Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-03-26
AN ASTRAL DOUBLE.

Perhaps the house is haunted, mother"
fnid Walter. "The ront is too low for a
house without objection"
"Who cares" laughed l. "Ghosts can't
trouble us, Thoy always CONS at IL
o'clock, and am always soEnG asleep
then. II you over chance TO he awake at
that unseemly hour begin practloing and
that will drive even ghosts away"
Our friends called, and all were charmed
with our delightful little homo Walter
practjced steadily and patiently and was
getting pale and nervous. We attributed
1t to his porsoyerng work and decided TO
spend the holidays in the little country vii.
lagc, which was our rcnl home, leaving the
piano and every note In tho city. We 70.
turned refreshed and ready for II wccls'
Siege of constant sound-musical and 9th.
orwisc.
We had been in town two weeks, not
long enough to overcome the effect Of our
visit, nor yet to be tired Of the pructioing,
yet Walter was evidently getting thin and
pale again l suggested n mild tonic, but
he did not take kindly to tho idea, and /
did not insist. Thon, ono night, [ was
awakened from sound sleep by Walter
standing by my bedside, wide awake,
shaking from head to foot
Mother" no said, 81 cannot endure
this another night "
what is it, my SOM" nskcd thor.
oughly aroused by his excited tones.
Come into my room and listen. My
telling will novor convince you"
arose, threw on my wrapper and fol.
lowed him into his room. Ho turned on
tho light, and we sat down and waited.
Nothing unusual was heard. Walter 70.
fused to tell me what he had seen or heard,
saying he preferred to see n could expo.
riencc the samo thing no did. For three
nights this was repeated; then told Wal
ter that l would exchange rooms with
him, as ho was getting huggurd from want
of sleep or anxiety. A week passed by, and
j mad heard nothing, had not been aroused
or awakened once, and Walter wns nearly
convinced that his nervousness had been
caused by the electric light shining in his
window, producing disturbing dreams. We
decided to change rooms entirely and car
ried all of his furniture into my room
and mine into his which apparently set
tied the matter. / began to joke Walter
upon his ghost being of on vacation
but saw this voxed him and dropped tho
subject.
In March friend came to visit me, and
shared my room with her. We had not
seen zach other for several years and lay
talking together till the clock struck /.
There, " l said, mot another word or
you will not DO nblo to do tho city tomor-
row. Good night"
The house WINS silent
WHATS thnt" softly said my friend
1 listened. Bump, step, stopl Bump,
stop, stopl a heavy stick was set upon
Stair then one foot, then another. Over
and over till the top of the stairs was
reached.-through tho Hhort hall into our
room. Oh, hcavonsl
My friond shrieked, and few out upon
the floor and turned on tho gas as Walter,
white as death, came into the room.
you have heard it at lastg"
No strange person was in the room.
Nothing was disturbed. l told Walter
rather sharply to 90 back to bed and not
frghten us again in such manner. After
he had gone however, looked carefully
under tho bed and into every corner, but
discovered nothing. / returned to my
couch little nervous and u great deal
vcxed with myself OF course my friend
and told ghost stories tho rest of tho
night, and the ghost always proved to be a
cat or rat. We did not fall asleep till
nearly daylight We awoku at 10 o'clock
Then we Laughed at our fright-knew II
was not a burglar, for II made too much
noise, and a ghost would not need cane
1t was plainly wholly imagination.
We tramped and rodo and shopped all
the next day and attended the opera in tho
evening, returning at IL O'Clock fused up
entirely" left the light burning brightly.
At /, precisely-bump, step, stop; bump,
step, step--it came again like an old man
climbing the stairs with "a heavy cane. My
friend was sound asleep, and was glad Of
It, Down the hall 1t came and In ut the door
was sitting up staring straight at 1t, but
saw nothing. Bump step, step-across
the room 10 n window where stood large
armchair. / stared and stared ind did
not even wink but there was nothing in
the chair-simply nothing. l heard no
moro sounds. Broathless and frightened,
sat there till either l tainted or fell
asleep, 1 never shall know which. The
next thing l realized 1t was morning
Walter and my friend were up and dressed.
They had heard nothing, and kept quiet
about what had dreamed %.
Every night for two weeks this same
thing happened. My friend went home
and L went house hunting 1t only took
me short half day TO find just what /
wanted. Then l said to Walter: "This
house Is too small, too dark, too cold, too
everything. l have taken q house on VIII
lett place"
IAN right, he replied, but noticed he
looked little ouriously at me, though he
said nothing; neither did /.
When informed my landlord of my In.
tended removal. he said, "The house you
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