Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 December 1881 — SOME GHOST STORIES. [ARTICLE]

SOME GHOST STORIES.

It is undeniable that there are many soberminded people, hot In general disposed to be credulous or superstitious, who yet entertain a firm conviction that they have Come acres? the supernatural in some shape or other, and under cli cumstflnces in Which they had as little reason to doubt the evidences of their senses as in the most cofilmon occurances of Hfe. On more than one occasion We have given instances of ghost stories unveiled, with a view to allaying the fears or those who are in tne habit of giving credence to what is termed the supernatural, and as we have reason to believe that our efforts have been attended by good results In various quartern, we present no apology for again taking up the lubject. A well-known witty English divine once remarked that the best End most reasonable—because the most convincing—way of ,coffibatting the foolish fancy, commonly known as a “belief in ghosts,” is to make public all well authenticated instances .such stories have been “unveiled;” The following narratives, comfflflfifcated by various contributors, may serve aa further illustration* of the truth, that nothing of the apparently supernatural sflbuld be received which has nbt been submitted to the test of absolute demonstation. A GIGANTIC FIGURE IN WHITE.

One splendid afternoon of a glorious summer, 1 set out on a Walk from EyJhorn to Deal, a distance of six ffllleS. took particular note as I went along —the route being entirely strange to me—of all the landfnSrke, ftuCn as churches, farm houses, the bendings lit the road, etc., thinking that I should probably have to friake at least part of return walk after dark, though sure of a sufficiency of Ught if the moon were only shining. I reached Deal, and was beguiled oy the beauty of the afternoon and eteuingto stay longer than I had intended. Sea aha land iky bathed in the warm golden sunshine, the of the brightestjbhie, uuflecked'by a cloud and th.e sea almost equally blue. I lingered by the shore until the lengthening shadows began to wain the that I should find the night drawing on dlipoat before I got far from the precincts of Deal. .Hastening along, theD,- without any doubt of my w,ay, and mounting the rising land at the back of town I found the moon was already shedding its light over the scene and I looked forward to a delightful walk home, when suddenly a dense sea fog roll in from the bay, which soon enveloped the land, obscuring every object* and even obliterating the light of the moon, save for occasional rifts in the fog as it rolled rapidly inland. I soon {became very doubtful of my way, as the notes I had carefully taken of landmarks were new useless. But I trudged along, knowing that I was pursuing at least an onward course, till I emerged upon much higher ground, and was thankful to find that the fog was losing its density and the moon recovering Its light. Inquiring at a cottage where I saw a light in the bed-room, I found that I had Come right and should soon strike the road from Sandwich to Dover. After this the fog seemed to lift, the moon shone out brightly, a light haze only remaining over the lower-lying country, aud I soon found myself comfortably nearing Evthorn. The* road into Eythorne from the Dover road turns at right angles, and is straight and rather descending, so that during the day,or on a fine moonlight night, objects can be seen a long distance. The moon had now risen considerably, and the whole country lay olearly revealed—the road to Eythorne into which I had now. turned, especially eo, being chalky. I had not gone many pedes when I saw, some distance on before me, a gigantic figure in white, apparently at least ten feet high. I oould cee, too, It was moving, not toward me. but from me. I watched it uarrowlv for a few minutes, to satisfy myself that It was no momentary impression; but there assuredly it was, white, spectral.gigantic —and moving.

- My firat’thougbt was to beat a retreat, take the Dover road again, and return into Eythorne through Walderahare park;but as this would have lengthened the time at which I wiahed to beat home, and as 1 had already proved the park at sight to be a difficult route,and had had some unpleaaant experiences thereia, I made up my mind rapidly that there was nothing for it but to face the spectra, or whatever it might be, “for better or wore#.” Now, I thought, ia all my vaunted unbeliaf la the supernatural to be put to the test, and perhaps to be shaken down in some dreadfully unpleasant manner. I confess I felt many a qualm as the tall figure stalked on before me, but, as I had now fully made up my mind to find out what it was if I oould. I quickened my pace, almost running under the excitement. As I neared and was evidently overtaking it, I notloed that it seemed rather to lessen in its proportions, and this continued as I got nearer and nearer. It wee still, bowavar, out of ail human proportion ; and at this point, aa I more leisurely looked about me, I began to observe that the more tamllisr otyeets known to me,the cottages by the roadside, the park gates, etc., looked unusually large also,and as I passed them, resumed their natural aiie. This at ones K + /varna a elua to me, and I determined not to lose the chanoe of unraveling the mystery of the white figure, still some distance before me. As I got rapidly near it, It ae rapidly decreased in alee, till at length—l mnel aay much to my relief—l found It to be nothing more than a country girl in a light drees quietly pursuing her way homeward.

Thus, then, I discovered that the Rigan tie spectre of my walk was an effect due in sous way to the combined action of the moonbeams and the base in magnifying ail objects looked at, at a osrtain distance or angle, and in this resembling the mist specters of the Brocken and other mountains. Now, it is evident, If I had not been compelled to feet and investigate the matter, I should have continued to believe to this dhy—despite my unwillingness to do so—that I had oertainly seen a specter upon such evidence of my own senses as I could not doubt. The occurrence has served me in good stead ever since, as a useful lesson. inducing me to pause in aooeptlng apparently inexplicable . phenomena without the moftt rigid investigation, fll* CLANGING OF CHAINS. M* social gathering of friends one

’ * evening, a few yean ago, the much vexed question of supernatural appearances came under discussion. As might have been expected in those days of scientific experiment and inductive philosophy, the tone of the conversation was of a decidedly skeptical tinge. The lady of the house, anxious apparently that ghostly claims should be fairly represented, appealed to her sister-in-law, who had lived for several years in a haunted house, and begged her to say what the results of her experience had beep. ‘•Our hodse,” replied the'slster, “was In a bleak and lonely situation; and many years before we entered its walls some disagreeable association had been woven into its history. In spite of these, the plftce did "us no harm, though lam bound to say that during our

sojourn in it we heard sounds which superstitlously Inclined folks might have regarded with dread. Perhaps we were not a family likely to suffer from imaginative terrors, because we were more accustomed to examine an unwonted object than to run away from it- nor did we conclude that every phenomenon not clearly understood by us must be due to supernatural causes. Often at night we heard noises in uninhabited rooms, as if article* of furniture were being moved or dragged across the floor, but these we became used to, and assigned them to such simple causes as mice, or possibly rats. But once I lecollect that the clanking of a'chain at midnight wakened me from a half-dreaming state to lull consciousness.

“I thought I must have been mistaken, ana went quietly to sleep again; but the next night at the same hour the noise was distinctly repeated. My sister, who slept in the same room, heard ft also, and was as puzzled as myself. It recurred from that time so often that we became accustomed to it also, and were almost ceasing to speculate on its cause, when one day standing id my room In broad daylight, I heard the Clankling noise loudly repeated. A thought struck me. I ran downstairs out of the hall door, and through a garden path to the stable yard, whose walls formed an angle with one side of the house. As 1 looked into the stable the horse shook his chain 1 This was the very noise we had heard so often—the same thing which had happened night after night, when the horse waking out of hie ffleep, got np, shook himself, and stamped in his stall, before composing himself for another nap. If I had not thus tracked the sound and verified it, I could never have believed that it could have been so clearly heard through the thick walls at such a distance.” A

THE MAN MAIN«EEN AND FELT A GHOST. “Ah!” said the clergyman, who ltstened to this account with much amusement, “I am pursuaded that if the people Would take the trouble of ezaminingsuch mysterious occurances the number of ‘authenticated ghost stories’ on record would be sensibly diminished. A curious circumstance happened to thy father 'when he was a very young man. He lived at some distance from the dwelling of the girl who afterwards; became his wife and my mother. He had to work and wait for her for several year's, and for her sake he applied very Closely to his business, they seldom met. But occasional jy, after his day’s work was over, he took a very long walk into the next County to get a glimpse of her fair face, and pterchance the treat of a tfuiet walk. On one of these rare occasions he bethought himself of a short cut through a village churchyard. It was not very easy of acoess, for the gate was locked, and a brook of some depth swept found part of the outer wall; bu't he was young and active, and eager to gain time; so, after some what stiff climb, he found himself within the limits of the consecrated ground. “It was a clear moonlight night, and the tombstones stood flrosud him in close and venerable array. Suddenly he saw something which made him start and pause. From beneath the shadow of the church wall a tall white figure glided' stealthily out into the light. My father quietly retreated behind a tombstone and watched. The * > advanced; he scanned it careSand beneath the white robes ring in the night air. he beheld a very substantial pair of boots. ‘‘Said he to himself: “Do ghosts boots? I wonder who makes them and he decided on having a closer inspection of this mysterious graveyard apparition. The figure moved on; hit father quietly followed, keeping well in the shadows of the tombstones. After some little time spent in this kind of dodging, the ghost advanced to a part of the wall overlooking the road and the stream, and took up its position on the top of it. In a second my father came Dehind, and with a strong and sudden push tipped the unlucky ghost into the stream which rippled below. He heard a plunge and a shout, waited a few moments to see that the fellow had struggled safely to the other side, minus his white sheet, then turned and speed on his ?way, rejoicing at haviDg nit on so novel and expeditious a method of ‘iaying a ghost.’

‘•Years passed away. My father married the lady of bis choice, and they shared the usual course of life’s vicissitudes together. Long after her death, he took me to visit the scene of bis early wooing and the home of her girlhood. On our way from the railway station we drove through a village, from which a funeral prosession was issuing in solemn pomp to the churchyard. As we returned, we stopped for an hour at an inn and ordered luncheon. Like most of his class, our host was chatty and communicative, and at onoe entered into conversation. 'Pleasant weather, gentlemen. We have a large funeral here to-day; the largest known in these parts for many a year. We all wished to show respect to our oldest inhabitant, William Dawkins. A very civil fellow was Bill. Many a story of the good old times he used to tell. And he had some queer adventures of his own to talk about. You’ll scarce credit me,

gentleman, but ’tis a fact that that man had seen a ghost.’ “‘▲ghost!’ exclaimed my father, whose natural skepticism on the subsot bad bee" long sinoe strengthened »y the incident I have related. 'He dreamed of one I suppose, or an extra class at ale bad gone to bis bead.’ “ ‘Kotldag of this kind, sir.’ replied Ihe landlord with great seriousness. IBUI not only saw a ghost, but felt it, and that pretty sharply, I can tell you. Tbs way as fell in with it was this. Boms of our lads had gone to a (air that was bald a tew miles away, and Bill

wanted to frighten the young fellows so their way home; so he just climbed into the churchyard, wrapped a sheet about him and waited about till he thought they were close at hand. He was standing on a bit of wall just above the road, and he heard a stealthy tread coming up behind him. He turned around qmlckly, and there was a dark figure at nis back; but before he could move it made one rush it him and kaceked him olaan over into the stream that runs below. The fall and the fright took away his breath; and between the terror and the wetting, he

got such a scare that he never ventured near that churchyard again after nightflail. He said it was a dangerous thing to play at ghosts, for no one knew how near the ghosts themselves might be, nor how angry with any one who dared to play pranks In haunted places.’ “It was a strange story,” we said but our host thought it stranger stil when my father related his share in the adventure. The coincidence was certainly a curious one, and affords a specimen of the kind of foundation on which many a popular and “well-au--1 thentjoatod” ghost story may he built.