Present at a Hanging and Other Ghost StoriesBierce, Ambrose
General
Present at a Hanging and Other Ghost Stories
Bierce, Ambrose
Ghost stories, American; Horror tales, American; Short stories, American
HENRY SAYLOR, who was killed in Covington, in a quarrel with Antonio
Finch, was a reporter on the Cincinnati _Commercial_. In the year 1859 a
vacant dwelling in Vine street, in Cincinnati, became the center of a
local excitement because of the strange sights and sounds said to be
observed in it nightly. According to the testimony of many reputable
residents of the vicinity these were inconsistent with any other
hypothesis than that the house was haunted. Figures with something
singularly unfamiliar about them were seen by crowds on the sidewalk to
pass in and out. No one could say just where they appeared upon the open
lawn on their way to the front door by which they entered, nor at exactly
what point they vanished as they came out; or, rather, while each
spectator was positive enough about these matters, no two agreed. They
were all similarly at variance in their descriptions of the figures
themselves. Some of the bolder of the curious throng ventured on several
evenings to stand upon the doorsteps to intercept them, or failing in
this, get a nearer look at them. These courageous men, it was said, were
unable to force the door by their united strength, and always were hurled
from the steps by some invisible agency and severely injured; the door
immediately afterward opening, apparently of its own volition, to admit
or free some ghostly guest. The dwelling was known as the Roscoe house,
a family of that name having lived there for some years, and then, one by
one, disappeared, the last to leave being an old woman. Stories of foul
play and successive murders had always been rife, but never were
authenticated.
One day during the prevalence of the excitement Saylor presented himself
at the office of the _Commercial_ for orders. He received a note from
the city editor which read as follows: “Go and pass the night alone in
the haunted house in Vine street and if anything occurs worth while make
two columns.” Saylor obeyed his superior; he could not afford to lose
his position on the paper.
Apprising the police of his intention, he effected an entrance through a
rear window before dark, walked through the deserted rooms, bare of
furniture, dusty and desolate, and seating himself at last in the parlor
on an old sofa which he had dragged in from another room watched the
deepening of the gloom as night came on. Before it was altogether dark
the curious crowd had collected in the street, silent, as a rule, and
expectant, with here and there a scoffer uttering his incredulity and
courage with scornful remarks or ribald cries. None knew of the anxious
watcher inside. He feared to make a light; the uncurtained windows would
have betrayed his presence, subjecting him to insult, possibly to injury.
Moreover, he was too conscientious to do anything to enfeeble his
impressions and unwilling to alter any of the customary conditions under
which the manifestations were said to occur.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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