Los Angeles, 1895: two figures in black, and a ghost walk on Hill Street.

What the paper reported

Neighbors in the south end of the city reported two figures, a man and a woman, shrouded head to foot in black, walking the streets by night. Many were afraid to go out after dark. When people followed one of them down to Twelfth Street, they found nothing: the figure had merged into thin air.

Exhibit A · Transcription

The Couple in Black

Spooks Said to Frequent a Residence Locality

Two Very Mysterious Visitors

Peripatetic Visitants Entirely in Black

Hill Street’s Ghost Walk

A Clergyman’s Unsatisfactory Interview With One of the Pair

Both Shades Exhibit a Penchant for Vanishing Into Thin Air

The Darkness of Night, the High Board Fence, the Growth of Blue Gums, All Favorable Conditions for the Material Appearance of the Forms

The inhabitants of the south end of the city are at present greatly exercised over the reputed nightly visits of two very mysterious persons. Both of these visitants are shrouded from head to foot in somber black and the resemblance to some of Wilkie Collins’ startling personages is something remarkable. One of these agitators is a man, and the other purports to be of the gentler sex. Both are regarded as something of the spook order, and many of the nieghbors are afraid to venture out on the street after dark.

Later in the same article (not in the image)

They followed her down to Twelfth street, and on reaching the corner found—nothing. The figure had merged into thin air and the street was practically deserted by pedestrians.

Transcribed from the page image, spelling as printed (“nieghbors” is the paper’s typo); line-end hyphens joined. Checked word by word against the Library of Congress’s OCR text.

Newspaper

The Herald

Published in

Los Angeles, California

Headline

The Couple in Black

Date

July 27, 1895

Page

10

Permalink

www.loc.gov/resource/sn85042461/1895-07-27/ed-1/?sp=10

Source

Library of Congress, Chronicling America. Public domain (published 1895).