The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1913-03-06
ARE THERE REALLY
HAUNTED HOUSES?
Experiences of q Student in His Search
for the Truth Are Told.

the Phenomena Vi WHdI dAO SoN~NN
haunted houses Is simply oyerwhelm-
ing. 1t may freely be granted that these
phenomena are in a sense quite apnOr-
NAL they do not, that Is to say, reaoliy
adjust themselves to that practical ma
terialstic philosophy which regards ia
bles and chairs as more real tnan we.
us say emotions.
"Of course emotions according to
every test except that of the grossest
physical TerifcatiCn. are as We all know
far more real than anything material,
they are more effective. they are OF
higher order of being. they change mems
destinies, and their fruits are 1t would
seem even to the materialist practlcally
eternal" writes Robert Hugh Benson
in the Pail Mall Magazine. "Yet for all
that in a confused kind Of way we re.
gard them as passing and epnernera,
disturbances, since we cannot sineh
them nor burn them in fire. ana we
regard a chair as more solid. since we
can sit III 1t.
However hard it may be to fit the
phenomena of haunted house into this
heavy philosophy by which most OF US
practically live, it must be remembered
that the extent, the duration and the IN
tensity of human evidences concerning
them make it absolutely necessary 10
regard such phenomena-hoWeVer we
may explain them away-as part OF the
experience of the world. STORIES OF the
kind are not peculiar to this country or
that. to this age of civilization or the
other. Plautus wrote comedy on the
subject. Shakespeare tragedy.
Mr.. Benson believes that there are
some clements in common, revealing. II
would seem. "a curious range OF laws
that would appear to underle them all
But even these laws are not what one
would expect If. that is. one seeks 10
explain them on a materialistic or sub
lective basis. 1t is not for example, oy
any means universal that the sensation
of fear is experienced by those VINO aie
personal witnesses of such things
In three or four of such stories as
have come to Mr.. Benson first hand no
fear was felt at all until all was over.
again. contrary to popular belief, IL is
scarcely ever an imaginative or nlshly
strung person who experiences the most
startling phenomenal couple OF mid
die aged priests, q young sporting Eng
ljshman, an ex-professionel boxer Two
middle aged teachers-these are they
who have related to him the most con-
yincing and the most impressive hlsto-
ries that, he writes. he had ever hearo.
In citing an example MT Benson says
that on a certain visit to America not
long ago he received information OF
haunted presbytery not far from Ne"
York. and the following week went 10
see It, ,
INV friend and I arrived after DARK.
and were welcomed by the smiling irish
priest The church and the adjoining
buildings stand in frequented street.
they are of no particular external inter
est Next to the church, and communi-
eating with 1t. Is a thin red brick build
ing of two stories high and OF only TWO
rooms in depth: this Is the original
presbytery, used now in its lower story
as a sacristy and in its upper as lum-
Der room Adjoining 1t again on the SIDE
away from the church is the inha blteo
presbytery-a large comfortable build-
.ing-inha bited to the entire exclusion
of the other. since in the other lie mad
become impossible.
"All that l am now going to relate
was related to me simply and unsensa-
tionally by the present parish priest as
we sat in his room and afterward wan
dered under his guidance thru the four
or five rooms of the deserted mouse.
Two very curious sets of facts were re-
lated to me- The first concerned the
rather tragic events that had taken
place in the old presbytery; priest had
fallen from one OF the windows and had
been taken up dead; a sacristan had
been found dead at the foot Of one OF
the etaircases Yet strangely enough
none of the sights eventually seen in
the house seemed to have any connec-
lion whatever with these happenings.
1.-TWO young assistant priests, arriv-
ing together, and being informed of the
current reputation of the old house.
laughed the whole affair to scorn. and
insisted on sleeping upstairs in the dis
used rooms. A partition not so high as
the ceiling separated one from the
other On the following morning they
rannaetad that thair hade r1Ioht he NOV