Bryan morning eagle. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1898-1909, 1908-02-23
THAT GHOST MOOSE
WEIRD PHANTOM THAT RoAMs
MAINE FOREST.
Remarkable Stories of Spirit Animal
Told by Guides-All Sorts OF
Disturbances Caused by
His Antics.

II the stories OF guides 10 the nortn
OF here can be relied upon ghost
moose is at large west OF Molunkus
river and is creating all sorts OF dis
turbances. Whether the spirit OF
moose roams the forests. or whether
the animal is of flesh and blood and
educated to the ways OF man, 1t mat
tiers little so long as he has completely
terrorized the guides.
The phantom, was first seen, so re
port has it. by one Sandy Hill. who
was in charge of a party OF Massachu-
sets sportsmen camped beyond the
old Patten stage road. The crowd
was out one afternoon when the
moose suddenly showed up within
range OF the guns of three Of the party,
and they fired simultaneously. The
moose dropped, and II was noted that
he looked at his slayers with mild,
fearful eyes. AS there was no time to
dress the animal IL being late In the
day. the carcass was hung on a tree.
bled and allowed to remain over night.
Next morning the moose was gone,
and his tracks plainly showed tina
he had walked off.
The following night the party was
aroused out OF heavy sleep by
deep breathing at the door of their
shanty. There, with his throat cut
and his mournful eyes fixed on them,
stood the very animal they had shot
less than As hours before. Sandy man
aged TO come out Of his stupor and
fire his rife and again down came the
moose. This time he didn't stay
down. Still gazing at them with his
awful eyes he arose and fitted back
ward into the forest. Daylight plainly
revealed his tracks.
This was the last Sandy's party saw
OF the ghost and they were glad of 1t.
But he hadn't taken himself on the
face of the earth by any means, for
Burt Peggins. who has trapper's
camp west of Ashland, received visit
from the "critter" According to his
story he had come in from his traps
Just as the moon was rising and was
standing his gun against the cabin
when he felt hot breath on the back
Of his neck and turned to look into the
nose of a moose with its throat cut. He
was so startled that he darted within
the cabin and banged the door after
him. Peering out Of the window he
saw. so he says. the ghostly intruder
pick up his rife with his teeth. pull
the trigger and discharge ii. Then the
apparation vanished. Peggins didn't
get over the shock for three days
Arthur Hill was coming in from
Mud Pond when he almost stepped on
the moose lying in copse of fir. He
fired point blank. but missed and the
moose grasped his gun and evapor
ated He hasn't seen either since, but
when he got home he found moose
tracks at his door and discovered that
some animal had made wreck of his
cabin. The door wasn't wide enough
to admit the body Of a moose, but
there were no other tracks in the
snow.
The strangest story is told by Harry
Porter He was out for a moonlight
drive with his best girl when his
horse dropped dead from heart dis
ease He was five miles from the
village and the situation was embar-
RAISING. He took the horse from the
thills and was stopping over to remove
the harness when he heard the sound
of heavy breathing and turned. There.
in the thills stood the phantom moose
Porter says that without knowing
what he did he harnessed the animal,
climbed back beside his best girl and
took up the reins. They got to- the
edge of the village in record time
when the moose stopped and signifed
that he wished to be released. So
Porter took of the harness and walked
the rest of the way. Porter has never
shot a gun in his life.