Evening star., 1902-05-31
ANOTHER HAUNTED HOUSE.
The Reward of Couple Who Investi-
gated Strange Noises.

"A story 1 read in The Star the other day
of ghostly manifestations, which We're sub
sequently demonstrated to be produced by
natural causes, recalls an instance of a
haunted house which came under my own
observation said a travelling man at a
downtown hotel this morning
A pretty little villa in the suburbs of nv
town remained tenantless because it was
said to be haunted by the ghost of a ladv.'
the wife of a former occupant AS the
story told in the neighborhood went the
couple had quarreled one night. In fit Of
anger the husband had stabbed his wife to
death, and then killed himself in the same
apartment. There were the usual attend
ing recitalS of the periodical sounds of a
struggle, and the fall of heavy body. The
principal feature of ghostliness, however
was the distinct sobs and means of the dy-
Ing woman, and these sounds We're heard
only at night.
"a friend of mine with his wife and child
decided to occupy the house. His wife was
a woman of remarkable self-control and
when warned by the residents of the vicinity
of the fate In store for them, they both
laughed, and expressed their disbelief of
spooks' In positive terms. The landlord
had offered them three months rent if they
would occupy the house for that period
Two weeks had therefore been the limit of
previous occupancy, and all who vacated
told the same story, that they could not
stand the means of the poor murdered wo-
man My friend chaffed with his neigh
bors on his way to business until the morn
ing Of the fourth cay, and then his mirth-
full mood disappeared, and the neighbors
turned the laugh upon hira zt.-
Having occasion to visit them at about
this time the wife told me zthe following
story: we heard the ghosts and the means
for the first time on the fourth night she
said, and they woke us up. The means
Were low, tremulous. insufferable, sad and
SOFT, quite nerVe-rackinS and terrifying to
hear. Their feature of: interest was their
soothing tenderness as though filled with
loving pity and kindness precisely as l. be-
ing woman, could well ma CINE would come
from the throat of one my sex dying un-
der such cruel circumstances. We have
been in the house ten days and we have
heard them nearly every night. On two
nights during heavy storms .of wind and
ram, such nights as are popularly supposed
to be selected for ghostly visitations, our
specter uid not visit us : l. have had two
servants precipitousy desert us within five
days. L fear we must soon join the pro-
cession of tenants evicted by the wretched
lady's ghostly cries. and move. If l saw
her in her ghastly white robes dripping
with blood, as my next door neighbor pic
lures her, and who declares that she thus
nightly proWis around the premises, /
would not wait for the expressman,
assure you
"a month later I met her husband down
town He was his accustomed jovial self,
tHe evidences OF MS worry over the muir
dered lady's cries having disappeared He
related the sequel follows
The laugh was for a time on me- he
said, but now l have it on my neighbors
and especially upon my landlord as | am
three months rent ahead. The means were
real cries, but they came from the throats
of pair of wild woodland doves and their
young, whose nest was between the walls
of the house on the east side under the
caves. Their mournful cooings coming to
the ears through the walls in the stiffness
of the night SO resembled the muff1ed tones
OF the human voice that they were readily
associated with the tragedy which had
brought the house into such unpleasant no.
toriety. We did not hear them on the first
three nights because of our fatigue and
sound slumber. On the stormy nights, the
wind being in the opposite direction. the
cooings could not be heard and the fact
they had been heard at irregular intervals
only intensified the mystery. During the
day We did not hear them because of the
noise of traffic and the usual sounds then
arising. 1t was, however a downright
scare as | would have sworn in court that
the means were those of human being or
of a ghost that had not forgotten how to
speak. The cries of the wild dove as is
well known, are the most sad and mournful
of the cries of the different wild or domes-
ticated birds
And I fancy" concluded the traveller.
that nine out of ten ghostly cries and
manifestations may be traced to similar
earthly and natural causes if people did not
become SO scared and jump at conclusions"