Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-03-10

feet. l usually lay or sat facing the
pool, therefore, with my back to this
wall. 1t was between me and it and
close behind me that the thing, what
ever it was, seemed to pass. I had new
er seen a ghost. 1 never believed in
them. More than once when l wanted
timber for any work l might have had
on hand have sailed forth at night to
get what l required in an adjoining
graveyard. There was one separated
from the rectory by single field, and
in corner of this were all manner of
boards, generally decayed, but some
sound enough for my purpose. had
never even taken an imaginative delight
in ghost stories, which seemed to give
others such singular and unaCcountable
pleasure. l fancy l was of too active
habit of mind and body for that form
of pleasure. At tho moment l was
thinking of homo and evcu Of home
scene more calculated than others to dis
pei evil imagination. l was thinking,
in fact, of our household, the family,
the domestics and two outdoor servants
assembled in the breakfast room nj fam
lily prayers and OF my fathers appear
ance and manner when, rs was his Gus
tom, he prayed extemporc, including in
his petitions many things of local and
family interest. Like nearly all the
rural clergy of that time, his principles
and practices were of the low church or
evangelical school.
While so brooding, rejecting and i'm
agining as sat over my fire, sleepy,
too, as usually was in those days, sud
denly l felt curious sensation of cold
and then became aware of this thing,
person or whatever it was passing me
by. 1 dare say my hair stood on end.
l certainly felt the most extraordinary
sensat on, as of a thousand needles driv-
en- into my head and such a sense of
horror and fear as l never experienced
before and hope never shall again. l am
ashamed to say, too, that 1 screamed,
and with what a noise that scream rang
through the long and lofty cavern. with
its various galleries, can I've imagined.
| heard great splashing i'll the seals
pool. 1t was my seals plun3ing into
the water when they heard the scream.
1 ran down to the water. Quaking in ev-
cry limb. or rather l tumblcd forward
in that direction, for l remember fall
ing more than once and aftcrward found
my knees badly cut as we'll as the low
er part of the palms of my hands near
the wrists. In fact, fled to my seals
for protection against this til ng. They
were alive. real and natural, and has
tened to them quito instinctivcly, as
one might to any human companion
ship from the dread of that which was
uncanny and supernatural or what SEEM
ed such. But l had effectually fright
ened the seals. They had plunged
through the water into their tunnel and
disappeared. Presently, however, L saw
them again in the opening of the tun-
mel, four or five black heads close to-
gether, with their round eyes, filled with
wonder, glittering in the light shed
upon them from my fire, which was
blazing brightly at the time. A little
before my alarm in that manner had
heaped up some fresh timber, which
was now sending out good blaze. |
spoke to my seals, called them to me,
and in few seconds they came to me.
The moment l laid my hands on their
heads l felt Gained, and although Istill
dudhtu L 1Clb my NSSiA dSO oliu SCAL NOli-
troll returning. | knew l had need of
them, for l was certain that l would
see this thing again.
The apparition, as | was aware. had
passed me from the right hand to the
left as l sat-that is to say, coming
from the interior of the cave and going
toward the entrance, or, in other words,
from the gallery in which was the tomb
and going toward Curry's Window. 1T
will pass this way again. returning" l
said to myself. l am not sure that am
speaking correctly when l say that l
determined to watch for its reappear-
ance. 1t would be perhaps more cor
rect to say that my gaze was drawn in
the direction of the fire by horrible
fascination. After time, which SEEM
ed an age. but which was exactly 5
minutes and 81 seconds-how l am so
exact as to the length of the interval |
shall afterward explain--the thing re-
appeared, passing as before between the
fire and the wall of the cavern. AS on
the first occasion / felt first curious
and uncanny sensat ton Of cold; then
quite formless, dark shape, if a thing
formless may be described as a shape,
and surrounded by a mistlike, pale
smoke, passed between the fire and the
rock, moving now from the right to the
left-that is, from my right hand to my
left as sat among the seals, and disap-
pearing in the obscurity that filled the
interior parts of the cavern. Its move
ment was perfectly even and regular.
This time I did not scream, though
oh 1ol
least l was thoroughly awake and alert,
with all my faculties quite preternatu-
rally active. The listless, semicoma-
tose condition in which had now been
sunk for so many days disappeared. 1t
came on again later, however, as
shall presently describe. Between six
and seven minutes afterward the thing
passed again and so continued to pass
for some hours, always seeming to
take longer time to do the distance
from the fire into the interior and back
again than that which lay between the
fire and the entrance of the cavern. The
apparition continued to present gener-
ally the same appearance, save that the
darkness which was in the midst of the
luminous haze seemed to be more dis
tinct. Sometimes thought it present
ed the outlines of a man, and once i'm
agined that made out clearly the head
and shoulders. l noticed, too, toward
the end of this period of time that the
central darkness was not quite dark and
distinguished some faint indications of
color.
/ was now so far recovered and had
grown so accustomed to the apparition
that determined to snatch burning
fagot from the fire and kindle for my
self new fire in the neighborhood of
my seals. I saw that if l did not do SO,
and that soon, my fire would presently
be burned out and that would not be
able to kindle another, for was aware
that had used up for my first attempt
to kindle flame all the loose gunpow-
der in NV Dockets InsDired with a