Haunted Ohio by Charles A. Stansfield Jr

Author:Charles A. Stansfield Jr.
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781493040841
Publisher: Globe Pequot Press
Published: 2019-03-28T16:00:00+00:00

THE GHOST IN THE SEAMLESS GARMENT

Not that any ghost is routine or mundane, but this ghost really is different. It hasn’t been seen much of late, but folks around Salesville used to see it, or so they said. The specter is a middle-aged man of no particular distinction. He appears to be wearing a long, flowing white robe, of which he seems to be unusually proud. He parades up and down like a fashion model, stopping to turn about to better display his twirling robe. Some observers claim that the phantom has a rather smug smile on his face, as though he’d finally achieved some special distinction or unusual triumph. If approached, the faintly glowing apparition simply evaporates like early-morning fog when the sun rises.

Just who is, or was, this mysterious “clothes horse,” as old-timers would have called him? Local tradition has it that this is the ghost of one Joseph Dylkes, who once lived hereabouts. Dylkes was a rather ordinary man who distinguished himself by one day standing up in church meeting to make an important announcement. “I am God!” he said, with appropriate drama. Some of those present, being of suspicious mind, wondered out loud if Joseph had drunk too freely of the excellent Pennsylvania whiskey that was a common cargo along the nearby National Road, which at the time (1828) was the busiest highway in the nation. Others in the congregation were silently skeptical of this astounding claim, while a few took Joe at his word and attached themselves to him as apostles.

As time went on, the community’s unbelievers, and even a few believers, suggested that Joseph Dylkes prove his divinity by working a miracle or two. Dylkes duly announced that he would appear in a seamless garment, a traditional symbol of earthly perfection. This impending miracle was well advertised, and crowds began to gather at Dylkes’s public appearances.

Alas, the seamless garment never appeared. Joe and his dwindling group of disciples chose to seek the New Jerusalem elsewhere and wandered away. Years later, a few onetime converts returned to Salesville and reported that Dylkes had disappeared “somewhere in Philadelphia.” Evidently, no Philadelphians missed him, and the mystery was never solved.

Is his ghost now wearing a truly seamless garment? No one yet has gotten close enough to inspect his ghostly robe. Perhaps you shouldn’t try either.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.