73
A jPBRSONAL, bxpbhibncb.
THE NEBRASKAN
jS-
I have nevor taken much stock in ghost
stories. 1 have always considered them to
be creatures of the imagination, and have
been inclined to turn up my nose at them. I
have considered myself above such things.
Perhaps the experience I am about to re
late, came as a punishment for the views I
had taken in this matter. Or possibly it
was entirely by chance that I became the
victim.
Whatever the cause may have been, the
experience which I passed through has
brought about a complete and radical change
in my opinions on the subject. I no longer as
sume that calmly superior air, when it is men
tioned. I was so overcome at the time that
I have never been able to give a clear ac
count of my experience, and this statement
will, therefore be found to be rather discon
nected. It was on the fifth day of January, 1893. I
had retired about 10 o'clock, and soon fell
into a calm and peaceful slumber. I do not
know how long I slept, but it must have been
several hours after, that I awoke from no ap
parent cause. It was a clear night, and as
there was a full moon, it was almost as light
as day. But it was that soft, yellow light
which throws out the shadows with such
startling distinctness,and gives such a ghastly
effect to every object. My senses seemed to
be preternaturally keen, and I felt a presen
timent of impending evil.
My room is at the head of the stairs, which
lead from the kitchen, at the north end of the
house. As I lay there I thought I heard a
window rattling in the kitchen, but I thought
it was caused by the wind, which was Mow
ing quite strongly from the north at the time.
Suddenly, however, I felt a draught of cold
air blow up from below, and I heard a door
slam in a distant part of tbr house s bo I
knew a window must be open in the kitchen.
Visions of burglars floated through my head,
and to say that I was frightened is putting it
mildly. Soon I heard something coming up
the stairs. "Clank, clank, clank," it came,
nearer and nearer, and finally stopped before
my door. Then all was still for a minute,
although it seemed to my excited senses at
least an hour. Finally, when my nerves
seemed about ready to give way under the
strain, I heard a slight rustle, and a most
frightful object stepped into the room.
I am unable to describe it fully ; partly be
cause I was too frightened to take much no
tice, and partly because words would fail to
do justice to the horrible appearance of the
thing.
However, I saw enough to assure myself
that it was a ghost. It wore the traditional
white garments,but,unlike all the ghosts I had
ever read about, it did not move silently. It
is true I could hear no sound of footsteps, but
there was the same noise I had heard before,
whenever it moved. It appeared to be a
creaking of the joints. It was entirely with
out flesh, and the skin was stretched tightly
over the bones. Its eyes were sunken deeply
in their sockets, and glowed in a particularly
ghastly manner. Indeed, the whole figure
seemed to emit a peculiar bluish light. There
was no particular or well-defined source of
light, but the whole room seemed to be per
vaded with it.
This strange figure hesitated a moment,
and then slowly approached me. As for me,
I was sitting up in bed, and my "each partic
ular hair" was doing the little porcupine act
so thrillingly described by Shakespeare.
The apparition stopped by the side of my
bed and spoke. Such a voice I It is impos
sible to describe it, but it gives me the hor
rors every time I think of it. Neither do I