an ole
sea-captain, who sailed to the East Indies
and, that on renting the house, the agen
/ told her the garrett could not be let will
it, as there was quite lot of odds-and
ends of plunder stored there, the property
of the Captain, who was very precise il
his directions that nothing should bt
disturbed. a
.Of course the ladies were positive tha
i the hand was connected with the appari,
| ton of the lady in black; and-to tel
queer queer Our even.g was spa partially Sen spen
| inathe basement, in the supper room; fo
neither the cook nor housemaid woulc
remain down stairs after dark alone
The servants having finished their work
I'VE assembled to the parlors, they accom-
paning us, and remaining with us th'
. entire evening.
/ saw plainly that this state of thing
d could not continue. The ladies looked
worn out, and were in fact made sick by
4 this constant state of excitement anC
alarm. asked if Mr. B. had beel
written to. Yes, and would be home
i during the following week left then
Int.a ,1,,,r r,fr To cnlai f,uar fhI