The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-21
VACANT "HAUSTED. HOUSES
Local Suspicion DOOms Many Londou
Houses to Emptiness.
ON Household Words.

FROM Household Words
Probably the majority of peopIe bst.
been momentarily struck from time 70
time by the sight of dwelling houses 90
sad, deserted appearance, curiouslv sr,,
gestive of rats and romance. which occ,.
at intervals in the streets of London ana
most other big human hives. There +% b,l4
stand, year after year; no one occunias
them, no one seems TO make inouiris
ABOUT them, or to regard them as habite9
PIE; seheIatly they crumble through sheer
damp ana dlsuse, or are eventually razed
by the legaliZed "house breaker,i ~
course, many houses answering to this 5
Scrlpuon stand empty for years pending
decisions in the court of chancerv ar -
cause the sanitary authorities have seen
mt to condemn them but 1t is a fact tbot
hundreds of such houses remain vacant
simply because of some queer aversion or
superstition, which has gradually SIM
rounded them with a fatal atmoSp6ara 81
i'll luck. Cali a house haunted" and win
many people the ghost is taken for
granted
Occasionally the reason why certain
dwelling houses should have been marked
out and stunned this way are humorous
to degree-not to say ridiculous Tbo
writer knows of one substantial niia
standing i'm a northwest suburb which
has been practically doomed to pernetnai
emptiness solely through a local renort
that dastardly crime had been done in
one of the rooms Not an atom of basa
for this rumor was to be had but in q
short space of time the belief obtained
such cTedence that it was no uncommon
thing for one or more morbid sightseers
to be found staring up at the blank win
dOws and specializing as to the nature NJ
the deed. Finally the street urchins toolr
every opportunity to ribble it with stones
while every possible tenant was sOlemnlv
warned against occupying the premises.
The despairing owner reduced the rent
from time to time, but had construction
was placed upon this action, and the
building is now an uninhabitable shell
Another house. in the very next street.
had stood tenantless for a long time for
a somewhat similar reason. 1t appeared
that the last occupants had mySteriOuslv
disappeared, owing money in all direc
tons. This was no unprecedented occur
renee in itself. but it so happened that a
local busybody discovered in one of ina
upper rooms a red stain, which was dupli
Gated in the passage below, and mme-
diately there were Whisperings as to foul
play. An investigation disproved this
theory, but the rumor had gone forth
and that house was doomed The fact
that the stains in question were found 10
be nothing more than blotches of red paint
made no difference. They were red In
stantly the local mind settled that they
must he life blood.
Even those people who pride themselves
upon being above the influence of such
idle gossip very naturally do not relish oc-
cupying a house that is pointed at and
talked about" while they can obtain 0na
landlord bitterly remarked to the writer
recently, Let a house be singled out for
local suspicion and whispers, it Is almost
certain to be doomed to future emptiness.
No one cares to put the matter to the
test"