Ghost of a pair of scissors.
There is always a haunted house somewhere. Few believe in the recital of wonders that happen in it, yet everybody reads the story. The most prominent of the haunted houses is now in St Croix county, Wisconsin, in a settlement of Indianiana. It was long evident that there was a mischief-maker about the house. Furniture was broken, cloth and beds were cut to pieces, and things were mysteriously hidden and lost.
A boy of the family was suspected of the mischief, and he was punished for it until he could no longer stand it. He ran off and effectually hid himself.
But the mischief-maker still hug around, and then the father of the haunted family, being an elder in the church, thought that he would take the bad spirit in hand. He went into a room carrying an open Bible, and reading therefrom. An axe, which was in the room, began to move towards him, and he dropped his Bible and trusted to his heels.
Returning to the room a short time after the Bible was found chopped to pieces and scattered over the floor. He gave it up, and called in the neighbours to see.
The youngest child of the family, a five-year-old girl, being left in the room alone for a few minutes, all her hair was cut off close to her head. She felt the shearing, but could see no shearer – in broad daylight too.
These are all day-time tricks. The house is perfectly quiet of nights. The neighbours advise the family to move out and make a bonfire of their house. – Galveston News.
North British Daily Mail, 7th November 1873.