I ran across this story for the first time when I read Bernhardt J. Hurwood's Ghosts, Ghouls, and other Horrors. It's alleged to have happened somewhere in Georgia, though the area is never specified.
I just found it again, in a book called True Ghost Stories, by Hereward Carrington. This book was published in 1915, and contains at least one other story republished by Hurwood. Carrington claimed that the story was originally published in The San Francisco Examiner. Edited to add: Carrington was telling the truth; the story was printed in the Examiner, on November 29, 1891. Since you need a subscription to view the story, I wasn't able to read it in full, but I saw enough to know that this is the same story.
According to the story, a family named Walsingham moved into a house that was horribly haunted. The usual supernatural occurrences were noted, such as footsteps, the doorbell ringing when nobody was at the door, and items knocked over. With time, the family found it impossible to sleep, as the visitants made too much noise. Screams, shouts, and groans were heard around the house, sometimes even from under the house.
The family dog, a mastiff named Don Caesar, hated whatever was happening in the house, and often growled and barked at something invisible to the family. One day, he tried to attack something in the hall, and fell back - dead. His neck had been broken. Weirdly, the family cat appeared to enjoy the entities, and often appeared to be enjoyed pets from unseen hands.
One evening, as the daughter of the house sat at her vanity table, she felt someone place a hand on her shoulder. She looked in the mirror and saw the hand, but there was no body. Her screaming alerted the family, but nothing (including the hand) was to be seen when they entered the room. Her father, on another occasion, watched as the prints of bare feet formed in the dirt alongside him as he walked through the garden.
One night, several guests who had been invited to dinner got much more than they had anticipated. As they sat at the table, a groan was heard from the room above. By that point, the vocalizations were so common that nobody thought much of it. Soon, though, a red liquid began to drip from the ceiling and soak into the tablecloth. It resembled blood so much that Mr. Walsingham and some of the guests ran into the room above the dining room and pulled up the carpet.
They found nothing but dust. Meanwhile, the liquid continued to drip from the ceiling of the dining room. The following day, the tablecloth was analyzed, and the liquid was found to be blood. Human blood.
That was enough for the Walsinghams, who moved out. Nobody dared move into the house after that, given its reputation. Ghost hunters galore went to the place, but not many had the nerve to stay there overnight.
One such man was a fellow by the name of Horace Gunn, who bet that he would be able to spent twenty-four hours alone in the house. Carrington's book speaks of Gunn in the present tense; for example, the book states that "he declares that there is not enough money in the country to make him pass another night there. He was found the morning after by his friends with whom he made the wager, in a swoon. He has never recovered from the shock of his horrible experience, and is still confined to his bed suffering from nervous prostration."
Gunn attempted to light a fire in the fireplace when darkness fell, but each match he struck went out; he claimed that the matches were blown out by something invisible. Gunn, resigned to passing the rest of the night in darkness, was almost asleep when all hell broke loose. A loud shout, seeming to come from under the house, was heard. Footsteps ran upstairs and down, as if one person was chasing another. Finally, the noise stopped, and Gunn dared to hope that nothing more would happen.
He was wrong. He saw a light manifest on a wall, and the light gradually turned into a human head. Just a head, without a body. The head had long, shaggy white hair, and an injury in the temple that was bleeding profusely. The eyes looked directly at Gunn, who was frozen to the spot.
When the head disappeared, the spirits began to scream and howl, shaking the house and making an incredible racket. Gunn decided to forget all about the bet and leave as quickly as he could, but the entities had other ideas. When Gunn had almost reached the door, an icy hand seized his ankle and pulled him to the floor, when other hands (or the same?) gripped him by the throat and choked him unconscious. Gunn's friends found him the following morning, his throat bruised by the marks of thin fingers with long nails.
So. What is the real story here? Did the Examiner print a fictional story for Halloween, only to have it taken seriously? If there is any truth to the story, where is the house? Was the family really named Walsingham, or was the name changed to protect their privacy? Was this simply a 19th-century hoax, like the Amityville story almost a century later?
I just found it again, in a book called True Ghost Stories, by Hereward Carrington. This book was published in 1915, and contains at least one other story republished by Hurwood. Carrington claimed that the story was originally published in The San Francisco Examiner. Edited to add: Carrington was telling the truth; the story was printed in the Examiner, on November 29, 1891. Since you need a subscription to view the story, I wasn't able to read it in full, but I saw enough to know that this is the same story.
According to the story, a family named Walsingham moved into a house that was horribly haunted. The usual supernatural occurrences were noted, such as footsteps, the doorbell ringing when nobody was at the door, and items knocked over. With time, the family found it impossible to sleep, as the visitants made too much noise. Screams, shouts, and groans were heard around the house, sometimes even from under the house.
The family dog, a mastiff named Don Caesar, hated whatever was happening in the house, and often growled and barked at something invisible to the family. One day, he tried to attack something in the hall, and fell back - dead. His neck had been broken. Weirdly, the family cat appeared to enjoy the entities, and often appeared to be enjoyed pets from unseen hands.
One evening, as the daughter of the house sat at her vanity table, she felt someone place a hand on her shoulder. She looked in the mirror and saw the hand, but there was no body. Her screaming alerted the family, but nothing (including the hand) was to be seen when they entered the room. Her father, on another occasion, watched as the prints of bare feet formed in the dirt alongside him as he walked through the garden.
One night, several guests who had been invited to dinner got much more than they had anticipated. As they sat at the table, a groan was heard from the room above. By that point, the vocalizations were so common that nobody thought much of it. Soon, though, a red liquid began to drip from the ceiling and soak into the tablecloth. It resembled blood so much that Mr. Walsingham and some of the guests ran into the room above the dining room and pulled up the carpet.
They found nothing but dust. Meanwhile, the liquid continued to drip from the ceiling of the dining room. The following day, the tablecloth was analyzed, and the liquid was found to be blood. Human blood.
That was enough for the Walsinghams, who moved out. Nobody dared move into the house after that, given its reputation. Ghost hunters galore went to the place, but not many had the nerve to stay there overnight.
One such man was a fellow by the name of Horace Gunn, who bet that he would be able to spent twenty-four hours alone in the house. Carrington's book speaks of Gunn in the present tense; for example, the book states that "he declares that there is not enough money in the country to make him pass another night there. He was found the morning after by his friends with whom he made the wager, in a swoon. He has never recovered from the shock of his horrible experience, and is still confined to his bed suffering from nervous prostration."
Gunn attempted to light a fire in the fireplace when darkness fell, but each match he struck went out; he claimed that the matches were blown out by something invisible. Gunn, resigned to passing the rest of the night in darkness, was almost asleep when all hell broke loose. A loud shout, seeming to come from under the house, was heard. Footsteps ran upstairs and down, as if one person was chasing another. Finally, the noise stopped, and Gunn dared to hope that nothing more would happen.
He was wrong. He saw a light manifest on a wall, and the light gradually turned into a human head. Just a head, without a body. The head had long, shaggy white hair, and an injury in the temple that was bleeding profusely. The eyes looked directly at Gunn, who was frozen to the spot.
When the head disappeared, the spirits began to scream and howl, shaking the house and making an incredible racket. Gunn decided to forget all about the bet and leave as quickly as he could, but the entities had other ideas. When Gunn had almost reached the door, an icy hand seized his ankle and pulled him to the floor, when other hands (or the same?) gripped him by the throat and choked him unconscious. Gunn's friends found him the following morning, his throat bruised by the marks of thin fingers with long nails.
So. What is the real story here? Did the Examiner print a fictional story for Halloween, only to have it taken seriously? If there is any truth to the story, where is the house? Was the family really named Walsingham, or was the name changed to protect their privacy? Was this simply a 19th-century hoax, like the Amityville story almost a century later?
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