THE HAUNTED ROCKING CHAIR.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 189, 8 August 1908, Page 15

THE HAUNTED ROCKING CHAIR.

A GHOST STOETi The following story (says the author) was told to liim several years ago by a iinngiv. ter of a member of a well known New York firm at a party at the young lady's j> house, where a number of friends were passing their time telling ghost stories:—* About 10 years ago, when I was quit* a t little girl, my father rented an old-fashioned house situated on Hempstead Han- \ Lone Island, It was a beautiful old p ....>;, tvlth jj large grounds, and commanded a niagniflcent view of the Sound. The ground floor | of the house consisted of a front parlour, a ■: library, a dlnlngroom, a kitchen, and a small ■'. room which opened off the library, and at one time was apparently used as a sittingroom by a former occupant of the house. ; Tho house was partially furnished viboa we moved In, nnd some of the furniture we decided to uee. In the little room off the ■' library there was an old-fashioned rocking euati", with v cano back and upholstered Beat, Father fitted up the little room as a :| Biuoklnc-S'ooin, or '•den," as he called It, but it vu bo pleasant and sunny that I j epent a considerable part of my time there j reading aud sewing. The little rocking \ ehalr I considered my especial property, I and nt my request father let It remain In the room for my nse. ' Ono rainy evening, several months after our arrival, mother and I were In the house < alone. Mother was suffering from a sick ij headache, my sister Mabel was away on a visit, mid father was detained in the city on business. That evening I was In mother's ■' room rending to her, for, as I have said. It ws my usnnl custom to spend my evening jin the little sittlngroom off the library. i i Mother's room was directly over this, and j any sounds that would come from It We ; could have heard very plainly. The ser- ; I vnntH wpre nlso out for the evening, as it Tens their night off, and we were In the . honee quite alone. While In the midst of a story, which I was reading aloud to mother, , 1 wss suddenly surprised to hear the sound f ;of someone singing In a-low contralto voice. : The sounds appeared to come from the I i little smoking-room below. Mother heard j them, too, nnd asked mc what It was. I , thought it very strange, but I did not think , that It was anything supernatural. Iv fact, , ; such a thought never entered my bead. ■ SHU the singing went on, now high, now : low, as the voice of the singer rose and : fell. Mother asked mc If It could not be someone outside the house, but I said no, . that undoubtedly the sound came from our i smoking-room below. I finally concluded to go down, and Bee ■If I couia who the singer was. I went • down stairs, and paused for a moment before the door of the little room, which was '■ ■ closed, although I had w> recollection of ■ closing It before I came upstairs. The song now came very plainly through the closed • door. The air was that of an old lullaby, I and with it I heard the sound of a rocking chair racking backward and forward, just 1 as if someone were singing a child to ■ sleep. I opened the door noiselessly, and J paused on the threshold of the room. The sound of the singing and rocking continued. 1 Never will I forget the strange feeling that '• came over mc when I entered the room. I • seemed to know that there was another presence in the room besides myself, a presence that I coufd not see. I switched on the electric light and the sound ceased. There was no one in the room, and it was Just as I had left it. I stayed there for a few minutes, and then went out again, as * nothing unusual had occurred. I went into the library, and watched the room through the open door. And then a strange thins " , happened. The rocking chair began to more slowly backward and forward. It rocked . and rocked. Then very slowly, and almost , indistinctly at first, came the song of the i invisible singer. I watted to hear and see . uo more, but fled upstairs to mother. I told her that one of the girls was back, and t was singing in the library, for I' did not , want to frichten her. She was too sick to be much surprised,. , aud accepted my explanation without a . word. For some time we heard the song . of the ghostly singer, but finally It stopped,, , and father came in soon afterwards. I told , him what had occurred, and the next day , we moved out. We learned afterward that , the house was supposed to be haunted. ' The story was that a young married couple had lived there a good many years ago, and that the smoking-room had been a favourite place , of the young wire. Her baby had taken elek a few months after it had beeu born, and t had died shortly afterward. The young wife , had been stricken with grief, and had also < died a short time after the death of • her , baby. It was said that on the anniversary i of her death the song that sbe used to sing . to her baby would be heard cotning from . the little room, accompanied with the sonnd of n rocking chair moving backward and , forward, Other occupants of the house had had the same experience as mine.