The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-27
MOVED BY UNSEEN HANDS.
SPIRITS TAKE POSSESSION OF A
HOUSE ON THE WATERS ROAD.


and the Furniture Walks Around
the ROOm-A Score of Negroes and
Three White Men Testify to Hav-
ing Seen These Things-strnnge
Manifestations Which Seem to he
Past Explanation.
There is a sensation on the Waters
road. about two miles south of the city,
near the crossing of the Isle Of Hope
road. The spirits are manifesting them
selves, and according to all the evidence
they are not good spirits.
Dan Hill, a colored man, lives in
small four-room house in the little settle
ment of South Kensington. He owns
several acres Of ground around the house,
and ne and his wife and two daughters
have lived there for eight years. day
or two ago he went to the grocery store
of Edward Sicke, just across the road,
and complained that somebody was
throwing brick-bats into his house. He
had searched for the miscreants, he said,
and could not find them. The brick-bats
continued to fly at intervals. and the
neighbors were called together and
search made of the woods around the
house. 1t was thought that the bricks
were thrown by tramps, but none were
found in the neighborhood.
Nothing further happened until Friday
afternoon, when the screams of Hills
wife brought several people to the house
There were about twenty persons, white
| and black, and they saw things which
none of them had ever expected to see.
First a lot Of brickbats came flying
through the air, smashing in the window
sash. Then the clock tumbled off the
mantel-piece and broke in pieces Pict-
ures came flying out of the doors and
windows. Vases from the mantel-piece
followed. Baskets emptied their contents
on the floor, and things were generally
| upset. Naturally this work was first at
| tributed to human hands and thorough
search was made of the house and yard
Even the chimney was searched, but no
body was found in hiding.
After awhile more strange things hap.
pened. The chairs went running around
| the floor, a table was upset, a trunk
turned over, keys fell out of the door
| locks, and goodness Knows what else hap
pened. This sort of thing kept up all the
afternoon and until late at night.
Morning News reporter visited the
scene yesterday and was told things
which would appear ridiculous to relate
so impossible are they in the ordinary
! course of affairs, but they were testified
| to by dozen or more negroes and three
or four white men. A glass pitcher was
| pointed out which had contained three
eggs. The pitcher, it was said, was taken
n T~ria d hxr1
posted on the ground outside
without pitcher or eggs being
| broken After the pitcher was
brought back one of the eggs few out and
dropped upon the floor. Its shell was
cracked, but it was not broken. Several
of the witnesses testified that they had
! been struck by brickbats, some in the
head and face The peculiar thing about
it was that the blows were very light and
nobody was hurt. The bricks seemed to
barely brush them, they said. One of the
party said he heard a racket coming from
the attic. He got up to investigate and
| was astonished to see his chair come run
ming up behind him.
Mr.. Sickel stated positively to a Morn
ing News reporter that he saw a large
picture detached from the wall, moved
gently through the air out of the door,
and deposited in the garden outside. Hill
and his wife and several others testified
" seelnS lLlS. l. ne picture Is a large
one of Mary Magdalene at prayer. 1t has
a glass cover, which was not cracked. The
statements of the witnesses were so posi-
tive that 1t was hard to dlsbelieve them
This sort of thing, they said kept up
until l o'clock yesterday morning when
the family was enabled to get some rest
A colored woman who claims to have the
power of Laying on hands," endeavored
to exercise the spirits in the afternoon
but without success. The disturbance be-
gun again about o'clock yesterday morn
ing and continued for about an hour, after
which time there were only occasional
slight manifestations
Mary Hill, the wife, said pointing to a
trunk in the front room, THAT trunk flew
open this morning and my shawls, dresses
and hat came flying out and went right
out the window / saw that with my own
eyes. There was nobody in the room at
the time. If there had been I would have
seen them" The woman was asked If she
| had any enemies, who would be likely to
play such tricks on her or if she had ever
wronged anybody, since dead, who would
be likely to come back and haunt her for
it. She declared that she hadn't an enc
my in the world that she knew of and that
she had never harmed anyone.
when | gets in a bargain" she said
"and / see somebody is trying to get the
| best of me / speaks my mind right out
but as for harmng anybody I never did"
Mary has only one eye and looks as II
/ she might speak her mind right vigorously
! if she felt so inclined.
There was only one slight manifestation
while the visitors were present. Several
women in an adjoining room declared
| that a pipe, which had been lying on the
chimney piece. had flown across the
room and fallen into a small tub. The
| pipe was in the tub That was evident
! That, II was not in the tub a short while
! before was also a fact. but how 1t got
there is another question. There were
about twenty-five people around the
house, all waiting for the Spirits IN
work Nobody seemed to be afraid of the
/ spirits Notwithstanding their remarkable
manifestation. There has snever been n
| death in the house, so it was stated, nor
one in the neighborhood recently, so the
haunts cannot be accounted for in the
usual way.
DR.. l.. Knorr was among the visitors to
| the house during the day Dr. Knorr is
a believer in spirtualism and undertook
| to explain tho manifestations by psychic
force. He also called upon the spirits TO
make the usual three raps II they desired