The morning call., 1892-01-03
A NIGHT THAT Was
ONE OF HORROR.
Do Our Spirits in Sleep Hold Communion
With The Other World?
Strange Narrative Of Soul That Left the
Body During slumber to Wander Through
the Wilds of Phantasy.

A dreaml Was it dream or was 1t
spiritual experience. a portent Of future
eventsP | cannot answer the question for
myself l can only remember the weird
and wildly enacted scene of which my
mind and memory hold cOguizance. Super
stitious l am not, in the superficial sense of
the word, but have ever believed that we
sometimes communicate in spirit with the
infinite; that there are times and conditions
in hich we are momentarily permitted to
penetrate the veil of the mysterious beyond,
and that sometimes forewarnings are thus
given US or coming events fOreshadowed.
1t is only few nights ago that the vision
came to me, and / have yet to learn. through
the recurring years, whether it was signlf-
cant of anything in my future life.
Certainly it impressed me deeply and
left weight Of miSfortunate torebodng.
1t seemed to me that | was wandering
alone. at the dead midnight hour, about a
nook in a great wooded plain that stretched
away on three sides to a uniformly curving
horizon suggestive Of illimitless areas be-
yond.
The tiny triangular vale in which l
found myself was framed on two sides by
high, rugged mountain spurs that met
sharply at its apex and merged into the
lofty and terribly abrupt and forbidding
mountain range that ran along the northern
horizon. The mountain sides looked utterly
barren and almost inaccessible, showing
chiefly sheer pTeeipices and expanses of
bare, black rock and huge bOulders.
PLAIN.
The surface of the plain was covered with
a rich crop of short, green grass, while the
trees that grew thickly about were large and
beautiful, resembling the oak.
A full. luminous moon hung high in the
dar k blue heavens. Though seemingly of
the same size as our eaTth'S orb of night, it
was otherwise somewhat dissimilar, throw
ing softer, more opaque and pearly light,
and was without shadowy features "a
purely shining ball.
From down the vast and solitary plain
and far away came weird, ftful night
wind that rustled the leaves Of the trees
strangely, and sighed and whispered in
tones now sad, now menacing, now despair
ing, till i, pacing about the lonely spot,
grew chilly and afraid.
l remember distinctly how myself looked
almost as strange to me as the scene about
me-a gown OF dark-green cloth, black
scarf folded around my shoulders, my long
auburn hair flung loose. l seemed to see
hension. Where was |? l despaired of an
answer. l knew and recognized myself per-
fectly, but l was as utterly alone in a
strange Land as If transplanted to another
planet. Not living creature, human. beast
or bird or insect, TO give sense of living
cOmpanlOnShlp. 1t was cruelty lonely,
cruelty still. but for that yet more cruel
wind that tortured and frightened me as it
shTieked and walled in my ears, or died
away with long, sobbing expiration.
While l wandered about in maze to and
fro on the short. crisp grass, all fiecked and
freckled with the black shadows Of the
overhanging leaves cast sharply by the
brilliant moonlight, thousand wild con-
lectures, conceived of my loneliness and
fear, sped through my brain.
WAS IT A DREAM?
Was it all dream? Was my soul parted
from It's mortal frame and now about to I'M
dergO season Of puTgation before being
admitted 10 the high heavens? All, if a
spirit may go mad, then would RESPONSE
billy soon desert me In that awful solitude,
that unbeaTable haunt Of spirits, whose
breath and touch was in every gust of wind
that filed the night air with mocking echoes
and shook out my hair and scarf with free,
uDfriendly toss. And surely, if pnrgation
means isolation, then is it most fearful suf-
fering.
The prospect about me was sublime,
beautiful, rich in tile bounteousness of
nature, yet q solitude untouched, unin-
habited. L felt it to be unknown or at
least forgotten of man. Not unknown, mol
five hugdred, perhaps a thousand years
ago. man made a habitation here, for yon-
der on the near side Of the southern spur
stood fantastic group of black, ruined
walls, with dark window OF doorway here
and there. The sight of it added to the
sense OF desolation. i felt no desire nor
curiosity to approach the ruin; indeed, l
turned shlyering away and endeavored to
entoId myself more closely with the scarf
winch the elfsh wind was ever snatching
from my hold.
For long tire I strayed about the tinv
vale, not going beyond to explore because 1
lnstnctlvely felt that there / would see but
what saw here-the mountains, the plain,
the trees, with the codly bright moon and
the haunting wind-nO life, no companion
ship, no escape.
STRANGE EXISTENCE.
One peculiar thing had quickly noticed
about myself in this strange existence was
the sure and final powers of instinct which