The New York World Finds a Real Ghost Story.
Queer happenings in small town in West Virginia.
Priests are often asked if they believe in ghosts. The New York World has printed one which it believes is authentic. The Father Curran of Harper’s Ferry who is mentioned in the article is listed in the Catholic Directory. He might supply additional information. – Editor’s Note.
(New York World.)
Winchester, Va., Oct 14. – Off railroads, bus lines and main highways in Jefferson County, W. VA., lies a charming little village of about 300 inhabitants. This town has three names: Smithfield, Middleway and Clip – the last and best known being derived from the famous manifestation of the Clipping Spook.
Every one in Middleway, young or old, Catholic or Protestant, can tell the story of the Wizard Clip. And when the tale has been related the narrator will shake her head and say: “I’m telling you just as it was told me by my grandfather. I cannot explain it.” The story is recorded in history. In 1790 came Adam Livingston from Pennsylvania and settle don seventy acres of land in Middleway. He and his wife dwelt there in peace for four years. And then one evening there came a stranger to the door begging hospitality. The wayfarer, it transpired, was seriously ill and a Catholic. Livingston was a Protestant and had a prejudice against Catholics. So when the sick man begged that a priest be sent for before he died this request was resolutely denied the stranger. “There’s no priest in this neck of the woods,” answered Livingston, “and if there were he’d not darken my doors!” Imploring, weeping, protesting, the traveller died without confession.
No sooner had the stranger drawn his last breath than trouble began. Mysterious presences were felt haunting the rooms of the lonely log house. Mournful murmurings penetrated the silence. One by the name of Jacob Fonter was called in to keep vigil. When entering the room of death, the candle he carried, suddenly was extinguished. Others were lit but none would burn. Horses were heard tramping around and around the house.
After the burial of the stranger on the farm, Livingston’s dishes tumbled from their shelves and were broken. His furniture was moved by unseen hands. Coals leaped from the fire out into the room. Money walked away. One adversity followed another. The barn burned to the ground. The tails were cut off his animals. The heads were severed from the bodies of his hens. Next was heard the uncanny grind of unseen shears in action clipping, clipping. An invisible presence passed through the house, the yard, the barn on the destructive mission. No one was perceptible to the senses. But the family wash was clipped from the line. Clothing, bedding, was found in ribbons. Boots, linens, harness all bore the mystic incision of the crescent.
A sceptical old lady from Martinsburg, hearing of the strange occurrences, came to visit the Livingstons and to investigate. She brought with her, wrapped and hidden in her pocket, a silk cap. This finery did not escape the scissors of the spook. When unfolded it fell to pieces.
Any doubter suffered at once from the offended spirit. A young bridegroom visiting the Livingstons declared: “I don’t believe in ghosts!” But he found the boots he had intended wearing to his wedding cut in spirals and his coat reduced to circular fringe.
The climax was reached when Livingston’s wife was smitten with an incurable malady. The afflicted man then had a dream. Holding on to roots and bushes he was climbing a precipitous mountain. At the top stood an imposing figure in churchly robes. A voice whispered: “This is he who can relieve you!” The next day Livingston visited the Episcopal rector in Windchester, the Rev. Alexander Balmaine. But this man neither resembled the figure in his vision nor wore vestments. He next visited Father Dennis Cahill in Shepherdstown, who proved to be the personage of his dream. Father Cahill returned with Livingston to his home. When the priest entered the house he sprinkled holy water through the rooms and prayed. The offended spirit seemed appeased. The clipping ceased. Mrs Livingston recovered from her illness.
In gratitude for this deliverance Livingston willed a part of his farm to the Catholics. The deed is on record in Martinsburg today. And the Livingstons moved back to Pennsylvania. The Catholics for many years have been in possession of part of the farm north of the town. A red gate into this precinct is labelled Priest’s Field. Here has been erected a little chapel near the banks of the Opequon River. And annually on All Souls’ Day services are conducted at this shrine.
The original house where the strange events transpired is now gone. It stood in a flat rocky field edged by a deep brook fringed by willows on the edge of the town. A woman in Middleway says if a careful search is made the old foundations may be discovered.
About fifty years ago another dwelling was built upon the property. It stands in an adjacent field facing the road to Bunker Hill. For thirty years this homestead has been occupied by two sisters. “We do not believe in witchcraft, we can only tell what happens, we cannot explain it,” stated one of these women recently. “We are not afraid for we do not hear anything nor see anything. But we find things clipped. Oh, yes – handkerchiefs, coats, bundles of clothing in the garret, counterpanes, bed linens in the press. And they are always cut in the form of a crescent as if circular scissors had been used. We would not think anything of it if they were straight cuts, but they are diagonal.
“I had a brand new lawn dress hanging in the garret. When I went to get it, it was ruined, all clipped to pieces and each cut in the form of the crescent. Another queer thing – for two years grass different from the rest of our lawn, very green and about a foot wide, has come up over by the fence in a perfect circle. I have no clipped articles to show you for I gave the last I had to Father Curran of Harper’s Ferry, who came here to negotiate the purchase of the property. The Catholics have been after it for years and we would not part with our home. But we have sold at last. We are to have possession of the place as long as we live. What the Catholics will do with it I do not know. Some say they intend building a school here.”
The Catholic Transcript, October 14th 1926.
Finotti’s ‘Mystery of the Wizard Clip’ https://archive.org/details/mysteryofwizardc00fino/page/2/mode/1up