The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-01-20
A GENUINE GHOST STORY.
A HOUSE IN THE SOUTH PART OF
TOWN AFFLICTED WITH
A SP0OK.
She is Dressed in White and Has a Child
Who Prays While the Mother Ghost
UnIocks Doors and Cuts Up All
Kinds Of Capsrs

picturesque style with which it is related
| By those in the neighborhoo1 of the
/ haunted house. The house in question is
/ No. 1913 Palisade avenue about four
| blocks west and one block south of the
! Harry street school houte. II is quite a
/ handsome looking house TO look at II from
| the outside, and no one would think for
| moment that it has been the stamping
grounds of a ghost for the past two or
| three years It is now occupied by Mr..
! Burns, but has been occupied by as many
as a dozen tenants during the past two
years and, in all probability, will be 'for
rent" again in a few days.
When reporter for the EAGLE knocked
at the front door of this afflicted mansion
alittle before shutdown yesterday evening
| he received 10 attention Another and
| still another series of knockings were in
! dulged in and there was no response
! Finally neighbor peeped out through a
! half-open door and in subdued voice said
| mister, that is a haunted house; the
! front doors are nailed up tight TO keep out
! the ghost, and you must go to the kitchen
| door to gain admittauce."
| The reporter followed instructions and
was admitted through the back door. The
| Burns family were eating supper, but an
| aged man who was stone blind volunteer
ed to give the reporter all the Information
| he could.
| yes" he said, there is something
mighty queer about this house. Some
dark deed must nave beer committed
| here" and taking lamp he added fol
low me and / think l can show you the
cause of all the mysterious things that we
experience here" He handed the light
to the reporter for it was no u-e to him in
mis- blind condition. He felt his way into
bath room got down on his hands and
knees and removed some boards in the
floor TIL an entrance about two feet
square was made. He went down through
this hole with the imbleness OF cat and
| invited the EAGLE man to follow him.
People may talk as they please abont the
nonsense of ghosts but if they were invit-
ed 10 follow a blind man into this dark
hole on an errand full of mystery very few
of them could stay a slight creeping of
their flesh. The hole in the floor did not
lead into a cellar; but on the contrary it
was a space between the ground and the
floor about two feet high and extending
over the entire area covered by the
building.
The old gentleman crawled on his hands
and knees, feeling the north foundation
wall as he went, with one hand. The
EAGLE man followed him, holding the
lamp in one hand and crawling over
cobble stone and broken glass surface as
best he could on the other hand and both
knees. Cobwebs were everywhere and flies
a.. i
the lamp aud tapped the reporters face
with their wings until lie felt inclined to
believe that every one of them was ghost.
Here it is" said the old man at last as he
felt the ground with his hands. You see
it is about SIX feet long and two feet wide,
and ii it isn't a grave l don't know what a
rave is"
The EAGLE man examined it closely and
it certainly seemed like a grave of a full
grown person.
Eyes, sir" said the old man, continuing,
81 have no doubt that murder has been
committed here, and l would like TO
see some digging done"
1t WAS a gloomy spot, indeed, and
the reporter would not tarry very long
there had it not been for an accident He
put the lamp down 10 measure the grave
and examine the surroundings and the
moment he did so the light flicSered and
fckered and gradually got less and less
until it went out entirely. Then queer
feelings set in; the hairs of his head raised
on their ends, cold, creepy chills began
chasing one another mp and down the
spinal column and his trembling hand
could hardly find the pocket that the
-, 1.Yw~, m
lighted and yOu may be sure that no
further experiments were made with that
grave. &c was with a general feeling OF re-
lief he crawled up the opening of the floor,
again taking good care to leave the old
man behind him AS a rear guard, rs it
were The story Of the strange doings
about the house at nignt was renewed Ia
the kitchen. OF coarse it Is impossible TO
write down in limited space what one man
and two women living in haunted house
can tell a reporter but the following IS the
gist of it:
The old man aud his wife sleep in one
room and Mr.. Burns and his wife sleep in
another room. When they came to live
there short time ago no one told them
about the house being haunted. At first
the windows would begin to rattle and the
cd man thinking it was the wind whit
tied a piece of pine, hammered it into the
cracks until every window in the house
was absolutely tight. The more he did
this the more they would rattle except in
the day time when the strongest wind
would not shake them Shortly after the
windows ceased their rafting and the
doors became effected by whatever mys-
4 IN, I,
! They soon noticed that all the doors in the
house would be half open IN the morning
although they locked everyone Of them be
fore going to bed. Then young Mrs. Burns
took il upon herself TO do the locking OF
the doors, hut Sill they would be open in
the morning. Finally she took all the
KEYS TO bed with her but it was no use
them doors would still be found
open. One night they decided TO
remain awake and watch. The doors
were locked as usual, but about midnight
they could heBr the lock click and upon
examination the doors would be found
open. Theu they concluded to nail the
front door, but still it would be found
open nearly every nigGt. Finally
the old man put a big wooden brace
against the door, nailed 1t securely, tunr-
ed the key aud defied any power 70 move
it. He had scarcely turned his back when
the brace fell Hat on the floor, the lock
clicked and the door stood wide open. For
about week nothing happened and one
night when they though, every thing was
safe the house shook, the front door struck
back against The wall with a slam, the
cold air filled the room and footsteps
r I e
lily was greatly alarmed and all OF them