Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-03-12
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STRANGE Noises Tkhs Ass HssFd In ths
Statue In New York Hsrbor.
The statue Of Liberty Is tenantsd by
ghosts. At leaSt that Is what the riyef
men claim, and say the statement IL sus-
oeptible of proof. They say, and they
know whereof they speak, that as the
witching hour of night approaches most
unearthly noises are heard, as II the statue
was possessed.
There Is q scientific explanation, how
syer, Of these ghostly disturbances, but 1t
does not interest the harbor men and sail
ors on board ships lying at anchor within
a stones throw Of Liberty island, their
hulls brought into strong relief by the
electric torch. Many q "fo'c's'le' yarn
has been spun about the midnight oarni-
val of spirits within the goddess. The
sailors in the creaking Of her joints hear
the Rhoulish shouts of the revelers. When
the night Is calm and bitterly cold, the
mysterious din Is plainly heard.
The most terrifying Of these mysterious
sounds for those who are not in the secret
are the spirit rappings. The goddess rivals
the most expert spiritual mediums. These
rappings may be heard almost every night
In the year. During the daytime the SOL
emn figure is as quiet as graveyard, but
when darkness settles down 1t Is easy to
imagine that several spiritualistic soances
are being carried on successfully In this
gloomy Interior. The explanation is, how
ever, exceedingly simple. The statue, as
everybody knows, Is formed Of enormous
plates of copper bronze firmly riveted to-
gether. The action of all sorts OF weather
| to which this very exposed position renders
the statue subject tends to gradually loosen
these little bits Of steel. The dampness
which is drawn In from the water from all
four sides forms thick coating Of copper
verdigris on the rivets, eating away the
copper. This does not weaken the statue
| materially, but it affords certain amount
| Of play between the overlapping sections,
| The goddess under the gentle influence oi
| Old Sol expands throughout every part oi
| her enormous figure. At night she in q
| measure draws her robes more closely about
| her, as II to protect herself from the cold
/ The contraction of the copper sheets, II
may readily be seen, causes gentle mo
tion which produces very faint rap. But
| this reverberates through the vast interior
| which magnihes 1t over and over again
and lends to 1t gloomy, hollow sound.
The members of the guard of honor who
attend the goddess throughout the nigh
tell many strange stories Of the 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 be per
suaded that the mysterious figure was moi
haunted, and all said they had never IL
their lives heard of any haunted house
which could boast half as many hair rails
ing noises as the dignifed goddess. L
sometimes happens when the contrast o
temperature is greatest that the groan
and rappings are loud enough to be heart
on the boats passing close to the island
The sound of hollow groans accompanies
by weird rattlings and other uncanh!
noises has frightened more than one super
stitious sailor as he fioated across the darl
waters. New York journal.