Haunting at Old Andalusia College

I'm sure you can tell by now this is one of those months that I love searching for ghost, witches and goblins of years past. This one reminds me of some of the haunted homes on Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.

Printed  Sunday the 26th of December 1886 in the Kansas City Time out of Kansas City, Missouri

DR. CHAPMAN’S GHOST.

A Remarkable Apparition to Two Frightened

Philadelphians

[Philadelphia Times.]

There are two men in this city who are willing to take oath that the building at Andalusia known as “Old Andalusia college” is haunted. One of them is H. W. Eshaback, a member of the Philadelphia bar, and the other is Frank Tygh, a cigar manufacturer. A short time ago these two gentlemen passed the night with a friend, John Endiectt, in the old college, and since that time they have been starting their acquaintances with frightful stories of a ghost seen there. As a proof of his statement Mr. Eshback exhibits a bad looking upper lip, which he says was swollen up by coming in contact with the bonafide ghost. Their stories have gained considerable credence at Andalusia, where the affair is said to have taken place, and the citizens look upon the old college buildings with more than ordinary suspicion. Old Andalusia college is a three-story wooden building with a mansard roof, and is nearly fifty years old. It is situated at the junction of two roads about ten minutes’ walk form the Pennsylvania railroad station. The structure presents a ghostly appearance, and being surrounded by large, tall cedar trees, is not a place where any citizen would like to pass a dark night alone. It has been said or many years that the house was haunted.

When the college was in a flourishing condition under Dr. Chapman, twenty years ago, Mrs. Chapman and a young man named Minor become enamored of each other. Feeling that the doctor was an obstruction to the free enjoyment of their love, they accomplished his death by the aid of arsenic. In trying to obliterate traces of the crime some of the arsenic was thrown into the yard, where some of the ducks ate it and died. The death of the ducks in such a manner led to an investigation, resulting in the arrest of both Mrs. Chapman and young Minor. Minor was hanged. Mrs. Chapman escaped the law. Since that time the house has had the reputation of being haunted. Persons in that neighborhood say they saw lights in the house for years, and few of them would pass it after dark. After the murder the college proved a failure, and no one could be found willing to occupy it. The owner of the premises had a portion of the building torn down, and the remainder fitted up as a boarding house, but the unsavory reports concerning it prevented him from getting a tenant. Mr. Endicott finally offered to occupy the place, and has now been living there for some months.

Horace W. Eshback said yesterday; “A friend of mine, John F. Endicott, resides in the old Andalusia college, and the other day he invited me over to pay him a visit. Of course I accepted the invitation, taking with me Frank Tygh, a cigar dealer of this city. The weather was none of the best in the morning, and by afternoon a rain and snow storm arose which lasted until early the next morning. We had intended to return to the city on one of the late afternoon trains, but, as the storm raged without promise of early abatement, we decided to remain over. It must have been near midnight when we went to bed. We were shown to the spare room. This apartment was very large, with three deep windows, two doors and a fireplace. The old college has about twenty rooms, the larger number of which are unoccupied, and Tygh, who is a short, fleshy man and much given to the subject of spooks, shuddered as we walked down the hall, and muttered something about its being an elegant night for ghosts to play football. We entered the room, and Tygh thought someone was yelling but he grew more composed when I told him it was only the wind. The wind was really howling as if the very imps of iniquity were frenzied in the delights of a free night. With the wind whistling through the tall cedar trees it was almost impossible to sleep. Anyhow I could not sleep, and lay listening to the noises outside and to the snoring of my roommate.

Suddenly a light spread through the room, a light like that produced by a candle. In the surprise or rather astonishment of the moment I turned and sat up in the bed. I tell you what I saw made me feel sick and wish I was almost anywhere else.  Before me was what appeared to be the bust of a man, perhaps 45 years of age, the shoulders covered with a mantle. The face had a perfectly natural appearance, only it lacked mobility, and the whole seemed to be resting on a cloud of snow. The terrible apparition was moving about the room and I thought it might be a robber, but I noticed that there were no lower limbs, but that it gilded around like a balloon. Now, I am not a believer in spirits, but I was frightened. “What do you want?” I asked, hardly aware of what I was saying. The sound of my voice awakened Tygh. He sat bolt upright in bed, gave one glance and tumbled over onto the floor and began to pray. Tygh is not a religious man. The answer I received from the ghost was in the form of a severe blow to the mouth, cutting my lips badly and stretching me at full length on the bed.

“Almost simultaneously with the blow the figure noiselessly exploded and seemed to go straight up through the wall. The light did not go out for some time, but gradually died away, leaving us in darkness. I jumped up and lighted a lamp and found Tygh doubled up in a heap on the floor, almost insensible. I looked around the room and found the windows closed, the doors locked, and everything in the condition it was when we retired. I will admit that I was frightened and the quickness with which I dressed myself and hauled Tygh down stairs was something wonderful it is perhaps unnecessary to say that we spent the remainder of the night before a glowing fire in the sitting room. When Endicott saw me in the morning he laughed and wanted to know where I got my thick lips. I did not cate to tell him the truth, so I replied that I had struck it on the bed post in getting into bed. Now, as I said before I do not believe in ghosts or anything of the sort, but I’m going to investigate that matter and capture whatever it is, that is, providing it is anything human.”

Mr. Tygh swears that he saw the whole business and relates to a story similar to that of Mr. Eshback. He says he knows there is a ghost in the old building and money could not hire him to pass another night there.