1
00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:05,599
In a Haunted House by Joseph B. Bowles. A New Yorker's experience with

2
00:00:05,639 --> 00:00:12,160
a strange old colonial mansion, a
nerve wracking night, some startling incidents which

3
00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:18,839
seemed impossible of rational explanation by T. D. Sullivan, Congressman elect from

4
00:00:18,879 --> 00:00:25,519
New York City. This is I
think the strangest experience in a career that

5
00:00:25,559 --> 00:00:30,160
has not been monotonous. It is
true, and at one time I had

6
00:00:30,199 --> 00:00:34,600
some trouble keeping it out of the
papers. Now there's no more reason for

7
00:00:34,679 --> 00:00:38,600
keeping quiet about it, so I
may as well tell the whole story for

8
00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:43,840
the first time. The reason why
I need not keep the secret any longer

9
00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:49,039
is because a big, old fashioned
red brick building was torn down this year.

10
00:00:49,719 --> 00:00:54,560
It was once a private residence,
then an office building, and now

11
00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:59,320
its site is the site of a
steel skyscraper. That is the way New

12
00:00:59,399 --> 00:01:03,519
York grow. But at the time
this narrative deals with, the house was

13
00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:10,239
a residence, a big, rambling, roomy old residence at that remodeled from

14
00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:15,879
a colonial mansion. There was a
young fellow whose father had been a dear

15
00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:19,760
friend of mine. He had recently
married his bride had taken a fancy to

16
00:01:19,799 --> 00:01:26,079
the house, and her husband,
being rich and eager to gratify any whim

17
00:01:26,159 --> 00:01:30,239
of hers, had bought it in
at a sheriff's sale of uptown property.

18
00:01:30,359 --> 00:01:37,040
The purchaser is now a United States
Congressman. I have not permission to use

19
00:01:37,079 --> 00:01:42,400
his name, sir, I will
call him Clark. His chief opponent at

20
00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:47,840
the sale was a real estate dealer. O'Gorman is near enough to his real

21
00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:55,480
name to suit present purposes. This
O'Gorman was a shrewd, shifty, unscrupulous

22
00:01:55,599 --> 00:02:00,400
chap who had visions of the great
future of the Upper west Side, visions

23
00:02:00,439 --> 00:02:05,560
that later came true. If you
ever get dissatisfied with the old place,

24
00:02:05,959 --> 00:02:08,319
I'll take it off your hands at
the figure of my best bid today,

25
00:02:08,759 --> 00:02:15,039
he said to Clark after the sale. Clark laughed at him, gave orders

26
00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:20,000
for the house's renovation, and sailed
with his bride for Europe on a six

27
00:02:20,039 --> 00:02:25,240
months trip. The trouble begins.
I was sitting in my office one day

28
00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:30,479
about half a year later, when
Clark sauntered in. I saw from his

29
00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:36,400
face he was bothered about something.
After our first meeting, he came to

30
00:02:36,439 --> 00:02:40,879
the point, I've made a bad
investment in that old Bartolf House. He

31
00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:47,240
said. The colonial builder's name had
been Yan Bartolf, and the house was

32
00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:53,159
still referred to in the neighborhood by
his name. Doesn't missus Clark like the

33
00:02:53,199 --> 00:02:57,439
place as much as she expected to, I asked him. She hasn't had

34
00:02:57,439 --> 00:03:00,080
a chance to judge of it,
he said, and I don't mean that

35
00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:07,199
she shall. The house is haunted. Haunted, what nonsense. That's what

36
00:03:07,319 --> 00:03:12,240
I thought when I came home last
week from Europe and found that not a

37
00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:15,479
single day's work had been done on
the repairs I ordered, answered Clark.

38
00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:22,120
I went to the contractor and he
calmly informed me he wouldn't touch the job,

39
00:03:22,439 --> 00:03:25,280
and then I could have my money
back. He said that ghosts had

40
00:03:25,319 --> 00:03:30,919
frightened his workmen half to death,
that he'd seen and heard things there that

41
00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:35,360
couldn't be explained, and that every
man in his employ would strike if he

42
00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:39,759
ordered them to work there. And
you believed all that rot, I laughed,

43
00:03:40,599 --> 00:03:45,960
No, replied Clark. Seriously,
I didn't. I thought he was

44
00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:50,759
lying. I went over the house
myself, and well, what he said

45
00:03:50,879 --> 00:03:53,439
was true. You can guide me
if you're like old man, But the

46
00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:59,560
house is haunted, and I'm going
to get rid of it. I suppose

47
00:03:59,719 --> 00:04:04,039
why monsters clattered their chains at you. I hazarded, and you ran a

48
00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:10,639
block before you identified the hideous specters
as a pack of mice scampering in the

49
00:04:10,719 --> 00:04:15,919
loose plastering of the walls. If
you take it that way, he said,

50
00:04:15,199 --> 00:04:19,560
offended at my guying, there's no
use inviting any more of your jokes

51
00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:24,839
by telling you what really happened to
me there. I'm going to hunt up

52
00:04:24,879 --> 00:04:29,240
O'Gorman, tell him the truth about
the place and see if his offer to

53
00:04:29,279 --> 00:04:32,920
buy it still holds good. He
may be willing to pay something for it

54
00:04:32,959 --> 00:04:38,439
as a land speculation. He never
could get a tenant to stay there.

55
00:04:39,639 --> 00:04:44,920
Now, Clark's absolute sincerity began to
make an impression on me. I saw

56
00:04:44,959 --> 00:04:48,319
that he was terribly in earnest,
that he believed he was telling the truth,

57
00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:53,800
and that he was really ready to
sell the valuable property for a song.

58
00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:58,879
Look here, Clark, I said, I'm sorry I guide you,

59
00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:02,879
but it all seems so absurd.
You know as well as I do that

60
00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:08,439
there are no such things as ghosts. Don't be foolish and give up the

61
00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:12,240
place till you've made sure. What
are you going to do this evening,

62
00:05:13,199 --> 00:05:17,839
nothing especial. Why come and dine
with me. Then we'll take a box

63
00:05:17,879 --> 00:05:23,240
of cigars, a bundle of candles, and a light lunch along and go

64
00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:28,560
together to this haunted house of yours
for the night. I've always wanted to

65
00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:32,839
see a ghost. Maybe I can
find some explanation for it all. My

66
00:05:32,959 --> 00:05:39,000
first idea on hearing his story had
been that o' gorman, in order to

67
00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:44,439
gain possession of the property he coveted, had bribed the contractor to spring that

68
00:05:44,639 --> 00:05:50,199
ghost yarn. But when Clarke himself
had apparently seen or heard something to verify

69
00:05:50,319 --> 00:05:57,680
the crazy belief, the affair began
to take on a more serious aspect,

70
00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:03,399
a night investigation. I took a
long nap that afternoon to obviate the chance

71
00:06:03,439 --> 00:06:09,160
of going to sleep, drawing the
vigil and promptly at ten that evening,

72
00:06:09,399 --> 00:06:15,040
I started with Clark for the Bartholf
mansion. It was, as I said,

73
00:06:15,319 --> 00:06:20,360
a rambling old brick dwelling and built
in colonial days by an eccentric Dutchman,

74
00:06:20,759 --> 00:06:26,959
concerning whom some odd stories still survived. The neighbors, it seemed,

75
00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:31,360
had regarded him as a sort of
wizard or magician. As we walked up

76
00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:35,839
the uneven path to the front porch. The old pile of brick looked in

77
00:06:35,879 --> 00:06:43,040
the moonlight like the regular dime novel
haunted house, and as Clarke led us

78
00:06:43,079 --> 00:06:47,240
in through the great blackened oak doors, the darkness of the huge hall seemed

79
00:06:47,319 --> 00:06:54,560
to rush forward to meet us.
We set about our preparations in a businesslike

80
00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:59,279
way. We established our headquarters for
the night in the big drawing room to

81
00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:03,040
the right of the hall. We
lighted a half dozen candles, stuck them

82
00:07:03,079 --> 00:07:09,480
in the rusty iron sconces about the
wall, and set about examining the room.

83
00:07:09,959 --> 00:07:14,879
The walls were lined with faded tapestry. One or two old, half

84
00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:19,720
defaced pictures hung here and there,
notably one of old Yan Bartolf himself,

85
00:07:20,199 --> 00:07:27,360
which was directly above the mantel.
Several pieces of furniture occupied the bare floor,

86
00:07:27,839 --> 00:07:32,560
whose hardwood boards were warped by dampness
and neglect. We made sure that

87
00:07:32,639 --> 00:07:39,480
no hiding place for lurking mischief makers
existed within the four walls of the apartment.

88
00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:44,600
Then, candle in hand, we
made a systematic detour of the whole

89
00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:49,600
dusty, creaking house. Well,
said Clarke, as we reached the top

90
00:07:49,639 --> 00:07:55,439
of the wide staircase on our return
toward the ground floor. If there'd been

91
00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:59,519
a man, or even a mouse
concealed anywhere, we'd have found him.

92
00:08:00,199 --> 00:08:03,839
Let's go back to the drawing room. And why it's dark down there?

93
00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:09,759
We were halfway downstairs, as he
spoke. On our way up, the

94
00:08:09,879 --> 00:08:13,240
light of the candles in the drawing
room sconces had cast a glow across the

95
00:08:13,279 --> 00:08:18,279
hall. Now, except where illuminated
by the two candles in our hands,

96
00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:26,319
the whole lower floor was in dense
blackness, ghostly mystery. What do you

97
00:08:26,439 --> 00:08:33,000
think now, asked Clark. I
made no reply, but ran down the

98
00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:39,600
remaining steps into the drawing room.
The smell of extinguished candles filled the room.

99
00:08:39,759 --> 00:08:43,679
All was dark, save where a
broad patch of moonlight from the one

100
00:08:43,759 --> 00:08:48,000
unshuttered window fell on the floor.
In the very center of that patch was

101
00:08:48,039 --> 00:08:54,000
an old mahogany rocking chair. It
was rocking with a quiet, regular motion,

102
00:08:54,639 --> 00:09:01,279
as if some invisible guest were taking
his ease and swearing himself to sleep.

103
00:09:01,639 --> 00:09:07,360
Do you see that, whispered Clark
over my shoulder. That's what I

104
00:09:07,399 --> 00:09:11,840
saw when I came up here in
broad daylight. It's a current of air,

105
00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:16,279
I explained, But even as I
said it, I knew that no

106
00:09:16,399 --> 00:09:20,480
real draft could enter that closed room
with force enough to blow out six candles

107
00:09:20,879 --> 00:09:26,799
and start a heavy chair into motion. Moreover, the air in the room

108
00:09:26,919 --> 00:09:31,159
was dead and motionless. I never
used to believe in this sort of thing

109
00:09:31,279 --> 00:09:35,360
any more than you do, said
Clark. But who can doubt it?

110
00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:41,120
Now? I can doubt it,
I answered, Help me light these candles

111
00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:46,159
in the sconces and will make another
inspection of the room. We lighted the

112
00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:50,440
candles. As we set foot in
the room, the chair had ceased rocking.

113
00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:56,559
We once more made the rounds of
the apartment, patting the tapestry against

114
00:09:56,559 --> 00:10:01,600
the walls with our hands, looking
under each bit of furnish, sounding the

115
00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:05,639
bricked up fireplace, and in other
ways making sure no trick was played on

116
00:10:05,759 --> 00:10:13,200
us by human agency. If anybody
is putting up this line of practical joking,

117
00:10:13,559 --> 00:10:16,519
I said, he can't do anything
while we're in here. If it's

118
00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:22,879
a ghost. The sound as if
someone sobbing and panting for breath, came

119
00:10:22,919 --> 00:10:28,559
to us while I was speaking.
It seemed to be in the room within

120
00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:33,440
arm's length of us. That's easily
explained, I said, as Clark grabbed

121
00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:37,039
my arm. The wind in the
empty passages of the house, and the

122
00:10:37,159 --> 00:10:45,399
chimney makes it's growing dark, interrupted
my companion. I looked up. Only

123
00:10:45,519 --> 00:10:50,519
two of the six candles were burning. Even as I looked, first one

124
00:10:50,679 --> 00:10:54,320
and then another of those remaining two
lights went out. It was as though

125
00:10:54,440 --> 00:11:01,679
someone had passed along that side of
the room and extinguished them. We were

126
00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:07,559
in total darkness, for I had
closed that one open window shutter. In

127
00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:11,879
the dense blackness, as I groped
for a match, I could hear that

128
00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:18,080
great rocking chair slowly begin to creak
back and forth. I found a match

129
00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:22,679
at last, and struck it.
We re lighted the candles. Then I

130
00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:28,600
turned to look at the rocker.
It was standing motionless. We stared hopelessly

131
00:11:28,759 --> 00:11:33,960
into each other's faces. I hope
mine wasn't as scared and white as Clark's.

132
00:11:35,159 --> 00:11:39,879
And this is the sort of house
you advise me to bring my bride

133
00:11:39,879 --> 00:11:43,120
to, he said, At last, we've seen enough. I'm going home.

134
00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:48,000
You're going to spend the night here, as you promised, I answered.

135
00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:52,759
This ghost seems to be a harmless
sort of creature, as long as

136
00:11:52,759 --> 00:11:58,360
he contents himself with puffing out candles
and making chairs rock. He can't bother

137
00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:03,159
us greatly. Let's have a smoke
and talk it over. I sat down

138
00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:07,559
in the ghostly rocker and lighted a
cigar. I kept a keen eye on

139
00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:13,519
the candles, resolved to get some
clue if possible, to the way they

140
00:12:13,519 --> 00:12:18,320
were extinguished. Clark threw himself on
a sofa at the other side of the

141
00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:22,960
room. It's no use, he
said. I'll get rid of the house

142
00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:26,840
as soon as I can, and
at any terms. I'm sorry because my

143
00:12:26,919 --> 00:12:31,759
wife had set her heart on living
here. With a little repair, this

144
00:12:31,799 --> 00:12:37,320
would be an ideal home except for
the ghost. What are you doing the

145
00:12:37,399 --> 00:12:41,799
ghost? I had risen to my
feet and come to the middle of the

146
00:12:41,919 --> 00:12:46,879
room. The rocker in which I'd
been sitting was in the shadow. The

147
00:12:48,039 --> 00:12:50,759
candles, as we had rearranged them, were all at the lower end of

148
00:12:50,759 --> 00:12:56,799
the room, near the big mantelpiece. As I had sat idly listening to

149
00:12:56,919 --> 00:13:01,279
Clark's complaint, my gaze had chanced
to fall on Old Yan Bartholf's picture.

150
00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:07,159
I could have sworn that I saw
the eyes in the tarnished face close and

151
00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:13,840
then open. I'm just strolling around
for exercise, I said, carelessly.

152
00:13:15,639 --> 00:13:20,759
It makes one so nervous to sit
still in here. And as I got

153
00:13:20,799 --> 00:13:24,000
to this point, my steps had
carried me in a circuitous route to the

154
00:13:24,039 --> 00:13:30,759
mantel. With a sudden motion and
exerting all my strength, I seized the

155
00:13:30,799 --> 00:13:35,080
big picture and wrenched it from its
fastenings. It fell to the floor with

156
00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:37,879
a crash, and there, in
a great hole in the wall which the

157
00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:43,120
canvas had covered, crouched a human
body. With a second sweep of the

158
00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:46,799
arm, I seized it as it
was about to vanish into the dark passage

159
00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:52,399
behind the opening, and pulled it
into the room, where it tumbled headlong

160
00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:56,480
on the floor. There's your ghost, Clerk, I said, brushing the

161
00:13:56,600 --> 00:14:01,519
dust off my clothes and watching the
figures grumble to its feet. You're a

162
00:14:01,559 --> 00:14:07,080
clever chap O'Gorman, but you're not
clever enough. That's all the trouble with

163
00:14:07,159 --> 00:14:11,799
you, now, Clark, If
you'll keep your hands on this worthy house,

164
00:14:11,879 --> 00:14:18,519
haunter, I'm going on an exploring
expedition. Clarke had the struggling fellow

165
00:14:18,559 --> 00:14:22,840
by the throat, and I lighted
an extra candle and clambered up into the

166
00:14:22,879 --> 00:14:26,519
hole above the mantel. I'll be
back in a minute, I said.

167
00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:31,480
The aperture led to a passageway nearly
three feet wide that ran the entire length

168
00:14:31,519 --> 00:14:35,759
of the house, being depressed to
a height of about three feet at places

169
00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:43,320
where the windows intervened. This explained
the unusually deep window seats I'd noticed the

170
00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:50,360
inner walls of the passage. Those
nearest the rooms were honeycombed with auger holes,

171
00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:58,039
whose aspect showed them to have been
bored many years before secret passages Through

172
00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:03,080
these apertures. It had been a
simple matter for O. Gorman to detect

173
00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:07,279
the whereabouts of the candles in the
sconces, and by a sudden puff to

174
00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:13,519
blow them out. The threadbare tapestry
did not obstruct the air, and one

175
00:15:13,519 --> 00:15:20,120
could see dimly through it. The
passage ran clear around the house between outer

176
00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:24,919
and inner walls, connecting by ladders, with a similar secret passage on the

177
00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:30,480
floor above. A ladder descended from
the ground floor passage to a space between

178
00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:35,960
the drawing room flooring and the cellar
ceiling. This space was quite large enough

179
00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:39,519
to admit the body of a man. As I glanced into it, I

180
00:15:39,559 --> 00:15:45,039
could see the drawing room candle light
filtering through the cracks in the flooring.

181
00:15:45,799 --> 00:15:50,159
A slender bladed knife thrust through the
cracks at the right place would readily account

182
00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:54,679
for the rocking of the chair.
One light push of the knife point would

183
00:15:54,679 --> 00:16:00,919
set it in motion. Old Yan
Bartolf must have had odd theories on the

184
00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:06,679
subject of building. What may have
been the original object of these passages peep

185
00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:11,399
holes, etc. No one can
tell whether he sought to spy on his

186
00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:15,000
family or guests, or whether he
feared he might one day need shelter from

187
00:16:15,039 --> 00:16:21,840
justice or from Indians. I don't
know, perhaps to foister the popular belief

188
00:16:21,879 --> 00:16:27,080
in his magic powers. But the
secret chambers were there, and O'Gorman had

189
00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:32,639
made clever use of them. But
for his folly in using the cutout eye

190
00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:36,879
holes in the portrait in order to
watch us from a better point of view,

191
00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:41,600
he would assuredly have gained his point
and bought the house of Clark for

192
00:16:41,639 --> 00:16:47,639
a song. O'Gorman confessed to us
that while wandering over the house with a

193
00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:52,159
view to buying it just before Clark
had outbid him, he had blundered on

194
00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:57,320
the secret passage behind Bartolf's picture.
The idea of scaring Clark into selling cheap

195
00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:04,160
had occurred to him sooner on O'Gorman, giving us a written confession. Clark,

196
00:17:04,759 --> 00:17:10,759
greatly against my advice let the fellow
go. He was so much relieved

197
00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:14,920
to find the house was not really
haunted. He said that he hadn't the

198
00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:19,000
heart to drag the whole story into
the public Prince by prosecuting the swindler.

199
00:17:21,119 --> 00:17:22,960
End of in a haunted house