Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1896-03-19
LIBERTY'S GHOSTS.
Strange Noises That Are Heard In the
Statue In New York Harbor.

Statue In New York Hsrbor.
Tho statue of Liberty Is tenantod by
ghosts. At least that is what the river
ccptiblo of proof. They say, and they
know whereof they speak, That as the
witching hour of night approaches most
unearthly noises arc heard, as II the statue
was possessed.
There is scientific explanation, how
ever, of these ghostly disturbances, but 1t
docs not interest the harbor mon and sail
ors on board ships lying at anchor within
stones throw of Liberty island, thoir
bulls brought into strong relief by the
electric torch. Many "fo'o'sle" yarn
has been spun about tho midnight carni-
val of spirits within the goddess. Tho
sailors in tho breaking of her joints hear
the ghoulish shouts of tho jewellers. When
tho night is calm and bitterly cold, tho
mysterious din is plainly heard.
The most terrifying of these mysterious
sounds for those who are not In the secret
are tho spirit rappings. The goddess rivals
tho most expert spiritual mediums. Those
rappings may be heard almost every night
in tho year. During the daytime the SOL
omn figure is as quiet us a graveyard, but
when darkness settles down IL Is easy to
imagine that several spiritualistic soances
arc being carried on successfully In this
gloomy interior. Tho explanation Is, how
ever, exceedingly simple. The statue, as
everybody knows, Is formed of enormous
plates of copper bronze firmly rivotcd to-
gethcr. Tho action Of oil sorts Of weather
to which this very exposed position renders
/ the statue subject tonds to gradually loosen
these little bits of steel. Tho dampness
which Is drawn In from tho water from all
four sides forms n thick coating of copper
! verdigris on tho rivets, eating away the
copper This does not weaken tho statue
materially, but It affords certain amount
of play between tho overlapping sections.
| Tho goddess under the gentle influence of
/ Old Sol expands throughout every part of
her enormous figure. At night she In q
/ measure draws her robes more closely about
her, MS If to protect herself from the cold.
/ The contraction of the copper sheets, II
may readily be seen, causes gentle mo-
ton which produces very faint rap. But
this roverberatcs through the vast interior,
which magnifes it over and over again
and lends to 1t a gloomy, hollow sound.
The members of the guard OF honor who
attend tho goddess throughout the night
toll many strange stories OF tho haunted
statue Several Of these watchmen have
preferred to give up their positions rather
than listen to these remarkable object les
sons in acoustics. They could not bo por'
suudcd that the mysterious figure was not
haunted, and oil said thcy had never In
their lives heard of any haunted house
which could boast half as many hair rnis
ing noises Us tho digniflcd goddess. II
sometimes happens when the contrast Of
temperature is greatest that the groan'
and rappings arc loud enough to DO heart
on tho bonts passing close to the island
Tho sound of hollow groans accompanied
by weird ratings and other uncanny
noises has frightened more thar one super
stitious sailor as he floated across tho darl
waters.-New York journal.