1885: A Lafayette Park Ghost Story

Adapted from a story by the St Louis Post Dispatch of December 25, 1885

LAFAYETTE PARK GHOST.

IT STRIKES TERROR TO THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Seen by George Wilson and a Couple of Inquisitive Young Men – It Is Fully Identified as Supernatural – A Newspaper Investigator Solves the Mystery and Relieves the Pressing Fears 

Wilson is known as a faithful and trustworthy fellow by those who have had occasion to employ him. He is truthful and inclined to be religious. Wilson is fully invested in saying that he saw a ghost. His earnestness in telling the story carries conviction with it. The man was so overcome by the sight that he takes a solemn oath that he really saw the spirit. He believes it is the ghost of Charles Uhde, who recently suicided in Lafayette Park. 

WILSON IS POSITIVE

that he cannot be mistaken in what he saw, and that it really was a spirit from another world.

James Hardy and Willis Martin are two boys who told their stories at the Lafayette Park station. They also bear testimony to the fact that something of an extremely supernatural appearance was seen in the park. Overcome with terror at the apparition, they did not stop to investigate and cannot describe it accurately. In todays’s Post-Dispatch they will first see the explanation of the strange and awful mystery. 

George Wilson, who first saw the ghost, was visited on Monday. He admitted to having had a drink or two, but nevertheless claimed that the ghost was

NOT A MYTH, BUT A REALITY

He told the story of his experience with the spook to a policeman, as follows:

“I was going home about 11 o’clock and cut cat-a-corner through the park so as to get home quicker. It was dark as pitch and as quiet as a graveyard. I slumped along mighty lively, as I was afraid someone might rob me if I wasn’t careful. I had just gotten about half way through the park when suddenly I heard what sounded like a sigh. It came from a clump of brush by the side of the path. 

“Who’s there?” I shouted.

“Then there was another long ripping kind of sigh and my hair stood straight up.

“Good Lord, I thought,

THE DEVIL HIMSELF 

“No, sir! you couldn’t hire me to go in the park again after dark. That ghost must be the spirit of that fellow that shot himself there a few days ago. Oh!  I know a ghost when I see one, you bet. I’ve got no time for ghosts.”

The story was circulated around the neighborhood, and Wilson was willing to take an oath as to the truth of his story. 

Two young men, James Hardy and Willis Martin

DECIDED TO INVESTIGATE

the matter. They were not afraid of ghosts and would demonstrate the folly of people getting frightened at nothing. So Monday night they took their station near the scene of the ghost’s reported haunts and waited. After sitting on a bench for about an hour they concluded that there was no ghost. As they figured their valor sufficiently proved, they decided to return home. Just as the two turned to go, Hardy suddenly seized Martin by the arm. 

“What’s that?” he said, in a nervous whisper. “That white thing towards the lake?”

His companion was rather unnerved at this sudden change in the conversation, and said in a shaking voice:

“Wha-a-a-t do you see?”

“Look there,” the other said, excitedly. “See that white thing coming across the grass. Look! Look! it’s coming toward us. See! Oh, Lord!”

The sound of hasty footsteps on the walk was a very effective and proper conclusion to the conversation. 

This episode tended to  

INCREASE INTEREST

in the ghost, and the neighborhood conversation was all upon that one subject. There have been a series of several meetings held in the Park Methodist Church. Those living on the other side of the park, instead of taking the short cut through, now walked around the park. They hedged by calling it a pleasant evening and that they like to walk around. Nothing was said about a ghost, but the young ladies were relieved to be escorted the long way home. Only large parties have undertaken to make the trip through the park since last Sunday. 

Uhde’s ghost has been the subject of conversation at many a dinner table in the area of Missouri and Lafayette Avenues. Wilson and the two boys were willing to swear that they saw the ghostly apparition as it moved almost noiselessly across the sward within twenty feet of where they stood. 

The report reached the Post-Dispatch yesterday.

A CANVAS OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD

was made. Everybody was talking about the ghost, but in the above the readers are given the direct testimony gathered. A milkman named Mohrman drove along Mississippi Avenue last Monday morning. He saw something white just inside the fence, but his testimony was no more definite. 

There could be no doubt as to the fact of some unusual apparition. Disclosing the ghost was a job to be undertaken.

Last night it was decided to determine what the ghost really consisted of. That, or whatever gave rise to the stories in circulation. A number of parties had seen something, but no one could exactly say what. The idea of it being a ghost was generally believed. It was now necessary that the mystery be cleared up in some way, as the park had become

ALMOST WHOLLY DESERTED

after nightfall. Even those claiming not to believe in ghosts experienced a “creepy” sensation at the mere suggestion of a stroll through the park.

The disclosure was undertaken last night. Lafayette Park was entered about 10 o’clock. There is something unenjoyable about the idea of bearding a ghost in his den. Even more so if there is no companion to consult regarding the quickest mode of escape.

The park was still as death. The rumbling of a street car failed to enliven the scene. The lake lay calm as a mirror. Not a sound broke the oppressive silence hanging over the beautiful little park

LIKE A HEAVY PALL 

The investigator sat on a bench for a few moments. Thinking it might be the one on which Uhde killed himself, he moved to another bench. But this was just as liable to have been the one. 

Suddenly the investigator was startled from his reverie by a little noise, almost imperceptible. Then there was a long-drawn sigh, which appeared to die away in choking gasps. The investigator’s hair began to raise. He jammed his hat down over his ears to keep it from being lifted off his head. Then there was another of those long-drawn sighs, such those given by all well-bred ghosts. A hasty retreat was rendered difficult by the fact that it was uncertain from which direction the sounds came. Suddenly,

FROM AMONG THE THICK BRUSH

there appeared something white. It seemed to have distended eyes, and to be of immense size. Horror upon horror; it came nearer and nearer, with a wavy undulating motion, and venting those ghastly sighs. It made directly for the investigator, who stood rooted to the ground with terror. The thing assumed a stooping posture, with two skinny arms, enshrouded and outstretched. It was as though to embrace the spectator and carry him away to a sudden reckoning. The investigator tried to flee, but his limbs, paralyzed with terror, refused to do their duty. With a shriek, he shut his eyes and hurled his walking stick at the apparition.

A SQUAWK OF PAIN

was the result. Encouraged, the investigator opened his eyes to observe the result of his throw. He saw something scudding up the walk and issuing a long-drawn squa-a-a-wk. 

It was no ghost, only one of the immense swans of the park. The reporter was satisfied to let it escape. After finding his walking stick he noted that the place was now deserted . Silence once more enveloped a peaceful scene.

Uhde’s ghost will no more trouble pedestrians in Lafayette Park. This will also be pleasing news to officers Summers and Atkinson. Particularly so, as Superintendent Hunt says he intends to have the night-prowling swan locked up. 

Part of the fascination with the supernatural may have resulted from the way large wealthy homes were constructed. Many had back stairways, dumbwaiters and an unseen staff. Part may have been the advent of telegraphic and then telephonic communication. In light of technical revolutions who was to say that you couldn’t communicate with the deceased. It’s even been proposed that gas lamps in the winter could induce a kind of carbon monoxide narcosis, causing hallucinations. 

If you lived in a time like this, wouldn’t your imagination be a little more receptive to the creaky floor, the scratch at a window, or shriek of the wind? We may also have simply wanted a little of this action for ourselves, in Lafayette Square. Pleasant dreams.