A Ghostly Tale (Ann Arbor)

Ann Arbor Courier, March 9, 1883

Apparently there was a friendly war between competitors to see which Ann Arbor newspaper could uncover the best ghost story. This is the Courier's March 9, 1883 response to the Democrat's recent spate of paranormal features.

The setting is somewhere near the offices of the Courier (of which I've been unable to determine it's location though "downtown" would seem the most reasonable place) where two families resided in a single homestead.

The first paranormal experience occurred in 1882 when one of the dwellers saw a female apparition by his bedside cloaked in white. He knew not if it was "A Spirit of health, or goblin damned" but it raised the hairs on his head in fright.

Another occurrences include bellowing "halloes" in their ears when nobody else was present, a violently moving rocking chair that stayed in motion even when in eye sight of the inhabitants and various other clamoring, pounding, rattling utensils and miscellaneous worldly sounds produced by unworldly means.

The experiences proved taxing on the two families and each wished to change residences. Which they eventually did but not before one occupant found a strange jar in the cellar. The sort that doctors and curiosity keepers store anomalies of species in, both human and animal. Within the uncovered specimen jar was a tongue. A HUMAN TONGUE! Of which the Courier had in their presence as proof of the validity of the ascertained ghost story.