Spiritualism in France.
The two extraordinary narratives we are now about to present to our readers are furnished by A.J. Riko, Esq., of the Hague, and although their substance is to be found in several printed records, Mr Riko’s plain unvarnished descriptions correspond so closely with the accounts given orally to the Author by an eye-witness, that we prefer to transcribe – as far as possible – our kind correspondent’s own words. The first case is headed: –
“The Phenomena at the Abbey of Prunois-sous-Ablis – Arrondisement of Rambouillet, France.
“One of the most interesting records extant on the subject of Spirit power is an account of the disturbances which took place at the above-named Roman Catholic Abbey in the year 1835. On October 1st at eight o’clock in the evening, a great many stones were thrown at the window of the Presbytery. Several witnesses were present, and numbers of others were called by the priest to watch the proceedings. The stones were thrown by no visible agency, and struck the window panes in showers, without breaking any.
“October 2nd. A box filled with dirt and refuse, was found in the place usually kept for the bread, which was thrown on the ground close by. Stones were thrown all that day at intervals, but though the windows were struck in showers, no glass was broken.
“October 3rd. At three in the afternoon, all the doors of the Abbey being shut, a quantity of ashes – salad plants, spoons, coals, and rotten fruit – fell about the floor and furniture of the Presbytery, also in several of the other rooms, every door and window being shut. The showers continued falling till ten o’clock, when one of the witnesses, the Cure of Alix, said jokingly, that money would have been more welcome than stones. As he spoke, every one in the room was pelted with ‘liards’.[small coins]
“October 4th. The fire irons – brought without noise from the Priest’s private room – were found in a locked chest. Pieces of butter and knives used in the larder, were found in another locked chest. As the Abbe was passing out to go to service, a pot full of sand was tossed into a pail of water before his eyes. No disturbance took place in the church, but when he returned, chalk from the walls and ceiling, coals, ashes, fruit, bread, and all sorts of objects were thrown hither and thither through the house, and the stones were flung from outside against the windows all day.
“October 6th. The bedclothes in the Priest’s room, and those of several of the inmates, were pierced with round holes, and the pieces taken out were found in distant closed rooms.
“October 7th. At nine o’clock the servant maid retired to her room, but found everything displaced, and the furniture in such disorder that she swooned from fear. That night one of the Priest’s relatives whom he requested to pass the night in the same room with him, called out in great terror, that his legs were being tied together. When the Priest succeeded in getting a light, he found the young man thrown into a corner, with his legs tightly bound together above the knees with a cord nine feet in length.
“October 14th. The cook found pieces of coal, sweepings, dust and filth in every article she was using to prepare the meals, in fact she could not put a dish or saucer out of her hand, but what it was instantly but noiselessly filled with rubbish. The same was found in all the pots and kettles. Watchers stationed in all directions failed to find any visible agent.
“October 17th. Stones were thrown in larger numbers and more incessantly than ever. Fires were lighted on hearths in empty rooms. The young man before mentioned – the priest’s relation – had his cap taken from his head and it was afterwards found in a chimney in a distant part of the house.
“October 18th. A violent noise being heard in the Presbytery, the party who rushed to the spot found a ball of paper containing a large quantity of gunpowder. The ball was tied with a string, and a hole was cut in the wrapping; close by was a match. Soon after this the disturbances increased, and the garden walks were found indented with marks of huge claws, not belonging to any known animal. Heavy blows and sounds of tramping feet were now heard during the night in the corridors. As a large number of watchers were stationed day and night within and without the Abbey, it soon transpired that similar disturbances had occurred several times within the last thirty years, though never with such violence as now.
October 22nd. The cook was pelted with stones, coal, &c., wherever she went – nothing struck her, though objects fell in showers around her. The Priest, on going to bed, found the wood which had been laid in the grate ready for lighting, taken out and all arranged on his bed in the form of a cross. In the morning, his clothes were found stuffed tightly in a large pitcher full of water – and this, though the door was locked inside, and the window made fast.”
Mr Riko follows up this narrative with a long list of witnesses’ names, many of whom were persons of high respectability, holding official situations. It may be added, that in the course of three months, the disturbances died out, though no cuase could ever be discovered for their occurrence.
Nineteenth century miracles, or, Spirits and their work in every country of the earth. Emma Britten (1884).