Story of a Naughty Spirit
Society, December 9th, 1859 –
First session
Mr. de la Roche, regular member, communicates the following fact of
his personal knowledge:
Strange noises and several manifestations took place in a small
house near Castelnaudary, leading people to believe that it was haunted
by a bad genie. Hence, in 1848 it was exorcized and a large number of
images of saints were placed inside the house. Since then, Dr. D…, who
wanted to live in the house had some renovations done and requested
that the images be removed. He died in that house a few years later, of a
sudden death. His son who still lives there or at least who was there up
to not long ago, had his face slapped by an invisible hand when entering
a bedroom. Since he knew that he was completely alone in the house,
he had no doubt that it had come from an occult power. He no longer
wishes to stay there and wants to move out for good. There is a story
that goes around in the region which says that a terrible crime was committed
in that house.
Once questioned about the possibility of evoking the author of that
slap, St. Louis responded positively. The spirit was then evoked, showing
signs of violence. The medium was taken by great agitation, breaking
seven or eight pencils, throwing some onto the audience, tearing off a
piece of paper on which he had furiously doodled meaningless characters.
All efforts to calm him down resulted useless. Since he was requested to
respond to the questions he wrote with difficulty an almost undecipherable
no.
1. (to St. Louis) – Could you kindly give us some information about
that spirit, since he cannot or he does not wish to give it himself?
– A. It is a spirit of the worst class, a kind of monster. We
made him come here but we cannot force him to write, despite
everything that we told him. He has his free-will, which has been
badly used.
2. Has he died long ago? – A. Look for information. He was the
one who committed the crime whose legend goes around in the
region.
3. Who was he when alive? – A. You shall find out yourself.
4. Is he the one haunting the house these days? – A. No doubt since
that is how I had him coming here.
5. Then the exorcisms have not expelled him? – A. No way.
6. Has he had any participation in the subtle death of Mr. D…? – A.
Yes.
7. How come? – A. Through fear.
8. Was he the one who slapped Mr. D… son’s face? – A. Yes.
9. Could he have done the same on some of us? – A. No doubt. He
wishes he could.
10. Why hasn’t he done so? – A. He was not allowed.
11. Would there be a means of dislodging him from that house?
How? – A. If they want to disentangle from the obsession of
similar spirits it is easy, by praying for them. That is what is
always forgotten. People prefer to scare them away with formulas
of exorcism which greatly entertains them.
12. Passing the idea of praying for this spirit to those involved, and us
praying as well, would it then be possible to dislodge him? – A.
Yes. However, notice that I said pray and not having someone else
praying.
13. Is this spirit susceptible to improvement? – A. Why not? Aren’t
they all, this one like the others? Yet, one must be prepared to face
difficulties. However perverse the spirit may be, the retribution
of evilness by goodness will end up touching him. Let us pray in
principle and then evoke him after a month. You will notice the
changes which will take place.
14. This is an unfortunate and suffering spirit. Could you describe
the kind of sufferings that he endures? – A. He is persuaded that
he shall be in his present condition forever. He constantly sees
himself at the very moment when he committed the crime. Any
other memory has been erased and any communication with another
spirit has been banned. When he is on Earth he can only
be at that house and when he is in space he only has darkness and
loneliness.
15. In which world did he live before his last incarnation? What was
his race? – A. He had an existence among the most ferocious and
savage tribes, and before that he came from a planet inferior to
Earth.
16. In case he reincarnates, which category of individuals will he be
around? – A. That will depend on him and on his regrets.
17. In his next corporeal life could he become a righteous man? – A.
That would be difficult; regardless of his efforts, it will be hard to
avoid a tempestuous life.
OBSERVATION: Mrs. X…, a clairvoyant medium attending
the session, saw that spirit at the moment when he was asked to
write: he shook the medium’s arm; his looks were terrifying; he
was wearing a shirt covered in blood and held a dagger in his
hand. Mr. and Mrs. F… who were present as observers, since
they were not members yet, carried out the recommendation
in favor of the suffering spirit since the first evening, praying
for him. Multiple communications were obtained from him
and from his victims. We present them below in the order that they were received, together with the ones obtained at
the Society about the same subject. In addition to the interest
of this dramatic story there is a teaching which will escape
nobody.
Second session, at the house of Mr. F…
18. (to the familiar spirit) – Can you tell us something about the
spirit of Castelnaudary? – A. Evoke him.
19. Is he evil? – A. You shall see.
20. What should we do? – A. Don’t talk to him if you have nothing
to say.
21. If we talk to him to say that we are sorry for his suffering, will
that do any good to him? – A. Compassion is always good to the
unfortunate ones.
22. Evocation of the spirit of Castelnaudary. – A. What do you want
from me?
23. We called you in order to be useful to you. – A. Oh! Your compassion
is good to me because I suffer… Oh! How much I suffer!
... May God have mercy on me! … Forgive me… Forgive
me…
24. Will our prayers be beneficial to you? – A. Yes. Pray, pray.
25. It is okay then! We will pray for you. – A. Thank you! At least you
do not curse me.
26. Why didn’t you want to write at the Society when you were invited
in? – A. Oh! Malediction!
27. Malediction for whom? – A. For me who ruthlessly atone for the
crimes in which my free-will only had a small participation.
OBSERVATION: By saying that his free-will had a small participation
in his crimes he wants to attenuate them, as it was verified
later.
28. Will you be forgiven if you repent? – A. Oh! Never!
29. Don’t be desperate. – A. Eternal sufferings, such is my destiny.
30. What is it that makes you suffer? – A. What is most horrific! You
cannot understand.
31. Have they prayed in your favor since last night? – A. Yes, but I
suffer even more.
32. How come? – A. How do I know?
OBSERVATION: This circumstance was explained later.
33. Should anything be done regarding the house where you installed
yourself? – A. No! No! Say no more about that…. Forgive me
God! I have suffered enough!
34. Do you have to stay there? – A. That is my penalty.
35. Will that be so as you may have your crimes permanently before
your eyes? – A. That is the case
36. Don’t be desperate. Everything may be forgiven after repentance. –
A. No! There is no forgiveness for Cain.
37. Then you killed your brother? – A. We are all brothers.
38. Why did you want to do harm to Mr. D…? – A. Enough! Please,
that is enough!
39. Good-bye then. Have faith on God’s mercy! – A. Pray!
Third session
40. Evocation – A. I am near you.
41. Do you begin to have hope? – A. Yes, I have a lot of regret.
42. What was your name? – A. You shall know later.
43. For how long have you been suffering? – A. For 200 years.
44. When have you committed your crime? – A. In 1608.
45. Can you repeat the dates to confirm them? – A. It is useless. Once
is enough. Good-bye, I will talk to you tomorrow. A force drags me!
Fourth session
46. Evocation – A. Thanks Hugo! (Mr. F… first name)
47. Would you like to speak about what happened in Castelnaudary? –
A. No. You make me suffer when you speak about it. It is not generous
of you.
48. You know well that if we speak about it, it is with the objective of
clarifying you regarding your condition and not to make it worse.
Then, speak and have no fear. How could you allow yourself to
commit such a crime? – A. A moment of madness.
49. Was there any premeditation? – A. No.
50. This cannot be true. Your sufferings demonstrate that you are
guiltier than you say. You know that only through regret you can
mitigate your fate and not through lies. Come on! Be honest. – A.
Well then! If it is needed, then be it!
51. Was it a man or a woman that you killed? – A. A man.
52. How did you kill Mr. D…? – A. I showed up to him, visibly. My
appearance is so horrifying that the simple sight killed him.
53. Did you do that on purpose? – A. Yes.
54. Why? – A. He wanted to challenge me and I would do it again if
I were tried.
55. If I was supposed to live in that house would you do me any
harm? – A. Oh! No. Certainly not! You have pity on me and wish
me well.
56. Has Mr. D… died instantly? – A. No. He was taken by fear but
only died two hours later.
57. Why have you only slapped Mr. D… son? – A. Having killed two
men was more than enough.
Fifth session, at the Society on December 16th, 1859
58. Questions addressed to St. Louis – The spirit who has communicated
with Mr. and Mrs. F… is really that of Castelnaudary? – A.
Yes.
59. How could he communicate with them so promptly? – A. He
didn’t have any knowledge about the Society yet. He was not
sorry and repentance means everything.
60. Is the information given by him about the crime correct? – A. It is
up to you to verify that and to get along with him.
61. He said that the crime was committed in 1608 and that he died
in 1659. Hence he is in that state for 200 years. – A. That will be
explained to you later.
62. Could you explain his type of penalty? – A. It is atrocious to him.
As you know, he was condemned to stay at the place of the crime,
unable to divert his thoughts to anything else but the crime, always
before him, and he considers himself condemned eternally
to such a torture.
63. Is he immersed in darkness? – A. Darkness when he wants to
move away from the place of exile.
64. What is the most terrible kind of punishment that a spirit can
endure in such a case? – A. It is not possible to describe the moral
tortures as punishment of certain crimes. Even the one who suffers
them would have difficulties to explain. But the most horrible
is the certainty of condemnation without an appeal.
65. He has been in such a condition for two centuries. Does he assess
time as he did when alive, that is, time seems to last longer or
shorter? – A. It seems longer to him. There is no sleep.
66. We were told that there is no time to the spirit and that a century
is a spot in eternity to them. Shouldn’t that be the same to all? –
A. Certainly not. It is like that only to the spirits who have arrived
at a high elevation but to the inferior spirits time is sometimes
longer, especially when they suffer.
67. This spirit is severely punished for his crime. Well, you told us
that before that existence he had lived among barbarians. He must
have done things then at least as atrocious as his latest crime. He
was punished in the same way? – A. He was less punished because
he was more ignorant and did not understand as much the reach
of things.
OBSERVATION: All observations confirm this fact, strictly according
to God’s justice, that the penalties are proportional not to
the nature of the fault but to the level of intelligence of the guilty
one and the ability to understand the harm that has been done.
Hence, an apparently not so serious fault could be more severely
punished on a civilized person than a barbarian act by a savage.
68. Is the state of this spirit what is ordinarily called “damned”? – A.
Certainly, and there are cases even more terrible. The sufferings
are far from being the same to everyone, even on similar crimes,
since they vary depending if the spirit is more or less accessible
to regret. For him the house where he committed the crime is
his hell; others carry it on themselves, tormented by the passions
which cannot be satisfied.
OBSERVATION: In fact we have seen some greedy spirits suffering
before the sight of gold which became a mere illusion to them;
proud spirits tormented by the envy of seeing others awarded by an
honor which should be theirs; people who held positions of command
on Earth, humiliated by the invisible power embarrassing
them to obey and by the vision of their subordinates who no longer
bow before them; atheists suffering the anguishes of uncertainty,
finding themselves completely isolated in the enormity of space,
not finding a single being to clarify them. In the world of the spirits
if there is joy in all virtues, there are penalties to all faults and those
which are not reached by humans’ law will be by those of God.
69. Despite his inferiority this spirit feels the good effect of prayer.
We have seen the same with other spirits equally perverse and
of a brute nature. How come the more enlightened spirits, of a
more developed intelligence, show complete absence of good feelings;
they laugh at most sacred things; In short, nothing touches them and they never give up on their cynicism? – A. The prayer
has effect only on a remorseful spirit. The spirit that is rebellious
against God, just out of pride, and persists on his deviations, still
making them worse like the unfortunate spirits, to them prayer
cannot do and will not be able to do anything, but only when
a ray of regret manifests in them. The inefficacy of prayer is a
punishment to them. The prayer only relieves those who are not
totally hardened.
70. When we see a spirit inaccessible to the effects of prayer, is there
a reason for us to abstain from praying for him? – A. No, not at
all, for sooner or later he will overcome his rudeness and wake up
to healthier thoughts.
Sixth session – at the house of Mr. F…
71. Evocation – A. I am here.
72. Then, now you can leave Castelnaudary at will? – A. I am allowed
because I am taking your good advices.
73. Do you feel any relief? – A. I begin to have hope.
74. If we could see you how would your appearance be? – A. You
would see me with a shirt and without the dagger.
75. Why would you no longer have the dagger? What have you done
to that? – A. I curse it. God spares me from such a vision.
76. If Mr. D… Jr. was to return to the house, would you still cause
him any harm? – A. No because I am regretful.
77. And if he still wanted to challenge you? – A. Oh! Don’t ask
me that. I could not control myself. This would be beyond my
strengths… I am just a wretched one.
78. Mr. D… Jr.’s prayers would be more beneficial than the others to
you? – A. Yes, since it was him that I hurt the most.
79. That is it then, we will continue to do whatever we can for you. – A.
Thank you. At last I found charitable souls in you.
Seventh session
80. Evocation of the murdered man. – A. I am here.
81. What was your name in life? – A. My name was Pierre Dupont
82. What did you do for living? – A. I was a butcher in Castelnaudary,
where my brother murdered me on May 6th, 1608; by Charles
Dupont, my elder brother, with a dagger, in the middle of the
night.
83. What was the cause of the crime? – A. My brother thought
that I was courting a woman that he was fond of and that I saw
often, but he was mistaken since I had never given any thought
to that.
84. How did he kill you? – A. I was asleep. He cut my throat and
then my heart. I woke up, tried to fight but succumbed.
85. Have you forgiven him? – A. Yes, at the time of his death, 200
years ago.
86. How old was he when he died? – A. He was 80 years old.
87. He was not punished when alive? – A. No.
88. Who was accused of your death? – A. Nobody. Over those
confusing times no one would give attention to these things. It
would be useless.
89. What happened to the woman? – A. Soon after she was killed
by my brother, in my house.
90. Why did he kill her? – A. Broken heart. He had married her
before my death.
Eighth session
91. Why he does not speak about the murder of that woman? – A.
Because my death is the worst to him.
92. Evocation of the murdered woman. – A. I am here.
93. What was your name in those days? – A. Marguerite Aeder,
Mrs. Dupont.
94. For how long were you married? – A. For five years.
95. Pierre told us that his brother was suspicious of criminal relationship
between the two of you. Is that true? – A. There was
no criminal relationship between Pierre and I. Don’t you believe
in that.
96. How long after the death of his brother Charles murdered you? –
A. Two years later.
97. What was his motive? – A. Jealousy and his intention of keeping
my money.
98. Could you describe the circumstances of the crime? – A. He
grabbed me and hit me in the head with his butcher’s knife, at
my place of work.
99. How come he was not prosecuted? – A. What for? In those dismal
days it was all chaos.
100. Had Charles’ jealousy any foundation? – A. Yes, but that did
not authorize him to commit such a crime since we are all sinners
in this world.
101. For how long had you been married when Pierre died? – A. For
three years.
102. Could you tell us the exact date of your death? – A. Yes, May
3rd, 1610.
103. What was thought of Pierre’s death? – A. It was made believe
that it was murder after robbery.
OBSERVATION: Whatever may be the authenticity of the
reported facts, which seem difficult to control, there is a remarkable
thing: the precision and accuracy of the dates and
all events. Such a circumstance is in itself a curious subject
for study, if we take into account the fact that the three spirits
were evoked at different times and show no contradiction.
What seemed to confirm their words is the fact that the main
offender in the case, evoked by another medium, gave identical
answers.
Ninth session
104. Evocation of Mr. D… - A. I am here.
105. We would like to ask you about some details of the circumstances
of your death. Could you give us that? – A. In good will.
106. Did you know that a spirit haunted the house you were living
in? – A. Yes, but I wanted to challenge him and I was wrong. It
would have been better if I had prayed for him.
OBSERVATION: One can see from this that the means generally
employed by us to get rid of the unwelcome spirits are not
the most efficient. Our threats excite them more than intimidate.
Benevolence and commiseration have more power than
the use of coercive means, which irritate them, or the use of
formulas which are laughed at.
107. How did that spirit appear to you? – A. When I came home he
was visible, staring at me. I could not escape. He became my
horror and I expired under the horrifying sight of that spirit
which I had neglected and to whom I had shown so little charity.
108. Couldn’t you cry for help? – A. Impossible. My time had come
and that is how I should die.
109. What was his appearance? – A. A furious spirit, ready to devour
me.
110. Was your death painful? – A. Terribly.
111. Did you die suddenly? – A. No. It was two hours later.
112. What were your thoughts when you felt dying? – A. I could not
think; I was taken by an indescribable horror.
113. Was the apparition visible till the end? – A. Yes, it did not leave
my poor spirit for a single moment.
114. When your poor spirit was freed, were you aware of the cause
of your death? – A. No. It was the end. It was only later that I
understood.
115. Could you tell us the date of your death? – A. Yes, it was August
9th, 1853 (the precise date has not been verified yet but it seems
more or less accurate).
Tenth session, at the Society on January 13th, 1860
When this spirit was evoked on December 9th, St. Louis gave the
advice of having him evoked again after one month, in order to assess
the progress which might have happened in that interval. It has
already been possible to verify, through the communications of Mr.
and Mrs. F…, the changes in his thoughts, thanks to the influence
of prayers and the good advices. After a little bit more than a month
after his first evocation he was evoked again at the Society, on January
13th.
116. Evocation. – A. I am here.
117. Do you remember been called here about a month ago? – A.
How could I forget?
118. Why couldn’t you write on that occasion? – A. I didn’t want to.
119. Why didn’t you? – A. Ignorance and rudeness.
120. Have your ideas changed since then? – A. A lot. Several among
you have been compassionate and prayed for me.
121. Do you confirm all the information given by you and your
victims? – A. If I did not confirm them it would be the same
as saying that it was not me who provided them… and it was
me.
122. Can you foresee the end of your punishment? – A. Oh! Not
yet, but knowing that they will not last forever, thanks to your
intervention, it is already much more than I deserve.
123. Describe your situation before our first evocation. Please understand
that we ask that as a means of our instruction and not as
an item of curiosity. – A. I have already told you that I wasn’t
aware of anything and just had the ability of moving in space
where everything was darkness and solitude. I could not give you an idea of the meaning of all that because I have never understood
it myself. As long as I was elevated in the air it was all
black and empty around me; I don’t know what that was. Today
I experience much more remorse but, as the communications
demonstrate to you, I am no longer forced to stay in that lethal
house; I am allowed to wander around Earth and try to learn
from my observations. Now I understand better the enormity
of my mistakes. If I suffer less on one side, on the other side the
tortures increase through remorse, but at least I have hope now.
124. If you had to take a corporeal existence what would your choice
be? – A. I have not seen enough, nor given enough thought to
know.
125. Do you see your victims? – A. Oh! May God keep me!
OBSERVATION: It has always been said that the presence of
the victims is one of the torments of the offender. This spirit had
not seen them yet because he was in isolation and in darkness,
which was a punishment in itself, but he fears their presence and
that is perhaps a complement to his punishment.
126. During your long isolation, say, your captivity, did you feel any
remorse? – A. Not in the least and that is why I suffered so
much. I only began to feel it, despite my will, when the circumstances
for my evocation were provoked, to which I owe the
beginning of my liberation. Thank you all who had mercy on
me and enlightened me.
OBSERVATION: This evocation was not casual. Since it was
supposed to be useful to that unfortunate creature, the spirits
who cared for him noticing that he was beginning to understand
the enormity of his crimes, judged that the time had come to
provide him with efficient help, and then created the favorable
circumstances. It is an occurrence that we have seen repeated often. On a related matter, we were asked what would have become
of him if we could not have been able to evoke him, as well
as all other suffering spirits that cannot be evoked either, and of
whom nobody thinks. The answer is that God’s avenues for the
salvation of the beings are countless. Evocation may be a means
of supporting it but certainly it is not the only one. God forgets
nobody. As a matter of fact, the collective prayers may also have
influence upon spirits who are accessible to regret.
