Evening journal., 1889-03-07
GHOST STORIES.
YARNS TOLD TO THE LITTLE ONES,
BUT THE ELDERS LISTEN, TOO.

The Test of Ghost Story Is the Temper~- |
ture in the Vicinity of the Spinal Col
umn-some Of the Old Timers That Are
Now Almost Forgotten.
1t is to be hoped that not mnny persons are
proof against the weird Vaccinations of reg
ular old fashioned ghost story. A ghost story
that is, good one so thrilling and so
graphic, SO fearful and so plausible as to send
the cold chills racing up and down ones
spinal column, is as good in its way as love
saory. The telling of CHEST stories seems to
be almost lost art. 1t Is rarely that a good
now ono gets into print. We seem, indeed,
to have cutgrown them, TO have 50 much
keener facilities for seeing through them and
explaining them away, that they no longer
appeal to us. Beyond all doubt the crucial
test Of ghost story, or any tale bordering on
the supernatural, is the cold chills racing up
and down ones spinal column. In fact one
had best trust to ones backbone than to ones
brains in a recital of this kind. 'Franken-
stein" is considered to bea fearful book, but it
requires a distinct effort of the Imagination
to thrill over the gigantic monster of ones
Catn is not so successful as his Murder in
Che Rue Morgue" These, however, cannot
be called ghost stories
THE NEW YORK "wHAT IS Ir.r
Years ago there was published in the
Herpcr's Magazine ghost story, entitled
What Is Itf' 1t was the story Of a New
York house that was haunted A party Of
young students undertook to solve the mys-
terry. They slept in the house, and dur
ing the night something fell from the ceiling
upon bed and Immediately began to crap
pie with the two men lying there terrible
fight ensued, the Thing-it is always proper,
polite and more frightening to refer to a
ghost as a Thing-groaned and breathed
heavily, and the touch of it was something
to freeze the blood in the veins Finally it
was overpowered, tied down to the bed with
a rope and a light brought Nothing was
therel AT least nothing visible They could
touch it, hear its breathing, see the bed shake
with its struggles but the Thing itself was
invisible, 1t finally died pitifuny Of starva-
ton and was buried in the cellarl These in
cidents recalled from memory after lapse
Of many years made the material for one Of
tho best conceived and best related ghost
stories that ever got into print
In polite society belief in ghosts Is not
exactly permissible; at least not in the kind
that clank chains, persistently walk up and
down stairs all night and go through locked
doors and stone walls. None tho less, even
in polite society, they have their destinations
MIR. Frank Stockton, we believe, it was
who told very closely the story Of a rich
American family who became owners Of a
haunted house in England, and who refused
to DO ''downed" by any bloated British shade
Of however musty antiquity and renown.
They were considerably pestered by the
ghost, but provided it with oil to timber up
its rusty chains; with patent annihilator
they removed the deadly bloodstains and
finally wore the ghost out He-we beg par
don't revealed its unburied bones, to which
they gave a decent burial, and they lived
over after in peace. In England and in many
parts Of this country family ghost is an in
evitable part Of ones pedigree. It is thought
as much Of as a coat of arms, and while the
owners pretend to disbelieve In it themselves,
they certainly like to make it appear that
every one else is far from being so rational
ooLoRED PEOPLE BELIEVE IN GHOSTS.
In a certain fine old family house in Mis-
souri, the family ghost appears only in the
mirror Of a certain room. The reflection is
that of young woman with silvery white
hair streaming down either side her beautiful
face. She is dressed in the costumes Of the
early part of this century. An enticing vir-
ginia story is that Of pair Of scissors held
in a shadowy hand, shipping, shipping papers,
clothes, even the hair upon the heads Of the
inmates Of the house, and which very proba-
bly, CONSIDERABLY stood on end for the con
venience Of this mysterious barber In the
same mansion woman dressed in scarlet is
seen shaking white cloth from garnet
window After her appearance-it being
well understood she is a ghost--fresh, wet
blood stains are found on all the piled stores
Of linen in the chests OF the linen closet.
New Orleans is full of haunted houses A
story is told of one house where no human
power can keep the doors fastened They fly
open in spite Of bolt and bar The old
haunted house on Royal street is known to
everybody, and its tale has been told in every
newspaper III Lne ldllu. AL one time LllS
house was used as a school, but it is said all
the board Of directors had not power to make
the pupils attend from any district.
Negroes believe implicitly in ghosts or
spirits They are not afraid OF them, accept
ing them as innocently as a little child ac-
cepts fairies and Santa Claus, but the tales
they tell are crude and inartistic To an
illiterate negro ghost is in the nature of
religious experience. ANY old colored
nanny can give dozen such personal OK
periences, but the writer OF tales Of mystery
must go higher than this for his sources Of
information. Children are brought up to
have a horror Of ghosts; that is, they are
taught to believe in them. Children and
women-and men as well, for the matter Of
that-cannot be better taught than that the
only use for ghost story is TO while away
an idle hour, and to give an amusement,
mingled with fictitious fear, which we thus
willingly nurse to keep it warm.-New Or
leans Picayune.
Fans for Moving Vehicles.