The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1909-08-05
GHOSTS THROW
INTO A WALL
MYSTERIOUS DOINGS AT
LOG HOUSE WHERE
WOMAN AND GIRL
LIVE.
CEILING DRIPS WATER
WOMAN BELIEVES UNEARTHLY
HANDS ARE FLINGlNG CLAY;
PEOPLE ARE EXCITED.

/
Lafayette, Ind, July 3O.--For miles
around the little hamlet of Petit, sew
en- miles east of Lafayette, the resi-
dents are in state of great excite
ment over the strange happenings at
the home of Rosanne Ritenour.
An alleged haunted house, dreary
and desolate. infested by evil spirits,
who hurl bricks and stones through
solid walls without leaving a hole,
throw chunks of dry clay about the
rooms from invisible sources and pour
water through ceilings upon the heads
of unsuspecting persons beneath
these are the conditions that are at
tracing hundreds of people TO the
farm every day.
And while several persons have made
rigid inquiries they offer no other ex
planation than to accuse the old
woman and her little granddaughter,
who live alone in the house, of con-
.cocting the scheme to keep the old
home from being sold by relatives
who seek to remove Mrs. Ritenour
from her dreary, dilapidated surround
ings and dispose of the property.
FITTING PLACE FOR SPIRITS.
1t is only since a recent evening
that the Ritenour house has come into
the limelight as the abode of ghosts.
The house and it's surroundings form
an ideal setting for a ghost story and
to the superstitious mind they appeal
with great force as a fitting rendez-
vous of spirit forms.
The house is a mile north Of Petit
and stands back from the road in a
clump of trees and shrubbery. 1t is
an old log house, built in 1882, with
boards on two sides. Be
tween the logs is a clay plastering
that furnishes the ghost" with am
munition.
For 49 years Mrs. Ritenour has liv-
ed in the house. She is rs years old
and since the death of her husband,
Civil War veteran, in May, 1908,
she has lived alone with little Rosie
Julian, aged IL years. Rosie is the
daughter of Mrs. Ritenours daughter,
who has been missing for several
years, leaving home and never return
ing. Five other daughters, all mar
ried, are living within a few miles
of the so-called haunted house.
THROWN BY UNSEEN HANDS.
Since the memorable Friday night,
on which the manifestation of material
activity of unearthly power was first
noted in the house, many remarkable
things have come to pass. Mrs. Rite
nour declares that large stones and
bricks have been hurled at her and
her granddaughter by unseen hands,
coming through walls without leaving
a mark.
She says the pelting with stones
begins each evening at O'Clock and
continues at intervals until midnight,
when all is quiet. Both she and her
granddaughter, she says, have been
struck repeatedly with stones and
pieces of dried clay, water has been
poured on them from the kitchen cell
ing, bricks have been hurled with
great force from above the house,
crashing into a stove and tearing it.
to pieces.
In the yard, she says, she and the
girl have been pelted with corncobs
without a person being visible except
themselves. One brick, covered with
moss. she says, came into the house
the other night and landed on the bed
of her granddaughter, striking on the
pillow a few inches from the girls
head
NEIGHBOR WOMEN SEE THINGS.
Every day since Mrs. Ritenour first
reported that the house was haunted
hundreds of curious people have visited
the farm and remained through the
evening. Many report that they saw
the stones come crashing into the
rooms and heard the water splash.
Mrs. Emma Rauch, neighbOr, says
she was with Mrs. Ritenour and the
little girl the other night and large
piece of clay hit her on the head and
bruised her severely. She says at the
time the aged woman and the girl
were in front of her There was no
body else in the house, she said. She
also saw water come from the ceiling.
There is nothing but an empty loft
above the living rooms.
Mrs. Frances Meyers, another neigh
bor, was also struck on the hip with a
stone and slightly injured. She says
| Mrs. Ritenour and the girl could not
| have thrown the stone. Both Mrs.
Ritenour and her granddaughter have
marks on their bodies to show that
! they have been struck by missiles
! For the purpose of laying" the
ghost a party of Lafayette men headed
| by Noah T. Rogers, deputy sheriff, and
Perry Moon, made trip to the Rite
nour home. They questioned the aged
woman and girl closely. They looked
into the beds occupied by the woman
and girl and found Jumps of clay con-
cealed beneath the covers.
The investigating party remained at
| the house six hours, returning late at
night. They say nothing extraordin-
airy occurred while they were there
and that Mrs, Ritenour assured them
the ghosts would not return and that
there would be no more stone throw
ing.
Mrs. Rauch and Mrs. Meyers, how
ever, are willing to make affidayits to
the effect that neither Mrs Ritenour
nor her granddaughter threw the mis-