Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1892-03-17

Some are haunted by more than one.
They have many curious ideas con-
corning these ombre, which never APP
pear to the English, -apeculiarity the
natives said they could not explain.
We were at first incredulous as to the
belief OF the people in these stories, and
looked upon them as attempts to i'm
pose upon and deceive us. We, how
ever, heard so many such similar ones
from independent sources, that we
could not but come to the conclusion
that there Was a widespread belief in
the existence OF these spectres. The
following are fair samples, and exhibit
o curious phase in Interpretations of
the nineteenth century.
The first was related by servant
of our family, who declared she was
an eyewitness OF the circumstances.
A Greek lady, in whose service she was
at the time she alleged the affair took
place, had only been Il few days
in a house to which she and her family
had removed, when the ombra paid
her O. visit. 1t was ABOUT ten O'Clock
at night. The lady was seated nurs-
ing her infant. and the servant near
her at work. The master OF the house
was from home. They were suddenly
startled by a loud knocking at the
door, and, to their surprise, three
figures entered, dressed like Albanians,
and accompanied by Il man. One OF
them seized the infi,nt and dashed it
upon the floor injuring it severely.
The child did not utter a cry, and the
servant thought it was dead. The lady
was too frightened to do anything but
scream. The servant ran for assiS-
lance, but the other servants were too
much alarmed to come. One of the
female ombra desired the servant to
90 into the kitchen for some herbs
that were there on The fire to boil and
when the latter brought them in the
woman seized the vessel, and throw
ing it on the floor broke it to pieces.
The Greek make much use OF earthen-
ware vessels for culinary purposes. in
stead of saucepans. The strange visit
ants then vanished.
1t must here be observed that those
who see these ombra are afraid to ac-
knowledge it or to give any informu-
ton as to what they have done so
long as they continue to live in the
same house; the belief being that the
ombra will revenge themselves upon
those who do so. The husband came
home and found his wife in deplor-
oil CT Il I
about her child. He nat uraly i'll
quired as to the cause. The only an
swer he could obtain was, Nothing,
nothing!' But feeling that something
was wrong, he resolved that his
mother should be in the house upon
the occasion of his next absence. The
following evening, when the old lady
was there, the ombra paid them an
other visit at the same hour, the in
FAINT being then in bed. One OF them
approached it, and taking it up, be-
gan to dash it against the bedstead
with such violence as to make it
bleed. The mother was not in the
room at the time, being occupied
somewhere near the kitchen, in which
the female ombra had put out the
fire. The old lady informed the son
that she had seen the ombra. The latter
was so offended with her that they took
all opportunity OF meeting her Oh the
stairs, where they attacked her, threw
her down, and gave her black eye!
stamped upon and otherwise illtreated
her, so that she said she would not
remain longer in the place. The serv-
ant also left. The lady could not re-