Rustic Superstition.
A queer haunted house story comes from the village of Agny, near Arras. In the commune lives a family of small peasant proprietors, named Caron, which is just now full of tragio-comic misery. The head of the household has for some time been under the conviction that the house is haunted by evil spirits that all his most ingenious efforts have failed to exorcise.
For five years he has been tormented by strange noises, sometimes under a table, sometimes under other furniture, and sometimes behind a door. These pieces of furniture have been committed to the flames one after another, to the unfortunate man’s heavy loss in replacing them, and, still worse, without producing the slightest result, for the noises break out in fresh places.
At present the point of disturbance is an outhouse, and as the poor fellow’s distraction has not yet quite overpowered the characteristic close-fistedness of the French peasant, he cannot bring himself to contemplate wrecking a whole building. The family is now ventilating the notion that a witch has cast a spell over them, and information has had to be laid with the village mayor, who has ordered precautions against the family wreaking superstitious vengeance on some person whom it may enter into their heads to take for a witch. There is more than a suspicion that practical joking may be at the bottom of the trouble.
Globe, 24th September 1906.
Hunting an evil spirit.
Superstition dies hard in the country districts of France. A queer story of a haunted house comes from the commune of Agny, near Arras. The house, which is occupied by an old couple, is composed of a room and a loft, to which access is obtained by a ladder.
For five months, according to the couple, a spirit has taken up its abode in the house. At first it lodged in an old chest of drawers, an article of furniture which the old people prized. The husband was anxious to extirpate the spirit, however, and in order to get at the evil thing smashed the drawers with a hatchet.
After he had demolished the drawers, the spirit-rapping was still heard behind the debris. The wood was burnt. Then the spirit selected the wall as its lodging, and became noisier than ever. Blows like those of a hammer were heard ten times in an hour. The old couple are not alone in their belief in the existence of the spirit. Neighbours declare that they have also heard the rapping. It has been suggested that the house should be pulled down, but the authorities, who evince a scepticism which simply amazes its troubled occupants, do not countenance the suggestion.
Morning Advertiser, 25th September 1906.