The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1886-02-11
IN A DISSECTING-ROOM,
MIstcrtnus SDurc froD> Body---a
Strange Expor,oncc.

| Stran%" Experience.
~ nave been for the past fifteen years
engaged at my present business and
need not tell YOU il is not one of tbs
most pleasant occupations in the world.
have had some terrible. experience
during that time. and IL were to relate
some of them to YOU you would not think
them credible. spend most of the day
and night with these dead bodies. and
now that have grown accustomed TO it
L do not mind it much" The speaker
was Prof. James Walsh, superintendent
OF the dissccting-roOm in the New York
University Medical College, and the
answer was given in reply to the re-
Portcrs query. The professor con-
tinucd:
"H you wish to hear an experience I
had, let me see, about fifteen years ago,
! nave no objection to telling you, but
follow me up and l will show YOU the
very spot where it occurred, and perhaps
1t will help to refresh my memory some
what"
The reporter followed the professor up
a long winding stairway until he came
10 door which was locked. The pro-
icssor took from his pocket n KEY, and
having applied it to the lock, the door flew
open and disclosed long, wide room.
IN which lay upward Of two hundred
"cadavers" placed upon marble slabs.
The stencil that came from this room
was of the most indcScribablc charot ter.
and the reporter instinctively drew back
to catch his breath.
"Ihls is the dissecting- -room," added
the professor, land it gives YOU some
idea of the character of my work. 1t is
here spend my day and night, and YOU
will ut once admit it is not a very pleas
ant way to spend ones existence. It is
over there, just at that slab toward the
left, that the experiences occurred which
| will now relate
II was then new man, and did not
feel quite at home as much as now, and,
though it is well nigh fifteen years since
1T happened, twas so forcibly impressed
| upon my mind at that time that / shall
never forget it. The students had all
gone, and | was alone in the disscctine-
room. The hour was about II o'clock
and had remained to fix up the cada-
vcrs for the morrow. The associations
connected with this place at such an
hour are enough to fill the mind of less
nervous person with apprehension.
About two hundred dead bodies lay on
the slabs all around and at that time n
screen hung from the top of each slab
to the ground so as to conceal the debris
during the day. Not sound broke the
stiffness of the dissecting room, not a
ripple ran through the big building,
when all at once. as stood near the
slab, ! heard loud snoring sound pro-
cecd from a cadaver
Il could feel tho throbbing of NV
heart. and l stood rooted to the ground.
L could not move if l tried, and tho
muscles OF my feet seemed to give way
under me. The cadaver raised himself
up on his back and looked and grinned
at me III most agonizing manner. A
cold sweat ran all over my frame.
seemed to be lifted off the ground, and
IN another moment / was thrown pros
trate ON the floor, l never believed
much In ghosts, but at that time | could
not explain this extraordinary pheno-
menon.
Il lay in that position I know not
now long, but anyway when recovered
consciousness 1t was morning, and the
hight was streaming in through those
windows. With tho return OF day I
pluc ,cd up fresh courage and went up
TO ascertain the cause of my scare of the
| paw ioHo i HC CittitNcI lHT III the
very same position in which it had been
placed by me, and put my hand on
the face and found the coldness of death
there. / raised up the cloth that coy
cred the lower part of the slab and there
found the cause of my feeling of the pre-
Fions night. A student lay on his back
on the door in d profound slumher,
sleeping OF tho o:lucts of the night's de-
bauch. This at once explained the
whole secret away. and the nervous
proSlrat!on ! experienced was wholly
due TO my ardent imagination. | got
over all that, however, and now inYcs-
tigatc the cause of any unusual noise
since that night. OF course you can
readily understand the nervous pertur-
baton was wholly induced by tn
strange noise that was produced IN that
place Mt such an unreasonable hour,
and that explains away my feelings with
regard 10 tho cr0ct position tho cavader
was supposed to assume. Such an cx-
traordinary occurrence might result
fatally in many cases, for tie nervous
system in one who is u firm believer in
supernatural visitations would receive
shock from which it would never in all
probability rally, and / have known
many people who were rendered insane |
by just such an occurrence. 1t was a
lesson to me, however, that will not |
readily forget. So much for my first cx-
perlcncc in diSsccting-room. IN Y |
Hcrald