Strangely Illuminated

1900

Weird Effect of Phosphorescence on a Ship In Bering Sea

"I have often heard of the wonderful phosphorescence of southern seas," remarked a traveler from the north, "and I have seen some pretty fair samples of it in the Atlantic between New York and English ports but I did not know until recently that it prevailed to any extent in northern waters.

"Last August I was on board a revenue cutter in the Bering sea, about 63 degrees north latitude, bound north, when one night about 10 o'clock I happened to go on deck, and I was almost frightened by the sight of the sea. The wind was blowing sharp enough to raise the whitecaps, and the whole sea looked as if it were lighted from its depths by a million arc lights, throwing their white rays upward and under the flying foam. The hollows of the waves were dark, but every crest that broke showered and sparkled as if it were filled with light. From the sides of the ship great rolls of broken white light fell away, and she left a broad pathway of silvery foam as far back as the eye could reach.

"But about this hour was the most striking display. Here it was as if the ship were plowing through the sea of white light, and as the water was thrown back from her prow it fell in glittering piles of light upon the dark surface beyond and was driven far down below, lighting the depths as if all the electricity of the ocean were shooting its sparkles through the waves and turning itself into innumerable incandescents that flushed a second and then shut out forever. I stood on the forecastle deck looking down into the brilliant white turmoil of the waters until I began to feel as if we were afloat upon some silver sea, and a really uncanny feeling took possession of me. The white ship was lighted by the phosphorescence of the waters, so that as high up as the deck there was a pale, weird white that made one feel as if the 'Flying Dutchman' were abroad upon the seas and had passed by us. The masts towered in ashy gray above the decks, and every rope and line stood out distinctly in the light, but cast no shadow. It was all as ghostly as if we had gone up against the real thing, and it was a positive relief to get back into the wardroom, where there was something more human. I don't know how long it lasted, but when I went to bed at 11 o'clock I could still see the silver shining through the air port in my stateroom." — Washington Star.

Lightning Flash Picks Setting Hen's Bones

1921

Winchester, Va.—A marvelous freak of lightning was reported by Mrs. Coleman Lyne of Jefferson county, West Virginia, who declared that after lightning had struck a small pear tree near her chicken yard she went out to look after a hen whose eggs were soon to hatch. She found the lightning had run down the fence a short distance to the nest, and there was the skeleton of the hen in the exact position in which she had set upon the nest.

The bones were as clean as if they had been scraped, and the meat and feathers lay nearby not even scorched. None of the eggs had been cracked, but on close inspection a small hole was found in the end of each, and the inside of the shell burned out as clean as a new pin.

—Mountain Democrat, Placerville, California, October 29, 1921, page 7.

Famous Ghost Stories of Kansas City, 1895

1895

KANSAS CITY GHOSTS

FAMOUS SPOOKS OF THE TOWN ON THE BIG MUDDY

The Original Ghost Is From a Case of Fratricide — How the Santa Fe Spook Was Laid — How a Man With the "Jimjams" Stirred Up a Jail Full of Criminals

It may be true that conscience makes cowards of us all, but with the ignorant and superstitious conscience is not a circumstance when compared to a vivid imagination. The greatest coward on earth is the person who sees in every dark shadow, in each deserted house and around every dismal building the restless spirit of some departed sinner whose crimes will not allow him to enter heaven, who is doomed to wander around this earth until Gabriel's trumpet is sounded, who must hover near the scene of his former misdeeds until the last day.

The place by popular consent most adapted to ghost wanderings and the place most fruitful in the production of the bona fide article is naturally the graveyard. The drearier, gloomier and more mournful the aspect of the graveyard the more ghosts. But the real believer in spooks and spirits does not deem it necessary to go among the tombs and graves of the dead to find a spirit.

Ghosts are numerous. They can be found in all sections of the country. There is not a village nor a deserted country house nor a railroad bridge but has its ghost. But the ghosts are not all confined to the country by any means. There have been several in Kansas City that have gained extensive notoriety on account of their many visitations, and the parts of the city in which they are wont to disport themselves are still eyed with suspicion and looked upon askance by the inhabitants of Belvidere Hollow, Hick's Hollow and other portions of the city thickly settled by the descendants of Ham.

The oldest, the original ghost that is most vividly in the memory of the superstitious and is most often the topic of grewsome whispers among the people mentioned, walked the levee between Main street and Broadway 12 years ago. One winter's night, the story goes, a man was lying in wait for an enemy on the levee. In his hand he clutched a ponderous double barreled shotgun loaded with nails and slugs. He saw a man walking down the levee. In the dim, flickering light he thought he recognized his enemy. He raised his gun, fired and hurried away. The next day he read in the papers that his brother's body had been found on the levee, horribly mangled and torn. The murderer winced, but kept his secret. Then the dead brother's ghost began to walk. Every night, at the same hour of the shooting, it could be seen on the levee. Each time it would walk straight to the spot where the body had fallen. Then the ghost would fall, go through a death struggle and disappear. It kept this up for years, and there are those who say it does it still.

The second healthy, well developed ghost disported itself in the ruins of the old Santa Fe Stage Coach company's office at Second and Main streets in 1886. So generally known did it become that often large crowds would congregate and await the appearance of the nocturnal visitor. Early one evening a young man who wished to investigate a little went into the ruins. When he emerged from them an hour later, he found a large crowd standing on the opposite side of the street, near the jail, watching for ghosts. Someone in the crowd, thinking that the young man had been playing ghost, threw a brick at the investigator, striking him on the head. He fell senseless with a gaping wound in his head. The Santa Fe ghost has not been seen since.

In 1887 there was a story afloat that at 12 o'clock each night a ghostly cable train glided down the incline between Walnut and Main streets and disappeared into space. In the grip car, guiding the tram, was the ghost of a gripman who had died a short time before, after having been insane for some time, the result of grief over the fact that his train had run down and killed a pedestrian. Crowds congregated at the junction nightly to see the strange sight. For the most part they went away disappointed, although there was plenty who declared they had seen "it."

Another story, in which a ghost was never seen, but which smacked strongly of spooks, was the Conway murder on East Eighteenth street, between Oak and Locust, in 1885. Mrs. Conway, a young woman, and her little girl were beaten to death with a coupling pin. The murderer or murderers were never caught. Suspicion pointed toward two men, but there was no evidence. Both of them afterward died horrible deaths — one of the glanders and the other of cancer. The ghost of the victims never walked openly, but that section of the city was given a wide berth by the true believers for many months afterward.

Last, but not least, were the ghosts of Clark and Jones, the men hung for murdering Mme. Wright in 1893. These ghosts materialized in the jails, one at Independence and one in Kansas City. The scare lasted for some weeks, and the negro prisoners were thrown into a state of terror by any strange sounds. One night, when the jail was in a state of comparative quiet, a drunken prisoner, who had just been brought in, had an attack of "jimjams." By some strange coincidence he was placed in the cell once occupied by Clark, and the prisoners soon located the groaning of the unfortunate man. The negroes, not knowing that the cell was occupied, supposed that the noise was made by a departed spirit, and all started to howling with the "ghost." The effect was something that can be imagined better than it can be described. Since the Clark ghost left the jail Kansas City has been bereft of spirits, and Belvidere Hollow is breathing more easily than it has for years. — Kansas City Times.

—Warren Ledger, Warren, Pennsylvania, May 3, 1895, page 6.

Dead Man's Spirit Rings Fire Bell, Is Ouija's Solution of the Mystery

1920

WATERTOWN, N. Y. -- For several days there was considerable excitement and wonderment among all classes of citizens here caused by the mysterious tolling at regular intervals during day and night of the huge fire alarm bell in the county courthouse tower. The big bell weighs several tons and its reverberations can be heard five or six miles on a still day. For nearly a week, at intervals of about two hours, the bell was struck a single blow, apparently by the heavy electrically-operated hammer adjusted to announce the number of the fire box from which an alarm is sent in.

When the mysterious tollings first began the police and other city officials attributed the cause of the disturbance to crossed electric wires, but later, when it was noticed that the big bell continued to peal forth its single mournful signal, detectives were sent out to solve the mystery. Wires were traced by regular linemen of the telegraph and telephone companies, but nowhere could they discover any crossed circuit that could possibly affect the big alarm bell.

Girls Offer Solution of Mystery

No acceptable explanation was forthcoming from any source until Miss Sadie Jasper and Miss Rhoda Benton came forward with what they claimed was undoubtedly the true solution of the mystery. Through their manipulation of a Ouija board, they said, they had received several communications from "Big Joe" Beals, the first man employed to ring the bell after the hammer had ceased to strike the number of the fire alarm box, which was the custom twenty-five years ago when the bell was first installed.

"Big Joe," as he was popularly known and who died about fifteen years ago, had communicated with them several times, the girls said, on each occasion confessing that it was his spirit that was causing the bell to ring, evidently by unseen and unknown hands. "You cannot know how I love to strike the old bell with the blacksmith's hammer I found in the basement of the courthouse."

According to "Big Joe's" alleged spirit, which said it was pleased to communicate with the living through the instrumentality of the wonderful Ouija board, it had selected the final moment of every second hour to tap the bell, but had about decided to reduce the number of taps to two each day -- one at noon, another at midnight.

when the bell remained silent throughout the day, save at noon and midnight, and the Misses Jasper and Benton again reported further messages from the old-time bell ringer, the police and hundreds of others were inclined to accept the Ouija board as the true explanation of the mystery, and naturally the city was greatly aroused by the sensational developments.

Boy Upsets Ouija Board's Story

But no one here cares to even mention the Ouija board just now. The "baffling mystery" of the tolling bell is a mystery no more. A certain 13-year-old grammar school boy has confessed that with the aid of an amateur telegrapher's outfit, a dozen or more feet of wire, etc., he had made connection with the fire bell in the tower through a window of his sleeping room, all of which was nicely concealed by a large tree, and he had had much "big fun," all by himself, he said, operating the electrical hammer and causing the bell to toll at his will. The lad escaped a fine for his disorderly conduct on his promise to not do such a thing again.

Meanwhile, the two young ladies still insist that they only reported what the Ouija board told them.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 27, 1920, page 9.

Bird Dog, All Alone, Shoots Wild Game

1920

Bird Dog, All Alone, Shoots Wild Game; Pulls Trigger of Gun with Hind Foot

Clever Animal Bags 111 Ducks During Present Season

PIERCE, Neb. -- What is declared to be the most intelligent and remarkably trained hunting dog in the country is owned by a hunter of this village, Bruce J. Boyd. "Cognac," for that is the animal's name, is a large, spotted bird dog. He not only searches out his own game, but also shoots it and brings it home to his master, who is proprietor of a local grocery store.

An automatic shotgun was made to order for Cognac by an Omaha gunsmith and is strapped to the dog's back by means of a cleverly arranged harness. The gun is arranged with a patent trigger, which is pulled by the animal's hind foot.

"Aiming the gun doesn't bother Cognac at all," declared Boyd. "The dog seems to depend upon his instinct and gets just as good results as a human being would by carefully sighting before he shoots."

Brings All His Game Home

Cognac also carries a wicker basket strapped to his side, in which he puts his game after he kills it. He bears the game back to his master at the conclusion of a day's hunting.

In the past few weeks, during the local duck hunting season, along the north fork of the Elkhorn River, Cognac has bagged no less than 68 mallard ducks, 43 teal and a number of wild geese. During last winter's rabbit-hunting season, the dog killed more than 300 cottontails. Boyd, who is in his store all day and has little time for hunting, thus has his table always supplied with fresh game, and declares that it has reduced his living costs more than 40 per cent.

"It was about a year ago that I got the idea of training Cognac," says Boyd. "Up until that time he had been merely an ordinary hunting dog, with no especial talents. But I always noticed that he wasn't the least bit shy of a gun and I evolved the scheme of teaching him to shoot.

"I tied my automatic shotgun to his back with ropes and then pulled the trigger. Cognac just wagged his tail in glee. The next time I went hunting I fastened the gun to his back with a harness and shot at least twenty times. After a little more of this training, I had the special shotgun made which Cognac now carries.

"It took several weeks to train him to pull the trigger with his hind foot, but he never had any trouble at aiming. For a time I was afraid to trust him out alone, but I soon learned that he understood the danger of possible accidents, and was really more careful than a human being.

"So each morning, during this duck-hunting season, Cognac comes to my bed about 3 o'clock and awakens me. I strap the gun to his back and he trots out. By 8 o'clock he is back with all his ammunition gone and one duck or more for every shot he has fired.

Will Teach Dog to Reload

"When I have more time this coming summer I expect to teach Cognac to reload his gun. As it is now, he is done for the day when he has fired the six shots in the chamber and magazine."

Other hunters have become familiar to the sight of the lone dog and do not interfere with him.

"I have been offered several thousand dollars for Cognac by eastern sportsmen," declares Boyd, "but millions couldn't buy that dog. Aside from his value as a hunting animal, he takes care of the baby, wheeling the carriage about the streets, and is a willing helper about the house."

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 27, 1920, page 9.

Evil Spirits, "Imps" Scaring People of Nova Scotia

1922

FARMER FLEES FROM "IMPS"

Tale of Tricks of Evil Spirits Excites People of Nova Scotian Community.

Halifax, N. S. — While no broomstick riding hags of the traditional witch features have been seen hurtling across the face of the moon, there are any number of people in Nova Scotia who will take an oath that imps of no good intent are peopling the fair hills of Antigonish county.

Alexander MacDonald, a farmer, has boarded up his valley home and fled with his family and chattels in the dead of winter. His neighbors say they have seen with their own eyes, and without the assistance of potable spirits, the manifestations of the Evil One.

So much credence is being given to the tales of witches and imps that a Halifax newspaper has assigned a member of its staff to break his way through the inland snows until he reaches the MacDonald house and live there for two weeks.

MacDonald and his family awoke one morning three weeks ago to find that their horses had been driven into a lather and returned to their stalls before dawn. The cattle had been turned out of the barns in a driving snowstorm. The tails of the heifers had been braided.

This was repeated the next morning and the next. The third night, MacDonald says, the fire imps appeared. In unexpected places jets of flame would break out for no apparent reason. The following nights he called neighbors to see for themselves. They swore that they saw fires leap from bare floors and subside, or flare up from a fireless stove and disappear.

In each case a bit of absorbent cotton or highly inflammable calico was found near the source of the fire, but that only deepened the mystery. Where had the cotton and calico come from? After a week McDonald and his family fled, taking up their home in Caledonia Mills.

—Oneonta Daily Star, Oneonta, New York, April 1, 1922, page 8.

Deer Hunter Rides Enraged Buck Nine Miles

Kingston, New York, 1913

NERVY HUNTER RIDES A BUCK NINE MILES

Kingston, Nov. 15—Vernon Rider, of this town had a thrilling adventure while hunting deer yesterday when he rode nine miles through the dense forest on the back of an enraged buck.

After following the animal for several hours Rider got a shot at the buck and missed. The deer was in an open space and charged. Rider did not dare run and stood for the buck, which rushed head down at him.

To keep from being gored Rider seized the enraged animal by the antlers and the deer's head in rising threw the hunter astride the back. Locking his feet under the stomach of the buck Rider held on to the antlers.

The buck plunged into the forest and as Rider could not let go his hold he was carried, as near as he could estimate, about nine miles. The infuriated animal tried to throw the unwelcome rider and brushed against trees and rocks. Rider's clothes were torn to shreds, but he held fast.

Peter B. Markle, an old hunter, saw the deer coming with Rider and he fired a heavy ball through the animal's fore shoulder. The buck fell and Rider landed in the branches of a spruce tree. He was badly bruised.

The buck was old and savage, had four prongs on the antlers and weighed more than 200 pounds.

—Orange County Times-Press, Middletown, New York, November 18, 1913, page 5.

Ghost is Whistler, Conductors Report

1920

SAN FRANCISCO, Cal. -- Is Twin Peaks tunnel haunted?

"It is," aver several conductors on municipal railway cars. "The tunnel is haunted, and what is more, the ghost that dwells in the tunnel is a whistler of ability, tenacity and great lung power."

According to several car men whose runs take them through the tunnel, the tube has a ghost that whistles in an uncanny way. One conductor avers he saw the ghost -- in the shape of a man -- the other night and that the ghost disappeared in thin air, like sunsets do in moving pictures.

Those who don't believe in ghosts explain the weird whistling as being due to the rush of air around the speeding cars, the walls of the tunnel confining the air and making the "ghost music."

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 27, 1920, page 9.

Comment: I like the phrase: "disappeared in thin air, like sunsets do in moving pictures."

Was This Girl Married Without Knowing It?

1920

SAYS SHE THOUGHT HER CHUM WAS THE BRIDE

Court Is Puzzled By Strange Story Told in Connection With Annulment Suit

BOSTON, Mass. -- Gladys M. Browne seeks an annulment of her marriage to Grady M. Raper on the ground that she did not know she was being merely a witness to the marriage of another couple. She told Judge Thayer that after she left the office of the officiating officer in Lynn she learned she had been through a marriage ceremony, but she had nothing more to do with Raper.

She was 16 years old then. The ceremony was performed in December, 1917. Just after the ceremony, Raper left for France with the American forces. Judge Thayer said he was not sure that this 16-year-old girl went through a marriage ceremony without knowing what it meant, and in reply to the argument of counsel that minority was no ground of annulment.

The judged asked if the official who performed the ceremony asked questions, and she said he did ask questions of Raper, but not of her.

"Did he ask you if your name was Gladys Brown?" inquired the judge.

"Yes."

"He asked you if you were the bride, didn't he?"

"No, he didn't. I was thinking all the time it was the other girl."

The girl did not know where in Lynn she went. She said she thought her chum was to marry Raper, and the judge asked: "If she wanted to marry him, why did she substitute you?"

"Well, I was with this fellow and she was with another," she replied.

"Can you get a deposition from the other girl that you were a substitute?" the judge asked, but no reply was made.

The judge said to counsel: "I wish you would get the officiating person and let us see what he knows about it. Before I extend a helping hand to this girl I want to be sure that her story is true. The justice of her claim must be established before I extend a helping hand." The judge left the case open for further evidence.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 27, 1920, page 5.

A Weird Horse and Buggy Story: Horse in Reverse!

Decatur, Illinois, 1902--

Turned Clear Around

An unusual sight was witnessed at the intersection of Main and Water streets Tuesday morning. A horse hitched to a buggy driven by H. Carmean slipped and fell and when he scrambled to his feet he had managed to turn around in the harness and faced the rig. When the driver pulled on the lines the animal proceeded to back but in a direction away from the buggy, and started to drag it down the street. He was finally stopped, however, and straightened out.

--Decatur Herald, Decatur, Illinois, September 5, 1902, page 3.

Gertrude May Have Been Stolen by Gypsies

Indiana, 1909
----------
Northern Indiana News and Gossip (only pieces of the column follow)

Gertrude, the 7-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dan Austin, near Mishawaka, has been missing for several days and it is feared she has been stolen by a band of gypsies encamped near the place.

Mrs. Michael Gray, of Bluffton, was arrested and fined for whipping the child of a neighbor.

Mrs. R. A. Brown, of Huntington, who has been spending the summer at Northport, Mich., was attacked by a large bald eagle a few days ago, but succeeded in beating the huge bird of before it had inflicted more than a few scratches upon her.

When Steven Cotton, a Wells county farmer, was stricken by heart trouble and sank unconscious in the field where he was plowing Thursday, his faithful dog summoned assistance by running to the Cotton home and barking, then darting back to the field where his master lay. Mrs. Cotton went to her husband's assistance and he soon revived.

George Young, for sixteen years proprietor of a meat market at Huntington, has sold out to Louis Diffenbaugh, who is moving the fixtures of the establishment to Fort Wayne.

Peter Flum, 89 years of age, died Saturday at his home northwest of Osslan. He was a pioneer resident of Wells county, having located there in 1849, and was widely known.

The ax used by J. Henney, an Avilla liveryman in splitting wood, struck a clothesline, was deflected and cut an extensive gash in Mr. Henney's scalp that required five stitches to close.

Major N.N. Boydston claims the distinction of being the only resident of Warsaw to unfurl the American flag on Thursday in honor of the discovery of the north pole by Dr. Frederick Cook.

--Fort Wayne Weekly Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, September 8, 1909, page 11 (partial).