The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-14
PANTHER HOLLOW's GHOST.
An UnenrthIy Thing, With the body
of a Bird, the Head of a Woman.

Panther Hollow why don't they call
| It Phantom Hollow" said a man TO me
the other evening. met him coming up the
path near the deer pen. and a whittier faced
man, or one displaying all the evidences of
! terror, never saw before in my life.
Thus spoke one of the schenley park
policemen few days ago.
| Il asked the man what he meant.
Mean said he. if you had seen what
| just saw, you wouldn't ask me what
meant. 1t is a ghost. man, and such
| ghost as you don't read about, either,
and his words showed that he was neither
crazy nor talking idly. He meant every
word he spoke. and he was in deadly earn
est.
What kind OF a ghost is this which
! you saw? asked.
II never heard Of anything like II, and I
have seen a good deal of the world and
also have read much. This thing has the
| body OF a bird the head of a woman, II is
awful and he trembled so that / really
] felt pity for him, and began TO take
| lively interest in his story, for Panther
| Hollow is one Of the places on my beat so
/ l asked him to describe what he had seen
more minutely, but this ne was evidently
not in shape to do, as after few attempts
| he was taken with such a paroNysm of
/ shaking and quaking that 1 thought sure
/ the man was suffering from an attack of
the ague.
90 No. I am not sick he said in reply to
my questioning look. It's nothing but fear
that makes me tremble so, and I'm going
to get out Of here as fast as / can and be-
fore could retain him he was gone, run
ming down the road toward the entrance.
| Now. imagine, if you can what pretty
circumstance / was placed in. Here it
was after o'clock in the evening" and me
/ a md NFraf oh 20. No h,I1S
| where this man had said he had seen an
uncanny thing in the shape OF a ghost
! with the body of a bird and the head of
a woman. I am not a superstitious man.
! by any means, but you cannot blame me
| when 1 say that / felt just a little queer
about what heard. A ghost, even though
you don't believe in their existene, is not
a very pleasant thing to be thinking about,
| and that, too, in a locality as lonely as
the hollow is In the night, and YOU all
alone.
II must confess that went into that
| hollow feeling not as easy and comforta-
BILE as usually felt while on my beat, and
I took firmer hold of my stick, and at
the same time felt that my pistol was in
shape for instant use. Feeling rather
shaky l thus entered the hollow, walking
directly down the steep path that leads
| from the deer enclosure. However, as l
| proceeded my courage began to return and
the more l thought about that half-bird,
| half-woman thing, the more l began to
| think 1t was absurd to give the matter a
| second thought.
However, I soon had reason TO change
my mind, and to become a strong convert
to ghosts. Seeing is believing, and when
you hear me describe what l saw you will
not wonder that from a scoffer at things
| supernatural became devoted believer
Il had got to the lower end of the 'hol-
low just above where the professor
] 81 IL
| Fourth, when l was startled by strange,
soughing sound, as of pine trees being
| stirred by the winds. You see / used to
work in the pine woods up in Michigan
and you cant fool me on the sounds of
pine trees when a breeze Is stirring
through the leaves. 1 stopped, amazed
| for, as you know, there are no pine trees
to amount to anything in the park. AS
soon as l stopped l heard the sounds
palmer than ever. 1t seemed to come
from point right over my head. ] tell
you felt a little bit weak in my knees
when heard that sound again, knowing
that there was no pine tree within half a
mile of where l stood, and yet there was
that sound. There was no mistaking it,
looked all around, up and down and in
every direction, and all the time that
grewsome sound grew louder and seemed
to increase in Intensity. It finally became
so pronounced that l almost seemed to
AtCl H. Rulleu Out my gun anu cooked
II, not knowing what might happen next
and then 1 waited. The sound kept right
on, increasing in volume, until the entire
woods about me were fun of It,
THE next thing I noticed was a swish
ing as of some large body through The
air directly over my head. l turned with
a start and looked up, but saw moth
ing, although the swishing sound was re-
peated louder than before. l continued
to look skyward, and thought l could
just see the outlines of something that
looked like a bird high UP among the
treetops above my head. was not sure
about this, however, until the thing,
whatever it was, came closer to me with
a slow, steady motion, as though it was
being let down slowly with a wire. Then
its outlines, which were faint and indis-
tinct at first, became palmer, and l saw
that it was really a bird, but of mon
strous size. l raised my revolver and was
about to fire, thinking that maybe 1t was
an eagle, when the thing spoke-yes, sir
actually spoke to me, saying simply:
Don't And 1 didn't
II suppose 1t meant for me not to fire
Anyhow. l hadn't nerve enough left after
that thing spoke to me to have raised my
finger.
1T kept on coming closer to me all the
time, and then 1 discovered that the
soughing sounds l had heard and which
so closely resembled the wind going
| through pine trees, were MADE by the mo-
ton of the wings of the thing as it moved
through the air. I now saw another
thing. The bird or whatever 1t was, was
was as white as a snowdrift. AS it cams
closer to me 1 saw still another strange
and uncanny thing, and one that did
not make me feel any the easier. and
that was that the bird had the head of a
| woman.
The story of the man at the edge OF
the hollow told me now flashed to my
memory quick as lightning. Here was
the ghost he had seen; half bird and half
woman. Was 1t a ghost?
II determined to find out by a certain
test. By putting a bullet through it, de-
spite its warning don't and with the in
spiration 1 fired at it with my revolver
Besides the echoes of the report which
rang through the hollow with unearthly
| clearness, the only other southland may
| never hear another like twas a scream,
loud and shrill, piercing, chilling my blood
with the agony it expressed.
| Had I killed the thing? l looked up
| 1t was still there in the air above me, but
now so close that 1 could plainly distin>
| guish the features of it's face.