Читать книгу Real Hauntings 5-Book Bundle - Mark Leslie - Страница 61

Following is an article from the August 6, 1932, issue of the Ottawa Citizen. It recounts a slightly humorous story of how an incident at an old log house in Nepean, long believed to be haunted, sent the males in a family into quite the tizzy before they learned the truth about what had been causing the ghostly ruckus.

The Family Dog Ended Ghost Story

Mr. Robert Cummings of Nepean Tells Tale of How Family Dog and a Strap of Sleigh Bells Caused Excitement In An Old House Which Had Reputation of Being Haunted

Mr. Robert Cummings, son of the late James Cummings of the 3rd line (R.F.) of Nepean, tells a ghost story with a humorous ending. Mr. Cummings lives on the old Kelly farm. The incident happened when he was a small boy about 40 years ago. On the Kelly farm, when the Cummings family went there first there was an old log house which had the reputation of being haunted. The Cummings used the old place as a storehouse. Among other things, they kept oats there. One night after dark John W. Cummings, a brother of Robert, had to go to the old place to get some oats. As he opened the door he heard bells ringing and feet descending the stairs. ’Twas enough. He closed the door and ran home. He called his brother, W.J., his brother Bob and his father, and told them the place was really haunted. They went with him. Sure enough, when Pa Cummings opened the door, he also heard the bells and then heard feet descending the stairs. He closed the door.

Held Conference

Then the four held a conference to decide on a line of action. Pa’s advice was to throw the door wide open and await further developments.

“Whatever it is in there will likely come out,” he said. They threw the door open and waited, each armed with a stout stick.

They had not long to wait. Out came the family dog, wagging its tail. The animal had got shut in earlier in the evening. Nothing more ghostly came.

The Explanation

The next morning, Mr. Cummings went to the old place to try and find an explanation of the bells that had been heard. He found one. It appears that in the loft there had hung from a peg on the wall a string of sleigh bells. Underneath the bells had been an old rug on which the dog had made itself comfortable. Whenever the dog got up its back struck the string of bells, causing it to ring. When the dog heard the door open it trotted downstairs.

Other Stories Told

Mr. Robert Cummings says that despite easy explanation of the dog and the bells, the old house had many other queer stories told of it by neighbors who declared they had heard and seen things in and around the place.

A few years after the incident referred to, Mr. Cummings Sr. had had the place pulled down. With the destruction of the building its ghostly reputation had ceased.