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Show GHOSTS IN OLD HOUSES DUE- TO CREAKY BOARDS, SAYS SCIENTIST In old houses the boards and Joists forming the floors are often in a somewhat unstable condition. Many floors are permanently bent with the traffic of generations. Others are still undergoing tho warping process. It Is easy to Imagine a floor which Is In a perfectly ripe condition for tho production of such ghostly aoulds as are depicted in a scientist's scien-tist's letter, which follows: "During tho daytlmo the timbers got bent with the weight of the various va-rious inmates of tho house walking to and fro, but the noise and bustle of the day drowns tho starting and creaking which goes on until ,tho floor lias recovered Its natural position, po-sition, as It Is bound to do In time, wood being of an elastic nature. "When, however, the stillness of night comes on, theso Uttlo Intermittent Intermit-tent movements may become magnified mag-nified Into mysterious footsteps, according ac-cording to the Imagination of tho hearer. I myself live In a housn tho landing of which exactly Illustrates Illus-trates my argument. Some hours after all are lu bed the sound as of one stealthily creeping along the landing Is heard loud enough to startle a light sleeper Into wakeful- ness. "Who's that?" has often been the exclamation, but by good sense the natural explanation has as often been accepted. "To provo my theory, I would JJke the vicar and his friend to try the following experiment: Do not allow any one to use the guilty passages and bedroom for forty-eight hourB. At the jjnd of that period, which should be nrranged to terminate near tho psychological moment, enter en-ter the room by the'wlndow and do not move far from It. It will bo surprising If the footsteps are heard that night. . V.: ., J. "To effectually lay the ghost I IH would recommend the vicar to re- tH place the old floor with new Joists IH and boards which will riot creak." |