The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-03-24
Ghosts of the Desert.
San FrNnclseo ExAmlner.

sWhoop up the r0mping spooks out east of Barstow," said John Car. son, an Atlantic and Pacific railroad man, to reporter recently, al saw you had something In the E.am'Ae' several weeks ago about the mirage on the Moave desert and the myriads of people that were seen in boats about there. We'll, they'N thickening up, In winter time, you know, they always get thicker. For eight months now 1 have been running the hundred. mile division cut east of Rarstow. 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, l over did see. They appear in all sorts of shapes.
 "At first they were a tolerably re- spectable lot of ghosts, clad in white, with faces and hands that looked very much like apparitions as shown in pictures, only they appeared and dis appeared, fioated horizontally and in every other position in the air, and always stayed about quarter of a mile 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 some times with 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, l know they would have a very hard time convincing the people of 1t who travel over our line. A woman last week who was from illi- nois tainted dead away when she got a glimpse of n lot of them sailing on an imaginary lake. Lakes and green trees appear without number now on the Colorado desert. Bringing these lakes with n 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 rose up in front of the engine last Sat uaday, however," said Mir. Carson, "the strangest cong nElomeration of fig ures that l presume mortal eyes ever bcheld.
 "Ever see pictures of 'Dante's ln- ferno' as illustrated by Doref IL was something like that-the weiTdest, awfulest sight, an admixture of float ing arms, legs and pieces of shrouds Three or four white faced women, as many gray bearded men and solemn visaged priest in black robes floated in the blue ether with the mass Sol Anderson, our engineer, was the most scared man you ever saw. lie put on every pound of steam he had, and we went tearing over the desert like mad Wells Fargo's agent I thought would have died. Lucky for us that the awful mirage lowered by the engine and tender, else we should have had a bowling lunatic asylum aboard the train, Do you suppose l could have convinced them the things were not genuine? Not much. Fact Is, l had all could do to hold my own self level. Every time l looked at them 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 dis appeared like flash. Beyond were nothing 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 will do with our people. Some of them are likely to go ravipg mad"