Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-04-01
LIVE GHOSTS
BY Mr.. HASKIN D
Daily Letter By Frederic J. Haskin

NEW YORK CITY. March 29.-Are
ghosts a nervous disease? Is it a
kind of hysteria which causes young
persons to torment their families
with fire-raising, sleight- -land
performances and sure l.IOusly
Trapping and knocking, thus contriv-
ing to make it appear that a house
is haunted?
In the recent Antigonish case. in
~vestigated by DIR. Walter +. Prince
of the New York Psychical Re-
search Society. the ghost turned out
TO be a subnormal girl. foster-daugh-
ter of the terrified McDonalds. given
ACCORDING to DR.. Prince-to pecu-
liar dream states. 1t seems possible,
Therefore, that other historic ghosts
may be accounted for by similarly
iafflicted individuals.
The idea is not new. Long before
Antigonish leaped into the limelight
as the home of spiteful Spooks, a
British man of letters advanced the
suggestion hat a neurologist was the
proper person to be set on the trail
of an irritating ghost.
In tracing the history of haunted
houses" says this gentleman. II
have been struck with the fact that
in many instances the ghostly activi-
ties invariably center around a GER
tain member of the family-usually
a In these instances. the
ghosts atrocities are always the
same. There is mysterious knock
ing at sudden intervals; household
articles moved or flung about, and
fires break forth in unexpected
places. l am convinced, however,
that these wild disturbances are not
always deliberately planned. There
is a certain spontaneity about them
which leads me to conclude that
they are often involuntarily like the
pecularities of chorea-in short,
that they are the symptoms of a
nervous disease. At any rate, 1t is
noticeable that they always
when a certain member of the fam
lily is absent from the house."
Another Nova Scotia Ghost
A celebrated instance of this kind
is the Great Amherst Mystery. in
which the ghostly manifestations,
which spread terror throughout
Nova Scotia some forty odd years
ago. all centered around a young
woman named Esther Cox. Like the
Antagonist spook, the Amherst ghost
or ghosts attracted widespread at
tention; made a convincing impress
sion upon the %credulous, and finally
a lot Of money for an actor. Wal
ter Hubbell, who had the sagacity
to put them into popular book form.
The Teed family, which was VIC
timized in this case, consisted of
Mr.. and Mrs. iced, their children,
Willie, aged five, and George, aged
seventeen months, as well as the
wife's two sisters, Jennie and Esth-
err Cox. They lived in a lonely
farmhouse in Amherst under prac-
tically the same circumstances as the
McDonalds in their farmhouse at
Antagonist.
The first alleged supernatural dis
turbances occurred in the room OF
the two girls. Jennie and Esther.
who slept together. They were just
going to sleep one night when Esth-
err, who suddenly leaped out Of bed,
screaming that there was a mouse
in the mattress. Upon investigation
no mouse was found. but an inno-
cent pasteboard box under the bed
jumped into the air n fell over
on its side.
After this. the ghost or ghosts
started in on their campaign of petty
frightfulness. When Esther was in
bed, the bed clothes would fly or
her and settle into a far corner Of
the room. When they were re-
placed, the pillow under her head
flew out and landed in the center
of the floor. 1t, also, was replaced,
upon which it again few out, hit
ting Mr.. Teed in the face. Where
upon, it is reported, Mr.. Teed un-
scientifically left the ROOM. declar-
ing that "he had had enough of it,"
The mex night. the sound of
scratching on the wall was heard for
the first time. "All looked in the
direction from whence the sound
came" say the reports. when to the
familys great establishment there
could be plainly read these words:
Esther Cox. you are mine to kill
Everybody present could see the
writing, but a moment before moth
ing was TO be seen but the kalsomin-
ed wall"
Now. articles began to be mysteri-
iously moved about the house. some
times violently and sometimes sur
reptitiously, according TO the mood
of the ghost. "All saw a lighted
match fall from the ceiling to the
bed continued the reports, "hav-
ling come out Of the air. which
would have set the bed clothing on
Ore. had not Jennie put il out I'M