The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-02-19

Floating Arms and Legs and Black ROBBED
Priests IN the Biue Ether.

San Francisco Examiner ~
"whoop up the romping speeks out east OF
Barstow.n said John CARSON Atlantic %
Pacific Railroad man. to reporter yesterday.
II saw you had something in the Examiner sew
eral days ago about the mirage the Mojave
desert and the myriads OF, people that were
seen In boats about there. We'll, they're thick
enng up. In winter time, you know, they al
ways get thicker For eight months now have
been running the hundredsnile division out
east of Ba-stow. The spooks used to loom I'D
about every other day. Now we see them near
ly all the time. They're the ghouiest lot of
things, too, ever did see They appear in all
sorts of shapes. At first they were a tolsrably
respectable lot of ghosts, clad in white, with
faces and hands that looked very much like APP
peared and disappeared, efoated horizontally
and in every other position in the air, and al
ways stand about quarter of a mile away
from Us. Now you can get within an eighth of
q mile some of them are frieeed out like In
dians, with feathers in their hair. and some
times with streak of red around their bodies.
''The scientists say that the increase in the
phenomena is owing to thepeculiar atmos pheric
changes at this time of thenyear Whether it is
or not, know they would have very hard
time convincing the people who travel over our
line woman last week. who was from 1lli-
nois, tainted dead away when she got glimpse
q a lot of them sailing on an imaginary LAKE.
Lakes and green trees appear without number
now on the Colorado desert Fringing 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 mile to these lakes.
There up in front of the engine last
Saturday, however" said Mr. Carson. "the
strangest conelomeration of figures that pre-
sumo mortal eyes ever beheld. Ever see pict-
ures of Dante's Inferno as illustrated by Dores
1t was something like that. the weirdest, awful
est sight-an admixture of floating arms, legs,
and pieces of shrouds. Three or four white
faced women. many graybearded men.
and a solemn -visaged priest in black
robes foated in s the 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, l thought. would have died. Lucky for
that the awful mirage lowered by the engine
and tender. else should have hau a bowling
lunatic asylum aboard the train. Do you sup
pose could have convinced them the things
wore not eenuinel Not much. Fact is, had all
l could do to hold my own self level Every
time looked at them 1 said: My God! those
things real. There can't be anything so
clearly represented as that and not be genuine!
Well, they lowered there for fully twenty min
utes. and then disappeared like a flash. Be-
yond were nothing but our green-frnged lakes.
The desert just now is unusually hard and
parched. The shines clea- and warm. If
the apparitions thicken I don't know what we
will do with our people Some of them are
likely to go ravipg mad"