“However, on I ran down the hill, and was soon at the door of the old barn-like building.  The door was not fastened, and I opened it, and entered the church.  At first, the darkness seemed intense, broken only by little streaks of sunlight which streamed in through the small, crescent-shaped holes in the shutters; but at length my eye became accustomed to the darkness, and I could begin to distinguish the rude seats and aisles, and even to see, at the end of the church, an elevation which I knew must be the pulpit.  Determined to see all that was to be seen, I made my way along the aisle, ascended the pulpit stairs, and had just laid my hand on the door, when a tall, white figure suddenly rose up in the pulpit, and laid a cold hand on mine.  I believe I shrieked; but I was filled with such an indescribable horror, that I know not what I did, when a hollow voice said:” 

“‘Don’t be afraid; I will not harm you.’”

“I snatched my hand from the cold grasp which held it, and fled from the church.  I remember nothing more, till I opened my eyes, and found the old clergyman bathing my face with water.  He had become alarmed at my long absence, and, on coming back to seek me, had found me lying on my face, on the grass, in front of the old church.  We had been riding again for some time, before I summoned resolution to tell the old gentleman what I had seen in the church.  He complimented me by saying, that though his acquaintance with me had been short, he was much mistaken in me, if I was a person to be deceived by the imagination; and he said he much regretted that I had not mentioned the cause of my fright before we left the old church, as it was always best to ascertain at once the true nature of any such apparently frightful object.”

“‘We have no time to turn back now,’ said he, ’as we have already lost more than half an hour; but the next best thing we can do is to stop at the first house we come to, and see if we can find out anything concerning the apparition which appeared to you in the church.’”

“We soon stopped before the door of a small log house, and at our summons a pleasant-looking woman appeared.  To the inquiries of the old clergyman as to the appearance by which I had been so much alarmed, she replied:” 

“’Oh, it’s the crazy minister, sir.  He used to preach in that old church; but he’s been crazy for a long time, and often he dresses himself in a long white robe, and goes and sits in the pulpit of that old church all day.  He’s very gentle, she added, turning to me, ’and wouldn’t hurt anybody for the world; but I don’t wonder you got a good fright.’  So ends my ghost story; and now, if you are ready for more horrors, I will tell you my other adventure.”

“Our detention near the old church, and the state of the roads, rendered heavy by late rains, made it impossible for us to reach the town at which we had hoped to spend the night; and we had made up our minds that we would stop at the first promising-looking establishment we should see, when the coming up of a sudden storm left us no option, but made us hail gladly the first human dwelling we came to, though that was but a rough, rambling old hut, built of unhewn logs.”