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Some Real American Ghosts Part 2 · The Best Ghost Stories

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Speaker 1: Section fifteen of the Best Ghost Stories. This is a
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Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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Speaker 1: Reading by Marina forty seven Some Real American Ghosts, Part two,
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Speaker 1: An Idiot Ghost with Brass Buttons, Philadelphia Press, June sixteenth,
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Speaker 1: eighteen eighty nine. In a pretty but old fashioned house
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Speaker 1: in Stuyvesant Square, ghosts like squares, I think is another ghost.
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Speaker 1: This house stood empty for several years, and about six
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Speaker 1: years ago a gentleman, his wife and little daughter moved
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Speaker 1: in there, and while fitting up, allowed the child to
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Speaker 1: play about the empty attic, which had apparently been arranged
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Speaker 1: for a children's play room long ago. There was a
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Speaker 1: fireplace and a large fireboard in front of it. When
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Speaker 1: the horse was about finished downstairs, the mother began to
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Speaker 1: pay more attention to the little girl and tried to
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Speaker 1: keep her down there with her, but the child always
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Speaker 1: stole away and went back upstairs again and again, until
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Speaker 1: finally the mother asked why she liked to go up
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Speaker 1: there so much. She replied that she liked to play
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Speaker 1: with a funny little boy. Investigation showed that it was
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Speaker 1: utterly impossible for any person, man or child to get
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Speaker 1: in that place or be concealed there, but the little
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Speaker 1: girl insisted and told her parents that he went in there,
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Speaker 1: pointing to the fireboard. The parents were seriously concerned, believing
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Speaker 1: that their daughter was telling them an untruth, and threatened
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Speaker 1: to punish her for it, but she insisted so strongly
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Speaker 1: that she saw and played with a funny little boy
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Speaker 1: with lots of brass buttons on his jacket, that they
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Speaker 1: finally gave up threatening and resolved to investigate. The father,
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Speaker 1: who was an old sea captain, found out that this
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Speaker 1: house had been occupied by an Englishman named Cowdery, who
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Speaker 1: had had three children, two boys and a girl. One
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Speaker 1: of the boys was an idiot. This idiot was supposed
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Speaker 1: to have fallen into the East River, as his cap
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Speaker 1: was found there, and he had always shown a liking
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Speaker 1: for the river when his nurse took him out. Soon
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Speaker 1: after this, mister Cowdery moved west. This was enough for
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Speaker 1: my friend's friend, who had the fireboard taken down and
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Speaker 1: short work in the wall by the side of the
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Speaker 1: chimney brought the body of the unfortunate idiot boy. The
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Speaker 1: back of his skull was crushed in He still had
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Speaker 1: the dark blue jacket on with four rows of buttons
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Speaker 1: on the front. The poor little bones were buried and
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Speaker 1: the affair kept quiet, but the captain left the house.
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Speaker 1: A model ghost story, Boston Courier, August tenth, A very
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Speaker 1: singular story which forms one of the sensational social topics
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Speaker 1: of the day. Is the best Ottenna dedicated of the
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Speaker 1: many stories of the supernatural that have been lately told.
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Speaker 1: Only a short time ago, a young and well known artist,
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Speaker 1: mister A was invited to pay a visit to his
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Speaker 1: distinguished friend, mister Izard. The house was filled with guests,
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Speaker 1: but a large and handsome room was placed at his disposal,
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Speaker 1: apparently one of the best in the house. For three
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Speaker 1: days he had a delightful visit, delightful in all particular
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Speaker 1: save one. He had each night a horrible dream. He
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Speaker 1: dreamed he was, or was really suddenly awakened by some
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Speaker 1: person entering his room, and in looking around, saw the
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Speaker 1: room brilliantly lighted, while at the window stood a lady
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Speaker 1: elegantly attired in the act of throwing something out. This accomplished,
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Speaker 1: she turned her face toward the only spectator showing a
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Speaker 1: countenance so distorted by evil passions that he was thrilled
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Speaker 1: with horror. Soon the light and the figure with the
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Speaker 1: dreadful face to isame disappeared, leaving the artist suffering from
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Speaker 1: a frightful nightmare. On returning to his city home, he
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Speaker 1: was so haunted by the fearful countenance which had for
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Speaker 1: three consecutive knights troubled him, that he made a sketch
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Speaker 1: of it, and so real that the evil expression seemed
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Speaker 1: to horrify everyone who saw it. Not a great while
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Speaker 1: after the artist went to make an evening visit on
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Speaker 1: mister Izard. That gentleman invited him to his picture gallery,
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Speaker 1: as he wished to show him some remarkable old family portraits.
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Speaker 1: What was mister May's surprise to recognize among them in
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Speaker 1: the likeness of a stately, well dressed lady, the one
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Speaker 1: who had so troubled his slumbers on his previous visit. Lacking, however,
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Speaker 1: the revolting, wicked expression. Soon as he saw it, he
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Speaker 1: involuntarily exclaimed, why I have seen that lady? Indeed, said
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Speaker 1: mister I, smiling, that is hardly possible, as she died
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Speaker 1: more than a hundred y years ago. She was the
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Speaker 1: second wife of my great grandfather, and reflected anything but
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Speaker 1: credit on the family. She was strongly suspected of having
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Speaker 1: murdered her husband's son by a former marriage in order
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Speaker 1: to make her own child heir to the property. The
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Speaker 1: unfortunate boy broke his neck in a fall from a window,
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Speaker 1: and there was every reason to believe that he was
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Speaker 1: precipitated from the window by his step mother. The artist
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Speaker 1: then told his host the circumstances of his thrice repeated
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Speaker 1: experience or dream, and sent for his sketch, which, so
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Speaker 1: far as the features were concerned, was identical with the
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Speaker 1: portrait in mister Izzard's gallery. The sketch has since been photographed,
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Speaker 1: but from its hideous expression is not very pleasant to
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Speaker 1: look upon a ghost that will not down. Cincinnati Enquirer,
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Speaker 1: September thirtieth, eighteen eighty four, Grantsville, West Virginia, September thirty
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Speaker 1: The Ghost of Bett's Farm will not lay something. Over
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Speaker 1: a year ago, the Inquirer contained an account or an
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Speaker 1: occult influence or manifestation at the farmhouse of mister Collins Bets,
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Speaker 1: about three miles below this town, in which story were
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Speaker 1: delineated a number of weird, strange instances of ghostly manifestations,
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Speaker 1: all of which were verified by the testimony of honest, brave,
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Speaker 1: and reliable citizens, the names of many of whom were mentioned.
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Speaker 1: That story went the rounds of newspapers all over the
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Speaker 1: country and resulted in the propriety of the place receiving
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Speaker 1: hundreds of letters from all over the country. Since then,
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Speaker 1: the old house has been torn down, the family of
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Speaker 1: mister Betts rebuilding a home place on a different portion
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Speaker 1: of the farm. This act, it was believed, would lay
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Speaker 1: or forever quiet the ramblings and queer doings of the
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Speaker 1: inexplicable mystery, but such has not been the case. Since
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Speaker 1: the building has been raised, the mysterious manifestation has made
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Speaker 1: itself visible at places, sometimes quite a distance from the
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Speaker 1: scene of its former domicile. At a distance of several
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Speaker 1: hundred yards from the old BET's place, a neighboring farmer
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Speaker 1: had erected a house in which he intended to reside,
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Speaker 1: and in fact did reside a short time. But the
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Speaker 1: kale BET's ghost, as the manifestation is commonly called, for
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Speaker 1: a distance of many miles, was no respector of persons
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Speaker 1: and oblivious of distance, and it so annoyed and frightened
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Speaker 1: the farmer and his family at underward times, that he
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Speaker 1: has removed his house to the opposite end of the farm,
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Speaker 1: leaving his garden, orchard and all the improvements usually made
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Speaker 1: about a farmhouse to take care of themselves. This in
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Speaker 1: itself was considered strange enough, but the ghostly visitant did
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Speaker 1: not stop there. The high road running some distance away,
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Speaker 1: has been the theater of almost numberless scenes of frights
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Speaker 1: and frightful appearances. Among those who have lately seen the
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Speaker 1: ghost is a young man named van Devener, whose father
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Speaker 1: had once been frightened nearly to death. As related in
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Speaker 1: a former letter, young Van Deviner had frequently made sport
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Speaker 1: of the old man's fright, but he does so no more.
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Speaker 1: In fact, the young man is willing to make affidavit
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Speaker 1: that the old man's story was mildly drawn. The young
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Speaker 1: man was driving along quietly one night, about half a
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Speaker 1: mile from the BET's place, when he saw a strange being, which,
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Speaker 1: in the pale light of the moon, he took to
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Speaker 1: be a man walking at the head of his horses.
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Speaker 1: A few minutes later, the man, or whatever it was,
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Speaker 1: glided without making a particle of noise around the horses heads,
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Speaker 1: and got into the wagon and took a seat by
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Speaker 1: his side. Young van Diviner says it rode along with
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Speaker 1: him several hundred yards and spoke to him. It first
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Speaker 1: told him not to be afraid, as it did not
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Speaker 1: intend to injure him in the least. What it said
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Speaker 1: he will not tell, except that it admonished him not
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Speaker 1: to say anything about it until a certain time after
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Speaker 1: it had spoken to him. Van deer Biner says it
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Speaker 1: got up and glided off into the woods and disappeared.
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Speaker 1: He says the shape was that of a headless man,
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Speaker 1: and that while it was with him, he felt a
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Speaker 1: cold chill run over him, although it was a warm evening,
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Speaker 1: and this chilly feeling did not leave him until the
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Speaker 1: disappearance of the shape. Since then Van Devener cannot be
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Speaker 1: induced to go over the ground after night. He still
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Speaker 1: persists in the same story, and as he is a
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Speaker 1: truthful young fellow, the people who know him are satisfied
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Speaker 1: that he really saw what he claims to have seen.
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Speaker 1: Only one day last week, another young man, Henry Stevens,
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Speaker 1: I believe, on his passed the same place, saw a
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Speaker 1: peculiar shape rise out of the brush by the side
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Speaker 1: of the road and glide along by the side of
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Speaker 1: the wagon. Stephens got out of his wagon and gathered
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Speaker 1: together a handful of rocks, which he threw at the object.
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Speaker 1: Some of the stones appeared to go through it, but
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Speaker 1: did not seem to affect it in the least. It
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Speaker 1: still continued to float along at a short distance away,
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Speaker 1: until Stemens became frightened and whipped up his horses, until
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Speaker 1: they flew at a two minute gate down the road,
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Speaker 1: the object following at some distance until quite away from
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Speaker 1: the scene of its first appearance, when it disappeared like
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Speaker 1: a cloud of vapor. There are dozens of authentic stories
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Speaker 1: of the ghostly peculiarities of the BET's Ghost, which are
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Speaker 1: new and peculiar. It appears, since the destruction of the
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Speaker 1: Bett's homestead to have taken up its quarters near the highway,
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Speaker 1: and here it appears to people who have generally scoffed
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Speaker 1: and laughed at the former stories that it is bullet
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Speaker 1: proof does not need testimony. Located as it is in
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Speaker 1: a section of country which has for years been noted
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Speaker 1: for its fearless men, such as the Duskies, Downs and others,
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Speaker 1: of national fame as sharpshooters, scouts, et cetera. During the
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Speaker 1: late War. None of these men who succeeded in laying
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Speaker 1: or putting a quietness to it. There is a story
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Speaker 1: that a couple of men had been murdered or disappeared
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Speaker 1: in this vicinity, and that the ghost is the uneasy
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Speaker 1: spirit of one of these men, but there is no
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Speaker 1: real evidence that anybody was ever killed there. There is
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Speaker 1: no doubt that Calhoun County has a mystery which neither time, bullets, courage,
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Speaker 1: nor philosophy can either drive away or explain it has
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Speaker 1: come to stay. If you meet a Calhoun or just
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Speaker 1: mention it, and he will tell you that the BET's
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Speaker 1: ghost is a county possession which it will gladly dispose
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Speaker 1: of at any price. Tom Cypher's Phantom Engine, Seattle Press Times,
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Speaker 1: January tenth, eighteen ninety two. Locomotive engineers are as a
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Speaker 1: class said to be superstitious, but J. M. Pinkney, an
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Speaker 1: engineer known to almost every Brotherhood Man, is an exception
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Speaker 1: to the rule. He has never been able to believe
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Speaker 1: the different stories told of apparitions suddenly appearing on the track,
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Speaker 1: but he had an experienced last Sunday night on the
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Speaker 1: Northern Pacific eastbound overland that made his hair stand on
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Speaker 1: end by the courtesy of the engineer, also a brotherhood man,
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Speaker 1: mister Pinkney, was riding on the engine. They were recounting experiences,
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Speaker 1: and the fireman, who was a green hand, was getting
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Speaker 1: very nervous as he listened to the tales of rex
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Speaker 1: and disasters, the horrors of which were graphically described by
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Speaker 1: the veteran engineers. The night was clear, and the rays
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Speaker 1: from the headlight flashed along the track, and although they
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Speaker 1: were interested in spinning yarns, a sharp lookout was kept,
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Speaker 1: for they were rapidly nearing Eagle Gorge in the Cascades,
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Speaker 1: the scene of so many disasters and the place which
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Speaker 1: is said to be the most dangerous on the two thousand,
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Speaker 1: five hundred miles of road. The engineer was relating a
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Speaker 1: story and was just coming to the climax when he
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Speaker 1: suddenly grasped the throttle and in a moment had thrown
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Speaker 1: her over, that is, reversed the engine. The air brakes
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Speaker 1: were applied and the train brought to a standstill within
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Speaker 1: a few feet of the place where engineer Cipher met
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Speaker 1: his death. Two years ago. By this time, the passengers
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Speaker 1: had become curious as to what was the matter, and
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Speaker 1: all sorts of questions were asked the trainmen. The engineer
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Speaker 1: made an excuse that some of the machinery was loose,
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Speaker 1: and in a few moments the train was speeding on
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Speaker 1: to her destination. What made you stop back there, asked Pinkney.
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Speaker 1: I heard your excuse, but I have run too long
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Speaker 1: on the road not to know that your excuse is
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Speaker 1: not the truth. His question was answered by the engineer,
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Speaker 1: pointing ahead and saying excitedly, there, look there, don't you
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Speaker 1: see it? Looking out of the cab window, said mister Pinkney,
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Speaker 1: I saw about three hundred yards ahead of us the
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Speaker 1: headlight of a locomotive. Stop the train man, I cried,
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Speaker 1: reaching for the lever. Oh, it's nothing, It's what I
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Speaker 1: saw back at the gorge. It's Tom Cypher's engine, number
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Speaker 1: thirty three. There's no danger of a collision. The man
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Speaker 1: who is running that ahead of us can run it
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Speaker 1: faster backward than I can this one forward. Have I
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Speaker 1: seen it before, Yes, twenty times. Every engineer on the
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Speaker 1: road knows that engine, and he's always watching for it.
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Speaker 1: When he gets to the gorge. The engine ahead of
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Speaker 1: us was running silently, but smoke was puffing from the stack,
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Speaker 1: and the head light throughout rays of red, green, and
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Speaker 1: white light. It kept a sh short distance ahead of
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Speaker 1: us for several miles, and then for a moment we
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Speaker 1: saw a finger on the pilot. Then the engine rounded
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Speaker 1: a curve and we did not see it again. We
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Speaker 1: ran by a little station, and at the next when
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Speaker 1: the operator warned us to keep well back from a
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Speaker 1: wild engine that was ahead, the engineer said nothing. He
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Speaker 1: was not afraid of a collision. Just to satisfy my
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Speaker 1: own mind on the matter, I sent a telegram to
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Speaker 1: the engine wiper at Sprague, asking him if number thirty
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Speaker 1: three was in. I received a reply stating that number
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Speaker 1: thirty three had just come in and that her coal
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Speaker 1: was exhausted and boxes burned out. I suppose you'll be
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Speaker 1: inclined to laugh at the story, but just ask any
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Speaker 1: of the boys, although many of them won't talk about it.
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Speaker 1: I would dot myself if I were running on the road.
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Speaker 1: It's unlucky to do so. With this comment upon the tail,
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Speaker 1: mister Pinckney bordered passing caboose and was sooner on his
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Speaker 1: way to Tacoma. It is believed by Northern Pacific engineers
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Speaker 1: that Thomas Cipher's spirit still hovers near Eagle Gorge Ghosts
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Speaker 1: in Connecticut, New York Sun September one, eighteen eighty five.
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Speaker 1: There is as much superstition in New England today as
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Speaker 1: there was in those old times when they slashed quakers
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Speaker 1: and built bonfires for witches. It was a New york
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Speaker 1: Man who gave expression to this rather startling statement. He
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Speaker 1: has been summering in Connecticut, and he averts that his
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Speaker 1: talk about native superstition is founded on close observation. Perhaps
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Speaker 1: it is. Anyhow, he regaled the Times Correspondent with some
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Speaker 1: entertaining incidents which he claims established the truth of his
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Speaker 1: somewhat astonishing theories. Old Stratford, the whitewashed town between this
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Speaker 1: place in Bridgeport, made famous by mysterious rappings many years ago,
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Speaker 1: and more recently celebrated as the scene of poor Rose
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Speaker 1: Clark Ambler's strange murder, is much concerned over a house
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Speaker 1: which the almost universal verdict pronounces haunted the family of
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Speaker 1: Elehugh Osborne lives in this house, and ghosts have been
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Speaker 1: clambering through it lately. In a wonderfully promiscuous fashion. Two
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Speaker 1: or three families were compelled to vacate the premises before
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Speaker 1: the Osborne's, proud and skeptical took possession of them. Now
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Speaker 1: the Osborns are hunting for a new home. Children of
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Speaker 1: the family have been awakened at midnight by visitors which
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Speaker 1: persisted in shaking them out of bed. Missus Osborne has
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Speaker 1: been confronted with ghostly spectacles, and through the halls and
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Speaker 1: vacant rooms, strange footsteps are frequently heard when all the
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Speaker 1: family are trying to sleep, sounds loud enough to arouse
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Speaker 1: every member of the household. Then the manifestation sometimes changed
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Speaker 1: to moanings and groaning sufficiently vehement and pitiful to distract
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Speaker 1: all who hear them. Once upon a time, perhaps a
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Speaker 1: dozen years ago, Jonathan Riggs lived in this house, and,
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Speaker 1: as the local gossips assert, rings, caused the death of
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Speaker 1: his wife by his brutal conduct, and then swallowed poison
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Speaker 1: to end his own life. The anniversary of the murderous
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Speaker 1: month in the Riggs family has arrived, and the manifestations
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Speaker 1: are so frequent and so lively that the like has
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Speaker 1: never been seen before, as is affirmed by a veteran
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Speaker 1: Stratford citizen. There is no shadow of doubt in Stratford
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Speaker 1: that the spirits of the Rigses are spryly cavorting around
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Speaker 1: their former amode. Over at the Thimble Islands off Stoney
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Speaker 1: Creek is an acre or two of soil piled high
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Speaker 1: on a lot of rocks. The natives call it Frisbee Island.
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Speaker 1: Not more than a hundred yards off shore. It contains
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Speaker 1: a big, bleak looking house which was built about twenty
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Speaker 1: years ago to serve as a summer hotel, when Connecticut
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Speaker 1: capitalists were deep in schemes to tempt New Yorkers to
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Speaker 1: this part of the Sound Shore to spend their summers.
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Speaker 1: New Yorkers declined to be tempted, and the old house
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Speaker 1: is rapidly approaching decay. It has recently assumed a peculiar
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Speaker 1: interest for the residents of Stony Creek. Midnight lights have
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Speaker 1: suddenly appeared in all its windows at frequent intervals, fitfully
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Speaker 1: flashing up and down like the blaze in the Long
19:29
Speaker 1: Island lighthouses ghosts. This is the universal verdict. Nobody disputes it.
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Speaker 1: Once or twice. A hardy crew of local sailors have
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Speaker 1: volunteered to go out and investigate the mystery. But when
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Speaker 1: the time for the test has arrived, there somehow have
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Speaker 1: always been reasons for postponing the excursion. Cynical people profess
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Speaker 1: to believe that practical jokers are at the root of
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Speaker 1: the manifestations, but such a profane view is not widely
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Speaker 1: entertained among them the good people who have their homes
20:01
Speaker 1: at Stony Creek over near Middleton is a farmer named
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Speaker 1: Edgar G. Stokes, a gentleman who is said to have
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Speaker 1: graduated with honor in a New England college more than
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Speaker 1: a quarter of a century ago. He enjoys perhaps the
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Speaker 1: most notable bit of superstition to be found anywhere in
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Speaker 1: this country, in or out of Connecticut. He owns the
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Speaker 1: farm in which he lives, and it is valuable. Not
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Speaker 1: quite so valuable though as it once was. For mister
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Speaker 1: stokes eccentric disposition has somewhat changed the usual tactics that
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Speaker 1: farmers pursue when they own fertile acres. The average man
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Speaker 1: clears his soil of stones, mister Stokes has been piling
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Speaker 1: rocks all over his land. Little by little, the weakness
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Speaker 1: or philosophy has grown upon him, and not only from
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Speaker 1: every part of Middlesex County, but from every part of
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Speaker 1: this state. He has been accumulating wagon loads pebbles and rocks.
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Speaker 1: He seeks for no peculiar stone, either in shape, color
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Speaker 1: or quality. If they are stones, that is sufficient. And
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Speaker 1: his theory is that stones have souls, souls too that
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Speaker 1: are not so sordid and earthly as the souls that
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Speaker 1: animate humanity. They are souls purified and exalted. In the
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Speaker 1: rocks are the spirits of the greatest men who have
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Speaker 1: lived in past ages, developed by some divinity, until they
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Speaker 1: have become worthy of their new abode. Napoleon Bonaparte's soul
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Speaker 1: inhabits a stone, so does Annibals, so does Caesar's. But
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Speaker 1: poor Plebeian John Smith and William Jenkins they never attained
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Speaker 1: such immortality. Farmer Stokes has dumped his rocks with more
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Speaker 1: or less reverence all along his fields. And this by
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Speaker 1: one name, and that by another, he knows and haales
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Speaker 1: them all a choice. Galaxy of the distinguished lights of
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Speaker 1: the old days are in his possession. And just between
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Speaker 1: the burly bits of granite at the very threshold of
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Speaker 1: his home is a smooth faced crystal from the rocky mountains.
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Speaker 1: This stone has no soul yet. The rough jagged rock
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Speaker 1: on its left is George Washington. The granite spar on
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Speaker 1: the right is glorified with the spirit of Good Queen Bess,
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Speaker 1: the smooth faced crystal. One of these days is to
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Speaker 1: know the bliss of swallowing up the spirit of good.
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Speaker 1: Farmer Edgar Garton Stokes, it was not until recently that
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Speaker 1: mystified neighbors obtained the secret of the vast accumulation of
22:40
Speaker 1: rough stones on the Stokes farm. Mister Stokes has a family.
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Speaker 1: They all seem to be intelligent, practical business people. There
22:50
Speaker 1: may be a will contested in Middleton one of these days.
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Speaker 1: The Spook of Diamond Island Louis Globe Democrat, September eighteenth,
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Speaker 1: eighteen eighty eight, Harden, Illinois, September eighteenth. For some time
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Speaker 1: past rumors have been circulated and hardened to the effect
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Speaker 1: that Diamond Island in the River, about two miles from
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Speaker 1: this place, was the home of a ghost. The stories
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Speaker 1: concerning the movements of the alleged spook were of course,
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Speaker 1: not given any credence at first, but later when several
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Speaker 1: reputable citizens of Harden announced that they had positively seen
23:32
Speaker 1: an uncanny looking object moving about on the island at night.
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Speaker 1: The rumors were more seriously considered. Now, after investigation, the
23:42
Speaker 1: mysterious something is no longer considered a myth. Along toward midnight,
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Speaker 1: a peculiar light is seen at the foot of the island.
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Speaker 1: It has the appearance of a huge ball of fire,
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Speaker 1: and is about the size and shape of an ordinary barrel.
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Speaker 1: A few nights ago a party of young men from
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Speaker 1: this place determined to visit the island and fathom the
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Speaker 1: mystery if possible. Equipped with revolvers, knives, shot guns and clubs,
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Speaker 1: the party secured a boat and were soon cutting through
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Speaker 1: the water at a good speed for a point on
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Speaker 1: the island, near where the specter usually made its appearance.
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Speaker 1: Arriving at the landing place, the skiff was hauled up
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Speaker 1: on the shore and the young man took up a
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Speaker 1: position in the clump of trees close at hand to
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Speaker 1: watch and wait. Suddenly, the whole point of the island
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Speaker 1: was illumined as a bright red object rose apparently from
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Speaker 1: the water, and glided up into the air, ascending probably
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Speaker 1: to a height of forty yards. The watcher saw the
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Speaker 1: lurid ball fade away. The investigating party had seen all
24:49
Speaker 1: they wanted. They made a mad rush for the boat,
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Speaker 1: but just as they reached the place where it had
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Speaker 1: been left, they were horrified to see the little craft
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Speaker 1: moving out on the water from the island. At first,
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Speaker 1: its only occupant seemed to be the red ball of fire.
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Speaker 1: But the next moment the watchers saw the crimson object
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Speaker 1: gradually take the form of a man, and they saw him, too,
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Speaker 1: dip the oars at regular intervals and pull a long,
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Speaker 1: steady stroke. The man's features were fully concealed by a
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Speaker 1: wide rimmed slouch hat, which was drawn over his face.
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Speaker 1: A peculiar light illumined the boat and the waters around it,
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Speaker 1: making the craft and its mysterious occupant perfectly discernible to
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Speaker 1: the party on the shore, who stood paralyzed with fear,
25:37
Speaker 1: unable to speak or move their eyes. Riveted by some
25:40
Speaker 1: mysterious influence, they could not resist on the spectral object
25:44
Speaker 1: before them. The boat was now but in mid stream,
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Speaker 1: and suddenly the group of watchers saw the skiff's occupant
25:52
Speaker 1: change again into the crimson ball. Then it slowly began
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Speaker 1: to move upward, and when it was about parallel with
25:59
Speaker 1: the tops of the trees on the island. It disappeared
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Speaker 1: next instant. The watchers looking across the river saw nothing
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Speaker 1: but the flickering lights in Harden. The cries of the
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Speaker 1: crowd on the island awakened a sleeping fisherman on the
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Speaker 1: opposite side of the river, and he kindly pulled across
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Speaker 1: and rescued the ghost seeking youths. The Fiery Spook, it
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Speaker 1: is said, still makes its nightly trips to Diamond Island,
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Speaker 1: but no more investigating parties have ventured across to solve
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Speaker 1: the mystery. It is said that some years ago a
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Speaker 1: foul murder was committed on this island, and by the
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Speaker 1: superstitious the crimson object is believed to be the restless
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Speaker 1: spirit of the slain man. The Ghost's Full House, New York, Sun,
26:49
Speaker 1: April tenth, eighteen ninety one. The Bleaker Street Ghost drew
26:55
Speaker 1: as large a house last night as Barnum Circus or
26:58
Speaker 1: any of the theaters. There was a bigger crowd about
27:02
Speaker 1: Konefeld's Folly than there was three weeks ago when the
27:05
Speaker 1: flames gutted the buildings from Mercer to Green Streets and
27:09
Speaker 1: did damage away up in the millions. The Raith was
27:13
Speaker 1: not due till midnight, but the street was packed with
27:16
Speaker 1: watchers as early as nine o'clock. The crowd was so
27:19
Speaker 1: dense that pedestrians with difficulty forced their way through it,
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Speaker 1: and twice a squad of blue coats descended on the
27:26
Speaker 1: mob and routed it. Five minutes after the place had retired,
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Speaker 1: the street was as impassable as before. In the midst
27:34
Speaker 1: of the ruins of the Big Fire, a single wall
27:37
Speaker 1: towers away above the surrounding brick partitions. It looks feeble
27:42
Speaker 1: and almost tottering, and the shop keepers in the vicinity
27:45
Speaker 1: say that when there is a high wind, it sways
27:48
Speaker 1: to and fro and threatens to come down in a heap.
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Speaker 1: After dark, the outlines of the summit of this wall
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Speaker 1: are very indistinct. The detail of the wreck could not
27:58
Speaker 1: be made out even in last night bright starlight. There
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Speaker 1: is a sheet of tin, however, on the top of
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Speaker 1: the wall, which was probably a cornice before the fire.
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Speaker 1: Only one side of it is attached to the brickwork,
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Speaker 1: and when there is any wind, it trembles in the
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Speaker 1: breeze and rattles with an uncertain sound. It may have
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Speaker 1: been that the sheen of the tin in the starlight
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Speaker 1: or a windy night first suggested the idea of a
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Speaker 1: ghost to some weird imagination. There is an old Frenchman
28:28
Speaker 1: living in the vicinity, however, who avers that three nights
28:32
Speaker 1: ago he saw with his own eyes a lady in
28:35
Speaker 1: white standing out against the darkened sky on the very
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Speaker 1: summit of the tottering wall. Her long flowing robes fluttered
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Speaker 1: in the breeze, and even while he watched, there came
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Speaker 1: a low wailing sound, and the wraith dissolved into air.
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Speaker 1: He kept his eye fixed on the spot for a
28:53
Speaker 1: full minute, but the vision did not reappear, and as
28:57
Speaker 1: he turned to walk away, he thought he heard groaning
28:59
Speaker 1: as of a lost spirit. The sound, he says, made
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Speaker 1: his blood run cold and kept him shivering the whole
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Speaker 1: night through. The alleged appearance of the ghost has set
29:10
Speaker 1: the whole neighborhood at talking, and some of the old
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Speaker 1: residenters have recalled a murder which took place in the
29:17
Speaker 1: vicinity many years ago, when a t Stewart lived there
29:21
Speaker 1: and the street was one of the fashionable places of
29:23
Speaker 1: residence of the town. There was a wealthy old gentleman
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Speaker 1: of foreign birth who lived in the street and was
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Speaker 1: quite a recluse. He would pass the time of day
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Speaker 1: with his neighbors when he met them in the street,
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Speaker 1: but he was never known to enter into conversation with
29:38
Speaker 1: any one. The blinds were always drawn in his front windows,
29:43
Speaker 1: and at night there was not a ray of light
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Speaker 1: to be seen about the house. His only servants were
29:49
Speaker 1: a couple somewhat advanced in years, who were as foreign
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Speaker 1: and uncommunicative as himself. The master of the house would
29:57
Speaker 1: be away for months at a time, and the neighbors
30:00
Speaker 1: had all sorts of theories as to his disappearances. Some
30:04
Speaker 1: thought he was engaged in a lawful business. Others suggested
30:08
Speaker 1: that his absence might be attributed to the supernatural, but
30:12
Speaker 1: those who were less flighty concluded that he simply went
30:15
Speaker 1: off on periodical visits to his native land. On his
30:20
Speaker 1: return from one of these visits, however, the old gentleman
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Speaker 1: brought with him a beautiful young girl. She was little
30:27
Speaker 1: more than a child in appearance, and had the soft eyes,
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Speaker 1: alive complexion, and lithe graceful figure of a Spaniard. She
30:36
Speaker 1: was never seen alive after she passed the shadow of
30:39
Speaker 1: the old Man's doorway. A few weeks later, the old
30:43
Speaker 1: gentleman disappeared as mysteriously as if he had been snatched
30:47
Speaker 1: up into the clouds. The old couple who kept his
30:51
Speaker 1: home walked away one day and never returned. There was
30:55
Speaker 1: an investigation, and in a hole dug in the cellar
30:59
Speaker 1: was found the body of the beautiful young girl. There
31:02
Speaker 1: were no marks on her body, and it was supposed
31:05
Speaker 1: she had been smothered. The exact date of this tragedy
31:09
Speaker 1: is not fixed. Inspector Burns says that if it ever occurred,
31:14
Speaker 1: it was before his time. The ghost, if ghost there is,
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Speaker 1: is undoubtedly the spirit of this unfortunate and nameless young woman.
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Speaker 1: A world reporter watched the Bleaker Street ruins with the
31:26
Speaker 1: crowd last night and was there at the midnight hour,
31:29
Speaker 1: but never a sign of a ghost did he see.
31:32
Speaker 1: There were those in the crowd, nevertheless, who thought or
31:35
Speaker 1: pretended to think that they did. Once there was a
31:39
Speaker 1: rattling sound in the ruins, which caused a commotion among
31:42
Speaker 1: the lookers on, but it was only because a small
31:45
Speaker 1: boy had shied a brick at the old wall. The
31:48
Speaker 1: living spirits boomed the liquor business in the saloons of
31:51
Speaker 1: the vicinity, A skull and crossbones over one of these
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Speaker 1: bars was surmounted with a somewhat appropriate legend, freshly painted.
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Speaker 1: In the midst of life, we are in debt. End
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Speaker 1: of Section fifteen. End of the Best Ghost Stories.