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Show A HAUNTED HOUSE, j A Ghost Story That Reads Like a Novel. . 1 YOUNG BAN'S TRAGIC DEATH. Futile Efforts to Drive the Uncanny Thing Away. Stories have been alloal for some H:i: whieti Uavf excited a nival deal of com Dieilt among rerijdeuis ol tin- West Kial and which have gi veil fin ploy men I to the tongues of the go?. pi It is a veri table ghost btory. and while the incredu lous have smiled and ulfected a con tempt for what they term nonsense of that kind, tlie fact remains tiiat the tale continues to go the rounds and to in crease in interest as the days go by. The house which is the scene of operations opera-tions for his alleged ghostship stands on the south side of Chestnut street, west of Twenty-ninth, and is just such a looking look-ing place as might be selected for such a Btrange inhabitant. It is a dark, gloomy It Hiking structure, rearing its solemn . front above the street in strange contrast j to the cheerful aspect of its neighbors From week to week tho somber shutters which hide its windows from the eyes of the curious are never opened to admit . the cheerful sunshine, and no noise of laughter or prattle of children at play ever greet the passer by. An air of mystery mys-tery pervades the place, and a strange, uncanny feeling cornea over those who 1 pass it. j The weird visitor is said to be the ghost : of a young man who, in dayB gone by, I blew out his brains upon the very thresh-; thresh-; old of the house. A young lady, with whom he fell in love and who had plighted him her troth, grew tired of his attentions, and broke her engagement : with him. By every means within his power he Bought to regain her affections, but in vain. She turned a deaf ear to i his most earnest entreaties, and finally forbade his visits entirely. ! Htill clinging to the hope that he might In timo regain her love, ho Bought an in-: in-: tcrview, which was denied him, and. filled with despair, he resolved to end his ! life. He called to Bee her, but finding ' that she had gone to visit a neighbor he : repaired to the house where it was sup-i sup-i posed she had gone, and, reaching the : door, he placed a pistol to his head and coolly blew himself into eternity. It chanced, however, that he had mistaken mis-taken the house, and the story is that his spirit, which had gone in searcii of : the lady he had loved and failing to find I her, has from that time, as each recur- ring day brings back the hour at which he died, returned to renew the fruitless search. Inhabitants of the house were startled by strange, unearthly noises, and on more than one occasion the weird visitor was seen to ascend the steps leading lead-ing up from Lhe cellar and go wandering about the house as if vainly searching for some one. It groped its way from room to room, and after accomplishing its rounds would disappear. So thoroughly thor-oughly frightened did the inmates of the fear, they removed to another locality and for a time his ghostship was left in boIq possession of the premises. Then the property was sold and the new owner, own-er, who bad heard the weird Btories that were told, resolved to remodel the house with a view to driving out the unwelcome unwel-come visitor. Tho cellar fiom which the phantom had arisen on the occasion of his visits was filled completely up, in the hope that when its hiding place was gone it (the ghost) would take its departure, depar-ture, and the interior of the house was carefully rearranged, but without avail. The ghostly visitant still remained. It Is said that it still wanders through the house, and rumors go abroad of strange Bights and soundB to be seen and heard at night. However it may be, no one has been able to solve the mystery, and the inmates of tho house are seldom seen. They hold themselves carefully aloof from the outer world, and maintain main-tain an air of mystery that lends credence cred-ence to tho tale. No-one is seen to come or go across the mysterious threshold, darkened by the blood of the self murdered mur-dered man, and tho neighbors glance at the house significantly and relate the story with an air of general belief. A reporter, in order to learn the exact facts, called at the house, but was denied de-nied admission. Inquiry among the neighbors, however, verified the statements state-ments here made. St. Louis Republic. |
