The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1894-10-26
A TRUE GHOST STORY.

Ghosts being associated from time
immemorial with this season of the
year, though for what reason / never
could understand, am going to relate
a personal experience of this kind,
which happened several years ago.
We are so familiar in the present day
with all manner of spirits-from the
various stories gravely related to lis
by clever men, who. whatever may
be our opinion, are evidently tlielu-
selves quite convinced that ghOstly
interviews are now matter of every
day Occurrence-that 1 suppose soon
an apparition will be no longer
thing of terror tU freeze the blood and
make the hair to stand OH end; but /
belong to an older generation which
did not care for dealings with any
thing 'uncanny," and was content to
leave all communications with another
world until we ourselves had put off
the body; so 1 must confess that when
/ knew myself to be in the presence
of a spirit, as on the night of the his
tory of which l am about to relate
I was seized with so deep Il fear that
even now l shudder at the remem-
brance.
| shall not indicate the house or the
Inhabitants nearer than to say that
l was en- a visit to some friends who
lived near WarminiSter. Some of the
descendants of that family are most
likely alive, and it might pain them to
have the name made public; so l will
call them Palmer. I had never been
to their house before, and had never
heard that it was ''haunted;" in fact.
L had no suspicion of this being the
case.
L arrived tired with my journey
and rather anxious to get to bed for
good nights rest. 1 had been used
to have my sister to sleep with me,
and as Mrs. Palmer had a daughter
young girl, 1 asked her if she would
mind sharing my room. The child
shrank back with an evident look OF
fear, and l said hastily, thinking she
was shy of sleeping with a stranger
"Oh, never mind, my dear, if you
would rather not, 1 am not afraid OF
being alone, only l prefer a com
panion at night as 1 am used to it,
[ went to my room shortly after
1t was comfortable one. and | fell
10 uneasiness whatever. locked the
door, am sure of that-and in {;
short time was in bed. This was til,
now old-fashioned four-poster, will
curtains all around, so that whel
! there you could see the other part'
| of the room through any gap there
| might be in the hangings. / went tC
sleep for some hours, I should fancy
when I awoke to the knowledge tina
some one was in the room, moving
about. Exactly opposite my bed wa:
a chest of drawers of antique make
and design. They were of dark pol
islled wood, inlaid. and with hanging
brass handles. The curtains were no
! drawn close, and standing at these
drawers, opening and shutting them
was apparently an old woman. The
moon shone directly upon her. Al
clearly as l saw it then, [ can still
see that small, bent figure. Forget
ting that the door was locked,
thought that someone had made mis-
take in entering my room. l cOughet
to make my presence known. Th'
| figure turned and came to the foot O.
the bed. l saw with surprise that i
was attired in the fashion of man!
years ago. Then it opened wide thu
curtain and gaZed down on me will
a face of intense malignity. The fac
was that of a corpse, the flesh dis
cOlored. the eyes fixed, the feature:
rigid. The coldness of death seemed
to seize OH all my faculties-an un
utterable horror Of this dreadful thins
took possession Of my whole mind
[ remember no more.
| Hours after, when morning wa:
drawing near, 1 regained conscious
ness, for conclude that had tainted
with terror. With my returning
senses came the remembrance of thu
ghost / had seen, and the same over
whelming sense of fear. With shud
der / looked around. Nothing was t.
be seen, but the drawers were, som:
of them, standing open. / dressed
/ hastily and as soon as the household
seemed stirring went down to tn,
breakfast room. only too thankful t.
leave my hateful chamber. 1 sait
nothing to the family. but directly
we We're seated at breakfast my hos
| exclaimed: You are ill. Your fac,
is ghastly pale" All eyes were turned
my way, and felt rather confused
| "NO," 1 said, with the reluctanc:
ore has to speak of an apparition
''But 1 saw something in my room
last night that rather disturbed ME
A person came into the chamber, ant
her appearance was a kind of shock.
My host turned instantly upon hi,
wife. Rosetta" he said very stern
ly, "you have been at that old wo
mans things again!" Then he trict
to turn the subject. But this invol
untary speech as it seemed to be
made me determine to know more.
you must tell the whole story
ncw,' 1 cried. "You most cruelty,
think, put a guest to sleep in L room
YOU Knew to be haunte1 EvidentI!
this apparition is not new to you
| My hostess expressed her deep re
gret that l should have been dis
tlrbed, and her husband replied, Il
| is certainly true that, when anyone
turns over the articles in that chas
OF drawers, the old woman you speal
| of is sure to appear the same night
What she wants, or who she is, 1 can
| not tell. I believe she is an ancestres.
| of mine and that the chest of drawer:
belonged to her. / was rot aware
that my wife had been meddling will
| it, or you should not have been pII
in that room and subjected to such /;
night of terror"
L understand then the little girl.
objection to sleep with me. Many
apologies We're made both by Mr.. ant
Mrs. Palmer. L was entreated not IL
let this experience make any differ
| ence to my visit; but 1 considered
their unkindness was so great, in al
lowing a stranger to sleep in a room
in which it was known this horrij
al partition was wont to appear, thai
left the house that same morning
r I'LL.