The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1886-10-21

| began 10 uOZe-
do not know how long l had been
asleep, but | suddenly awoke with a
violent start. A cold shudder ran
through me from head to foot. l had
| an indetinable sensation of something
| strange and terrible. | rose and
stretched myself and tried to feel at my
easy. But l could not. l touched my
brother and he awoke.
| .'Hello!'' he said whats the mat
ter? Why. I've been asleep! What's
the time?n
Two O'clock" said l.
! Just the time for ghost" said he
with unseemly levity. "Do you know,
Will, don't think he'll come here
Ghosts are uncomfortable things and
don't like good fires Get too much of
them where they are, l suppose. Let's
| go and look for him.
Anything for change" said |. al
! though the thought of ambulating 9
| that great lonesome mansion in the
dead of night was anything but agree
able. Il am wide awake
| 80 am l." said he, and taking up
| the brass candlestick he went towards
| the door. | followed him-close. We
passed along the passage, our stealthy
footballs making a faint sound on the
uncarpeted floor We heard and saw
nothing. We ascended the stairs.
Every Individual stair creaked horribly,
but that was all. No ghost
| My brother suddenly opened the door
| Of bedroom on the first floor. Instant
ly gust of air blew the candle out.
| And as we stood there in the cold we
distinctly heard-a groan. 1t was no
fancy. 1t was long-drawn, wailing
| moan of inexpressible horror and pa
| thos. 1t died away in a despairing ca
| dences 1t seemed like the sOrrowful la
| ment of soul in torment. As we stood
| there grasping each others hands, with
| our hearts throbbing in great pulsa-
tions, it came again. o, the horror of
| it! 1t seemed to be in the room and
close to us. The cold was deathly, the
silence broken only by that weird and
| awful moan. Once more it rose and
| tell-and somehow or other the next
| moment we found ourselves in the
kitchen, with shaking limbs and ashen
faces. relighting our extinguished can
dies. Then we looked at each other.
That was no fancy, WILL" said my
| brother.
"Fancy-no," 1 replied, my teeth
chattering in my head. ''What are you
| going to dor"
For my brother had relit the candle
and was moving away.
I'm going to have another look" he
said.
But, perhaps" l suggested, 'the-
the ghost eXtinguishes the light"
"pll give him another chance"
said my brother. coolly. Come along,
you chattering idiot" l was too shat
tered to resent this unfattering de-
scription, and with a quaking heart l
followed his foolhardy footsteps. This
time he opened the door more cautious
| ly, and we entered with every nerve
strung to its utmost tension. Holding
the candle on nigh, we looked around.
Pure yacuity. And the sound came not
again.
'roor old chap" said my brother
| HE can't stand the light. Shall | blow
it out again?"
If you do" said I. "But, jok-
ing apart, who is going to sleep in this
room? I'm not, for one. And this
would naturally be the governors
| room"
| My brother was struck.
| You're right" he said; ''we must
get to the bottom of this. We'll find it
out somehow. And now [ think we
may go to bed. I'll just look around. :"
| He examined the room carefully, but
there was nothing to be seen, neither
was there anything to be heard. So
we gave up the thing for that night and
went to bed. l could not sleep a wink.
| My nerves were completely unstrung
| After night of tossing and fever. l
awoke unrefreshed and mi ghtily pleased
to find myself in broad daylight.
! At noon that day l had to run the
| gauntlet of my friends. And am bound
to say, | lied like Ananias. AS the day
| grew on | grew more and more un-
comfortable and | fairly dreaded the or
| deal OF the ensuing night. AS before,
we dined in town. 1t was fine night
and we took walk around the square
| before turning in. The houses all
looked cheerful with their bright lights
| Ours alone was black and gloomy. We
agreed that at 2 o'clock precisely we
| would again visit the haunted room
There was no danger of our going to
sleep tonight. We were painfully wide
awake. All sorts of wild conjectures
crossed my mind as we sat by the
kitchen fire, waiting for the appointed
hour. Perhaps some maniac had taken
up his abode in the house and roved
about at night uttering that awful
noise. Or perhaps some willy person
had fancy to live rent-free and had
adopted this method of frightening the
tenants away. In any case the effect
was sufficiently horrible. The shock to
| ones nervous system was the same,
| whatever the cause.
The whisky ebbed fast, but not so
fast rs my courage. My brother. cool
and practical, was deep in thought.
He was not likely to indulge the wild
speculations that crossed my brain. He
was seeking some material explanation
Of the weird phenomenon. At last the
hour began TO sound. At the first stroke
my brother arose and took up the can
die. | had provided myself with
second candle on my own account We
| examined the rooms on the ground
| floor without success We ascended
the stairs and paused outside the haunt
ed chamber. The pasSagers and the
stairs above us were thick with Shad-
ow. My brother turned the handle,
and the weird sound died away as we
! entered.
In moment it came again. 1t rose
and swelled and died sorrowfuIly away.
| 1t was singularly human. Yet it was
beyond all description unearthly. No
| banshee could wall in sadder or more
thrilling tones. We stood there like
Dante and Virgil, except that the au-
| thor of the Inferno" and his guide
did not wear carpet-slippers or carry
brass candlesticks. Neither had they
such extraordinary rough heads of hair
as we had. l felt mine going gray very
fast And a cold stream of terror
trickled down my back. My brother
stood still and listened intently The
! gnost groaned again, and yet again.
In fact, he kept on groaning. 1t was
frightful. The wall began in a whis-