The Spirits Again.
The celebrated story of the Cock-lane ghost has recently been eclipsed by mysterious doings at a farm-house in Montgomery County, Ohio. The owner, named Benjamin Stiver, has suffered so much, pecuniarily, from the destructive pranks of ghostly visitors that he has been impelled to make an affidavit before a magistrate, in which he furnishes a detailed statement that would fill several columns of the Times.
The “manifestations” originated in stripping the crusts from pies which stood upon a shelf in the cellar. Then the milk-tubs were upset, the potatoes thrown about the floor, the vinegar barrels overturned, the chairs and tables sent flying from one end of the room to the other, the flour scattered, the chimney ornaments broken in fragments, flower-pots turned upside down, kettles of boiling water dashed from the stove, and last, but by no means least, an assault made upon the infant heir to the estate.
Some of Stiver’s kinsmen, who were called upon to witness the movements of the furniture, give testimony in corroboration. The Spiritualists residing in the neighbourhood are endeavouring to connect the mystery with the presence of a boy “medium,” who has lately been adopted by the family. Hitherto the inhabitants of the “spirit world” have been in the habit of amusing themselves during the hours of darkness, but in this case there has been such a departure from the regular rule as to admit of most of the “heavy work” being done between 10 o’clock in the morning and 4 in the afternoon. – New York Times, August 4.
Cork Constitution, 31st August 1871.