NY-WESTERN-L Archives

From: "Linda/Don" <>
Subject: [NY-WESTERN] Daily News June 5 1905
Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 14:16:12 -0400

The Daily News
Batavia, Genesee Co., NY
Monday Evening,
June 5 1905

UP OUT OF GROUND RISES A SPECTER.
MONSTER BULL, TINY CAT, OR HEADLESS WOMAN.
Something Weird, Uncanny and Frightening Intangible Alarms Residents of Oak
Street--It Actually Has Been Seen--Makes Horses Shake with Fear.
Darkness throws its filmy wings around. All the town is dead in
slumber. The clocks the midnight hour begin to toll. Up out of the ground
rises a specter terrible to see. Some time it assumes the shape of a monster
bull, with coarse and shaggy main [sic] hanging full about its neck, whit
horns that twist and turn and knot for feet upon feet, with nostrils
belching smoke and fire and eyes that burn and stare. Again, it is a tiny
animal, like a cat, sneaking along the ground, which, when scared and pelted
with stones, grows right before one's eyes to the creature just described.
And once it appeared as a headless woman, shrouded in priestly robes,
dancing along the road, beckoning to those who chanced to see.
This spirit haunts a dark and gloomy gulf on the Oak street road between
Lyon and Union streets. It prowls about in the middle of the night and the
entire street is in awe of it. Some refuse to leave their houses after
sundown. Other whose business demands their appearance downtown in the
evening leave home late in the afternoon and do not return until morning.
The children are afraid even in the day. Old men and old women scoff at the
idea of a ghost, and yet admit their timidity when asked to stay up some
night and investigate. The ghost has become the talk of that section of the
town and several parties of brave young men have been organized to watch the
night through and waylay the gloomy visitor. Thus far they have done
nothing but talk.
Martin RUPP and Joseph GREENTANER were driving north on Oak street on
Thursday night, going to the former's home just beyond the fateful gully.
When on its edge they saw the frightful creature approaching. They actually
saw it. Both so affirm. At first they had courage, and GREENTANER,
grasping the whip, jumped from the buggy and went for the ghost. he
slashed at it in vain. The spirit either dashed aside or vanished into thin
air. This procedure thoroughly unnerved GRENTANER, who jumped into the
buggy, and the horse was whipped up.
Another night Mr. RUPP was returning home alone. At the appointed spot
the spirit appeared. He did not relish an encounter single handed, so
galloped his horse. The horse dashed into the RUPP yard and at the door of
the house Mr. RUPP leaped from his seat and went within. The spirit, Mr.
RUPP's mother says, crouched down under the wagon, until the dogs were set
upon it, when it flew away into the lots. Mrs. Martin RUPP is one of those
who have seen the spirit in the form of a headless woman,. She described
the vision which had appeared to her minutely, as though it was indelibly
impressed upon her mind, and when requestioned about certain parts of the
creature's dress did not vary her answer. The night she saw it it danced
about he horse's head, scaring the animal almost to death. The RUPP horses,
so their owners say, now shake with fear whenever they approach the spot,
even before the ghost appears.
Rows of evergreen trees flank the road on either side for a considerable
distance. Then, at the lowest level of the gully, runs a slow, stagnant
stream. On the east the grounds marshy for a hundred yards and then rises
sharply to a little knoll crowned with a stunted underbrush. At the west is
a lonely lot, and boned, almost out of sight at night, a background of
trees. At the north, completing the circle of despair, is a group of house.
Into this den of the spirit those who approach enter only to see and to
flee.
submitted by
L.C. Schmidt

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• [NY-WESTERN] Daily News June 5 1905 by "Linda/Don" <>