The Ile Bizard Ghost.
Among the French Canadians there are many traditions of superhuman manifestations, such as that of the Loup-garou or the wehr wolf, the revenant or ghost, the feu follet, Will o’the Wisp, and, the most poetical of all, the chasse galerie. This tradition is that on clear summer evenings a long bateau, fully manned, will drift across the sky in the sight of the watchers below, her crew cheerily padding and singing the soft old boat-songs, as if they were making with good heart a long traverse.
No traditions are so strong, however, as those directly connected with manifestations of the devil, and these stories are fervently believed. A good deal of excitement has been created in Ile Bizard, in Jacques Cartier County, and the neighbourhood, by something said to be the acts of the devil. About two weeks ago a respectable family in Ile Bizard, named Durfrane, were greatly alarmed by the strange conduct of a door that persisted in standing open.
They tied it up with a strong cord and these were broken before the eyes of the whole family. That same evening the pillows of three young women, sisters, of the family who were in the same bed were removed from under the head of the sleepers, falling to the floor.
Since then the spirit has thrown down these pillows and twisted up the bed clothing on every opportunity. The cure of the parish, Father Laberge, was called in, but the bed was disturbed almost before his eyes. It is a strange thing that when one of the members of the family went to a neighbouring house to escape from the “devil”, he followed her and played the same pranks.
Weekly Irish Times, 27th February 1886.