GHOST STORY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 841, 13 June 1910, Page 11

GHOST STORY.

Tha newspapers in Lisbon devote considerable attention to what must surely he one of the most remarkable ''ghost stories" of recent years. The incidents related are said to have occured at the : country desidence, near Coimbra, of mi elderly judge, a large, rambling mansion, chosen by its present resident largely on account :.f its isolntbn. The gentle-nan in qucstnn recently married a young wife, and it was previous to the marriage that ho rented tlio house, which was destined to provo so troublesome a property and to which tile couple retired soon aftenv-irds. 'the old gentleman was a heavy sleeper, but his young bride was alarmed by strange noises almost immediately alter they had arrived at the place—noises of Knocking upon windiws, of opening and shutting of doors, and .if footsteps along the corridors, which mire audible only after all lights had been put . out for the night. For a time sho said nothing to her husband, fearing that he would only laugh nt her fancies, but when an intimate friend of the family chanced to call sho confided to him her fesrs, ord assured him that if the noises continued she would go mad. The friend thereupon agreed to keep watch one night, outside the couple's bedroom without saying anything to tha husband on the subject. Immediately the lights wero nut the strange noises were heard, and the watcher felt assured that f.wcsreps were apnroaohing him in the corrcdor. Suddenly the bedroom door was flung open by some invisible agency, and the husband awoke to the saund of his wofo's screams. Sho hid jumped tc-rror-siriken fnm the he:l, '.mil outside in ihe corridor tiie husband found their friend- hitting out wildly nt .tome invisible object. All noises had, however, ceased the moment the light was struck, and considerable explanation was required tn convince* tho old man that nothing more serious than a ghost stoiy ivns the fcause of the strange scene. The following night the husband and friend watched together, and as soon as the lights were extinguished they were aware of the strange manifestations. Suddenly the husband felt a smart box on the ears, and • hit out sharply in reply. His friend struck a light, and nothing was to be seen or heard. As the match died down sounds were again heard, proceeding apparently from a room oposite to the bedroom. The two inen opened the door and rushed in, but hardly* had- they entered when the door was slammed behind them, and they found it locked. A shrill scream of terror was heard from the wife, now alone ill her bedroom, uml, rushing ut it with all their force, the men burst open the door, and ran into the other room, to find the woman in a swoon on the floor. The judge and his wife left the place next day, unable to face the unknown and unseen terror again, and the young wife is stated to bo in a serious condition 'as the result of her terrible experiences. The police were informed of the matter, and three men were set to watch for a night in the haunted bedroom and along the corridor, hut shortly after the lights had been extinguished the man stationed in the corridor was heard wildly shouting, and the others, on going to his assistance, found him hammering madly at' the walls, quite insane. An extraordinary feature of the manifestations, if the newspapers may be relied upon, is that the servants, who have slept in another wing .of the house, have never heard the slightest noise or witnessed anything unusual until the night when they were aroused by the struggle in the bedroom.