A Poltergeist from Georgia.
Thomas Hart Raines, M.D.
The astonishing phenomena of the poltergeist variety that disturbed the little village of Llanarthney in South Wales, in December of 1909, have been repeated, to some extent, on this side of the Atlantic in the prosaic little telegraph tower of Dale, in Georgia. Totally lacking in all that is romantic or picturesque, the little station of Dale lies seven miles to the south of the city of Savannah, in the County of Chatham, on the main line of the Atlantic Coast Line railroad. For nine months of the year Dale is deserted. Being only a telegraph tower in use during the tourist season, when many fast trains whiz past daily with their loads of pleasure-seeking tourists from the North, it is closed and deserted until the season opens again.
A Dale tower is the only house of any description there. In fact, the telegraph tower is Dale, and the nearest human habitation is a quarter of a mile away. On the borders of an extensive pine forest and so far removed from human activities, Dale is not an inviting-looking place at any time of the year. Each January, as the tourist season opens and the railroad puts the block system of despatching trains into operation, three telegraph operators take up their residence in the tower of Dale and constitute the sole inhabitants until April, when the tower is again closed and deserted. During the nine months the tower is closed, only the passing of the trains, with the occasional side tracking of one of them, disturbs the reign of silence.
It is, then, not strange that rumours of queer happenings should be heard among the trainmen. Few deserted places ever enjoy a savoury reputation, and Dale is no exception. On one occasion, a man was killed by the train hard by the tower, and his body was laid to rest over across the track hardly a stone’s throw away, and in full view of the tower windows. After that, there were more rumours, and conductors dreaded to have to sidetrack their trains there. The brakemen would report strange noises about the switch where the tragedy had happened, and sometimes on attempting to pull out from the side track, the engineman would find his train uncoupled in three places, no order having been given to that effect and none of the train crew having put their hands to it. Scarcely a brakeman on the line will enter the tower.
One fine morning when the new telegraphers arrivedto open the season, what should they find but the corpse of a man, far advanced in decay, reposing on the floor of the lower chamber of the tower. Poor, old and neglected, the wanderer had lain down and died far from the sound of all save the chirping of crickets and the rush of the passing trains. With naught to identify him, he was laid away over across the track with the first occupant of the new graveyard. Since that time, Dale has been the bete noir of the trainmen, and many a gruesome tale has emanated therefrom.
The occurrences, which I am about to relate, have only just ceased. As soon as I heard of them I began an investigation, and while I was so unfortunate as not to witness the phenomena myself, I had the good fortune to interview the three young men who collectively witnessed them, and I personally visited the scene of the disturbance. With these three young men I am personally acquainted, and can assure my readers that nothing could be further from their wish than in any way to depart from the strictest truth and accuracy in the details related. They are young men of intelligence whose veracity I cannot question, and so positive are they that they have not been deceived or hallucinated, that they have given me a signed statement certifying to the truth of all the facts related.
These three young men, E.A. Bright, R.L. Davis and J.H. Clark, opened the tower at Dale on January 4, 1911, and since that time have been the sole occupants, working, eating and sleeping (when possible) within the two rooms which constitute the extent of the tower space, the one above the other, a trapdoor closing the stair leading up to the room above. The first unusual occurrence that attracted the attention of these young men was the difficulty experienced in keeping the door closed in the room below, no matter how securely it was fastened. Apparently securely fastened, no sooner would their backs be turned than the door would fly open with a click. A stout forty penny nail was then used to fasten the door, with no better result. Then a long iron bar was placed against it. All to no purpose, as the door would fly open again just as soon as their backs were tuned. Then the sound of mysterious footsteps on the stair would be heard, and although the entire tower and premises were carefully searched, no cause for the noises could be found. Then followed the raising and lowering of the window sashes in the upper chamber of the tower in full view of all three of the occupants, no human hand having touched them.
By this time the young men were rather nervous, and to assure themselves against tricksters, the trap-door leading down to the floor below was closed and securely fastened, and raised only when necessary to descend to the ground. This precaution had no effect whatsoever on the phenomena, and soon various articles began to be levitated about the room in broad open daylight in full view of all three occupants of the tower, when there was no possible chance for trickery or fraud. A can of condensed milk was seen to lift itself into the air and pass from one end of the desk to the other without the contact of a visible hand. A large dish-pan lying near the stove slowly lifted itself and rolled down the stairs and out of the tower and under it, from whence it had to be fished out with the aid of a long pole. A lantern was levitated on to the desk without having been touched, and in full view of all. On another occasion, this lantern made a wild rush across the room and dashed itself into fragments against the wall. An ordinary can-opener flew wildly about the room and fastened itself in the centre of the ceiling. I saw this can-opener, and can assure any one interested, that the most expert could not perform a similar feat once in a hundred efforts. Frequently bolts and taps, such as used in railroad construction work, would be hurled into the room, breaking a hole in the glass of the window scarcely large enough to enter through.
On one occasion, when objects were being hurled about the room so persistently that the tower was hastily abandoned by all three occupants, a chair was dashed out of the upper window and fell with such force that one of the rungs was broken, and narrowly missed the head of Mr Davis; this in broad daylight, with no one in the tower and the only avenue of entrance or of escape guarded by the three occupants of the tower. I saw the chair, and only a terrific blow could have so injured it.
When matters had reached this point, Messrs. Bright, Davis and Clark were in a state of panic, and Mr Bright walked the seven miles into Savannah to resign his position. Arriving at Savannah he was ashamed to relate his experiences and returned to Dale. Twice he has done this, and since the subsidence of the phenomena he has assured me that nothing would induce him again to go through with the eerie experiences that were his for so many days at Dale. The last of these strange occurrences took place a few days before I reached the scene of them and interviewed Messrs. Bright, Davis and Clark.
A pack of ordinary playing cards having been tossed from the window, in the tentative belief that they were the cause of the supernormal happenings, immediately returned, and was found in a bag of rice, while the case that formerly contained them was found in a canister of coffee with the lid tightly closed. The cards were put back in the case, and as a fast train whizzed past they were tossed beneath the wheels of the engine, only to be found in the bed a moment later. This occurred at ten o’clock in the morning and in full view of the three gentlemen I have named. The day following, a large quantity of sulphur was burned in the tower in the hope of effecting the cessation of the phenomena, since which time, strange to relate, they have ceased altogether.
On looking at the accompanying photograph of the tower of Dale, it will be guessed that a trickster could easily climb the semaphore ladder and produce these phenomena with little trouble. This I deny, as the operator on duty – and there is one always on duty – is always facing the ladder, and any attempt to scale it would be instantly detected. Neither could the stair be the means of entrance, for the trap door closes it effectually against all comers. The vibrations of passing trains cannot have caused the phenomena, for I personally tested this point and found that such could not have been the case.
As I cannot question the veracity of Messrs. Bright, Davis and Clark, who have witnessed all these strange things collectively, when there was no chance of deception, are we then to say they were all the victims of an hallucination? This is too absurd to be discussed, and the conclusion is forced upon us that the phenomena really took place, be their cause what it may.
The Occult Review, May 1911.
https://archive.org/details/IAPSOP-occult_review_v13_n5_may_1911/page/277/mode/1up?q=llanarthney&view=theater