Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1889-08-09
THE MYSTERIOUS MUSICIAN.
A KANSAS CITY GUITAR PLAYED
UPON BY UNSEEN HANDS.

Whether or not there is any,
thug in ghost stories, there is at
least one young man in Kansas
City who Is convinced that there
il something akin To spOOkS trying
TO make life miserable TO bin. lie
tells regular old-tIme ghost story,
most of the manifestations having
been made la Kansas City, which
is supposed TO be anything but a
habtatiOn If spirits.
The young man III question is
George l.. Fraden burg, IS years
Of age, printer, and bOokbnder
by trade, and at present living
with bis widowed mother, two
brothers and sister at l1l3
Campbell street. A Times repOr.
ter, learning that the young man
had passed. through some expert.
ence which would be interesting TO
the public, called at the above adj.
dress at late hour Saturday night,
where he found Mr.. Fradenbnrg,
who did not hesitate to tell what
he had seen and heard, though be
betrayed considerable mental strain
and loss Of sleep. He is well
known, as IS also his mother and
brothers, and no one who knows
him doubts for a moment the
young mans sincerity, though, OF
course, there are those who do not
believe iu ghost stories no matter
how they are backed up. In an.
swer to the reporters inquiries Mr..
Fradenburg said:
81 am very fond of music and
play with the guitar and piano. |
generally have my guitar there in
the corner" he said, pointing to
the corner of the neatly arranged
parlor. son three or four different
occasions when | would lie down
on the sofa here and fall asleep, |
have been awakened by my guitar,
without anyone being near enough
to touch It. Whatever it was
would not play tune, but would
strike one of the strings distinctly,
and sometimes strike a chord. l
simply thought 1t strange and was
not alarmed in the least; but few
weeks ago l was sitting in the
room adjoining the one where the
piano is where | heard crash as
as though every wire had burst.-
Some time ago my mother heard a
similar one, and called piano
tuner in to examine the instrument,
but he said there was nothing
wrong with it.
"But what is strangest of all
happened last night. Two friends
of nine, John Howell and Charles
Smack, accompanied me for a
tOrtnight's visit to the country. We
took our instruments and went to
visit farmer named Lewis Tillery,
living in Clay county, about twelve
miles northeast OF the city. Daring
our visit my friends and | occupied
the same room, my bed beng di.
rectly in front of the north window.
Six nights during our visit we were
awakened by the guitar, my friends
as we'll as l distinctly hearing the
sound. This morning we intended
to get up at 3 o'clock in order to
avoid driving through the heat on
our return to Kansas City. At
230 l was awakened by a loud
stroke upon the guitar, as though
some one had struck all the strings
at ooce. was startled and sat up
in bed, when TO my horror | saw
the figure of a beautiful woman IN
white draped from tho top OF the
head with every outline distinct
except the face, which was cOnsid-
erably darker and lndistinct. |
looked at the apparltion closely,
retaining my cOmposure rather
through terror than courage, | as
sure you, but finally called to it
three times, but tho only response
was the raising Of the right arm to
q level with the windOwslll. This
movement frightened me so that !
called loudly to my companions,
who jumped out of bed, bat hot be-
fore the ghost, or whatever you
may choose to call it, had vanished
as mysteriously as it had appeared.
"The window in front Of me
commanded a view of a large
yard, and the only other means of
escape for corporeal form was to
pass the east window of the room.
Ny friends Immediately looked out
of that window, but saw nothing
At this juncture an elderly lady
entered the room and the young
man introduced her as his mother.
Mrs. Fradenburg, tried TO make
light of the subject, evidently for
the young mans sake, for behind
it she manifested a considerable
degree of concern on account of
the remarkable disturbance. She
corroborated her son's story, as do
also the young men who visited in
the country with HIN. Mrs. Frad-
enOurg also said:
"Just a.halt hour before you
came George was asleep on the
sofa in the adjoining room near a
bed. lie was breathing heavily,
when there suddenly came three
loud taps on the headboard as
though some one had struck IT
with a strong hand. We called to
George, but he did not waken.'