The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-07-22

eaCn W1n0OW were DrOKen lutO Tiny
bits.
"These insignificant beginnings
were only the preludes to larger and
more disastrous results. Frequently
it happened, when the family was
seated at meals, milk, water, tea,
coffee and soup were flung into the
faces of various members, in several
instances inficting painful scalds and
burns, and at the same time the
spoons were broken or suddenly
twisted out of shape in their hands.
At other times the tab1ecloth, with
the entire service and dinner, would
be pulled from the table and either
flung on the floor or thrown through
the nearest window, and in either
case the savory meal, with the crys-
tai, silver and china, was entirely
ruined.
"At first the demonstrations were
confined to the dinirgroom and my
mothers bedroom, but after few
days they spread until there was not
a room in the house free from the an
noying and frightful phenomena. At
all hours of the day and night, and at
the most unexpected times, doors and
windows would be suddenly and vio-
lently flung open or shut; the heavy,
old fashioned furniture would creak
and groan; then, as if moved by un-
seen giants, it would rush from its
place in a mad dance about the room,
and would either move quietly back
to its accustomed place or would be
dashed to splinters on the floor with a
noise like the concentrated thunders
of the universe.
"There was, of course, constant
and imminent danger to the family in
these manifestations, for scarcely a
day passed without pictures or mir
rors falling from the walls, the top.
ping over and complete wrecking of
canopied beds, great, heavy ward
robes and bureaus, tables and chairs
and on several occasions some of the
younger children, being caught under
falling objects, received broken limbs,
serious wounds and bruises and severe
nervous shocks. while at other times
other members of the family barely
escaped death.
lone afternoon in February, just
as I entered the hall, I glanced into
the sitting room and saw my elder
brother, Robert, sitting at table
reading. A low fire was Pickering
in the open fireplace, and I noticed a
commotion on the hearth. To my
surprise, saw one of the huge and
irons lift itself from the fire and begin
to move across the room. 1t gath
cred momentum as it went, and rose
swiftly in the air till it reached the
level of my brothers. head, when it
dealt him heavy blow on the tenn
pie. He sprang to his feet, stunned
and bleeding, while I grasped the
andiron in my hands, trying thus to
shield my brother, but I might as
we'll have essayed to hold thunder
bolt, for it wrenched itself free from
my grasp and struck my brother again
on the head.
run I called to my brother,
run for your life ! If you stay here
you will be killed, and I cannot help
you.' The poor boy did run out of
the room, and the andiron followed,
striking him with heavy blows till the
poor victim fell unconscious and COW
cred with blood at our mothers feet.
Then the andiron moved slowly across
the hall, entered the sitting-room and
resumed its accustomed place on the
hearth.
"The next day my father moved
the entire family to the other farm,
leaving the old home here closed.
We took nothing but our clothes, for
the other home was furnished and
my parents thought it best to leave
everything here undisturbed. A long
illness followed my brothers. fright
full experience with the andiron, for
several of his wounds were ugly, and
the shock produced fever which
came very near to proving fatal.
'For a week or ten days we en-.
ioyed absolute freedom and quiet.
Then quite suddenly the strange
manifestations began again with in.
creased power and persistence. They
did not vary much in character from
what we had experienced. Soon
after we moved from the old home
here, Foster, the great medium and
clairvoyant of that time, called on
my father to question him about the
| phenomena. My father told him the
whole story, and Foster became in
tensely interested. The news of oui
singular misfortune spread afar, and
people, many of them, distinguished
in the various positions of life, came
from all parts of the country tc
see and investigate for themselves
Among the prominent Georgians who
came for that purpose were Henry
Grady, Bridges. Smith, at one time
Mayor of Macon, and Henry Pendle
ton, editor of the Macon Telegraph. y
Mr.. Surrency then assured me thai
as soon as his father became convinced
that he had not been benefited by the
move he had SO recently made, he de-
cided to abandon both houses, which
seemed to him accursed. So he had
small cottage built little distance
down the railroad.
"'The house is truly accursed,
said my father, and from this day
none of us shall enter here again.
That was thirty-fve years ago, ant
not one of us has ever crossed the
threshold of the old home since.
"Mr. Surrency," I asked, "wert
any of your nelghbors annoyed a:
! your family was!"
"There were the widest rumor.
afloat and many of the inhabitants
left the immediate neighborhood wher