Evening star., 1897-03-27
A HAUNTED HOUSE.
A Strange Door and a Strange Story
That Always Chung to 1t.

A Strange Door and a Strange story
That Always Chung to 1t.
The pension examiner. who had been on
duty In q southern state, was In Washing
ton for q week or two. as Is the custom
among that class Of public servants. and
he was telling Of what he had seen and
heard in his bailiwick
"Oh, yes" he said, in response to q
query. there were 'ha'nts' there. for where
are they not where the darky prevails
But the real ghost of the whole section
was In an old house known as Harley Hall.
The house was nearly a hundred years old.
and as far back as the people could remem-
Der 1t had the reputation of being haunted.
This reputa ton had primarily grown out
of the fact that in one of the great rooms
OF the house was a door, leading some
where, which never had been opened, as
far as known, and which resisted every
effort to open it. The room was wain-
scoted in oak nearly to the ceiling. and
this door was only about six feet high and
three feet wide, and seemed appropriate as
the entrance to a secret chamber. 1t had
heavy iron hinges and heavy iron latch
and staple, eaten deeply by the rust, when
/ saw it.
In response to suggestion from the
owner of the place, who was showing me
over it and telling me the story of its
ghost. l made effort to get the door
open. both by pulling at 1t and by putting
my shoulder against 1t and pushing with
all my strength. 1 even went SO far as to
rig kind of a clumsy jack against it to
force it open, but it refused to bulge an
inch. l could tell that 1t was well-made
door by the sound it gave forth when
pounded on, but there was no reason ap-
parent why it should not open to reveal
what was on the other side of it.
THE story was not d very weird one
consisting mostly of the rumor that on GER
tain nights this door opened. and former
master Of the house came forth to wander
| about. He had never done any harm OF
any good to any one. and on the whole the
ghost story was rather tame. But the
door was there, and there was a mystery
about that which was still unsolved
through all the years.
Last year the owner of the house. at my
suggestion, opened the old hall for sum
mer boarders. and led the van and took
the room with the mysterious door in It
Many's the night I've sat and watched
that door. and, often of moonlight nights
I've sat in the open window, waiting to see
II the sweetness Of the southern summer
night would not tempt the old master tC
wander, but he never came forth to meet
me.
"One night, though, came the revelation
| of the mystery. A curtain In one of the
windows of a wing of the house was blowr
| into candle flame. and five minutes latel
fire was raging. Half an hour later tn.
| flre was out but the wing adjoining my
room had lost its upper half. exposing thi
| wall of the main building. In the repair:
| that followed this wall was partly re
| moved. and it was shown that the myste
! flous door was rot door, but merely
| joke on posterity, played by the origina
| proprietor, who had had heavy piece o.
| oak put in the wainscotfng and had carved
| 1t with his own hands to resemble a door
The hinges and latch he had put in t
| carry the trick to the very end. Tba
| door" concluded the narrator "by actua
| measurement was fourteen inches thicl
| and solder than stone wall. SO that i
| was no wonder nobody could ever open it.