The Savannah morning news., 1902-09-10
FRIGHTENS THE PEOPLE.
strange Apparition Turns Up in
Charleston.


Charleston.
Citizens of Charleston, S. c., are
much exercised over a strange phan-
tom which they say has suddenly made
it's appearance in their fair city. Dur
ing the past week or ten days reports
have come in from various outlying
districts which do not tend to allay
the fears of nervously disposed per-
sons.
Il missed a late car to my home in
the suburbs the other night" averred
a merchant, in speaking to reporter
for the News and Courier. land was
forced to walk or spend the night at
hotel. l started out in the best of
spirits. In order to take advantage Of
short cut and thereby save con-
siderable distance / decided to go
through the edge of certain ceme-
terry. / was in no particular hurry to
get home, but l kept up a tolerably
fair pace through the city of the
dead.
Il was ambling along at a pretty
good clip bounding over tombstones
and hopping over mounds of earth,
when suddenly my attention was drawn
to something down in one of the dark
corners of the cemetery, where the
thick foliage did not admit the moon
light. A great white something slow
ly arose up out of a grave and sud-
denly sank into the ground again. at
the same time emitting a fearful.
blood curdling groan, such as might be
wrung from strong man in excruciat-
ing physical agony
II candidly acknowledge that hur-
ried on. | didn't have any business
hanging around in a, cemetery at such
ar hour of the night, with my wife
uneasy about me at home. 1 protest
| was not at all frightened and but
for my wife being all alone at home
am sure that l would have investi-
gated the phenomenon"
II won't attempt to offer any ex-
PLANTATION for an experience I had down
by Colonial Lake a few nights ago.,
declared bookkeeper for a wholesale
house. but there is evidently some
Thing wrong around here. l was on
my way home about IL o'clock The
night being rather sutry l sat down
on bench at the pond to get a breath
or two of fresh air before moving fur
Their. l was never more keenly alive
TO my surroundings in my life and, on
my word. l had swallowed nothing
| stronger than ice tea in the past twen-
ty-four hours
For a brief period / had all the
whole lake to myself, but all of a
sudden 1 found that 1 had all the
company l was looking for. An enor-
nous object, with blazing eyes, and
attired in a long robe of pure white.
cropped out of the darkness some dog
ell rods from the bench on which 1 was
sitting. For moment it stood irreso-
lutte, its blazing eyes emitting sparks
of fire and a thick volume of white
vspor sizzling from its mouth And #
my memory serves me right the thing
had cloven feet and tail. Almost as
Il Hk<s.I 4 NJ
ed in the gloom. / might add that I
lost no time in recommending my jour-
ney home"
A farmer residing in the Red Top
section came to Charleston with a re-
markable account of the doinss of a
"rarmint" of some kind in that portion
OF the county
For several nights, now" said the
aGriculturist. some invisible beast
las been playing havoc among my
stock and poultry. Night before last I
was awakened by a big racket IN my
back yard. Hastily arming myself with
a slick of stove wood l hurried out 20
ascertain the cause of the disturbance.
Two or three cows were huddled up In
corner and hogs, chickens, and mules
were making determined effort to ada
as much as possible to the confusion
Without an instants warning big
white ghost or something hurled itself
from the branches of shade tree uL-
der which l was standing and lit
square on my shoulder. Before l could
recover from the surprised shock the
thing vanished. It's all very strange
and / don't know what to make of it,"
Many other reports of the monster
have been received in Charleston, but
as yet no definite information concern
ing II has been obtained. The appear
ance of the apparition, If apparition it
is, has been accounted for in some
quarters by the liberality of the. politi-
cal candidates in the DISPOSITION of IL
qtor, but those who claim to have seen
it state in most emphatic terms that
they are not among those who prey
upon the office seekers. The mystery.
therefore, remains to be solved.