The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1894-12-06
On THE CEILING.
A Mysterious Appearance That
Caused Considerable Trouble.
II rpset the Peace of Household for
Many Days-Aiways Came Mt the
Same Hour-The Illusion MT
Last Dispel;ed.

I'm these days we find many peo-
pie who are ever ready to place odd
incidents which occur to them in the
category of the supernatural" said
q business man to Pittsburgh Dis
patch reporter. Il have had an ex-
perience in my own house which is
extraordinary in that it caused "a
woman to take to her bed as the re-
suit Of nervous prostr2tion and, had
not natural cause been discovered
for the peculiar happening, it is like
ly that an invalid who was compelled
to witness this supposed manifesto
tion from the spirit world would
have not been here to-day. ] have
an aunt who is an invalid. and one
thing that is required above all
Others is the exclusion of light from
her room. The shutters of her
apartment are never opened. One
morning, not long ago, my aunt no.
ticed a weird, futtering tight on
the ceiling. As she looked at it, it
seemed to take q form so that she
discerned wings and a body. The
longer she looked at it the more con.
WINGED she became that it was
spirit. Now, before this, she had
held the most materialistic views,
scoffing at the possible existence of
anything beyond what is deemed
natural, but so terrorized did she be-
come at this strange light she gave a
shrek of horror.
mo one answered, and she lay
in bed looking up at the fluttering
glimmer, which seemed to get
fainter and fainter, until, when the
door opened and her sister appeared,
it had disappeared altogether.
Trembling, she told the story of the
strange light and its sudden disap-
pearance. Without stopping to con-
slider, both concluded it was the
spirit of a brother who had died
several months before, and, al
though the occurrence left an i'm
preston, nothing more was said
about it that day. The next morn
ing at the same time the invalid gave
a shrek Of terror which caused her
sister to come to her side Look up
there! she cried, pointing to the cell
ing. The sister looked and uttered
a low cry. It's there again. Seer
said the invalid Sure enough there
was the flickering light. There was
no accounting for it, as the shutters
were tightly closed. Both looked
steadily and concluded the light was
some spirit manifestation. As be-
fore, it slowly vanished, leaving the
two women in state of nervousness |
they could not overcome.
For three days after this the light !
appeared regularly at the same time
every morning and after a short
visit disappeared. So nervous did
the sisters become that one had to
go to bed, and the others condition
grew serious. They did not men
ton the occurrence to anyone, and,
as ! was away, ] did not learn of it
until my arrival home on the sixth
day of the phenomenon. The sis
ters told me of the spectral marvel,
and Informed me that I was just in
time to witness it myself. l re-
mained in the darkened room, await
ing the manifestation. Sure enough,
after short time a hazy light ap-
peared on the ceiling gradually
growing brighter and brighter, un-
] didn't blame my sisters
for considering it supernatural. But
l always seek for a cause, and after
a time / found one to account for this
phenomenon. l found that the fut-
tering light was caused by bucket
Of water which was standing in the
yard rejecting the rays of the sun.
Of course, the shutters were tightly
closed, so that there was apparently
no way for the light to enter the
room, but l had discovered very
small crack in one shutter which
acted as the opening of a camera OBJ
scura does-redecting the image of
the glistening surface of the water
On the ceiling, The image appeared
ut the same time each day, as at that
hour the suns rays formed the
angle required TO throw it into the
room. A sthe sun advanced the
angle was gradually changed, MAX
ng the image disappear slowly. So
t was that a great mystery was
spoiled by matter of fact investiga-