The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1900-06-15
A CREEPY EXPERIENCE.
HOW 4 DOGS VISION WAS VERl
FED BY A CLAIRYOYANT.

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"Well. sir" said Champion, when ii
comes to the ghost business, l suppose
have had rs varied an experience as any
man of my age in the country"
"And you came in time" said Farwell
ito disbclievc in the whole supernatural
business, of course"
II cannot say that I came to any posi-
tive conclusion. but ! think, on the con
trary, that l was led to abandon some
very positive conclusions which were moi
unlike those which you seem to hold
One was that because could not see OIL
lear thing nobody else could. | never
worked out a bit of satisfactory evidence
of supermundane interference by an in
vestigation. But, like everybody else who
goes into this sort of thing, | ran up al
last against q stone wall and then haulet
off The disturbers refused to disturb
when l was III the haunted house. The
pale blue light didn't tighten. The foot
steps in the hallway were silent. The
cold air refused to blow even when
turned the lights down at midnight. The
hloed stains always turned out under the
microscope to be oxide of iron, just u
the elixir OF the clarvoyauts turned oni
TO be hypophosphates. Slade bafilcd mt
but never convinced me. Home diSap
pointed me. and the Undertaking. circles
wenried me. If any man tried patient!
and fearlessly to see ghost, did,
And" said Farwell. with considerable
satisfaction, you arrived at the sensible
conclusion that a ghost never is seen
That's what l said"
NO" replied Champion. 81 came to
the conclusion that ghosts are seen"
Farwell laughed. ut was some ma
hatma. or, more likely, gray eyed sibyl
not at all ghostly herself
NO." said Champion. at was dog
that led me to that conclusion. In e
you will remember. l bought that o!G
house just out of Chambersburg, in Penn
sylvania. You will recall the big dining
room. with its old fashioned fireplace
and you may recall my mastiff. Hubert
'Hube,' we called him. There WASH;
anything mysterious about the house. Ii
was one of those old fashioned colenia!
affairs without any special traditions
of interest and unassociated with an!
crimes that l ever heard of. Nothing &c
CuETeu III II W a piN'''ti4b ''A'
that led there with my family until the
winter of lS-. Dave Pettus had come
down and he'd been visiting us for sew
eral weeks. The fact is, We were doing
some work together on a book for which
we had a contract. 1t was about the
early history of Louisiana, and Pettus
had accumulated a great bulk of material
for the purpose. He and used to sit be-
fore that big fireplace at night, after the
family had retired. and discuss our work
with a bottle Of old whisky on the tab
Nesrly always Hube would lie on l..
rug before the fire, and. Alice's big ca
would be pretty sure to be asleep on til
cushioned bench at the corner of Tho
chimney. One night. while we were talk
ing about LATTE and General Jackson.
Hube growled ominously, jumped up and
backing against my chair, began to bark
violently and exhibit unmistakabie signs
of terror. The cat, with her fur stand
ing On end. made n break for the closed
door and began TO cry piteously to get
out, The disturbance was so sudden
that Pettus and l were startled. There
stood the dog with his tail drawn down
between his legs, his nose pointing at
the southeast corner Of the room and his
head slowly turning as he parked, MS il
his eyes were following something that
was slowly crossing the room diagonally
to the northwest corner, and all the time
he was pushing against my chair with
his hind quarters. He finished this per-
Torrance, when the object of his excite
ment had evidently disappeared, by walk
ing over the trail with his nose down to
the northwest corner OF the room and
there giving a farewell bark to the VAIN
scoting.
81 took a lantern and went outside
Pettus following me. There was light
fall of snow on the ground and not
break In it anywhere of footprint oil
carriage wheel. The dog, instead OF
searching for trespassers, appeared tt
be relieved to get out Of the house, and
when we went back it was with some
difficulty that got him in again. But he
utterly refused to go into the dining
room. As for the cat, she disappeared
for three days. It's the most extraor
binary performance l ever saw l re
marked to Pettus, and / can't imagine
what the cause of it was
Something passed across your room,
said Pettus. That is unmistakable t.
me-
sThen We diligently examined the room
shaking the curtains, inspecting tht
wainseoting, moving the furniture, sound
ing the floor and going through all the ia
miIiar proceedings OF such n search. Ru
everything was right and tight. not ra
or leose board, window shutters hooked
tight and the Sashes fastened, not thu
slightest evidence that vermin or any
kind Of intruder could have got into th'
room. and there was no warrant for be
licving that Hube and the cat woult
have been terror stricken at any terres
trial intrusion.
FINALLY we returned to our origina
positions, made Iube lie down again OF
the rug. gave the fire Il poke and waited
| to see il we could induce Il repetition O
| the disturbance. But, of course, that i
| something which. | suppose you know
never can be done, and about o'clocl
ne went to bed. l don't think We eithe
| Of US said much about it to the family tn
| next day, for fear that they would natl
rally attribute it TO the whisky bottle
But as soon rs Pettus and l got togethe
in the library we fell to talking about i
| to the neglect of our work, and, to my q:
constituent, Pettus, instead Of trying
find any rational explanation of it, COOL
assured me that there was 10 sort c
doubt that some terrifying thing had gon
across my room only visible to the an
mails You can understand that such a
easy assumption would bring on an arSl
ment, and Pettus amazed me still nor
by saying that any other proof that til
evidence of the animals actions was NJ
needed. 4 think said he, that it is
| I;1I ~ nrOhnofiva nloirvoy0nan thnV In "
IL you have ever been in a caravan O
the Great desert at night, you will r,
member some Of the strange experience