The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-06-30
A GHOST STORY.
The Explanation Was Found in a
Stray Chicken.
WashIngton Star.l

washington Starr
Ghost stories possess more or less
fascination to US all. The following
STORY related by a reliable physician,
IS the recital OF an incident which ac-
tually occurred:
had always secuted the belief in
Shostly apparitions and noises. but for
tlme during a never-to- be- forgotten
night OF turmoil in my house, my re-
solution was sadly shaken. We were
Just finishing dinner, when the front
Dell ungled gently. The servant who
responded reported that there was no
one at the door. She added. her face
FlslDly pale, that she had answered the
pun three times that day, and each
TINE had found no one on the steps. Of
course, we all talked pleasantly and
ledrnedly about ghosts and Of the IN
comfortable manner they had of mani
resting their unwelcome presence. Then
remembered, and fOOlishly recounted
10 my family, that d year or so before
we mad moved into the house the then
| occupant had been called to the door
ana, upon appearing. had been shot
dead by an enemy. I also recOllected
! that had been assured by the renting
agent that the stories that I might
hear about the house being haunted
| were without foundation, especially as
to the spirit of the murdered man as
cending the front steps, ringing the bell
and walking right through the closed
! door into the house.
AS if in response to my tale the bell
again tinkled. This time I myself ran
to the door. The mischievous small boy
l hoped to catch was not there. con-
Tess TO a slight tremor Of nervousness.
Ny face must have betrayed me, as the
features of the feminine members of
my family became white, and / was
soundly lectured for my forgetfulness
in falling to acquaint them with the
fact that there was a ghost in the
house We retired late, but not to
sleep. It was quiet until shortly after
midnight, when we all heard with
startling distinction the front door bell
ring. The bell was situated in the serv-
ants quarters in the rear of the base
ment. My eldest son and I bolted for
the front door, revolver in hand. OF
course, we found no one there. We ex-
plored the house from cellar to garnet,
but Sound no evidence of either ghostly
or huIN2n intruders. All remained quiet
until early dawn, when the bell sound
ed again, this time loudly and vigor-
ously.
This capped the climax to a horrible
night. Ny sister went into violent hys-
teTics, my wife into commissions and my
daughters into various stages Of femi-
nine fright. The maid servant barri-
caded the door and shrieked for the po-
lice. I started on a run for the police
station, while my eldest son, Bob, rang
up the nearest physician. Tive officers
joined my in my sprint back to the
house. AS we entered the hall Bob and
the physician bounded up the steps. AS
we held an excited consultation of war
beneath the brilliantly lighted chande-
lier. with the hall door wide open, the
bell was pulled again, and with a vigor
which appeared to be a ghostly answer
and defiance to our futile human efforts
TO reveal the 'spook's' identity and
whereabouts.
To say that we were all startled but
imperfectly tells the actual situation.
1t was decidedly shaky, and even the
officers seemed to think something was
doing The physician hurried upstairs
to attend the ladies, who were then in
a state of abjeet collapse. With the Of
ficers. / made a systematic search Of
the house, winding up in the cellar. The
first streaks Of dawn were entering the
front and rear windows, lighting up it's
dark corners and recesses. AS we were
carefully examining the east front we
heard the bell sound above us once
more, and at the same time we detected
a fiuttering sound in the west corner
on high pile Of coal.
And there was the 'ghost'-a
chicken, with its leg caught in long
piece Of tangled wire. This piece of
wire had in some mysterious manner
become caught in the wire attached to
the front door bell running overhead.
We extricated the innocent cause OF
our fright with a hearty laugh. 1t was
afterwaTd learned the chicken had es-
capped from a huckster's wagon the pre-
I ceding day, had flown into our cellar
through a broken pane in a window,
and, it's leg becoming fastened in the
wire, had caused the bell to ring in its
struggles for release"