Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1901-07-10
Some
Homemade
Bly,. Spooks.
M. QUAD.
COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY C. B. LEWIS.
~ ~ Ex& - ~ ESE

S@ ~ ExE1 - ~ ESS
1 was putting electric wires into the
house of a gentleman named Endriss,
living in a fashionable street in Lon
don, when one day he invited me into
bis library, poured me out a glass of
wine and then had a story to relate.
From his statements it appeared that
his mother, who was an old lady Of IS,
had long been a member Of certain
charitable organization, and certain
members of it had secured an undue
influence over her. She was being per-
suaded to buy and deed the society
certain house and lot valued at about
$4,000, and the sons arguments and
protestations had brought about strain
ed relations. The long and short of 1t
was, think, that the son did not want
the money to go out Of the family, and
he had set his wits to work to invent
some scheme to defeat the old lady's
Intentions. He had got the scheme and
now desired my assistance to carry 1t
out. The house stood alone on a large
plot of ground and had not been ten
anted for several years. The mother
was a superstitiOus woman, who was
guided by dreams and omens and had
once seen a ghost, and the son proposed
to knock her project in the head by
producing haunted house. He want
ed ghosts and COLLINS made to order,
and he believed was the man to put
the job through successfully.
He was willing to pay a good price
for a good thing. and after two or three
meetings we came to satisfactory IN
Outstanding. 1t was two story brick
house, with a cellar and an attic, and
the grounds were surrounded by a
stone wall. There were three or four
old trees, with limbs touching the
walls, and the roof was out of repair,
and doors and windows were in dilap-
idated state. l found the cellar divided
by four partition walls, and the rooms
were gloomy enough to look at. 1t was
an ideal place for spooks. Down in one
corner of the yard was Toulouse, with
a door in the wall opening upon COM
mon, and after spending couple of
hours about the place l reported to Mr..
Endriss that I could give him the
hauntedest haunted house ever known
in England. That door opening OH the
commons and the high wall around the
grounds gave me an opportunity to
come and go and do my work without
much risk of observation.
The Toulouse had a garnet to 1t,
which was dark and damp, and en-
trance to it was effected by trapdoor
and ladder, and l took this attic for
my headquarters. Thither / carried
my electric batteries and other para
phernalia, and for a week l was busy
running wires and locating spooks. Ii
tested my ingenuity to run wires along
the walls and up and down the trunks
of trees and into the house in such
manner that they should be safe from
all other eyes, but | carried this mat
ter out very successfully. / had to rip
up the flooring and get into the parti-
tons here and there, but my tools left
no trace behind.
l do not know how Mr.. Endriss
worked 1t. but one day 1t was whis-
pered about that the old Duff house
was haunted. A tramp told story Of
being driven out by strange noises, and
in "a hours it was all over the neigh
borhood. A newspaper had something
to say about 1t in day or two, and be-
fore the week was out two grocer's
clerks had decided to pass the night
posted and was on hand at proper
hour. The young fellows took up their
station In the parlor, having candles,
cards, drink and a good deal Of cOur-
age, but they didn't remain all night.
Under the floors of the upper and low
er halls l had placed two fiat pieces Of
wood In such a way that they would
strike together when the electric hut
ton was pressed. AS those spook de-
tiers sat smoking and bluffing they
heard the sound of footsteps in the up
per hall. They had to imagine that
the footsteps descended the stairs. but
they kindly did so. Then they caught
them in the lower hall and imagined
that an invisible being passed the open
parlor door, and the way those chaps
got out of that house and over the wall
was sight to see. Their story created
intense excitement, and, realizing that
his property was in peril, the owner
took immediate steps to solve the mys-
terry.
Three nights after the young men
had been driven out the owner and two
policemen took up their quarters in the
house. A thorough search was first
made of the premises. and then the
trio sat down to wait for spooks In
due time the spooks came. There was
no wind outside. but shortly before
midnight there was a gusty wall from