A Haunted House.
The strange noises which harass Sergeant Haggarty nightly.
Sergeant P.S. Haggarty, of the police force, is a quiet, peaceable man in his way and not given to complaining of the trials of life, but for some time past he has been subjected to an annoyance that has nearly driven him wild, and he yesterday took measures towards putting an end to it in a summary manner.
The Sergeant lives at No. 153 Octavia street, and every night for three weeks past his much-needed rest has been disturbed by strange and unnatural sounds of rapping and voices throughout the house which would convince a timid and superstitious person that the ghostly inhabitants of some graveyard had broken loose from the bonds of eternal silence and were “walking” rampant about the place. Whenever an investigation would be attempted the difficulty was to locate the racket. Sometimes it would be in the cellar, then in the attic, and at another time in the centre of the house. After repeated failures in this direction a watch was kept for several nights to see if some mischievous urchin in the neighbourhood was cultivating his budding genius in the execution of some fiendish practical joke. This second effort to solve the mystery also proved abortive, and the noises continued as before, and apparently more exaggerated.
The spirit voices were heard distinctly one or two nights, saying “Shut up” and “The old woman snored last night.” Things finally came to such a pass that the hair upon each individual head in the family gradually rose as the evening shadows fell, and sleep was out of the question.
Haggarty finally hit upon the idea that it might be the work of a medical student who lived next door. He was a good electrician and had many appliances in his rooms which might be used as ghost producers. Haggarty accordingly applied at the old City Hall yesterday afternoon for a search warrant for the house of the student, whose name he did not know. The warrant was placed in the hands of Officer Burke, and was probably served last night.
Daily Alta California, 24th December 1885.