Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1892-09-10
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4
Our new home was perfectly modern:
there We're uo loug-lisused rooms, no
| mysterious passages or sealed doors;
ia fact, not even u garrett Ii was
truly a very unlikely place in which
10 lind Il ghost; and yet we found one,
and most satisfactory l had almost
said lifelke, one; and, really, If life
like means true 10 nature why cannot
ghost be lifeIike when it satisfies
our preeOnceiyed idea of what bona
hde ghost should be- I take great
credit to myself for making tie dis
coyery under such unfavorable circum-
stances. 1t requires no great ability To
see ana hear ancestral ghosts under
| the proper uncanny Influences. but
- find 4 perfectly new one in modern
| three-st9ry brick house in city street
is a stroke of genius.
/ am not a dmid person, and, being
rather frail, the spring that we moved
to Merton was given the one bed room
down stairs which opens of the
parlor, | was awakened during tie
first night that l slept there by hear
ing some one running down stairs and
into the parlor. Thinking it was my
mother or sister, l called out, but re-
ceived no answer. l jumped out Of
bed, and going into the adjoining room
found no one there. ! was much aston
u5aq puq l lBql p5pnl0uo0 lnq poVs!
dreaming. Feeling only Il not unpleas
ant surprise ut the yiyidnesS of the i'm
preston, l snuggled down TO sleep
again In the little time of my lying
awake, the stiffness of the house and
town was perfect. | am little given to
dreaming, but my sleep is as light as
tuat OF wild animal, there is no per-
ceptible space between my being sweet
~ sound asleep ana wide awake with
all my faculties in perfect order 1t
was with no little surprise therefore,
that l was awakened a second time by
the uOt-tO-be mistaken sound OF bare
eet and light huuering drapery
in hurried flight down the stairs,
through the hail and into the middle
or the parlor where it stopped-stop-
ped suddenly, absolutely, and the dead
silence of the house reasserted itself
At the first sound / had started up,
thinking something had frightened tie
laotherlin. When it stopped ! thought
she is listening, ana us | cautiously
slipped out of bed to 20 TO her listen
ed 50 intenuy that the silence seemed
10 roar with sound, although / know
there was no sound whatever When
stepped into the parlor | had not the
slightest doubt that my mother would
be standing there in a frightened at
tltude. The shock ~ my mind viii be
appreciated when it is stated that the
moonlight suemned through the us yet
lncurtaineQ windows into a perfectly
empty room, leaving no possibility for
any one to be there and not be in sight
/ could see INTO the hall and the black
hole Of the basement stairs. How long
stood there gazing At emptiness
cannot say. The stupidity of utter
maZement was upon me.
When | rallied, l took u light and eX-
plored the big closet opening off the
parlor, the library and basement Yes,
/ did. Far be from to boast myself,
hut | proudly maintain that, with no
other means of defense than a careful
IS regulated female sceam in my throat
ready to 80 off at the slightest eX
cuse, l Investigated the basement
l said nothing of my experience when
in the morning, l was accused Of look
ing little pale and tired. During the
day, however, l told the little mother,
and before many hours her quick wit
had found a solution of the mystery.
she remembered that the night before,
the weekly washing not being dry, she
had had the clothes hung on The back
piazza running past my room and the
parlor. These, no doubt, had huttered
IN some sudden gust OF wind, and had
subsidized again after that had passed
We had a little quiet fun, and consider
ed the matter ended, but dreadiug The
teasing Of the family, 1 coaXed her not
to tell. When, however, TO my great
surprise | had the same experience the
next night and again the next 1 con-
Guided, to quote our family joker, that
enough is sufficient" 1t is the proof
OF a noble mind TO be convinced by evil
Gence. / now believed most firmly that
those noises We're made by ghost
and a ghost all our own.
But mother was sceptical and resoly-
ed to try her luck. She is u very sound
sleeper and, low be it said, she does
indulge in vocal performances during
her slumber that would lift the hair Of
flesh-and-blOOd human being, not
being acquainted with their nature and
CIigin; and it did not prove anything
against the phantom that she had two
mdisturbed nights On the whole it
tended to show that the creature had
preferences not SO removed from the
human as one might have expected,
end rather raised iI in my estimation.
Mother was now more sure than be-
fore that the ghost was creature OF
my fancy. l rather resented this idea,
but had no desire to return to what
row considered haunted chamber.
In short time, my sister for some
reason slept in the parlor bed room.