{"id":"01KG6YGYW61EEPP7247JRGMFAY","cid":"bafkreiafa5eohib7rhwhfscwci6j3knijjxdif75dx47ldts6gktltcb7u","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":144,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:45.581Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG6YDD8GKW0DRD5H2MY1NRZ7","start_line":90,"text":"THE APPLE-TREE TABLE\r\n\r\n_OR ORIGINAL SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS_\r\n\r\n\r\nWhen I first saw the table, dingy and dusty, in the furthest corner\r\nof the old hopper-shaped garret, and set out with broken, be-crusted\r\nold purple vials and flasks, and a ghostly, dismantled old quarto, it\r\nseemed just such a necromantic little old table as might have belonged\r\nto Friar Bacon. Two plain features it had, significant of conjurations\r\nand charms--the circle and tripod; the slab being round, supported by\r\na twisted little pillar, which, about a foot from the bottom, sprawled\r\nout into three crooked legs, terminating in three cloven feet. A very\r\nsatanic-looking little old table, indeed.\r\n\r\nIn order to convey a better idea of it, some account may as well be\r\ngiven of the place it came from. A very old garret of a very old house\r\nin an old-fashioned quarter of one of the oldest towns in America.\r\nThis garret had been closed for years. It was thought to be haunted;\r\na rumor, I confess, which, however absurd (in my opinion), I did not,\r\nat the time of purchasing, very vehemently contradict; since, not\r\nimprobably, it tended to place the property the more conveniently\r\nwithin my means.\r\n\r\nIt was, therefore, from no dread of the reputed goblins aloft, that,\r\nfor five years after first taking up my residence in the house, I\r\nnever entered the garret. There was no special inducement. The roof\r\nwas well slated, and thoroughly tight. The company that insured the\r\nhouse, waived all visitation of the garret; why, then, should the\r\nowner be over-anxious about it?--particularly, as he had no use for\r\nit, the house having ample room below. Then the key of the stair-door\r\nleading to it was lost. The lock was a huge old-fashioned one. To\r\nopen it, a smith would have to be called; an unnecessary trouble, I\r\nthought. Besides, though I had taken some care to keep my two daughters\r\nin ignorance of the rumor above-mentioned, still, they had, by some\r\nmeans, got an inkling of it, and were well enough pleased to see the\r\nentrance to the haunted ground closed. It might have remained so for a\r\nstill longer time, had it not been for my accidentally discovering, in\r\na corner of our glen-like, old, terraced garden, a large and curious\r\nkey, very old and rusty, which I at once concluded must belong to the\r\ngarret-door--a supposition which, upon trial, proved correct. Now, the\r\npossession of a key to anything, at once provokes a desire to unlock\r\nand explore; and this, too, from a mere instinct of gratification,\r\nirrespective of any particular benefit to accrue.\r\n\r\nBehold me, then, turning the rusty old key, and going up, alone, into\r\nthe haunted garret. It embraced the entire area of the mansion. Its\r\nceiling was formed by the roof, showing the rafters and boards on\r\nwhich the slates were laid. The roof shedding the water four ways from\r\na high point in the centre, the space beneath was much like that of\r\na general's marquee--only midway broken by a labyrinth of timbers,\r\nfor braces, from which waved innumerable cobwebs, that, of a summer's\r\nnoon, shone like Bagdad tissues and gauzes. On every hand, some strange\r\ninsect was seen, flying, or running, or creeping, on rafter and floor.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6YGAW3P706T2A4K9155RNZ","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6YDD8GKW0DRD5H2MY1NRZ7","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG6YCG626JN4FCG8QK17CQCF","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6YGYW9AMXPCNCW0G6WAZBP","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:45.734Z","ts":"2026-01-30T07:57:52.463Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}