Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-01-31
le "White Lady of the Hohenzoll-

as the ''White Lady of the Hohenzoll-
erns"
The lady in question is said by all to
be one of the ancestresses of the family,
but which one is not agreed.
There is an abundance of evidence as
to her repeated appearances, and no
merely ghost story is SO well authenti-
GATED.
She is recorded to have made her first
appearance in 1898, just before the death
of the elector, John George. Twenty
years later she prognosticated the death
of John Sigismund.
In 1929 she again appeared, and for
the first time spoke, uttering these
words: "Vemi, judica vivos ct mortuous."
A paper of that early day records the ap
pearance with this statement:
ut is also undeniable that in our time
| only few years ago, in certain prince
ly house allied to that of Brandenburg, a
young prince met with fatal accident,
and that a few days before his death the
| white lady vas seem"
In 1859 the white lady was met in the
| gallery at Berlin, before the death of
Anna Sophia, duchess of Brunswick, and
again in 1867, when she foretold the
death of Louise Henriette, wife of the
| elector, Frederick William.
The subsequent appearance generally
believed Ia by the Germans, who believe
In ghosts at all, was to Frederick l. of
Prussia, the son of the elector. He was
lying on his bed in a weak, exhausted
condition, with a valet asleep on mat
tress near by. Suddenly he saw the hang
ings divide and saw tall white lady with
outstretched arms and flowing hair, in
clining her head toward the bed, and
| turning from right to left as though she
sought something under the hangings
At last she discovered the king, and her
steady eyes locked at him long in silence.
| William raised himself and made move
uent; her eyes followed him; she was un-
| moved. At that moment the clock on a
| pier table near the bed rang the hour
and stopped. The lad! disappeared. At
the same moment violent noise was
heard in the room adjoining, where were,
and now are, placed on etageres, the
plates and dishes used by the Prussian
king. They all fell with crash to the
| floor.
The Wallet awoke; the king cried in &C.
cents of terror: "There, there! She
went out therer' And with bewildered
| look, his hand extended, he pointed to
the door of the private room.
"Who?" asked the Wallet, half asleep.
"The white lady, I tell you! Go aLo
see which way she went" The valet
searched all over the palace, and found
no spectre.
81 saw the white lady," said the king,
as though speaking to himself, and Gov
cred his face with the bed coverings
Next day he ordered his coffin and made
| the queen. his wife, to lie in it, in order
10 see if the size was all right. It was his
last act of cruelty for he died that night.
| Forty years after, his son, Frederick
the Great, died at Sans Souce, and he,
too, saw the white lady. The circumstan-
ces again were remarkable. A picture of
the whole lady Git is said by his own
handy, which is still in existence, and
shows the superstition which was evil
IDENTIFY in his mind. Whether he expect
| ed to see her or not, she came.
One evening just at mig htfall Frederick
was alone in the library standing before
a music stand which he used when play
ing the flute. The door opened and the
white lady traversed the room without
looking at him. For moment he did
not know what TO do. Then he followed
her; he opened the door and followed her
from room to room without reaching her
and finally stopped at the vestibule. The
apparition seemed TO run over the sand
in the circular court in front, seemed to
hesitate a moment, then vaguely beckon-
ed him to come, and disappeared. FL
died in few days afterward.
The White Lady of Kohenzollern
also said 90 have appeared in 184O be
fore the death of Frederick William ILL.,
in 1861, previous to the death of Freder
lex William ~, and in the present year
previous to the death of the late emper
or.
The conclusion of the matter is that
the superstition, born far back in the
days OF paganism, has permeated Europe
and still has some power, but as remark
ed an Irish story-teler: ST don't hear
that the banshees go on SO much now as
they did formerly" Such beliefs must
fade out before the march of intellis ence
and knowledge, and yet they are so full
of peculiar interest that many will re
greet their loss even in the day when nc
one will credit or accept them upon any
authority whatever.