Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1896-03-13
LlsERTY's GHOSTS.
Strange Noises That Are Heard In the
Statue In New York Harbor.

Strange Noises That Arc Heard In the
Statue In New York Harbor.
The statue of Liberty IS tenanted by
ghosts. At least that IS what the river
men claim, and say the statement is sus-
oeptible of proof They say, and taey
know whereof they speak, that as tho
witohing hour Of night approaches most
unearthly noises are heard, as if the statue
was possessed.
There is a scientific explanation, how
ever, Of these ghostly disturbances, but it
docs not interest the harbor men and sail
ors on board ships lying at anchor within
a stones throw of Liberty island, their
bulls brought into strong relief by the
electric torch. Many a "fo'cs'le" yarn
has been spun about the midnight carni-
val Of spirits within the goddess. The
sailors in the oreaking of her joints hear
the ghoulish shouts Of the jewellers. 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 a graveyard, but
when darkness settles down it is easy TO
imagine that several spiritualistic seances
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 rivetcd to-
gether. The action Of all sorts of weather
to which this very exposed position renders
the statue subject tends to gradually loosen
those little bits of steel The dampness
which is drawn In from the water from all
four sides forms thick coating Of copper
verdigris on tho rivets, eating away the
copper. This docs not weaken the statue
materially, but it affords certain amount
of play between the overlapping sections.
The goddess under tho gentle influence Of
Old Sol expands throughout every part of
her enormous figure. A night she in a
measure draws her robes moro closely about
her, rs if to protect herself from the cold
The contraction Of the copper sheets, it
may readily be seem causes gentle mo
tion which produces "a very faint rap. But
this reverberates through tho vast interior,
which magnifies IL over and over again
and lends to it u gloomy, hollow sound.
The members of the guard of honor who
attend the goddess throughout the night
ell 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 &c pcr-
iuaded that the mysterious figure was not
and all said they had never in
heir lives heard Of any haunted house
which could boast half as many hair rails
ng noises as the dignified goddess. It
happens when the contrast Of
is greatest that tho groans
md rappings are loud enough to DO heard
N the boats passing close to the island.
The sound Of hollow groans accompanied
" weird ratings and other uncanny
loises has frightened more than one super
titious sailor as he foated across the dark
waters. Now York journal.