The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-15
Our Daily Sbort Story


 1 signs of life. 30 I carried Harry out Into the garden and came back foS Mafsie. and by that time George had recovered and came out to ask What In the name of creation it all means3' Between us we carried the children to neighbours house and revived them after some trouble. In the excitement and horror of the moment the idea of some Invisible phantom vampire haunt ing the. house seemed reasonable enough, but by next day when the sun shone it all seemed too fantastic for sober belief, 50 we weakly accepted the theory that there had been an escape of gas somewhere. went back to the house, but the moment I entered the same awful feeling came over me again. and felt as If invisible arms were drawing me down into the cellar. To my surprise Mrs. LArter, my neighbor, did not laugh when I told her.
 Well. now.p that's odd" was all she said, then added: I've felt like that myself when I spent an evening with you. and did not like to tell you SO. There have been three people in that house since Dr. Voss left it, and all left after few days or A week!''
 What ever can 1t beT' asked.
 That I know no more than you, but I do believe there Is some forrid thing in 1t. That Dr. Voss was a clever man but queer in his ideas and fond of very uncanny experiments. He was for some years in Paris studying medi- cine, and I heard that he and a party of others made some queer experi- ments trying to create human life on the same principle as they create microbes and baci1li, and that the doc- tor and hls friends claimed to have created something in a. cellar in the same way they grow mushrooms and use the spawn of fish, but I am not scientific and I don't really know how they did it. just hate people who can't leave nature alone to work in her own way. heard that pr. Voss and the others did create some horrible black imp-like creatures like human funguses that were 30 horrtd even the scientists were disgusted with their work.
 Perhaps Dr. voss tried to repeat the experiments for himself here know I have hated the place ever since he lived here!"
 Mrs. Larter's story not being reas- suing to weak nerves, persuaded George to let us shut the house up for little.
 Then Mrs Larter wrote to us to come and search the house. for she was sure there was something--a fearful odor of decay pervaded the place. We took two workmen and after diligent search came upon & bTicked-up entrance to another cellar under my sewing room.
 Heavenly Powers! Shall ever for get the sight which greeted us as the wall was torn down. The place was bricked over and in far corner there was trench filled with black, oily, damn mould and on the mould as on a he'd iay or grew a great giant fungus a thing like and yet unlike a human halnp with arms like those of an octopus and long. root-like fingers like 1 tendrIls of water plant. The legs | were ike the double stem of giant l nushroom which had grown fin that | nojsome atmosphere into enormous pro- nortions. while the head was like the l s,raey nisshapen head of some idiotic | snfsrt hope never again to see | thJnr at once so human and inhuman I in Ite resemblance to man.
 mart of the huge body was decay | tns nossibly because the supply of life | Isa failed. as with parasitic air plant I s.,rsn Inc tree is cut down, and this | ~rad,,.eA the awful smell. but a part | sAsr,ad still endowed with some sort | sS its~--I had almost written conscious I Se,a..lfnr as some of the men pfodded | ths 1onp tendrils of fingers 1t coiled | shsn un and then darted thsm out at | h4AGAAA "