When Satan Came to Philly!

"A dreadful thing happened in Philadelphia, to the wife of a butcher...", wrote Rev. Andreas Sandel in his diary on January 12th, 1716. The woman had dared to quarrel with her husband after she refused to make their bed. The argument spiralled out of control when the man told her that if she didn't make the bed, she would be cast out into the street, to which she replied, "And if you do I will break every window pane in the house and raise the Devil..." The scowling, stubborn gent grabbed his spouse by the scruff of the neck and headed towards the street, but on the way she did indeed scream with great excitement and smash several panes of glass. She found herself up in the gloomy confines of the attic with only a candle for company. When alone, she began to hear footsteps coming up the stairs, and this went on for half an hour but no one showed. Disturbed by the noises, she fled downstairs to her husband and told him she feared she had indeed raised the Devil, and she wished to be aided despite his fury at her.

The woman, while laying on a bench near the hearth, was shocked to see a face appear out of the darkness. The face was hideous, its grim features horrifying her as, with mouth open, it grinned and yawned its evil menace. With that, she demanded that her husband read a section from Psalm XXI, and this seemed to dissolve the face.

However, shortly afterwards a sinister figure appeared at one of the broken windows. The figure had its arms extended towards her, as if to beckon her, but the woman began to panic and hysterically shudder and tremble at the sight.

The malignant being slowly approached the cowering woman, but her husband was quick to act and grasped his wife in his strong arms before the figure reached her. The couple burst from their home, and a minister was called who prayed with the traumatised couple throughout the next day.

Despite no further visitations from the apparition, the woman took some while to recover, and it was noted in Sandel's diary that, "...she had to hold her hands over her knees to keep them from trembling."

Image Credit: Flickr user omaromar

Source: Philadelphia Ghost Stories by Charles J. Adams III