{"id":"01KG8AM8ERZH6Z3XAMNERASSEG","cid":"bafkreiertql677nuouvh47fzelafd52vr52ao2ucij53v7xg7xrnp7nc7i","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":10079,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.985Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","start_line":10025,"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 of\r\nthe old hopper-shaped garret, and set out with broken, be-crusted old\r\npurple vials and flasks, and a ghostly, dismantled old quarto, it seemed\r\njust such a necromantic little old table as might have belonged to Friar\r\nBacon. Two plain features it had, significant of conjurations and\r\ncharms--the circle and tripod; the slab being round, supported by a\r\ntwisted little pillar, which, about a foot from the bottom, sprawled out\r\ninto 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. This\r\ngarret had been closed for years. It was thought to be haunted; a\r\nrumour, I confess, which, however absurd (in my opinion), I did not, at\r\nthe time of purchasing, very vehemently contradict; since, not\r\nimprobably, it tended to place the property the more conveniently within\r\nmy means.\r\n\r\nIt was, therefore, from no dread of the reputed goblins aloft, that, for\r\nfive years after first taking up my residence in the house, I never\r\nentered the garret. There was no special inducement. The roof was well\r\nslated, and thoroughly tight. The company that insured the house, waived\r\nall visitation of the garret; why, then, should the owner be\r\nover-anxious about it?--particularly as he had no use for it, the house\r\nhaving ample room below. Then the key of the stair-door leading to it\r\nwas lost. The lock was a huge old-fashioned one. To open it, a smith\r\nwould have to be called; an unnecessary trouble, I thought. Besides,\r\nthough I had taken some care to keep my two daughters in ignorance of\r\nthe rumour above-mentioned, still, they had, by some means, got an\r\ninkling of it, and were well enough pleased to see the entrance to the\r\nhaunted ground closed. It might have remained so for a still longer\r\ntime, had it not been for my accidentally discovering, in a corner of\r\nour glen-like, old, terraced garden, a large and curious key, very old\r\nand rusty, which I at once concluded must belong to the garret door--a\r\nsupposition which, upon trial, proved correct. Now, the possession of a\r\nkey to anything, at once provokes a desire to unlock and explore; and\r\nthis, too, from a mere instinct of gratification, irrespective of any\r\nparticular 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 which\r\nthe slates were laid. The roof shedding the water four ways from a high\r\npoint in the centre, the space beneath was much like that of a general’s\r\nmarquee--only midway broken by a labyrinth of timbers, for braces, from\r\nwhich waved innumerable cobwebs, that, of a summer’s noon, shone like\r\nBagdad tissues and gauzes. On every hand, some strange insect was seen,\r\nflying, or running, or creeping, on rafter and floor.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJWBY79C0S3A47JYVRQW7","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM8ERDXE311RADGT6QJNV","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:31.192Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:44.295Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}