Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-12-06

hally resolved themselves into little better
than ghost stories. and pretty tough old
ghost stories some of them were, too. Especi-
ally in the summer season, when the "gentle
hermits of Cambridge leave their retreats and
go forth on their vacations by the seashore or
In the mountains and indulge in the wild dissi-
/ patlons OF New England summer hotels. did
they gather in this extraordinary psychical data
Then these gentlemen, whom Senator Hoar has
described as those who are 'born on Beacon
street, educated at Harvard and buried at
Noun: Auburn" three classic spots situated
within five miles of one another heard of things
and saw things which mortals before had hardly
dared to dream Of. The following incident is said
| to have occurred while one of the younger psy-
| biologists was at a hotel in the White mount
| aims:
GHOST ON THE STAIRCASE
At the breakfast table one morning one lady
remarked to another across the table that she
had just passed Mr.. - on the stairs and that
she had never seen man who looked more
| like corpse. Immediately the other lady
tainted, and well she might faint for Mr. =
had died some months before and she had at
| tended his funeral. The lady who had met
him, upon being questioned further described
his appearance precisely for indeed, she had
known him for years, although she had been
| absent in Europe when he had died and had
not heard Of his death. The register of the
|
| nature in pale ink, but the clerk of the hotel
conld not recall having seen him. or having
seen him register, nor had any one in the hotel
seen him, save the lady who had passed him on
the staircase and who said he had looked like
| corpse. 1t was clearly Mr.. IS ghost that
had registered and gone upstairs and then dis
| appeared.
The above is a sample Of the Psychical Re-
search Soeiety's stories, but the Philadelphia
Ghastly Club devotes its energies to the collec-
Il MT Ill IL
terrible ones. The club has a small and select
library, consisting of Charlotte Brontes Jane
Eyre, Edgar Allen Poe's works, several of Will
kle Collins novels and more literature of a
similar STYLE and on the wall is a fine drawing,
| by an imaginative member of the club of Jack
the Ripper, as he might be supposed TO look-a
horrible, grinning devil of a man. When the
club meets for the purpose for which it was
formed the gas is turned down low and the
| members sit crouching around the embers of
the hre and tell their stories. The rules of the
club prohibit the use of ghosts or dreams.
Here Is story told at recent meeting, and it
| Will be told in the language Of the narrator.
who is physician:
MEDICAL STUDENTS REVENGE.
"About ten years ago." he said, in the sepul-
chral tones which the members Of the CHASTITY
Club always assume when they wish to strike
terror into the souls OF one another. 81 WAS
staying with party Of young people at a
country house just outside of Harrisburg We
were very jolly crowd. and. as young people
will do at country houses, we PLAYED a great
many practical jokes on one another. and in
this way kept things lively all day long and for
| large portion of each night. There was one
young girl In particular who was especially the
delight OF everybody, because of her light
hearted gayety. She came down to breakfast
every morning with laugh on her lips. and
she always retired night with some light Joke
ieveied at the young men. She was especially
the leader in the practical jokes that were
played and had succeeded in frightening a
young medical student who was in our party
nearly ont of his wits by bribing one OF the
servants to toss upon his bed. during the dead
Of the night wild old pussy cat. The howls
OF the Young man when he was rudely awakened
by tabby's unceremonious visit and the chasing
of the cat when people had come to his rescue
had caused a great deal of merriment at his ex-
pense. He vowed revenge. How he got it,
am now going to tell you.
Il have said he was medical student, and.
| like most of his class. he carried about with
him few odd bones as pleasant reminders of
his profession. In his trunk he had the skele-
ton OF a human hand. (The speakers voice
here sank into an awful whisper. The fire
| burned low and the members Of the club gazed
at the speaker with white countenances that
bespoke delicious sense Of terror) There lay
| in the bottom of his trunk" he went on, ''the
skeleton OF a human hand. Carefully taking it
out, when no one was near him. he wrapped it
| In thin tissue paper and made the servant place
the parcel, ignorant as he was of its contents
| in the bed Of the girl whose practical Joke with
| the cat had so covered him with ridicule. We
had been out on long ride that afternoon and
| in the evening, being pretty well tired out, we
| all went to bed earlier than usual. About mid
night, when the house was wrapped in deep 81
lence and when every one had sunk into pro-
found slumber, we were awakened by a strange
| and startling noise. Some one in the house
was singing, but such strange, unearthly
song surely never was heard before. 1t grew
| louder and louder until 1t reached the
pitch Of q wild howl. There was no mis-
taking from whence it came. The room
| that was occupied by the sweet light
hearted girl, who was always laughing and play
ing jokes, was in the front Of the second story
and the windows being opened for the weather.
was warm the arrange melody hoated out upon
| the night air and woke the echoes OF the sur
rounding hills, ~ got, ont of my bed in cold
perspiration, my hair stood on end and was
trembling like an aspen leaf. The singing now
sank into doleful wall hastily put on some
clothes and went out into the hall. There I
| found all the men in the house, their teeth
chattering horrible pictures of fear. Especially
the young medical student was in pitiable state
The singing still continued and had become
| hoarse and husky. We proceeded in body to
the room from whence the sounds came. We
/ burst open the door and there"
| new member of the CHASTITY Club here ut
tered suppressed shrek. There was q look Of
/ ecstttlc ueuuishncss upon the lace OF the
speaker. He paused with open mouth. The
rest of the members bent forward in happy ex-
pectancy Of CHASTITY horrors. There was a dead
and solemn silence. broken only by the sup
pressed noises made by the new member, who
was evidently upon the point Of having hyster-
les. Then the speaker spoke again:
"And there" Every one shuddered and
he did 30 himself and then paused again.
/ 'Well, and What was there?' said the founder
| Of the club who was old and case hardened
| against terrors.
why, there were all the girls in the house
clustered around the skeleton of the hand,
| which was regularly laid out with candles about
its head and feet and flowers around il, and
they were bowling funeral dirge with combs
and tissue paper for an accompaniment. The
servant had given the joke away aud the ladies
had turned the tables on us-that was ALL"
| MILD YOUNG MAN FROM MAINE.
The termination Of this tale was not received
with much approval, and the physician who
had told it was recommended by the case
hardened president to get up q more blood
curdling story for the next general meeting OF
the club The next speaker was . mild young
man from Maine
Last summer" he began, sT spent two
weeks with friend Of mine who had Q cottage
on an arm OF the sea near Bar Harbor. There
| was another friend with him at the same time,
and we three having bkAn oil .chr,r1a nt COLLAGE