The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1903-01-27
A TALE or TERROR.
Appalling Sensation Experiences ~
. rInid Person fn the Dark
ner~ Of the NiGAt-


The uncanniest feeling man car
have is when he is in room that Il
pitch dark, and when, having imag
ined himself to be alone, ne suddenly
becomes Eure that somebody else is
present somebody or something
that he cannot see, but whose pres
epce is assured to him by the creepy
| sensation that comes over him. The
feeling cannot be defined; the man
cannot hear sound, he cannot de-
tect a breath, but his Consciousness
is alive to the fact that the darkness
holds another person, man or Q
spirit, an unseen, unheard intruder
npon his privacy, whose nearness
threatens danger that is the more
dreaded because it's nature Is secret
and unknown, says the Chicago Trib-
une.
1t is under such circumstances as
these that many man has gone
mad. The horror of the position is
unbearable. A timid man, cornered,
may fight to the last; the boldest
and bravest of us, threatened in the
darkness, may turn cold and quake
with fear.
The other night just such an ex-
perience was mine. 1t may have been
about o'clock in the morning when
] awoke.
Suddenly began to osgrow uneasy.
A curious sensation of coldness be-
gan to take possession of me. 1t be-
gan at the nape of my neck, stole
slowly dowr my back, and thence
into my extremities. / shivered.
And at the same moment perspi-
ration broke out upon my forehead.
felt it, like chilly dew. My eyes
opened wide, and stared hard and
fixedly into the darkness.
For knew there was somebody in
the room.
] knew it as surely as I knew that
] was alive, as surely as ] knew thai
i breathed-which, indeed, hardly
dared to do. / had seen nothing. /
had heard nothing. And yet, deep
within my brain, my inner self was
aware Of q presence in the chamber,
was aware OF impending, hidden, Sc
cret danger.
1 did not dare to move. Only my
fingers clutched spasmodically at the
did not dare to call for
help. And believe my tongue would
have refused its office had tried to
do so. l could only lie there and
wait--wait while the somebody in the
room came nearer, nearer to my bed.
1t was not for long. My senses
were stretched to a fine tension by
the appalling feelings that held me
bound as though by steel bands.
could hear at last. / could hear
breathing, steady breathing near
the foot of the bed.
And 1 fancied that the breath was
approaching slowly, surely ap-
I could only grip tighter
to the clothes, seeming to count them
as protection.
And then / fancied that something |
was pressing the bed, that some
I'd III was lCShhS hCdsiiJ uPoH %~
For the clothes that covered my feet,
already taut, were drawn down ever
SO lightly on one side. And their con.
tact was closer upon my feet.
Next moment was sure of what
had been a fancy. The hand rested
Tor one brief second on my feet, and
was rapidly withdrawn. 1t was then
han was about to scream-but-
/ could not. For the hand that
had touched my feet was creeping
.oftly, slowly, stealthily up the bed,
towards my head. Ny hair, VIC.
with icy perspiration, stood upon
md. ! felt the ghostly, CHASTITY hand
upon the clothes that l had tucked
ander my chin-it was scraping at
hem! Then, and not till then,
grabbed at it.
What / caught was our new cat,
ErvinU fo couOOla into he'd with me