During the last days of December, 1867, at No. 14 Ghibellina Street, in Florence, subterranean noises began to be heard, and sudden and startling blows in the table around which the family was seated. Dishes were broken in the cupboards, there were showers of stones, and an invisible hand would press the arms of the inmates of the household, some of whom saw phantasms wearing broad-brimmed hats like those of the Brothers of Misericordia.
The tenant haled the proprietor of the house into court to compel the payment of damages, and the court granted the petition on proof of the facts.
p270 in ‘After Death What?’ by Cesare Lombroso, 1909.