No need for exorcism, priest rules.
When 20 astonished parishioners in a French village saw a lighted candle spin through the air and smash against a church pillar last weekend, the Catholic Archbishop of Besançon sent in an exorcist, writes Julian Nundy in Paris.
A chain of mysterious events began a week ago when inhabitants of the village of Delain helped Abbe Bernard Garret move the altar to make room for the Besançon Symphony Orchestra, which gave a concert on Sunday in the Church of Saint Hubert. In the meantime the altar and platform under it moved an inexplicable 4in when the church was locked. A number of vases were smashed to smithereens.
When Father Garret reported the first bout of incidents, his archbishop immediately sent Brother Max de Wasseige, the official exorcist of the diocese. Brother Max could come to no conclusion about what was occurring. Fr Garret then conducted his own investigation and discounted rumours that the concern had been to blame. Then he found that some of the smashed vases had come from outside the church. He concluded the episode was the result of “rather crude stage management” – and had all the church locks changged.
The Scotsman, 23rd October 1998.