The Savannah morning news., 1902-12-28

sounds. as of some one tramping around
through the deserted rooms up stairs.
II wonder IL that can be a ghost"
said Hill, thoughtlessly. to his wife one
night about two weeks ago.
who ever heard of such a thing,
silly" returned Mrs. Hill. IT'S prob
ably a cat on the roof"
He would be a funny cat to wear
hobnailed boots said Hill, shivering.
Just then he jumped out of bed with
a scream. There he is now. Do you
see him?" And with that Hill made a
dash at something in the dark and
crashed into the wall.
The next moment he came stagger-
ing toward the bed and fell to the floor
shouting family: Help! Help He's
choking me. Helpl"
Mrs. Hill arose with trembling An
gers and lit the lamp. There on the
floor lay her husband, cold and still, in
a dead faint. his hands tightly clinch-
ed, his face drawn and rigid. 1t was
several minutes before Hill came to
himself and when he did he was SO
weak he could hardly stand. When
morning came he discussed the ghost
problem with his wife and they agreed
that he had best say nothing about IL.
as it might give them an unenviable
notoriety among their friends.
Night after night the spook was
heard tramping around. and SO at last
Mr.. Hill told his sister and brother
in-law, Mr.. and Mrs. W. II. Ludlow
of Peapack. about 1t. They laughed at
the ghost idea, but consented to go to
the farm and spend a night there.
Last Sunday all OF them went to the
farm.
After dark Hill remarked, Just lis
ten and you'll hear the thing any time
nowy Mr.. and Mrs. Ludlow smiled
broadly. They were about half through
supper when up stairs there came a
tramp, tramp, tramp" like some one
walking around on the bare floor No
one spoke for several minutes, and then
Hill jumped from his chair trembling
and screaming:
See it! See 1t! Right UP there in
the corneri"
Then he went into commissions, and
IL was half an hour before he was re-
stored to consciousness. When he re-
vived he said he would not spend an
other night in that house, and Mr.. and
Mrs. Ludlow did not blame him after
what they had heard, 50 they hitched
up the team and all drove to Peapack.
William Cook, the farmland, refused
to stay on the farm alone and he was
taken along
During the last week Hill and his
wife have been down to the farm daily
and attended to the work. but yester-
day morning they piled their goods and
chattels on a truck and started away.
The majority of the people in Pea
pack, of course, scout the ghost the
DRY; but Mr.. and Mrs. Hill, Mr.. and
Mrs. Ludlow and William Cook are
strong in the belief that the house is
haunted and they have good grounds
for their belief. Mrs. Ludlow was at
the house several nights, and she says:
"Of course, 1t is a spirit all right.
What kind of a spirit I don't know,
but enough of a spirit so that / do not
want to get near 1t again.
Mr.. Hill swears he saw the spook
and that 1t was in the form of a skel-
eton, with a thin sheet of white all
over and around 1t; that it beckoned
to him, and the first time he saw 1t
the ghost nearly choked him to death.
He says he is moving away from the
farm to save his life and his reason.
Other people around Peapack won
der what the ghost can be. The house
was never known to be haunted be-
fore. 1t has been suggested that a
few people should go and sleep in the
house for a night, taking along good
strong nerves and repeating shotguns,
and make an attack on the ghost when
he puts in an appearance, but no one
has yet volunteered for the service.