Series of amazing happenings on a village farm.
A terrorised populace.
Rabbits and chicken disappear.
House left in disorder.
Boy’s good work with pitchfork.
A series of amazing happenings on a farm in the village of Galdares, in the French commune of Serralongue, on the Franco-Spanish frontier, has resulted in the local public prosecutor proceeding to the village to help in exorcising a ghost. The public prosecutor’s journey was made in response to a petition signed by all the inhabitants of the village, who are in a state of terror. The farm is owned by a married couple named Pujol, who for some time past have been unable to account for the disappearance of rabbits and chicken. The chicken run and rabbit hutches locked at night were found open the next morning without any sign of having been forced.
A few days ago Mme. Pujol again found the hutches open, but on her approach they shut by themselves and the locks were turned. She then found that the shutters of the window of the farm nearest the road had been lifted from their hinges and laid on the ground without any sign of damage. At that moment her son Gaston, a boy of 13, came running up to his mother to tell her that a rabbit hutch had been turned over before his eyes and had rolled for several feet, as if pushed by an invisible hand. When the perplexed woman entered the house and went to her bedroom she found it in a complete state of disorder.
With the exception of a shelf bearing an image of the Virgin, every piece of furniture in the room had been completely emptied of its contents, and the floor was piles with folded linen, bottles, china, and even a mirror which had been taken from the wall. Nothing had been damaged in any way. The bed, which had been made early in the morning, was turned over, and the bed linen, including the mattress, rolled up in a pile.
In the pantry, two large hams which had been hung on hooks, were found on the ground, and strangely enough not a grain of salt which covered them had been detached. The invisible hand had worked with wonderful lightness of touch. The two hams were placed in a room, and the key turned in the door. A few moments later they had disappeared, and were found in a cupboard.
Doors again opened and shut without visible cause, and objects flew about before the eyes of the astonished farmhands.
The afternoon and night passed calmly, but on the next two days fresh phenomena were observed. Hearing a noise in the storeroom, young Gaston Pujol entered the room armed with a pitchfork. As he did so bundles of linen fell from the shelves. The boy plunged his fork into the cupboard, and declares that he distinctly heard a human cry, and the phenomena ceased.
The whole village is now anxiously awaiting the result of the official investigations.
Nottingham Evening Post, 21st February 1936.
Villagers invoke law against ghost.
From our own correspondent. Paris, Thursday.
A new way of laying a “ghost” is being tried by the superstitious inhabitants of the mountain village of Galdares, on the Franco-Spanish frontier. They have laid a charge against him with the police. In it they accuse the “ghost,” referred to as “M. X.” of disturbing the public peace.
According to Mme Pujol, a farmer’s wife, an invisible hand unlocks hen houses before her eyes, overturns rabbit hutches, removes smoked hams from their hooks in a locked room, and empties the contents of linen cupboards over the heads of members of her family.
The public prosecutor of the district is on his way to the village to investigate.
Daily Herald, 21st February 1936.