The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1895-09-11
But They Are Said to Belong to
a SpOok
STRANGE MIDNIGHT GROANS
Assail the Ears Of a Luckless House.
holder at WestIake
he Is Brave Enough to Investigate but Noths
ing Tangible Has Yet Rewarded
His Anxious Search

Out in the west end the residents are
discussing sensation. This is rather
remarkable for their quiet portion of the
the subject of the conversation is nothing
more nor less than ghost. Then. too,
it is not one of these everyday, makes
believe ghosts, but real, bona fide spook,
such as is told of with bated breath In
the most sepulchral of whispers. And
more than that, this particular wrath
has heen seen by several responsible par
ties, each of whom is willing to make
separate and solemn affidavit concerning
it.
The theater of action upon whose
boards the spook made it's debut is locat.
ed near the southwest corner of Eighth
and Hoover streets, not far from the
grounds of the Los Angeles City Gun
club. 1t is small affair and contains
but five rooms IN all and presenting a
dilapdated appearance TO the casual OBJ
server. n. G. Bowman is the present
tenant, but he promises to make rapid
exit from such dangerous locality.
A Herald representative visited the
house yesterday afternoon and listened
to number of stories regarding the
shadowy vIsitant. "These things" said
Mr.. Bowman, "have been going on for
the past SIX weeks. and | am getting
rather tired of it. | am not believer in
spirits, nor am [ positive that the dis
turbances are from other than natural
causes. | should be very glad, however,
to have these causes made plain. for then
the neighbors would stop talking and
things would quiet down bit. You
see, | am only newcomer, and have
only occupied the house about three
weeks. During that time bave certain
jy heard soma queer things, and the
neigh bors tell me that it has been the
same way for nearly two months.
''Shortly after our moving in l was sit
ting looking out of the front window one
afternoon when saw young lady paes
on the other side of the street. She glanc-
ed over my way for a moment and then
ed and rushed off down the street.
OF course | could not imagine what was
the matter and ran out toward her but
she would not stop and l gave up The
chase. The next day 1 was told that this
young girl had seen an enomous pair of
bare feet dangling out OF the upstairs
window. They we're supernaturally large,
she said, and waved around in most
peculiar way. Now as 1 was alone in the
mouse at the time l naturally thought
that the lady was mistaken and so would
have forgotten about it had the affair not
been repeated several days afterward,
Mrs. Landreth seeing the same thing.
Then we instituted an investigation, but
was absolutely no way for any PRACTICAL
Joker to have slipped upstairs without my
knowledge.
"Last Wednesday night about clock
| was awakened by a heavy crash in the
region of the dining room. l got out of
bed and listened.
''For a few moments everything was
quiet and then there came to my ears
some OF the most heartrending groans I
have ever heard. | did not stop to dress.
and after securing my revolver rushed
down stairs and then opened the front
door, supposing that some one had broken
into the house. To my surprise there
was no trace OF any midnight visitant,
and the rooms were precisely as l had
left them on retiring.
You can imagine that I did not sleep
much that night and IN the morning
learned that similar occurrence had be-
fallen every previous tenant. Friday
night the same thing came again, the
crash and the groans resounding with
terrific reality, and iG was only with an
effort that l restrained my impulse to
leave the house. Since then | have not
been disturbed, but l am going to get out
of here just as soon as | can. Live men
l am not afraid of, but L don't exactly
yearn after visitants from the other
world