The Glidewell Ghost

"Louisville Courier-Journal," March 30, 1887, via Newspapers.com

Ghosts always have a way of popping up when you least expect them.  One of the most baffling aspects of poltergeist activity is its usual lack of any obvious "trigger" or underlying cause.  Life for its victims is perfectly normal one minute, awash in The Weird the next.  One prime example took place in Bucksville, Kentucky, in 1887.

The household of farmer Samuel H. Glidewell was utterly ordinary until one day early in March.  The first intimation that something was very, very out-of-the-ordinary came when the Glidewell daughters noticed that all the sheets and blankets had been removed from the beds and packed in a box upstairs.  This happened so repeatedly that for several days, the family was forced to keep a continuous watch on the upper rooms.  No one was seen, but the mysterious stripping of the beds somehow continued.  The minute the bedrooms were left unguarded, the bedclothing  would be removed and folded away.  Then, inexplicable streams of water would occasionally run across the rafters.  The family could only conclude that a monkey had escaped from some circus and could find nothing better to do than pack bedding and throw water about.  However, a minute search of the upstairs failed to uncover a monkey, or anyone else for that matter.

Their invisible visitor began to show more blatant hostility.  A plank was removed from the upstairs floor, and old boots and shoes were hurled at the occupants of the lower rooms.  Again, no person or animal could be found.  At night, the Glidewells could hear eerie sounds coming from upstairs, which sounded like the labored breathing of someone who was dying.  If anyone went up to investigate, on their return they would hear a sound of something heavy falling on the steps just behind them.  Furniture would somehow appear and disappear inside of locked rooms.  Perhaps most unsettlingly, one morning Glidewell's son noticed that his gun was missing from his bedroom.  It was eventually found in the adjoining room, with the hammer pulled back.

Not knowing what else to do, Glidewell called in the neighbors to see if any of them could get to the bottom of all this.  Two of them, described as "reliable men as can be found," went upstairs.  They too failed to see anything, but others waiting below suddenly found themselves drenched with water--water that came from no evident source.  These mysterious showers continued.  Without warning, people inside the house would have water fall on them, and others in the room could never see it fall.  A boy who came to see the now locally famed "ghost" ran into a closet to avoid getting drenched.  As anyone who knows the ways of spooks could have predicted, a stream of water cascaded down, soaking him to the skin.

The poltergeist continued to expand its repertoire.  It tore up carpets.  It continued to move furniture around.  On one occasion, a roaring fire was discovered in a securely locked room that had not been opened for years.  One night, the family was awakened by the sounds of violin music and dancing coming from that same locked room.  When the Glidewells finally worked up the courage to enter the room, nothing was found except a candle, which had just nearly burned to the bottom.  The next night, at the stroke of twelve, loud peals of laughter were heard coming from a closet under the staircase.  When one onlooker nervously opened the closet door and peeked inside, he was nearly drowned with a deluge of icy cold water, which was accompanied by more bursts of ghostly laughter.  The following morning when the family entered the dining room, they were greeted by a skull and crossbones at the head of the table.  At each plate was a small sprig of cedar.  [Note: Cedars, known as "burial trees," have a long folkloric connection to cemeteries and various death-related superstitions.  It's an easy guess that these sprigs were not intended to convey anything cheery to the Glidewells.]

This was the last straw for the beleaguered family.  They immediately abandoned the house, taking refuge with a neighbor.  While they were moving out their household goods, the table and chairs suddenly began dancing around the room.  When one of the Glidewells tried grabbing a chair, he received a shock as if from an electric battery.  This was followed by another peal of the sinister laughter.  

The local marshal, accompanied by a posse of armed men, did a prolonged search of the house.  They heard many strange noises, all interspersed with the bursts of mocking laughter, but could find no "rational" explanation for the phenomena.  They left puzzled, exhausted, and not a little unnerved.  

Unfortunately for the Glidewells, their ghost had no wish to be left behind.  It was obviously enjoying their company.  When they moved, so did the spirit, along with its usual bag of tricks.  In their new abode, the family heard the now-familiar demonic laughter and endured the now-familiar drenchings of cold water. One morning, they found that their milk supply had been replaced with a foul-smelling fluid.  On another occasion, the oil was removed from the lamps and replaced with this same repulsive liquid. Doors that had been left securely locked were found wide open.  The mysterious moving of furniture was so frequent as to become practically commonplace.

The strangest event of all took place in the new house.  One night, Mr. Glidewell was just dropping off to sleep when he was suddenly jerked wide awake by...something.  He had not heard or seen anything, but he realized there was some other presence in the room.  In a moment, a pale, bluish light became visible.   It seemed to radiate from outside the house.  When he cautiously crept to the window, he saw, about ten steps away, a ball of pale blue flame about three inches in diameter hovering several feet off the ground.  As he stared at the object, it began to wave to and fro, emitting a strange, flute-like music.  Then, the air around him was filled with an odd perfume, one so overpowering it caused him to collapse on the bed unconscious.  When Glidewell came to the next morning, he found that a wet, blood-red handkerchief of fine fabric, with the initial "U" embroidered in black silk, had been placed upon his forehead.  Although the handkerchief was exhibited to hundreds of curious onlookers, no one could identify it.

Poor Mr. Glidewell was psychologically destroyed by this experience.  It was reported that his "nervous system is shattered and it is feared that total derangement of the mind will speedily follow."  He was desperate to sell his property and move out of state--taking care not to leave the ghost his forwarding address--but he could find no one willing to take the "ghoul-disturbed" place at any price.  After this item, the story seems to have dropped out of the newspapers, so I cannot say when--or if--the Glidewells were finally rid of their persecution.

A man who had drowned many years previously was buried in what eventually became Glidewell's garden.  It was speculated that this man's spirit resented having his eternal rest disturbed, and so was taking a supernatural revenge against the interloping family.  Others suggested it was the spirit of a young girl who had committed suicide in the house in 1869, a short time before the Glidewells moved in.  Those remained only theories, of course.

It is notoriously difficult to get a straight answer out of a poltergeist.