The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-07-15
MJ1l!i Eagle
GHOSTS AND STORIES.
CURIOUS YARNS ABOUT PHANTOMS
AND SLEEP WALKERS.

Party - Extraordinary Experience Of
Two Girls While in the.Arms of Nor
pheus-NoodIes' Strange Image.
Ghost parties are much in fashion. All
you need is a jolly company and.a~smau
quantity of alcohol burning on a saucer in
the darkened room. While the spirits
fare blue and CHASTITY each~one of the peo-
pie present taxes his or her turn az, telling
some weird yarn-peTsonate experiences are
by far the best-of grizzly phantonls and
spooks almost too horrible to mention. If
the story telling is good the test of its
quality is established by the thrills that
run down the backbOnes OF the listeners.
At such party in Washington one night
a young Noodles was telling Of a ghost he
met with at an old country house where
he had been invited to stay for y week. On
the evening Of his arrival he was told.in
Joking way by members Of the family that
the bedroom allotted to him was haunted,
but be paid no attention TO the matter, his
belief being firm against the existence Of
phenomena supernatural SO when the
time came for his seeking his couch he
went off to sleep without much delay and
must have been in the arms of Morpheus
for more than an hour, according TO his
reckoning, when he was aroused by noise.
He sat up suddenly in bed and found him
self confronted with what he at once rec
Ognized as a supernatural appaTition.
AwEIRD sPECTEE:
It stood at the foot of the couch and
eyed him, with face of CHASTITY Wilderness
and garments that seemed Of luminous
consistency, swayinS to and fro. Some
how it appeared as If it were the image Of
himself in grave clothes.
Noodles shrunk beneath the quilt and
lay there for at least three minutes-it
seemed an hour to him-before he dared
look out again.
: "By Jover' ne said, sit must have been
only dream"
Then be raised himself once more to
seated posture, and fairly screamed aloud
when the sepulchrGl image rose again be-
fore his gaze at the fOct of the bed.
With burst OF resolution that after
ward surprised him Noodles jumped out of
bed and turned up the gasight close by,
which be had pruuentIy left at a bead be-
fore retiring. Then thegrewsome mystery
was quickly dispeIled. Facing the rear end
of the bed, with windows on either SIDE,
was an old fashioned bureau. Through the
windows streamed the moonlight, while
the summer breeze5 played with the white
muslin curtains. When Noodles sat up in
bed his-Iehected image naturally appeared
in the looking glass, his torso clad in a
cent night shirt. The moon
light, shining full upon his own person,
made the reflected simulacrum appear very
bright, while the curtain floating about in
Che wind gave the effect Of white drapery
such as Is suitable TO coTpses that walk
abroad.
Noodles looked sharply at the faces Of
the family when he came down to break
fast the next morning, but he did not IN
derstand then, and be has never been sura
since whether or not his experience was
the result OF rather i'll judged practical
Joke
THE SOAINA&BULIST' STORY.
The next story teller told of an expert
ence much more narrowing, though no
ghosts were concerned, which she and her
sister had met with in childhood. Both Of
them were addicted to walking in their
sleep, and il was not unusual for them to
Join in a sort OF cooperative somnambul"
isrl end wander OF at night from their
bedroom together. On one occasion their
mother had met them in the hallway under
such conditions, and slapped them so severe
" that they did not repeat the ofense for
quito 4 twelvemonth. But about year
after the event referred to they got up in
company and made their way down stairs
into tho collar. Probably the chill air
woke them up-at all events they did wake,
nrd not finding themselves in their snug
beds they were put in q fright. Said one
Of tho li1t1o girls to the other:
Where are weg"
And tho other replied:
1--WE mUst be dead and buried"
She had felt tho damp, cold wall of the
cellar trucking with clammy exudations.
No wonder shat such a horrible thought
occurred to her mind. What else imagi-
nable could account for a situation thus en-
Countered? The little girls felt their way
along the prison that enclosed them. Moth
lag but q wall of moist stone For many feet,
and then a corner, and again to the right
ut an acute ngle for what might have been
q mile or two, So it seemed. Once more a
corner, and ts the right the children CROPPED,
their hearts half dead within them, past
the endless we'll wet as with the dews OF
death Wonder it IS that they did not die
Of sheer fright. But, as it happened, the
little girlwho told the story, now woman
grown, with children Of her own, touched
something that was made of wood and
gave a great cry of joy. For the wooden
object was a step, and 1t was not four sec
onds later when the two children had run
up the cellar stairs, mounted to the second
floor and sought consolation in their
mothers arms.
\ SUPPOSED BURGLAR.
The next story teller told about Il fright
that he had one night while he was engaged
in locking up his house in suburban Wash
ington ahout one year ago. He was going
from the dining room to the culinary quar-
tiers when his attempt to open the kitchen
door was met by an unmistGk2bIe resist
Ence. When he surove to throw wide open
the portal 1t was showed back upon him.
He gave a leap across the threshold. anG
npon looking behind the door beheld a maj.
somewhat taller than himself. with q re.
marilably large aquiline proGoscis and long
black whis6erS So much Of the intruder
was visible in the gloom, and the master
of the establishment struck at him with all
his might He hit something, but with
drew his knuckles somewhst bruised and
Dut. while the objectionable person witE
The Roman nose remained apparently I'M
hurt and undisturbod. Again and once
ngSin ne struck, and only AFTER The third
blow had been delivered did he discover
that the offender was merely q twelve
pound turkey that had been hung up be
hind the kitchen door Tor the next Sun
days dinner. The breast bone was the
Roman nose ana the wings, left on the
81 ~ al