Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1900-01-19
A CURIOUS INCIDENT.
AN. UNUSED ROOM THAT HAD a
DASH OF MYSTERY IN IT.

An UNUSED ROOM THAT HAD. a
DASH OF MYSTERY IN ".
a Ts1nsformation That wa. Quickly
an Optical Illusion That Deceived
Three Pairs of Eyes. 80
In the course of the Il fter dinner talk at
4 little gathering few nights ago u well
known professional man Of New Orleans
told the following singular story: In the
spring of 1922 he said, Il was living in
| q house Oh North Rampant street which |
had taken ON a one year lease, expecting
to build. Our family consisted of liysclf
! and wife. our little boy@ then only .
| years old, and my unmarried sister. The
house was two story brick which had
| been built before the war, and the inte-
! rior arrangement was very simple. The
front door, opened on a hall which con-
tanned the staircase and ran all the way
through on the right hand side. while on
the left was first our pal4or. then the din
ing room and lastly Il small unused
apartment not much larger than closet.
! Up stairs were bedrooms. and in the rear
| was detached Kitchen
I'VE allowed the little room on the
| first floor to stand vacant for several rea-
sons. To begin with, it was really too
| small for actual service and was badly
lighted by only one high, narrow window.
Besides, some OF the p!astering had fall
en- from the Getting. and was afraid the
rest might come tulnbling down on our
heads. That was undoubtedly Il source
of danger and prevented us from using it
for storage. SO we simply left it as we
! found, it-entirely empty. l suppose the
room was constructed originally for a
! pantry. ! have been Il little particular in
! describing these details because, as you
! will see. they have direct bearing on my
! story.
I'VE had been living in the house al
| most year." continued the speaker,
when one Sunday in June, as nearly as
can remember, l went with my wife
| and child to see some friends near Audu-
bon park. My sister was visiting at BIZ
loxi at the time. and we let the servant
off for holiday. We got back at 5
| o'clock or thereabout, for l recollect it
was still quite light. and, as we were
walking toward the house noticed that
somebody had left a stepladder standing
directly i'll front of the high window
opening into the little disused room on
the ground floor. That's rather cordial
invitation to prowlers,' ! said, half jok-
ingly. Let's see whether any have avail
ed themselves of it,
$50 when we went inside we walked
back together to the last door, and
| pushed it open. Why. what does this
mean?' l exclaimed in amazement. There
was nobody there, but the room, which
| al
tanned several pieces of furniture. A
rough looking table stood in one corner
with an old fashioned straight backed
chair in front of it, and opposite was a
small cot bed. There We're some papers
and other things on the table and reli-
gious print stuck On one Of the walls.
Il started to enter. but my wife held
me back Don't go in she pleaded.
The plaster may fall. Those things
must belong to the cook 1t struck me
as very strange that the cook should
move in without asking permission. but l
| noticed my wife was very. nervous, so
| drew the door to. and we went into the
parlor. 4 few moments later / walked
outside to shift the ladder. and as l pick
ed it up l glanced through the window
The room was perfectly empty.
| IL am not superstitious, and the proof
Of it is that thought Immediately I was
the victim of some practical joke. l re-
entered the house quietly from the rear
and again l opened the door. The room
was as empty as q drum. and it was evil
dent at a glance that no sort Of trickery
was remotely possible. | won't attempt
to describe my feelings. | was so shock
ed. so bewildered, so frightened, to tell
yon the truth. that for moment or two
was simply rooted to the spot: Then
| pulled myself together somehow and
went back to the parlor. My wife. saw
at once that something was wrong. It's
that room! | blurted out. There's moth
ins in it now-not stickv and immedi-
| arely | had case of Mysteries on my
hdnds. That's about all there is to the
story.
Next morning l examined the place
carefully by broad sunlight. and it was
plain from the dust on the floor that no
furnishing Of any kind had been there for
years. We left the house before the end
Of the week, paying u months forfeit on
the lease, not because we believe in
spooks, hut because we didn't care to re-
MAJ in in a place where unaccountable
things happen. It's bad for the nerves.
"My wife and have talked the matter
over Il tuOuSlnd times. cIre1ully cOmp1r-
ing notes, and as far as we know we
both saw exactly the same things. Ny
by must have seen them, too, because
when he went back to the parlor he ask
ed his mother whether that wasn't Aunt
Hattie's chair. Aunt Hattie is al old
relative of ours who has favorite
straight back chair, similar to the one
we SAVIOR thought we saw-in the
room. Of course we have never allowed
ourselves to refer to the occurrence be-
fore the child, SOL am unable to say posi-
lively what else he observed. What
saw myself was as plain and distinct as
you are ut this moment. | even noticed
that one Of tue table legs had been mend
ed with q piece Of slat. and my wife re-
marked the same thing. The house is
still standing and has since been occ,l-
pied by several successive tenants. As
far as l am aware none Of them has ev-
er had any unusual cxperience.''-New
Orleans Times Democrat. -, :
One Who Controls.
| "WhO is the head Of your house ="