The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1901-03-02
QUEER WAYS OF
SOME GHOSTS.
Peculiar Experience Of Chicago
Man With Spirits.
HAD 4 VISIT FROM A SHADE.
Ssms Startling Phenomena That Wsrs Pro-
iucsd By Amateur Mediums for The
Entertainment Of Their Friends
HAD A VISIT FROM A SHADE.

do 1 believe in ghosts:" said Chics-
20 business man, as he turned from his
desk I'm a downtown office. "Wen, / al
ways prided myself upon my lack OF SUI
perstition until a few years ago when l
happened TO meet spirits OF various char
acteristics at the home OF my old friends,
Mr.. and Mrs. Oscar II. Arnold. who lived
until recently In Indiana avenue. near
Thlrty-first street.
Did L ever see any of the specters?
No; but had many strange experiences
with them. When / begin 20 tell Of the
startling tests that wers' given 4 am
sometimes drawn into long story. but
II YOU want TO hear how / made my ac-'
qusintance with ghosts. win be, glad to-
tell you. eri
'"rhe Afnolds were plain simple. every
day folk In ordinary circumstances. Mr..
Arnold VAS a native of Michigan and by
trade q candy manufacturer His wife
was n Pennsylvania. Mrs. Arnold was
"a woman OF gentle, kindly disposition
ana deep religious sentiment.
She and Mr.. Arnold were Christians
bYt am not aware. although l boarded
With them for many months. that either
of them belonged 10 any particular sect
or attended any church. 1t was not dur
ing my first stay with them that Mrs
Arnold discovered she was endowed with
certain mysterious qualities. About n
year after my residence with them, / met
Mr.. Arnold one evening downtown. He
gave me "A cordial greeting, accompanied
with a pressing invitation 10 supper
Il have special reason for wishing
IN nTtf M k. ..t.l .
will show you something that will sur
pukse YOU.
His manner excited my curiosity and I
went. The couple, who had no children,
dwelt alone In a fiat OF four or five
rooms. After dinner Mr.. Arnold asked
me not TO smoke, n strange request,
thought. lie, himself, used tobacco Then
the three OF us entered the sitting-room,
or room or the parlor
He closed the folding-doors between
the two apartments. and snapped tho
hok that secured them. We seated our
selves around a Small table, on which he
showed me how to form a chain by put
ting the tips OF our l.,tle fingers togeth-
er. Then he turned off the gus and we
sat In darkness,
LAUGHED AT THE EXPERIMENT.
II had never attended a spirituaiistic
seance, for L had never felt inclined to
III OCCULT tnlnss. nau Uedfd OF
spiritualists and their ways and wiles
OF spirit-rapping and table turning, and
fiouted with the mass OF humanity at
the tricks and delusions practiced upon
the gullibe
Hence i sat rather amused and skepti-
cal. wondering what could have gotten
into the heads Of my good friends. / also
began to feel a little nervous. Super
natural manifestations there might be-
but these L felt inclined 10 regard as the
work of lost and restless souls OF Satan
and his imps
1T seemed incredible that any good
saved, independent spirit should come at
the beck and call of any audacious, ex-
pSf1menting mortal
Mr.. Arnold solemnly recited the Lords
prayer. Then Mrs. Arnold began 10
speak. She did not go into trance. Her
voice. quiet and normal, and betrayinR
no change in her manner, came IlstiHct-
ly out of The darkness.
F" Il see a farmhouse. Two large trees
grow beside IL. and the date 1853 is on the
gable. carved i'm wood Behind the house
Is large barn. she said. And she went
on 10 describe what | recognized as my
birthplace, in Northern Wisconsin.
she had never seen the place and new
er heard ME describe IL. yet when ques-
toned her she sketched IL accurately IN
every 6etail until ] could know the very
potdt from which she obtained her mys-
Erious view. | was surprised and puz-
zled. but somehow was glad when the
sitting was ended.
, Some time afterward I went 10 board
again with the Arnolds. / remained with
them six months. during which time
attended scores of their slttings. acauir-
ing, awed and fascinated. rather con-
fused and perplexed idea OF the ways OF
the great majority.
N ha 4 Ia I'D
tion OF what l may call spirit writings
notes and scrawls written in the dark
ness, some OF them carelessly penciled
others i'm exquisitely straight, close lines
although on unrued paper certainly
none OF them written by Mr.. or Mrs. Ar
mold or by the 'tertlum quid, myself
And there was nobody else In the room or
in the house, except the mysterious dis
embodied
There was no ventriloqulsn about ~
either; my host and hostess had ample
use for their money without paying a
ventriloduist TO humbug me aud their
friends " there was any humbug about
IL ] would certainly have discovered it
in the six months that I stayed with
them.
FIRST VISIT FROM GHOSTS.
'Mr. ana Mrs. Arnold were not Spirit
uslsts. They would deeply resent being
so considered. and neither was l. Their
uncanny experiences began only few
years ago. when. one evening AZ they
sat conversing after dinner. Mrs. Arnold
heard by all present In the room. Simple,
table at her elbow. She jumped up and
retrested. and her husband laughed
heartily az her alarm.
For some time the knocking was con-
tinued. Afterward they heard II at fire.
auent intervals, and soon Mrs Arnold be-
-,