OCR: PLAYFUL GHOST IS SEWER GAS DALLAS, Tex., July 8— (UP) — The T. A. Hardlns are back in their home, satisfied that the ghostly noises they heard for six days were nothing more than sewer gas.

Chief Deputy Sheriff Bill Decker, whose department has been trying to solve the mystery of toppling chairs and tables, falling pans, and slowly opening doors felt the house quiver and heard a noise burp after a long wait.

“The han’t has gas on his stomach” observed one of Decker’s two deputies. “Too much holiday cheer.”

That gave Decker his clue.

“Gas,” he yelled “It’s sewer gas. Get a plumber!”

The plumber found that an accumulation of gas under the house had caused the noises and upset the furniture, events which led Mrs Hardin and her two children to take refuge in her father’s home. In fact, the plumber said, the gas was so powerful that if someone had lit a match, the furniture really would have floated through the air, along with the house. After Decker and his men left, Hardin telephoned a group of spiritualists who had volunteered to contact the ghost, that they weren’t needed.

Source: Journal and Courier, Lafayette, Indiana, Thu, Jul 8, 1943 (Page 9).