Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1888-07-20

direct highway from the town he
left to the city with the haunted
house, but he did not keep it. lie
would branch off here and there
and make a half circle to come
back again. One or two nights he
slept in barns, and so | lost track
of him for a few hours. On one
occasion his teet became sore and
he lay by at tavern for two days,
and then | actually got ahead OF
HIM.
While the towns were only 80
miles apart, Kelly travelled all OF
100 miles in making the distance,
and was II days about it. l fol-
lowed HIM mile by mile, and owing
TO a severe storm was 13 days. l
traced him into the suburbs OF the
city and there lost him, and though
!
| | had the help of three or four To-
cal officers, we could get no further
trace of him. At length we heard
of a person 100 miles away who
bore Kelly's description, and was
about TO start after him when l
overheard the following conversa'
ton in a restaurant:
$50 the boys that went to the
haunted house got scare !"
can awful scare. | guess a new
ghost has taken possession"
"What did they see or hear y
"Saw doors open and heard
groans and various other noises"
"Well, it's funny
eyes"
1t may seem strange to you that
at once decided that | had located
Kelley again. 1t was quite proba-
BILE that he had known of the haunt
ed house for years, as its fame was
widespread, and the tact of a new
ghost showing up just at this time
made me suspicious. That night
at 10 o'clock, accompanied by a
local detective, l visited the place.
1t was a rambling biz farmhouse,
situated 20 rods from the highway,
and the ground around was grown
up to weeds and bushes. All the
windows were broken and some of
the doors stood open, and a more
gloomy place 1 never saw. We en-
tered by rear door and found the
floor rottlng away and the plaster
ing crumbling of. We pushed on
to the sitting room, where the
young men had stationed them
selves the night before, and here
found some blocks of wood to sit
down on. There was a doorway
leading into the front hall, but the
door was gone. There was a door
way to the parlor, and the door was
partly open. AS we looked INTO
the parlor l swung the door to and
fro, and knew from the movement
that the hinges bad been freshly
oiled.
When we came to inspect the
cellar we found little but cObwebs
and dust. Each of us had Ian
tern and each inspected for him
self. At one corner of the cellar |
found an old oyster can in a queer
position. 1t seemed to be stick
ing to the floor above, but alter a
close examination, without, how
ever, touching it with my hands, |
made up my mind that 1t was held
up there by a cord. | said nothing
to my companion about this, hOr
about another discovery made in
the front hall. AT one spot, where
the plaster was off from base to
ceiling, caught sight of wire be-
hind the laths. This led up and
down and the lower end was prob.
ably attached to some object. We
did not go up stairs. The front stairs
had never been finished and the
back ones were so dilapidated that
we hesitated to trust them with our
weight. BY eleven o'clock we had
taken our seats in the sitting room,
eyes and ears alert and ready for
any emergency. There was no lock
or catch on the door opening into
the parlOr, but 1t was shut. The
two windows looking out of the
room had been boarded up. We
placed our lantern in a corner, and
as we watched and waited the room
was in semi.darkness and the house
as still as death.
T. must have been near midnight
when the performance opened. We
suddenly heard faint notes Of music
and the sounds lasted two or three
minutes. was satisfied that the
sounds came from a jews.harp.-
My companion whispered that two
female voices were singing, while
guitar played an accompaniment.
The music had scarcely died away
when the parlOr door opened as
nOiselessly as the swing of a coffin
lid. was perfectly satisfied that
it was the work of human hands,
butGsyas startled. 1 had not told
the detective that I expected to
find Kelly in the house. had
simply said that I expected to
make an important discovery
When the door swung open the
man started up In alarm and whis.
pered: