, 1897-04-03
MYSTERIOUS ocrAeoN HOUSE.
A Tale OF Many Ghosts, Human and
Otherwise.

About three years ago l lived at a
place called Elmhurst, across the bay,
and som Of the children OF my family
had visited an old place on High street
which vas reputed to be a haunted
house. . They repeated a wonderful tale
they had heard Of a murder committed
by an Englishman, who, it was said, had
come there ip early days and built the
house. The story in regard to him was
that he was in the habit Of taking long
hunting-trips, and on returning from
one of them found his wife with a house
full OF gay company. This made him
angry, and he shot her, threw her body
down the clothes-chute into the cellar,
n ran away. This story aroused my
curiosity to such a degree that l had a
great desire to visit the place, which l
saw every day as l passed on the San
Landro electric road, and the more I
looked, the more l wondered what basis
there might be for the tale.
Soon afterward an article in a ews
paper, headed Drinking Blood" gave
another Version OF the tragedy, which
was as follows: II stated that the Eng
lishman who resided in this house was a
hunter who often went hunting for long
periods, and would then return unex-
pectedly. Once, upon his return from one
of these trips, he found his wife absent,
and he concluded that she had gone
visiting. After a few days waiting for
her return, he found that the water that
he was using, which came from a cistern
at the back of the house, tasted bad, and
upon examination he found the body OF
his wife floating in the cistern. She had
been murdered during his absence and
her body thrown into the water.
These two stories made a great impress
zion on my mind. and l often wonder
ed, as l passed the house In the cars,
what was the truth OF the matter, and
whether 1t was possible, as had been
said. that the tragedy was often reen-
acted on the premises. As it wal the
only haunted house that l had ever seen,
l wished very much to know IL such
things were true-if ghosts did walk
again and reenact their tragedies. Day
after day. as l passed. this took posses
sion Of my mind. and my sympathies
we're aroused for the poor woman who
had been so cruelty and mysteriously
murdered. So ] determined some day
to visit the premises and, II 1t were pos
sible, see the tragedy ~reenacted. Whether
this wish had anything to do with what
followed, l do not know.
A few weeks after, at about 2 o'clock
of a bright and beautiful day, l visited
the premises in company with my moth
or and two nephews. n a boy Of 4 years
Of age. the other 6 years old. It was To-
Gated on q rise Of ground sloping in ev-
cry direction-in fact, a small hill. The
house was Of octagonal shape, and built
Of cement and plastered on the outside.
A short time before. a storm had nearly
demolished one side Of 1t, and debris
was lying 30 high that we could scarce
ly get into the house. The front steps
were entirely gone. with only q couple
Of posts to mark the foot Of what had
doubtless been a high staircase, as there
was an English basement underneath
the first story. My mother declined to
enter. She waited with my younger
nephew, seated on these posts, while my
older nephew and I entered by the base
ment at the back Of the house. There
Was not q window in place nor q door
on Its hinges, with the exception Of the
kitchen door-nothing but the floors and
the walls. All the other doors were ly-
ing on the floors. The root on eide
had fallen so that 1t nearly touched the
chamber floor. The hall in the centre
of the house was circular, and winding
stairs went all the way up into he upo-
II, 10 that one could stand on the parlor
foor and look right up into the cupola
and see everything in this open space.
The hall being circular, the rooms were
arranged in such manner that one u
stand in the centre OF 1t and see every
room Of the floor upon which he stood.
We counted some 20 rooms.
The winding stairs were In q wretch
ed condition. The supports were gone,
the balustrade was missing. and the
steps we're hanging to the side OF the
hall, 90 that 1t was unsafe to go up. MY
nephew wished to go Up, but l forbade
him. But while my back was turned,
he slipped up stairs, and when l found
that he had assembled, I told him to go
all over the floor and see what was there.
He reported that there vas nothing but
rubbAh, and that portions Of the walls
we're falling of upon the floor. lust at
that moment, 1 stood ut the bottom OF
the stairs, waiting to give my hand to
assist him to descend. being afraid that
tho stairs would give way, when my
mother, from tho outside. called out very
excitsdly: "Daushter. come out OF that
housed"
I looked out oe the window and saw
that she appeared very much frightened.
and that the little boy had jumped down
nom hk seat and run to her. and was
hiding himsslf behind, her. I knew
something had happened. but ~ my At
tsatioo WIS taken Up with my fear for
my nsphsw, who was descending the
rscAsty seairs. I had mot sesn what pass
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