The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-03-24
|GHOS DROl
Them FROM HOME .II'
/ Occupants Of an Old
Home Flee in Terror.
TERRIBLE VISIT
The Spirit Of the Former Owner Said
TO Have Appeared.
IHEzHOME HAS BEEN DESERTED
The Occupants Have Returned to the North,
Leaving Even Their Clothing.
Some of the Strange
Stories They Told
Of the Appari-
tiO1.
The Spirit Of the Former Owner Said
TO Have Appeared.
THEzH ONE HAS BEEN DESERTED

Ghosts. or what the people troubled pc
lieyed to have been ghosts, have caused
y. Northern family, VINO have resided neaS
Ricbmond for five years, to give up their
beaItiful home and go back to- BufIilio'
whence they came
The stories which the former residents
of the old place tell of the supernatuIal
manifestations are calculated W 'ns,f>e
the nerves of any one at all lnclineu 70
believe thatsthe spirits Of the dead reVisle is
the scenes of earth. The sincerity oh lae
belief of the recent occupants ol Tue piop ..e.
& erty in the stories which they told OF the
wonderful manifestations witnessed Ill
the old house is attested by the fact That
on last Friday they fled to the railway
station and boarded a northbound train,
not even taking from the house a chanse
E of clothing.
Everything-clothing, furniture. brlc-a-
brac, books-is in the house to-day, ana
will renaiti there for some time to conc
1t IS pretty certain that the owners will
not return to claim their property
A STRANGE STORY
The whole story is one OF the most re-
markabfe ever heard in Richmond. II
has excited great interest The portion
of the cityalying nearest the beautiful oid
place is naturally most interested IN the
strange story of the supernatural. which,
u I
those who thought they saw the. fearful
apparitions that they fled in terror, and
ere this have put hundreds of miles be-
tween them and the home in which they
spent several years of happiness.
The story of the ghost is not very we'll
connected. 1t was not generally known
until two or three days ago, when the
agent who sold the occupants the prop
erty received an intination that all was
not right at the homestead. The next day
he was visited by the widowed mother,
nearly seventy years Of age, and her son
and4his wife, who lived with her. They
were in a stae of great excitement, in
eed It was some time before She agent
could understand the cause of the trou-
ble
GHOST OF OLD OWNER.
The ladies and the gentleman were
absolutely corroborative in their stories.
They said that the former owner OF the
place, a gentleman who has been dead
twenty Years or more, and who was one
OF the best known men in this section,
was driving them from the place Which
used to be his home. He appeared to
them every day and every night. In
form he was terrible. The memory of
his eyes as they appeared to the ladies'
and gentlemen almost drove them dis
tracted They described them as dart
ing ttinding fire, flashing with q light
at once Q1ZZlIS anu
The daughter-in-iaW seems to have nad
the most Intimate acquaintance with the
supernatural yisitant. Rut the father
and the mother tell stories equally thrill
ing Upon one occasion a young lady
from Goochland county was visiting the
home a day or two after her ARRIVAL
the young lady in a greatly asltated
frame of mind told her hostess that the
spirit of THE former owner OF the house
had appeared to her and told her that
a treasure was buried near the house,
describing tie location with utmost
exactneSs.
AN ANGRY SPIRIT.
The lady could hardly describe to the
agent the scene which followed. She
said the spirit Of the man who had owned
the place at once sprang upon the young
woman and it seemed that he would kill
her Her eyes protuded from her head
and she was almost strangled when the
spirit released her.
~ day or two after, the spirit, which
was not visible to the young lady. led
her to the brink of the well at the back
of the house and she was on the point
OF walking blindly III when one OF the
family. to whom the spirit was plainly
visible seized her and dragged her back.
On Thursday morning of last week.
according to the story which was told
the agent by the young man, he dis
L
of springinS upon the little baby in the
cradle when the father seized it and
dragged it away.
Many other stories of the visits of the
spirit were told The tenant rof the
property said he always told them that
if they would leave the premises forever
he would cease to trouble them. lie
vowed that he could not rest in his grave
so long as Northern people lived in his
home.
THE OvERSEER'S SPIRIT.
The agent laughed at all these stories.
Of course, and finally induced his visitors
to go back to their home They had been
gone but a few minutes, when they re-
turned in greater agitation than before.
| They declared that the spirit OF the over
seer of the former owner of the prop
erty had met them some distance from
the house and warned them that II they
entered the mansion again they would
be torn in pieces by his employer.
The men and women were in state of
great terror The gentleman de-
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