Arizona republican., 1893-08-26
A GHOST STORY.
Strange Guardians of a
Church Door.
A Midnight Pedestrian
Sees a Fearful Sight.
Two Women in White, Head
less and Luminous.
The Uncanny Vision Beheld on
TWO Different Nights by Re-
spectacle Gentlemen.

He who tells a story OF ghost he has
himself seen imperils his character for
veracity, and he who tells story OF a
ghost which somebody else has seen
risks his reputation as person of
sound discrimination. In either case,
to avoid the painful contingency of be-
ing classified as liar or accused OF be-
ing fool, the story-teller must be sup
ported By one or more credible wit
nesses, or what is better still, the ghost
itself.
With this thorough understanding of
the perils which attend the man who
monkeys" with ghosts, gentleman
who has the reputation of being both
truthful and Ievel-headed tells OF an
uncsnny sight he saw on the night of
Friday, August IS. He said nothing
about the thing he saw until several
days later when he met man who had
seen the same thing the following
night. He believed then that the con-
ventional restrictions thrown about
him as teller of strange tales was re-
moved he had witness strong enough
to convict him Of q crime or establish
an alibi in any court in the land, and
30 why not strong enough to support a
ghost storyP The other fellow vas any
how in the same boat with him.
The names of both gentlemen are on
file at The REPUBLICAN Office for the
inspection Of those iconoclasts who
delight in the destruction OF the i'm
material. Since the experiences OF
both men were much the same, only
the story Of the first will be told in
nearly his own language. Said he:
81 was on my way home last Friday
night some time, think, before mid
night; l live on - street, near IS
place. | always go up Washington to
First street, cross TO Monroe and go up
Monroe to Fifth, (where he goes from
that point cannot concern the reader,
as he is conveniently and dangerously
near home.) | was walking slowly
along the east side of Monroe not think
ing OF anything | now remember and
was looking neither to the right nor
left. When | came directly in front OF
the Catholic church | became uneasily
aware Of strange presence, though at
that moment | saw nothing; | turned
inyoluntarily toward the door of the
church and what saw I'll never forget.
In the archway stood two female
figures clad in white; they didn't look
shadowy as ghosts are supposed to ap-
pear but there was strange plainness
of outline luminous and uncanny.
could see the arms distinctly and the
feet which seemed to be incased in
white slippers. The hands were also
unnaturally visible. 1t is probably
twenty feet from where | stood to the
archway and you know the moon had
gone down some hours. 1t was neither
very dark nor very light but don't
think that a substantial object could
have been so clearly seen at that dis
lance.
Strangest and most horrible of all,
both OF the figures were headless and
badly scared as | WAS | remember [
thought they mbled those models
used in dressmaker's shops.
1t seemed to me | stood there half an
hour but perhaps it was more nearly
half minute for time you know passes
unnaturally slow or fast under certain
circumstances. When l collected my.
self was standing in the middle of
Fourth street. Pm no coward or su-
perstitious fool and began to reason.
| didn't believe l had seen ANYTHING
but tried to convince myself that
either my eyes or my Imagination had
played trick on me. | determined to
solve the mystery for unless | did |
feared that | would carry away with
| me permanent belief in ghosts.
went back with some hesitation to
the opening which leads from the eide.
walk to the church. There the fright
ful pair stood. palmer if possible in
luminous outline and headlessness
than before. tried to make I'D nv
mind to gou to them, and did 90 to
within may be ten or fifteen feet. |
think | remained there two minutes,
| remembered that on the Tuesday be-
fore, there had been the ceremonies of
the feast OF the Assumption, and |
thought it might be that this was some
midnight ceremony, and that the actors
were persons OF flesh and blood, but
that almost fiery outline of the figures,
the missing heads and the still and
dark church, were against my theory.
| went away without turning my face,
until had got half way back to Fourth
street. l decided to say nothing about
the thing, and never did mention it un-
til last Sunday, when | heard that
Frank - had seen something
strange in front of the church the next
night. l saw him and we compared
notes.
He hadn't made as much OF an in
uestigation as did, but he swears he
saw for an instant, and might have seen
longer if he hadn't been in hurry to
leave the neigh borhood, two women in
white, standing in the archway.
Ive gone past the church, on the
other side OF the street every night