The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1888-04-19
HORRIBLE DESERT SCENE.
Floating Arms and Legs and Other
Queer Things Encountered.

"WhOOp up the rOmping spOOks out
east of BarstOw, said John Carson, an
Atlantic and Pacific Railroad man, to a
reporter yesterday. 4 saw you 4lad
something in the Examiner several weeks
ago about the mirage on the MOjave
Desert and the myriads Of people that
were seen in boats about there. Well,
they're thickening up. In winter time,
you know, they always get thicker. For
eight months now | have been running
the hundredmile division out east of
Barstow. The spooks used to loom up
about every other day. Now we see
them nearly all the time. They're the
ghoulest lot Of things, too, [ ever did
see. They appear in all sorts Of shapes
At first they were a tolerabiy respectable
lot of ghosts, clad in white, with faces
and hands that looked veay much like
apparitiOns as shown in pictures. only
they appeared and disappeared, foated
horizontally and in every other position
IN the air, and always stayed about
quarter of a mile away from US. Now
you can get within an eighth of a mile,
and some of them are trigged out like
Indians, with feathers in their hair and
sometimes with a streak of red around
their bodies. The scientists say that the
increase in the phenomena is owing to
the peculiar atmospheric changes at this
time of the year. Whether it is or not,
I know they would have very hard
time convincing the people of it who
travel over our line. A woman last week
who was from Illinois tainted dead away
when she got glimpse of a lot of them
sailing on an imaginary lake. Lakes and
green trees appear without number now
on the Colorado Desert. Irin2ing these
lakes with a circle Of green and with the
strange characters floating about on
them, queer sight is presented. You
never can get nearer than an eighth of Il
mile to these lakes. There rose up in
front of the engine last Saturday, how
ever, said Mr.. Carson, the strangest
conglomeration of figures that, [ pre-
sumo, mortal eyes beheId Ever see
pictures Of Dante's Inferno as illustrated
by DOre2 1t was something liae that
the weirdest, awfuIlcst sight. an adj
mixture of floating arms, legs and pieces
of shrOuds. Three or four white faced
women, as many gray bearded men and
a solemn-visaged priest in black robes
fioated in blue ether with the mass. Sol
Anderson, our engineer, was the most
scared man YOU ever saw. He put on
every pound of steam he had, and we
went tearing over the desert like mad.
Wells-Fargo's agent, [ Thought, would
have died. Lucky for us that the awful
mirage lowered by the engine and ten
der, else We should have had a bowling
lunatic asylum aboard the train. Do you
suppose [ could have convinced them
the things were not genuine Not
much. Fact is, had all I could do to
hold my own self level. Every time I
looked at them I said: My God. those
things are real! There can't be anything
so clearly represented as that and not be
genuine Well, they lowered there for
full twenty minutes and then disap-
peared like flash. Beyond were moth
ing but our green-fringed lakes. The
desert just now is unusually hard and
parched The sun shines clear and
warm, If the apparitions thicken don't
know what we viii DO with our people.
Some of them are likely to 60 raving
mad. San FraHcisc0 Examiner.