Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1889-02-16
\ TALE OF TERROR.
BY JAMES SEYMOUR.


cd house. | had one on my list in Hal.
sted street Her family consisted of her
self, q child between and !, and ser
want. ! rented the dwelling, but was as
! toni he'd in about ten days to find her
back She stated that 4 port on of tho
premises which she did not require she
had lo2kel. by some supernatural cause
the doors would fly o. en-. She had heard
some rumors in the neighborhool that tho
house was hunted but paid no attention
to s2ch superst tious gossip. Then she
/ proceeded to tell the following singular
story, which | will give IN her own words:
One night as Margaret, the servant, and
l went up stains ! saw the door at the head
stood open. We went iato the extension.
All was quiet, the dust lay thick on the
floor and the spiders had spun the webs
across the wall and one huge mesh work
lay directly across the narrow, crooked
stairs that led downward. | remember
thinking as We seconded that it would be
terrible place for anyone to fall. Al the
foot was bit of cracked and broken
tagging, and as | looked at it | faucied
Involuntary the dull, sickening thul of a
heavy body thrown from above the stones.
| The thought was so re ! that it made me
shudder in spite of myself, but | shook 1t
| off as unho llthy and morbid. We secure
that wo shoull be troubled by no more
mysteries.
"On Saturday evening, wishing to finish
piece of work with which | was busy. |
sent Margaret to put Alice to bed instead
J of going myself as usual The room in
| which | was sitting was not directly be-
meath my bedroom, and l id not hear
the girls footsteps when she left the
| chamber to come down. l noticed that
she remained away for longer time than
common, but | supposed that the child
] had proved wakeful and difficult to get to
sleep, and thought little of her absence.
The sound of a heavy fall on the stairs
suddenly startled me. Rushing out | saw
the door at their head again wide open, n
| blackness so dense that it seemed like a
curtain, palpable to the touch, shut off
all that mi 5ht be beyond AMI at the foot
Of the steps lay Margaret in Il sWOon.
1t was the sound of her fall that had
heard. As | appro lched her found that
her consciousness was beginning to re-
| turn, and, ut the same instant my RS
caught a faint. soft rustic in the GarkuesS
above, and tie door closed with hard
slam that resounded Though the house.
My foot was on the lowest step. | would
have reopened it in anothei second, but
Margaret caught my dress,
L OF INC rove Oh NOl, upIl 20. Suc
whispered; what you'll see there isn't
what He meant should ever be- aud she
held me with force of which / would not
have believed her capable in her weak
| ness.
Promise me, promise me, she whis-
Tered. And seeing that it was the only
way to calm her, | promised not to at
tempt to enter the extension that night
Il helped her into her own room, shocked
at the state in which | found one usually
so calm and self-contro lei, and passed
the hours till dayl ght i'll Watching alter
nately with her and with Alice, who was
restless and feversh aud muttered to her.
self in her sleep. Once more that night
the door OF ened and shut with the same
| loud no SO as before, but otherwise We
were ind sturbed. The stran2eness of
our situation did not brighten me. l felt
myself mystllied, Getiant, enra-el by the
events which had taken place since ! en-
| tered the house, and | WIS glId that Mar
garet did not seem inclined to speak or TO
tell me of the cause of her downfall She
did not close her eyes, hut lay with her
eyes fixed on the opposite wall. Toward
dawn she suddenly broke the long silence
| by saying, muSin9ly;
1--WE don't know what has been done in
the old time by them that lived here, nor
! what their pun shment is.
Hush, hush!' / answered, unwilling
| to encourage her TALKING, and to change
| the unwholcsome current of her thoughts
l drew aside the window curtain. A faint,
pallid light was alre IDLY tingeing the east,
the token of the coming day. Tho
night seemed TO calm the girls wora-out
nerves. She drew long, weary sigh ke
n tired child, and in few moments
d.opped into deep sleep. When Alice
awole on Sunday morning she proved so
feveriSh that | kept her in bed and n
| question which ,hc asked me in the course
of the morning frightened me with the
idea that she must be worse than l had
| thought Ter.
Mamma, she asked, who is the pretty
! young lady that stands sometimes in the
| door ut the head of the stairs, and looks
at me so with her great dark eyes! ! kept
thinking of her all the time; she seems so
sad and sorrowful that | can't forget about
| her
Il supposed the child was light headed
| from fever, and gave her some trifilng an
swer. About ten o'clock, as | was passing
through the upper hall. | saw that mys-
| FERROUS dor swing back upon its hinges
fiat against the wall, exposing the pail
! like blackness1bf the evening before. |
did not hesitate. Fortui ately my feet
! We're clad i'll slippers which mutl!ed my
football, and, making rs little noise as
possible, 1 stepped to the landing,
molntel the half dozen stairs on the
opposite side, and advanced some PAGES
in the darkness along the hallway of the
extension, when | could tou,h with my
| hand the casing Mt the top of the narrow,
crooked stairway | have before men
toned. l paused, and, leaning against
| the wall, turled so MS to command a view
of the door which l judged must still be
open, since / had not heard it shut.
Strangely enough, | could see nothing in
any direction. | knew that lamp was
burning dimly in our upper hall, in n
straight line from my standing place,
but not n CLEAN penetrated TO me. The
darkness hung upon Inc like corDo. ell
weight, and I gasped for breath with q
sense of sutfocation in its density.
| Il stood thus for some moments. l
wished had brought light. The beating
of my heart seemed like n companion in
| my solitude, and | remember laying my
hand upon it to feel its pulsationS Then
slowly, slowly, out of the thick air, there
grew upon me II horror, an unspeak-
able, awful consciousness of the presence
of the Invisible which froze my blood,
and chilled my life at its core. My DO Iy
seemed turned to stone. All its activity
was plralyZed, and had | sought to turn
and flee, | knew my muscles would have
failed to do my bidding and my feet have
sunk under me. | was poweress to open
my lips. Only my mind was free as air