Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Via Newspapers.com

This little oddity appeared in the “St. Louis Globe-Democrat,” January 17, 1876:

A thrilling affair occurred a few evenings since near Sheridan. Our informant, who has not heretofore been a believer in ghosts or hobgoblins and who is a man of strong and steady nerve, was so unstrung by the horrid vision presented to his view that he is rather disinclined to converse on the subject. The following facts, however, were gleaned from his account of the occurrence: 

He was on his way home, on a rather dark and misty night, on horseback, and, as usual, without any thought of danger or of supernatural things, and, when some distance this side of Sheridan, he was astonished at the terror of his horse, which endeavored to turn back, and seemed wild with fright. On looking ahead, a little to one side, the rider was stricken first with astonishment, then with fear, at beholding a bright light on the bank of the lonely creek, at first gleaming brilliantly, and then gradually decreasing in intensity, until it almost disappeared, seeming to recede as if borne backward with incredible rapidity.

Stimulated by curiosity, he endeavored to approach it more closely, but his terrified horse refused to go forward, vainly struggling to turn and rush away. As the light almost disappeared in the distance the trembling animal was urged forward, and was already past the place where it had first appeared, which was some little distance from the road, when far up in a field of rising ground the light again appeared, borne by what appeared to be a human figure, clothed in white, approaching with amazing rapidity, while as it advanced, silently gliding along the ground, the light, which it seemed to carry in one hand, blazed forth with fast increasing brilliancy.

What it was like he could not exactly say, but it was something shadowy and indistinct, and yet horrible and ghastly in the extreme. Horse and rider were motionless with wonder and curiosity, but when the horrible phantom had approached within about 100 yards, terror became master, and the frightened horse sprang forward with a burst of speed that almost unseated his master, and stopped not until he was at his own stable-door, when he was quickly put within, and the man, without mentioning the matter even to his wife, hastened to bed and spent a sleepless night. 

His haggard appearance next day caused inquiry. and he was induced to give his account of the matter to an Eagle representative. It is hinted that a horrible tragedy once occurred near the haunted spot, and that the phantom is seen once every fifty years. How much truth there is in this latter statement our informant was unable to say; but he intends to leave the investigation to someone else, having had enough of ghosts for a long time to come.