The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-24
GHOST IN A CATHOLIC CHAPEL.
PRIESTS FLEE FROM A FORMER
JESUIT MISSION.

It was Discontinued a. a Mission Three
Years Ago and since Then tho As
slstant Priests There Have Been
Frightened by Apparitions and Noises.
York, Pa, Aug 23.-Until three years
ago, when by an order from Rome the
Conawago Catholic Chapel. in the town.
ship Of the same name, in Adams county.
was discontinued as a Jesuit mission. which
II had been for 1870 years, and made parish
church Of the Harrisburg diocese. 1t was
little heard Of outside the religious world.
save in connection with its historical asso-
Citations
Now the ancient chapel, so long quiet
abode of the Jesuit brothers, is reputed
to be haunted and the ghostly tales being
told OF lit by the country folk are not without
foundation.
The Rev. Father Halftermyer, the priest
in charge of the chapel, tells OF the
midnight visitations of an apparition and
strange rappings, These spectral visits
and the rappings have been occurring more
or less regularly since the abandonment
OF the chapel by the Jesuits. The fre-
quent change Of its rectors and assistants
since then is thus apparently explained.
Father Halftermyer, who has been the
rector for more than year. has round
it impossible to keep an assistant Tor any
length of time Occasionally there has
been a young priest with the courage TO
put I'D for two months or more with the
nervous shocks and frights to which the in
habitants OF the chapel are exposed, but a
fortnight is the usual term of an assistant g
service, while few have been driven from
the charge before the end Of full week.
Father Halftermyer says:
II am finding it almost impossible 70
keen an assistant on account OF tho In
sxplicable things that have been occurring
in this old edifice since have been In charge
have had no personal experience with the
apparition Those who have seen 1t de-
scribe it as a thing Of mist. having the
outlines Of human form CARRIED IN eccle-
siastical robes. The midnight hour Is
the usual time Of it's coming and it has
been seen most frequently in the sleeping
apartment assigned to the assistant rectors
~The rapping Is have often heard These,
too occur at midnight and hardly night
passes that we are not disturbed by them.
On one occasion they were heard at mid
day on my study door as sat talking with
a priest from New Oxford. Sometimes
the tsoise issues from under the floors. More
frequently ii is door that seems to be
beaten upon by bare lnuckles. When a
door is quickly opened in response TO the
raps nothing is to be seen.
Returning to the apparition one OF my
assistants, who was here but few weeks,
greeted me one morning with eyes isgog,
and told how, during the night. while he
was living awake In his bed, unseen fingers,
having the temperature of the grave, seized
his locks and pulled them vigorously.
He started up just in time to see the dim
outlines OF q priest vanish into mist. To
have the covers pulled from their beds
while they slept and to awake and see
the priestly apparition dissolvipg, as 1t
were, has been the common experience OF
all those assistants who occupied the cham
bel. .,..
ting with an assistant from New Oxford
we were startled by series OF loud raps
coming from under the floor. The noise
was accompanied by a sound which for the
instant caused US to think that an image |
on my writing table had fallen to the floor |
and been broken into fragments. When |
we recovered from our shock we found that |
the image was intact on the table. In vain
did we try to discover the cause OF tho
strange manifestations.
sI' am not superstitious. Il would be
contrary to my religion to be so. I know !
that most of these supposed or reputen !
manifestations Of the spirit world are usu- |
ally traceable to natural causes, but In our !
efforts to ascribe the chapel's alleged ghost |
and his conduct to such sources we have
been baffled and our Investigations have |
only served to mystifv us the more:
The rectors preceding Father HALTER
nnyer at the chapel related experiences
similar 10 those described by him. The
Jesuts founding the Conawago Chapel,
in 1920 in the solitude Of the Pennsylvania
wilderness, were from Baltimore and Canada
and the original mission was established
in hut fashioned like the lodges or wig
vans of the Conawago Indians.